Chaka asked the man why he had been so long in finding the feathers, and he answered that the birds had flown from that part of the country whither he was sent, and he must wait there till they returned, that he might snare them.
“Thou shouldst have followed the cranes, yes, if they flew through the sunset, thou disobedient dog!” said the king. “Let him be taken away, and all those who were with him.”
Now some of the men prayed a little for mercy, but the captain did but salute the king, calling him “Father,” and craving a boon before he died.
“What wouldst thou?” asked Chaka.
“My father,” said the man, “I would ask thee two things. I have fought many times at thy side in battle while we both were young; nor did I ever turn my back upon the foe. The blow that shore the hand from off this arm was aimed at thy head, O King; I stayed it with my naked arm. It is nothing; at thy will I live, and at thy will I die. Who am I that I should question the word of the king? Yet I would ask this, that thou wilt withdraw the kaross from about thee, O King, that for the last time my eyes may feast themselves upon the body of him whom, above all men, I love.”
“Thou art long-winded,” said the king, “what more?”
“This, my father, that I may bid farewell to my son; he is a little child, so high, O King,” and he held his hand above his knee.
“Thy first boon is granted,” said the king, slipping the kaross from his shoulders and showing the great breast beneath. “For the second it shall be granted also, for I will not willingly divide the father and the son. Bring the boy here; thou shalt bid him farewell, then thou shalt slay him with thine own hand ere thou thyself art slain; it will be good sport to see.”
Now the man turned grey beneath the blackness of his skin, and trembled a little as he murmured, “The king’s will is the will of his servant; let the child be brought.”
But I looked at Chaka and saw that the tears were running down his face, and that he only spoke thus to try the captain who loved him to the last.