CHAPTER XXVII
SWART PIET SETS A SNARE
It was a strange life that Suzanne led among the Umpondwana during thetwo years or more that, together with Sihamba, she ruled over them aschieftainess. Upon the top of the mountain was a space of grass landmeasuring about five hundred morgen, or a thousand acres in extent,where were placed the chief's huts and those of the head men andsoldiers, surrounding a large cattle kraal, which, however, was onlyused in times of danger. The rest of the people dwelt upon the slopes ofthe mountain, and even on the rich plains at the foot of it, but if needwere they could all retreat to the tableland upon its crest. Here theymight have defied attack for ever, for beneath the cattle kraal grainwas stored in pits, only there was but one spring, which in dry seasonswas apt to fail. Therefore it was that the Umpondwana had built stoneschanzes or fortifications about the mouth of the river which gushedfrom the mountain between the thumb and finger like ridges on theeastern slope, although it lay below their impregnable walls of rock,seeing that to this river they must look for their main supply of water.
The table-top of the hill, which could only be approached by one paththat wound upwards through a ravine cut by water, being swept by everywind of heaven, and so high in the air, was very cold and naked. Indeed,in the winter season, rain fell there twice or thrice a week, and therewere many days when it was wrapt in a dense white mist. Still, duringthe two years and more that she dwelt with the Umpondwana, Suzannescarcely left this plain, not because she did not desire to do so, butbecause she did not dare, for word was brought that the foot, and eventhe slopes, of the mountain were patrolled by men in the employ of SwartPiet. Moreover, soon it became clear that he had knowledge of allher movements, doubtless from spies in his pay who dwelt among theUmpondwana themselves. During the first few months of her sojourn on themountain, it is true that now and again Suzanne rode out on the veldtmounted on the _schimmel_, but this pastime she was forced to abandonbecause one day Swart Piet and his men saw her and gave chase, so thatshe was only saved from him by the fleetness of the great horse.
After this, both she and the _schimmel_ stayed upon the tableland, wheredaily they took exercise together, galloping round a prepared path whichwas laid about the fence of the cattle kraal, and thus kept themselvesin good health.
Swart Piet had Kaffir blood in his veins, as I have said, and fromboyhood it had been his custom to live two lives, one as a white manwith white men, and one as a Kaffir with Kaffirs. About three milesdistant from the Umpondwana Mountain was a strong koppie with fertilevalleys to the back of it, and here, being rich and having a great nameas a white man, he found it no trouble to establish himself as a nativechief, for refugees of all sorts gathered themselves about him, sothat within a year he ruled over a little tribe of about a hundred mentogether with women.
With these men Van Vooren began to harass the Umpondwana, cutting offtheir cattle if they strayed, and from time to time killing or enslavingsmall parties of them whom he caught wandering on the plains out ofreach of help from the mountain. Whenever he captured such a partyhe would spare one of them, sending him back with a message to theUmpondwana. They were all to one effect, namely, that if the tribe woulddeliver over to him the lady Swallow who dwelt among them he would ceasefrom troubling it, but if this were not done, then he would wage waron it day and night until in this way or in that he compassed itsdestruction.
To these messages Sihamba would reply as occasion offered, that if hewanted anything from the Umpondwana he had better come and take it.
So things went on for a long while. Swart Piet's men did them no greatharm indeed, but they harassed them continually, until the people ofthe Umpondwana began to murmur, for they could scarcely stir beyond theslopes of the mountain without being set upon. Happily for them theseslopes were wide, for otherwise they could not have found pasturage fortheir cattle or land upon which to grow their corn. So close a watch waskept upon them, indeed, that they could neither travel to visit othertribes, nor could these come to them, and thus it came about thatSuzanne was as utterly cut off from the rest of the world as though shehad been dead. She had but one hope to keep her heart alive, and it wasthat Ralph and Jan would learn of her fate through native rumours and beable to find her out. Still, as she knew that this could not be countedon, she tried to let us have tidings of her, for when she had been onlya week on the mountain Umpondwana she despatched Zinti and two men tobear him company, with orders to travel back over all the hundreds ofmiles of veldt to the far-off stead in the Transkei.
As she had neither pen nor ink, nor anything with which she could write,Suzanne was obliged to trust a long message to Zinti's memory, makinghim repeat it to her until she was sure that he had it by heart. In thismessage she told all that had befallen her, and prayed us to take Zintifor a guide and to come to her rescue, since she did not dare to setfoot outside the walls of rock, for fear that she should be captured byVan Vooren, who watched for her continually.
