CHAPTER NINETEEN.
DE WALDEN BROUGHT TO TRIAL--HIS DEFENCE--IMMINENT DANGER--DE WALDEN'SDOOM--THE ESCAPE--A RAPID JOURNEY--KOODOO'S KLOOF.
Maomo and his myrmidons were not long in accomplishing their errand. DeWalden and Warley had returned, about an hour previously, from theirvisit to the hut of old Dalili, whose oxen had been stricken with thepestilence early that morning. The missionary had from the firstentertained little hope of saving any of the animals. He had severaltimes encountered the disease during his residence in various parts ofKaffir land, and had very rarely known any treatment of it to have anyeffect. It was too late to try inoculation with the cattie alreadyattacked, but he had helped the old man to apply the remedy in question,or rather the preventive in such of his oxen as were still healthy. Inthe others, though he had done all that was possible for their relief,he had warned him that he must not expect them to recover, and severalof them had died before he left the village.
He was a good deal disturbed at the old Bechuana's demeanour. He wasone of the most satisfactory of his converts, and De Walden had resolvedthat in a few weeks more he might be admitted to baptism. But Dalili'swhole nature seemed changed. He did not, indeed, say anything to implythat a change in his religious opinions had taken place, but he seemedoverwhelmed with terror, and to expect some terrible punishment to fallupon himself. The missionary and Ernest had done their best to quiethim, and had returned home to take some necessary food and rest beforeagain seeking Dalili's hut, when Chuma's emissaries, headed by Maomo andKobo, broke in upon them.
De Walden received them with the calmness of a man who had long carriedhis life in his hand, and knew that at any moment he might be requiredto surrender it. He quietly rose, and telling his captors there was noneed to bind him, or use violence of any kind, as he was quite ready togo with them, took his hat and walked out of the hut. The othershowever insisted on tying his hands with strong leathern thongs,apprehensive that he might work some spell if they were left at liberty.
Escorted by Maomo on one side, and Kobo on the other, he advanced to thespot where Chuma was still standing with a large crowd of Bechuanasround him; the whole population of the village having by this timegathered together. It was a strange and striking scene. The chief,attired for the chase, carrying his weapons, occupied the centralplace--a large and martial figure. He was surrounded by a crowd ofwarriors armed and arrayed like himself, many of the party bearing intheir dress and persons marks of the recent encounter with theelephants, which gave them a ghastly and bizarre appearance. The womenand children filled up the background, looking with awful anticipationon what would probably ensue.
The missionary stepped calmly forward into the centre of the ring,meeting the stern glance of the Kaffir chief with a firm look, underwhich Chuma's eye at length was compelled to falter. This, perhaps,rendered his first words more bitter than they might otherwise havebeen.
"Disease hath smitten the cattle of the Bechuanas," he said; "whencecomes this, and who has caused it?"
"It comes, like all visitations, from the hand of God; and the reasonwhy He sends them is sometimes to teach mankind His power, and sometimesto punish their sins."
"What is the reason why He has sent this?"
"It is impossible for any man to say. He only knows Himself His ownpurposes."
"But you have yourself told me you have power with God. You have saidthat He always hears His servants?"
"I have, and I repeat it."
"Then ask Him to take away this disease, and if He complies, then wewill be His servants. Will you do this?"
"I will pray to God that He will be pleased to remove it. Whether Hewill do so or not, rests with Him."
Chuma hesitated. His belief in De Walden was shaken by what hadhappened, but not wholly overthrown. Maomo saw his embarrassment, andhastened to interfere.
"Chief," he said, "it is not by prayers, which are but words, that theWhite Falsehood--man has prevailed on the Evil Spirits to send thiscurse upon our people. Nor will it be by prayers that he can prevail onthem to take it off again. There are sacrifices that he offers to hisgods. I know that he was seen to pour water on Gaike's forehead, andutter some charm while he did so. I know that there are sacrificeswhich he renders, when he will suffer no one but his white companions tobe present. Ask him, and he cannot deny this?"
