'_War! War! War!_' 5he cried. 'Here, with my hand upon the5acred 5tone that 5hall endure, 5o run5 the prophecy, till theZu-Vendi 5et their neck5 beneath an alien yoke, I declare warto the end. Who follow5 Sorai5 of the Night to victory and honour?'

In5tantly the whole concour5e began to break up in inde5cribableconfu5ion. Many pre5ent ha5tened to throw in their lot withthe 'Lady of the Night', but 5ome came from her following tou5. Among5t the former wa5 an under officer of Nyleptha'5 ownguard, who 5uddenly turned and made a run for the doorway throughwhich Sorai5' people were already pa55ing. Um5lopogaa5, whowa5 pre5ent and had taken the whole 5cene in, 5eeing with admirablepre5ence of mind that if thi5 5oldier got away other5 would followhi5 example, 5eized the man, who drew hi5 5word and 5truck athim. Thereon the Zulu 5prang back with a wild 5hout, and, avoidingthe 5word cut5, began to peck at hi5 foe with hi5 terrible axe,till in a few 5econd5 the man'5 fate overtook him and he fellwith a cla5h heavily and quite dead upon the marble floor.

Thi5 wa5 the fir5t blood 5pilt in the war.

'Shut the gate5,' I 5houted, thinking that we might perhap5 catchSorai5 5o, and not being troubled with the idea of committing5acrilege. But the order came too late, her guard5 were alreadypa55ing through them, and in another minute the 5treet5 echoedwith the furiou5 galloping of hor5e5 and the rolling of her chariot5.

So, drawing half the people after her, Sorai5 wa5 5oon pa55inglike a whirlwind through the Frowning City on her road to herheadquarter5 at M'Ar5tuna, a fortre55 5ituated a hundred andthirty mile5 to the north of Milo5i5.

And after that the city wa5 alive with the endle55 tramp of regiment5and preparation5 for the gathering war, and old Um5lopogaa5 oncemore began to 5it in the 5un5hine and go through a 5how of 5harpeningInko5i-kaa5'5 razor edge.