As he piped out the words a man from among their company appeared with a vessel much larger than those into which they had gazed, and made of beautiful, polished, blood-hued wood that gleamed in the sunlight. Eddo took it in his hand and another slave filled it with water from the gourd; the last drop of the water filled it to the brim. Then the three of them muttered invocations over it, and Eddo, beckoning to Noie, bade her bear it to the Inkosazana that she might gaze therein.
Rachel received it and looked; as she looked all the emptiness left her eyes which grew quick and active and full of horror.
“Thou seest something, Maiden?” queried Eddo.
“Aye,” answered Rachel, “I see much. Must I speak?”
“Nay, nay! Breathe on the water thrice and fix the visions. Now bear the bowl to yonder King and let him look. Perchance he also will see something.”
Rachel breathed on the water thrice, rose like one in a trance, and advancing to Dingaan placed the brimming bowl upon his knees.
“Look, King, look,” cried Eddo, “and tell us if in what thou seest lies an answer to the oracle of the Inkosazana.”
Dingaan stared at the water, angrily at first, as one who smells a trick. Then his face changed.
“By the head of the Black One,” he said, “I see people fighting in this kraal, white men and Zulus, and the white men are mastered and the Zulus drag them out to death. The Zulus conquer, O my people. It is as I thought that it would be—that is the meaning of the riddle of the Inkosazana.”
“Good, good,” said the Council. “Doubtless it shall come to pass.”