CHAPTER XVIII
WHAT PASSED IN THE HUT
Going on to her hands and knees Sihamba crawled towards the hut. Now shewas within ten paces of it and could see that a man stood on guard atits doorway. "I must creep round to the back," she thought, and began todo so, heading for some shrubs which grew to the right. Already she hadalmost reached them, when of a sudden, and for an instant only, the moonshone out between two thick clouds, revealing her, though indistinctly,to the eyes of the guard. Now Sihamba was wearing a fur cape made ofwild dog's hide, and, crouched as she was upon her hands and knees,half-hidden, moreover, by a tuft of dry grass, the man took her to bea wild dog or a jackal, and the hair which stood out round her head forthe ruff upon the animal's neck.
"Take that, you four-legged night thief," he said aloud, and hurled theassegai in his hand straight at her. The aim was good; indeed, had shebeen a dog it would have transfixed her. As it was, the spear passedjust beneath her body, pinning the hanging edges of the cape andremaining fixed in the tough leather. Now if Sihamba's wit had left her,as would have happened with most, she was lost, but not for nothing hadshe been a witch-doctoress from her childhood, skilled in every artificeand accustomed to face death. From his words she guessed that the sentryhad mistaken her for a wild beast, so instead of springing to her feetshe played the part of one, and uttering a howl of pain scrambledaway among the bushes. She heard the man start to follow her, then themoonlight went out and he returned to his post grumbling over his lostassegai and saying that he would find it in the jackal's body on themorrow. Sihamba, listening not far away, knew his voice; it was that ofthe fellow who had set the noose about her neck at Swart Piet's biddingand who was to have done the murder in the pass.
"Now, friend, you are unarmed," she thought to herself, "for you have nogun with you, and perhaps we shall settle our accounts before you go toseek that dead jackal by to-morrow's light." Then drawing the assegaifrom the cloak and keeping it in her hand, she crept on till she came tothe back of the hut in safety. Still she was not much nearer to her end,for the hut was new and very well built, and she could find no crackto look through, though when she placed her ear against its sideshe thought that she could hear the sound of a man's voice. In herperplexity Sihamba cast her eyes upwards and saw that a fine line oflight shone from the smoke-hole at the very top of the hut, which washive-shaped, and a thought came into her head.
"If I climb up there," she said to herself, "I can look down throughthe smoke-hole and see and hear what passes in the hut. Only then ifthe moon comes out again I may be seen lying on the thatch; well, that Imust chance with the rest."
So very slowly and silently, by the help of the rimpis which bound thestraw, she climbed the dome of the hut, laughing to herself to thinkthat this was the worst of omens for its owner, till at length shereached the smoke-hole at the top and looked down.
This was what she saw: Half seated, half lying upon a rough bedsteadspread with blankets, was Suzanne. Her hair had come undone and hungabout her, her feet were still loosely bound together, and as theKaffir, Asika, had said, her face was like that of a dead woman, and hereyes were set in a fixed unnatural stare. Before her was a table cutby natives out of a single block of wood, on which were two candles ofsheep's fat set in bottles, and beyond the table stood Swart Piet, whowas addressing her.
"Suzanne," he said, "listen to me. I have always loved you, Suzanne,yes, from the time when I was but a boy: we used to meet now andagain, you know, when you were out riding with the Englishman whois dead"--here Suzanne's face changed, then resumed its deathlikemask--"and always I worshipped you, and always I hated the Englishmanwhom you favoured. Well, as you grew older you began to understand anddislike me, and Kenzie began to understand and insult me, and from thatseed of slight and insult grew most that is bad in me. Yes, Suzanne, youwill say that I am wicked; and I am wicked. I have done things of whichI should not like to tell you. I have done such things as you saw lastnight; I have mixed myself up with Kaffir wizardries and cruelties; Ihave forgotten God and taken another master, and so far from honouringmy own father, why, I struck him down when he was drunk and dared me todo it, and of that blow they say he died. Well, I owed him nothing lessfor begetting me into such a world as this, and teaching me how to findthe devil before my time.
