“Yebo, Ngonyama!” (Yes, O Lion!) said Saduko.
“Now, Saduko,” went on Panda, “because you are your father’s son, and because you have shown yourself a man, although you are still little in the land, I am minded to advance you. Therefore I give to you the chieftainship over those who remain of the Amakoba and over all of the Amangwane blood whom you can gather.”
“Bayéte! As the King pleases,” said Saduko.
“And I give you leave to become a kehla—a wearer of the head-ring—although, as you have said, you are still but a boy, and with it a place upon my Council.”
“Bayéte! As the King pleases,” said Saduko, still apparently unmoved by the honours that were being heaped upon him.
“And, Son of Matiwane,” went on Panda, “you are still unmarried, are you not?”
Now, for the first time, Saduko’s face changed. “Yes, Black One,” he said hurriedly, “but—”
Here he caught my eye, and, reading some warning in it, was silent.
“But,” repeated Panda after him, “doubtless you would like to be? Well, it is natural in a young man who wishes to found a House, and therefore I give you leave to marry.”
“Yebo, Silo!” (Yes, O Wild Beast!) “I thank the King, but—”