“Good,” he said; “they are many, and the dust has told them all to me. Oh, they are very many”—and he glared around him—“so many that if I spoke them all the hyenas of the hills would be full to-night—”
Here the audience began to show signs of great apprehension.
“But,” looking down at the dust and turning his head sideways, “what do you say, what do you say? Speak more plainly, Little Voices, for you know I grow deaf. Oh! now I understand. The matter is even smaller than I thought. Just of one wizard—”
“Izwa!” (loudly).
“—just of a few deaths and some sicknesses.”
“Izwa!”
“Just of one death, one principal death.”
“Izwa!” (very loudly).
“Ah! So we have it—one death. Now, was it a man?”
“Izwa!” (very coldly).