"And now," he went on after a pause, for Suzanne answered nothing,"standing before you as I do here with your husband's blood upon myhands, and seeking your love over his grave, you will look at me andsay--'This man is a monster, a madman, one who should be cast from theearth and stamped deep, deep into hell!' Yes, all these things I am,and let the weight of them rest upon your head, for you made me them,Suzanne. I am mad, I know that I am mad, as my father and grandfatherwere before me, but my madness is mixed with knowledge, for in me runsthe blood of the old Pondo witch-doctoress, my grandmother, she who knewmany things that are not given to white men. When I saw you and lovedyou I became half mad--before that I was sane--and when the Englishman,Kenzie, struck me with the whip after our fight at the sheep-kraal, ah!then I went wholly mad, and see how wisely, for you are the first-fruitsof my madness, you and the body that to-night rolls to and fro in theocean.
"You do not answer: Well, look you, Suzanne, I have won you by craft andblood, and by craft and blood I will keep you. Here you are in my power,here Heaven itself could not save you from me, in Bull-Head's secretkrantz which none knew of but some few natives. Choose, therefore;forget the sins that I have committed to win you and become my wifewillingly, and no woman shall ever find a better husband, for then thefire and the tempest will leave my brain and it will grow calm as it wasbefore I saw you.
"Have you still no answer? Well, I will not hurry you. See, I mustgo--do you know what for? To set scouts lest by any chance your fatheror other fools should have found my hiding-place, though I think thatthey can never find it except it be through the wisdom of Sihamba, whichthey will not seek. Still I go, and in an hour I will return for youranswer, which you must make then, Suzanne, since whether you desire it,or desire it not, fortune has given you to me. Have you no word for mebefore I go?"
Now during all this long, half-insane harangue, Suzanne had sat quitesilent, making no reply at all, not even seeming to hear the demon, forsuch he was, whose wicked talk defiled her ears. But when he asked herwhether she had nothing to say to him before he went, still looking notat him, but beyond him, she gave him his answer in one word, the samethat she had used when she awoke from her swoon:
"_Murderer_."
Something in the tone in which she spoke, or perhaps in the substanceof that short speech, seemed to cow him; at the least he turned and leftthe hut, and presently Sihamba heard him talking to the sentry without,bidding him to keep close watch till he came back within an hour.
When Piet went out he left the door-board of the hut open, so thatSihamba dared neither act nor speak, fearing lest the guard should hearor see her through it. Therefore she still lay upon the top of the hut,and watched through the smoke-hole. For a while Suzanne sat quiet uponthe bed, then of a sudden she rose from it, and shuffling across the hutas well as her bound feet would allow her, she closed the opening withthe door-board, and secured it by its wooden bar. Next she returnedto the bed and, seating upon it, clasped her hands and began to pray,muttering aloud and mixing with her prayer the name of her husbandRalph. Ceasing presently, she thrust her hand into her bosom and drewfrom it a knife, not large, but strong and very sharp. Opening thisknife she cut the thong that bound her ankles, and made it into a noose.Then she looked earnestly first at the noose, next at the knife, andthirdly at the candles, and Sihamba understood that she meant to doherself to death, and was choosing between steel and rope and fire.
Now all this while, although she dared not so much as whisper, Sihambahad not been idle, for with the blade of the assegai she was workinggently at the thatch of the smoke-hole, and cutting the rimpis thatbound it, till at last, and not too soon, she thought that it was wideenough to allow of the passage of
her small body. Then watching untilthe guard leaned against the hut, so that the bulge of it would cuther off from his sight, during the instant that her figure was outlinedagainst the sky, she stood up, and thrusting her feet through the hole,forced her body to follow them, and then dropped lightly as a cat to thefloor beneath. But now there was another danger to be faced, and a greatone, namely, that Suzanne might cry out in fear, which doubtless shewould have done, had not the sudden sight of some living creature in thehut where she thought herself alone, so startled her that for amoment she lost her breath. Before she could find it again Sihamba waswhispering in her ear, saying:
"Keep silence for your life's sake, Swallow. It is I, Sihamba, who amcome to save you."