"How is this?" said Chuma, turning again to De Walden; "you hear whatthe rainmaker says. Is it true?"
"It is true that we have rites at which none but believers are allowedto be present," returned De Walden.
"Will you offer these to your gods, that the plague may be removed fromthe cattle of the Bechuanas?"
"It is not enough that you make him promise that," interposed Maomoagain, dreading that De Walden would comply with this request, and soavert, for the time at all events, the chief's anger. "He must do so inpublic, so that you and all our people may be sure that he reallysacrifices to his god."
"You hear, white man," said Chuma, sternly; "do you consent?"
"I cannot profane holy mysteries in such a manner," was the answer. "Iwill pray, and offer what you call sacrifices in secret, but not beforeyou."
"You hear him, chief," exclaimed the wizard. "He seeks to put you offwith empty words. Now hear me; I will take away this woe. The cattleof the Bechuanas shall not die. But I cannot do this until the WhiteLie-man has been put to silence. The Spirits will not hearken to mewhile he lives. Choose, therefore, whether this impostor shall live towork his evil pleasure, and your cattle perish, or whether he shallreceive his due punishment, and your cattle shall be saved."
His words were drowned in a cry which burst simultaneously from ahundred lips, "Slay the White Wizard; preserve our cattie."
"Once more, you hear," exclaimed Chuma; "offer sacrifice or you die;which do you choose? Will you sacrifice?"
"My honoured friend and father," said Ernest, addressing De Walden in alow voice apart, as he saw that he was about to offer a final refusal,"need this be? Wherefore not comply with their demand? Did not Elijahso challenge the priests of Baal, and God upheld him in the trial. Andare you not as truly God's servant as he was; and God is the sameyesterday, to-day, and for ever? Why should he not answer you, byhealing their diseased oxen, even as he answered Elijah, by consumingthe sacrifice?"
"It had been revealed to Elijah that he was to act as he did," returnedthe missionary in the same tone. "I have received no such intimations,and must not so take upon myself. Our God is indeed the same, and itmay please Him to interpose and save me, or leave me to glorify Him bymy death; but I must leave that in His hands." He proceeded aloud, "No,chief, I will not offer the sacrifice you require. I cannot explain myreasons now, but I refuse."
"Then you shall die, and that speedily. Take him to his hut, until thepreparations are made; and be careful that he does not escape, or yourown lives shall be the penalty. Take the other whites, and keep them insafe custody also. We will determine in the council what is to be donewith them presently."
The four Englishmen were dragged off under Kobo's charge, the latterheaping every possible insult upon them during their conveyance to thehut, and ordering the men under his charge to bind them with rhinocerosthongs, which cut them so severely, that even the attendants seemedinclined to remonstrate at such needless severity. But Kobo silencedthem by threatening to report their lukewarmness to the chief. Thendesiring that the guns and everything belonging to them should beremoved, and placed for security in his hut, he withdrew with a partingmenace, to take his place at the council about to be held in the chief'sresidence.
The lads were too deeply moved at the approaching execution of theirfriend, and the danger impending over themselves, to feel the disgustand indignation at Kobo's double-faced treachery, which at another timeit would have provoked. They listened reverently to the words addressedto them by De Walden; who warned them that their position was one of thegreatest peril, and though he earnestly hoped that their lives mig
ht bespared, they would do wisely to be prepared for the worst. "God'sprovidential care for you," he said, "has been shown so often and sosignally of late, that I need not bid you to trust wholly in Him. Butit would be no kindness in me not to warn you that your present peril isvery great--as great perhaps as it was in the Hottentot village, thoughat first sight it might not seem to be so."
"Not all of us are in imminent danger, I hope," said Warley. "I knowthey are angry with me, almost as much as they are with you, but theyhave no grounds of quarrel with Frank or Gilbert."