Suzanne stared at her, and light came back into the empty eyes, thenthey grew dark again, as she answered below her breath:
"Of what use is my life? Ralph is dead, and I was about to take it thatI may save myself from shame and go to seek him, for surely God willforgive the sin."
Sihamba looked at her and said:
"Swallow, prepare yourself for great joy, and, above all, do not cryout. Your husband is not dead, he was but wounded, and I drew him livingfrom the sea. He lies safe at the stead in your mother's care."
Suzanne heard her, and, notwithstanding the caution, still she wouldhave cried aloud in the madness of her joy, had not Sihamba, seeing herlips opened, thrust her hands upon her mouth and held them there tillthe danger was past.
"You do not lie to me?" she gasped at length.
"Nay, I speak truth, I swear it. But this is no time to talk. Yonderstand food and milk; eat while I think."
As Sihamba guessed, nothing but a little water had passed Suzanne'slips since that meal which she and her husband took together beside thewaggon, nor one minute before she could have swallowed anything had herlife been the price of it. But now it was different, for despair hadleft her, and hope shone in her heart again, and behold! of a sudden shewas hungry, and ate and drank with gladness, while Sihamba thought.
Presently the little woman looked up and whispered:
"A plan comes into my head; it is a strange one, but I can find noother, and it may serve our turn, for I think that good luck goes withus. Swallow, give me the noose of hide which you made from the riem thatbound your feet."
Suzanne obeyed her wondering, whereon Sihamba placed the noose about herown neck, then bade Suzanne stand upon the bed and thrust the end of theriem loosely into the thatch of the hut as high up as she could reach,so that it looked as though it were made fast there. Next, Sihambaslipped off her fur cloak, leaving herself naked except for the moocharound her middle, and, clasping her hands behind her back with theassegai between them, she drew the riem taut, and leaned against thewall of the hut after the fashion of one who is about to be pulled fromthe ground and strangled.
"Now, mistress, listen to me," she said earnestly. "You have seen melike this before, have you not, when I was about to be hanged, and youbought my life at a price? Well, as it chances, that man who guards thehut is he who took me at Bull-Head's bidding and set the rope round myneck, whereon I said some words to him which made him afraid. Now ifhe sees me again thus in a hut where he knows you to be alone, he willthink that I am a ghost and his heart will turn to ice and the strengthof his hands to water, and then before he can find his strength againI shall make an end of him with the spear, as I know well how to doalthough I am so small, and we will fly."
"Is there no other way?" murmured Suzanne aghast.
"None, Swallow. For you the choice lies between witnessing this deedand--Swart Piet or--Death. Nay, you need not witness it even, if youwill do as I tell you. Presently, when I give the word, loosen the barof the door-board, then crouch by the hole and utter a low cry of fear,calling to the man on guard for help. He will enter and see me, whereonyou can creep through the door-hole and wait without, leaving me to dealwith him. If I succeed I will be with you at once; if I fail, run to thestream and hoot like an owl, when Zinti, who is hidden there, will joinyou. Then you must get out of the krantz as best you can. Only one manwatches the entrance, and if needful Zinti can shoot him. The _schimmel_and other horses are hidden in the wood, and he will lead you to them.Mount and ride for home, or anywhere away from this accursed place, andat times when you talk of the matter of your escape with your husband,think kindly of Sihamba Ngenyanga. Nay, do not answer, for there islittle time to lose. Quick, now, to the door-hole, and do as I badeyou."
So, like one in a dream, Suzanne loosened the bar, and, crouching bythe entrance to the hut, uttered a low wail of terror, saying, "Help me,soldier, help me swiftly," in the Kaffir tongue. The man without heard,and, pushing down the board, crept in at once, saying, "Who harms you,lady?" as he rose to his feet. Then suddenly, in this hut, where therewas but one woman, a white woman, whom he himself had carried into it,he beheld another woman--Sihamba; and his hair stood up upon his headand his eyes grew round with terror. Yes, it was Sihamba herself, forthe light of the candles shone full upon her, or, rather, her ghost,and she was hanging to the roof, the tips of her toes just touching theground, as once he had seen her hang before.
For some seconds the man stared in his terror, and while he staredSuzanne slipped from the hut. Then muttering, "It is the spirit of thewitch, Sihamba, who prophesied my death--her spirit that haunts me," hedropped to his knees, and, trembling like a leaf, turned to creep fromthe hut. Next second he was _dead_, dead without a sound, for Sihambawas a doctoress, and knew well where to thrust with the spear.
Of all this Suzanne heard nothing and saw nothing, till presentlySihamba stood by her side holding the skin cape in one hand and thespear in the other.
"Now one danger is done with," she said quietly, as she put on the cape,"but many still remain. Follow me, Swallow," and, going to the edgeof the stream, she hooted like an owl, whereupon Zinti came out of thereeds, looking very cold and frightened.
"Be swift," whispered Sihamba, and they started along the krantz at arun. Before they were half way across it, the storm-clouds, which hadbeen thinning gradually, broke up altogether, and the moon shone outwith a bright light, showing them as plainly as though it were day; butas it chanced they met nobody and were seen of none.
At length they reached the cleft in the rock that led to the plainbelow. "Stay here," said Sihamba, "while I look," and she crept to theentrance. Presently she returned and said:
"A man watches there, and it is not possible to slip past him becauseof the moonlight. Now, I know of only one thing that we can do; and you,Zinti, must do it. Slip down the rock and cover the man with your gun,saying to him that if he stirs a hand or speaks a word you will shoothim dead. Hold him thus till we are past you on our way to the wood,then follow us as best you can, but do not fire except to save your lifeor ours."
Now the gifts of Zinti lay rather in tracking and remembering paths anddirections than in fighting men, so that when he heard this order he wasafraid and hesitated. But when she saw it, Sihamba turned upon him sofiercely that he feared her more than the watchman, and went at once,so that this man who was half asleep suddenly saw the muzzle of a _roer_within three paces of his head and heard a voice command him to standstill and silent or die. Thus he stood indeed until he perceived thatthe new wife of his chief was escaping. Then remembering what would behis fate at the hands of Bull-Head he determined to take his chance ofbeing shot, and, turning suddenly, sped towards the kraal shouting as heran, whereon Zinti fired at him, but the ball went wide. A cannon couldscarcely have made more noise than did the great _roer_ in the silenceof the night as the report of it echoed to and fro among the hills.
"Oh! fool to fire, and yet greater fool to miss," said Sihamba. "To thehorses! Swift! swift!"
They ran as the wind runs, and now they were in the wood, and now theyhad found the beasts.
"Praise to the Snake of my house!" said Sihamba, "they are safe, allfour of them," and very quickly they untied the riems by which they hadfastened the horses to the trees.
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nbsp; "Mount, Swallow," said Sihamba, seizing the head of the great_schimmel_.
Suzanne set her foot upon the shoulder of Zinti, who knelt to receiveit, and sprang into the saddle. Then having lifted Sihamba on thegrey mare Zinti mounted the other horse himself, holding the mule by aleading riem.
"Which way, mistress?" he asked.
"Homewards," she answered, and they cantered forward through the wood.
On the further side of this wood was a little sloping plain not morethan three hundred paces wide, and beyond it lay the seaward Nek throughwhich they must pass on their journey to the stead. Already they wereout of the wood and upon the plain, when from their right a body ofhorsemen swooped towards them, seven in all, of whom one, the leader,was Swart Piet himself, cutting them off from the Nek. They halted theirhorses as though to a word of command, and speaking rapidly, Sihambaasked of Zinti: "Is there any other pass through yonder range, for thisone is barred to us?"
"None that I know of," he answered; "but I have seen that the groundbehind us is flat and open as far as the great peak which you saw risingon the plain away beyond the sky-line."
"Good," said Sihamba. "Let us head for the peak, since we have nowhereelse to go, and if we are separated, let us agree to meet upon itssouthern slope. Now, Zinti, loose the mule, for we have our lives tosave, and ride on, remembering that Death is behind you."