"I thought you might suppose so," returned the missionary, "and that wasthe reason why I spoke. It is plain that they mean to put me to aspeedy death--"
"Surely they dare not," interposed Frank. "They know that Charles willbe returning, before long, with messengers from the English governor atCape Town. He is not likely to endure the murder of a British subjectwithout a shadow of justice or reason. And when he hears--"
"Ay, Frank, that is just it," said De Walden. "They will take care thathe shall never hear it. They will probably say that I have died of somedisease, or have taken my departure from their kraal of my own accord.But your evidence would disprove their story, and they will have noscruples in securing your silence by the surest of all methods--that is,by putting you to death."
"Then they would have to account for all four of us," observed Gilbert,"and some one in the kraal--Dalili or Gaike, or Mololo perhaps--mighttell Charles the truth, and then very signal punishment would probablybe exacted."
"You do not know these people," said De Walden. "The influence of thispretended prophet would be greater than ever after his supposed victoryover me. They will be too much terrified to venture even on a word. IfKobo had remained faithful to us indeed--"
"The treacherous wretch!" exclaimed Frank, passionately. "I feel moreindignant with him than with Chuma, or even Maomo himself."
"This is no time for anger, Frank," said the elder man, gravely. "Ishould not speak of him at all, if it had not been necessary to explainto you your true position. If Kobo had remained faithful, I say,something might have been done. We might have sent him off from thevillage, and Chuma would have been afraid that he had gone to reportwhat had happened to the English. But that hope does not exist, andthere is nothing for it but for us all to prepare ourselves for theworst."
"They may do what they will," said Warley. "If they take your life, Ihave no wish to keep mine."
"You must not say that, Ernest. God may have a great work for you todo; and if your life is preserved, I shall feel assured it is for thatpurpose. But we have probably but a short time to pass together; let usmake the best use of that."
They all knelt down while the missionary offered up a fervent prayer inbehalf of each one of them, in which all heartily joined; and they werestill engaged in their prayers, when Kobo re-entered, accompanied by hissatellites, to announce to them their sentence, or rather that of DeWalden.
This, he gave them to understand, with diabolical exultation, was to bethe most painful form of death that imagination could conceive--onewhich was resorted to only in the instance of enemies captured in war,upon whom they wished to inflict the worst possible sufferings. DeWalden was to be eaten alive by ants! He was to be pegged down on hisback over one of the large ant-hills, some three feet in height--greatnumbers of which were to be found at the distance of a mile or two fromthe village--his neck, wrists, and ankles firmly secured by thongs ofrhinoceros hide, so that it would be impossible to move even an inch tothe right or left. He was to be left in this position half an hour orso after nightfall, about which time the ants, which had remained in astate of torpor all day, were wont to come out of their nests in suchmultitudes as to blacken the whole of the ground round one of theirhills. They would be sure to fasten at once on any animal substancenear them, and so great was their voracity, that in the course of threeor four hours, the largest carcasses would be stripped of every particleof skin or flesh, and be left a bare and whitened skeleton.
This, Kobo informed them, was to be the form of death chosen for themissionary. Some of the councillors had suggested death by poison, or ablow from a heavy club; but Maomo, he gave them to understand--Maomo,supported by himself--had insisted that the Bad Spirits would not beappeased, unless the White Enemy died by a death of the greatest agony.As for the others, they would probably be pricked with a lance-head,steeped in the juice of the euphorbia, or the venom of the poison grub.But that would not be finally decided until the following day; only,anyhow, they were quite sure to undergo death in some painful andlingering shape.
The only drawback to these tidings, he further apprised them, was, thatthe execution of the missionary's sentence would necessarily be deferredto the following day. A great feast was to take place at sundown on theflesh of the elephants killed that morning, and the chief could not beinduced to put that off, even to gratify the anger he had conceivedagainst the White Prophet. Maomo had made the attempt, but in vain.Nor would he leave the execution of the sentence to the rainmaker, sothat the missionary's death was to be put off till sunset on thefollowing day: but, then, Kobo added, most probably the fate of theothers would be determined, and all four would be executed together.
Having delivered himself of this outpouring of malice, and once morecarefully examined the rhinoceros thongs, to make assurance doubly sure,Kobo relieved them of his presence; and soon afterwards the whole party,overcome by the intense weariness which anxiety and suffering of mindoccasion, sank into a heavy and dreamless sleep.
It might have been four or five hours afterwards, when Frank was rousedby a pricking feeling as though some one had stabbed him slightly with aknife. He started up. The hut was quite dark, though the stars outsidewere faintly glimmering. He was about to cry out when a hand was placedon his mouth, and a voice whispered in his ear.
"It me--Kobo. No make noise. I come help you get away." At the sameinstant he again felt the prick of the knife, and the leather thong dropfrom his arm. In a moment the explanation of Kobo's altered demeanouroccurred to him. The man had affected the bitter hatred he hadexpressed, in order that they might be handed over to his custodyinstead of that of Maomo, as they would have been, had he been suspectedof being their friend.
"All right, Kobo," he said softly; "shall I strike a light?"
"No, no. That spoil all. If you have knife, cut the fastenings of yourlegs. I set prophet free."
The others were roused with the same caution which Frank had received,and in a few minutes they were all at liberty. Then Kobo addressedthem, still speaking under his breath.
"Chief and all much drunk. Only rainmaker sober. He suspect me. Hewatch me while feast go on. I see him, though he not guess it. I seemto drink twice as much as any, but throw it all away on ground. Whenfeast half over, I tumble flat Rainmaker think Kobo drunk, but I creepaway in dark. Now all follow me; creep like snake among hedge and bush;lucky no moon to-night."
Following his direction, the whole party emerged one after another fromthe hut, and crawled on their hands and knees among the dwarf shrubswhich lay scattered over the ground, until they had reached Kobo'scottage, which was on the outskirts of the village. Here they foundtheir guns, belts, and flasks, carefully hidden away under a heap ofweeds. Having possessed themselves of these, they again hurried on,keeping within the cover of the wood, until they were at least half amile from the Bechuana village; when the wooded covert gave place to anopen plain overspread with large stones, and now and then patches ofthorn.
"Get on as fast as we can," was Kobo's direction now. "Too far fromkraal for Bechuanas to follow to-night."
"And to-morrow they will none of them be in a condition to undertake anylong journey, I expect," observed Nick.
"Rainmaker not drunk. He keep sober," said Kobo. "Very likely he goneto hut to see all safe, and find all gone!" added the savage with achuckle. "But he no know which way to follow in dark. Not follow tillto-morrow."
"You have managed
very cleverly, Kobo," said Wilmore; "but I must say Iwonder this wizard, or rainmaker, or whatever you call him, consented toleave us in your charge."
"He not do that," answered Kobo, "only he could not help it. I know howplague broke out among Dalili's cows. I see rainmaker putting bad stuffinto their sides with a little knife. He know that I saw him, and he'fraid to speak against Kobo, for fear Kobo speak against him.Rainmaker bad man. Look, you see that big ant-hill there close by?"
"Yes, we see it plain enough," answered Warley, with a shudder.
"That where rainmaker fasten Patoto 'bout six months ago. Patoto strongbrave man, favourite with Chuma. Maomo jealous. He pretend Patotobewitch people. Nyzee, Chuma's young wife, very sick, Maomo say Patotobewitched her, and Nyzee believe it and persuade Chuma. Patoto say itno true, but no one believe him. He sentenced to same death as WhiteProphet. Kobo saw him fastened to ant-hill. Six strong posts driveninto ground. Patoto's feet tied with rheims to two; his hands to twomore; broad rhinoceros straps fastened to other two over Patoto's belly.They strip him naked first, for why--no good to leave clothes on him,ants eat--"
"I understand, Kobo," exclaimed Warley, interrupting the horriblenarrative, which he could not endure to hear. "But why did not you sethim at liberty, as you have set us?"
"Eh! Patoto only black man--not like White Prophet," answered Kobo,coolly; "besides, chief set men to watch, for fear Patoto himself getaway when ant begin to eat--"
"Be silent, for Heaven's sake," exclaimed De Walden, who had hithertorepressed his emotion, but could now bear no more. "Blessed be His holyname, who has delivered His servant from torments, which are unendurableeven in thought. Let us speak no further of them. How far, and in whatdirection, do you propose that we should proceed to-night?"
"We fly towards Basuto country. Basutos and Bechuanas not friends, orChuma send message for White Prophet to be given back to him."
"The Basutos! Very good. I can speak their language, and they willvery likely shelter us until we are rested sufficiently to travel toCape Town. But the Basuto country lies at some distance, does it not?"
"Yes, several days' journey. But when we have passed Koodoo's kloof,all safe."
"Koodoo's kloof? What, on the Vaal river? The river is not passablethere."
"Ah, you not know. We pass all safe, so they not catch us."
The missionary said no more. Kobo evidently knew what he was about, andthere was very little chance of their escaping from their pursuersexcept through his help. By his skilful management they had probablysecured several hours' start, but that was all. The Bechuanas would besure to be on their track on the following day, and their swiftness offoot was proverbial even among the Kaffir tribes. He resolved to attendimplicitly to Kobo's instructions, and a few words from him prevailed onthe lads to do the same.
They hurried on till the forenoon of the next day, and then rested onlya few hours during the meridian heat, resuming their journey with aspeed which taxed the boys' powers to the utmost, and against which theywould have rebelled, if they had not been plainly told by their guidethat their lives depended on the speed with which that and the followingday's travel could be accomplished. Kobo allowed another halt shortlybefore midnight, and the lads were further refreshed by a bathe in adeep cavity in the rock where the rain water had collected, beforesetting out on the following morning. The character of the country theywere traversing now became more pleasing, and seemed to promise abundantshade and plenty as they advanced. The landscape was varied by grovesof palms and sycamores; and not unfrequently date trees and figs offeredto the travellers their ripe and tempting fruit. The dark-foliagedmoshoma was relieved by the yellow of the mimosa, and the lilac of theplumbago. Herds of antelopes, and occasionally graceful koodoos andelands, bounded by them, and little rivulets, evidently on their way tomingle with some large river, covered the ground with a carpet ofverdure.
"Vaal river near now," remarked Kobo, when they paused a little beforemoonrise on the evening of the second day. "White boys travel fast--travel like men. Bechuanas not catch them."
"That is good hearing at all events," remarked Nick. "A fellow neverknows what he can do till he's tried. I didn't believe I could havegone such a distance in three days, as I really have gone in less thantwo--no, not to save my life."
"Well, it has been to save your life," remarked Warley; "you forgetthat."
"No, I don't," retorted the other. "It's about the only thing I'm safenot to forget! Well, Kobo, when shall we get to this kloof of yours--to-night, or to-morrow morning?"
"To-morrow," said the Bechuana, "'bout ten o'clock, if all well."
They resumed their journey before daybreak, in no way abating theirspeed, though the stamina of the three younger travellers seemed now onthe point of giving way. They struggled on, however, hour after hour,until the sun began to mount high in the heavens, and the heat to growevery moment more intolerable. Then, suddenly, Kobo pointed with hisfinger to a narrow ravine, richly wooded with trees of every variety ofleaf, running between two lofty mountain ridges, and exclaimed--
"That Koodoo's kloof. We safe now!"
Another quarter of an hour brought them within the shelter of the nobletrees, which extended their network of delicious shade overhead. Koboled them on by a path, which gradually sloped downwards for nearly halfa mile, till the sound of running water broke upon their ears, and theyfound themselves on the margin of a broad and rapid river.