Zinti, being brave and faithful, started upon his errand, though it wasone from which many would have shrunk. But as ill-luck would have it,one night when they were camped near the kraal of a small Basuto tribe,his companions becoming hungry, stole a goat and killed it. Zinti ate ofthe goat, for they told him that they had bought it for some beads, andwhile they were still eating the Basutos came upon them and caught themred-handed. Next day they were tried by the councillors of the tribe andcondemned to die as thieves, but the chief, who wanted servants, sparedtheir lives and set them to labour in his gardens, where they werewatched day and night.
Zinti was a prisoner among these Basutos for nearly a year, but atlength he made his escape, leaving his two companions behind, for theywere afraid lest if they ran away with him they should be recaptured andkilled. As soon as he was free Zinti continued his journey, for he wasa man not easily turned from his purpose, nor because it was now over ayear old did he cease from his attempt to deliver the message that hadbeen set in his mouth.
Well, after many dangers, footsore and worn-out with travelling, atlength he reached the stead, to find that we had all gone, none knewwhither, and that the long-nosed cheat to whom we had sold the farmruled in our place. Zinti sought out some Kaffirs who lived upon theland, and abode with them awhile till he was rested and strong again.Then once more he turned his face northward towards the mountainUmpondwana, for though he greatly feared the journey, he knew that theheart of Suzanne would be sick for news. War raged in the country thathe must pass, and food was scarce; still at length he won through,although at the last he was nearly captured by Black Piet's thieves, andone year and nine months after he had left it, a worn and weary figure,he limped up the red rock path of Umpondwana.
Suzanne had been watching for him. It seems strange to say it, but aftersix months had gone by, which time at the best must be given to hisjourney, she watched for him every day. On the top of the highest andmost precipitous cliff of the mountain fortress of Umpondwana was alittle knoll of rock curiously hollowed out to the shape of a chair,difficult to gain and dizzy to sit in, for beneath it was a sheer fallof five hundred feet, which chair-rock commanded the plain southward,and the pass where Van Vooren had spoken to Suzanne from hishiding-place among the stones. By this pass and across this plain helpmust reach her if it came at all, or so she thought; therefore in thateagle's eyrie of a seat Suzanne sat day by day watching ever for thosewho did not come. A strange sight she must have been, for now long agosuch garments as she had were worn to rags, so that she was forced toclothe herself in beautiful skins fashioned to her fancy, and to gosandal-footed, her lovely rippling hair hanging about her.
At length one day from her lonely point of outlook she saw a solitaryman limping across the plain, a mere black speck dragging itself forwardlike a wounded fly upon a wall. Descending from her seat she sought outSihamba.
"Swallow," said the little woman, "there is tidings in your eyes. Whatis it?"
"Zinti returns," she answered, "I have seen him from far away."
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p; Now Sihamba smiled, for she thought Zinti lost; also she did not believeit possible that Sihamba could have recognized him from such a distance.Still before two hours were over Zinti came, gaunt and footsore, buthealthy and unharmed, and sitting down before Suzanne in her privateenclosure, began at the very beginning of his long story, after thenative fashion, telling of those things which had befallen him upon theday when he left the mountain nearly two years before.
"Your news? Your news?" said Suzanne.
"Lady, I am telling it," he answered.
"Fool!" exclaimed Sihamba. "Say now, did you find the Baas Kenzie andthe Baas Botmar?"
"No, indeed," he replied, "for they were gone."
"Gone where? Were they alive and well?"
"Yes, yes, they were alive and well, but all the Boers in those partshave trekked, and they trekked also, believing the lady Swallow to bedead."
"This is a bitter cup to drink," murmured Suzanne, "yet there is somesweetness in it, for at least my husband lives."
Then Zinti set out all his story, and Suzanne listened to it in silence,praising him much and thanking him when he had done. But after thatday her heart failed her, and she seemed to give up hope. Ralph hadvanished, and we, her parents, had vanished, and she was left alone aprisoner among a little Kaffir tribe, at the foot of whose strongholdher bitter enemy waited to destroy her. Never was white woman in amore dreadful or more solitary state, and had it not been for Sihamba'stender friendship she felt that she must have died.
Now also Swart Piet grew bolder, appearing even on the slopes of themountain where his men harried and stole. He did more than this even,for one morning just before dawn he attacked the pass leading to thestronghold so secretly and with such skill that his force was halfwayup it before the sentries discovered them. Then they were seen, and thewar-horns blew, and there followed a great fight. Indeed, had it notbeen for a lucky chance, it is doubtful how that fight would have ended,for his onslaught was fierce, and the Umpondwana, who at the best werenot the bravest of warriors, were taken by surprise.
It will be remembered that Zinti had brought Ralph's gun with him whenfirst they fled north, and this gun he still had, together with a littlepowder and ball, for, fearing lest it should be stolen from him, he hadnot taken it on his great journey to the Transkei and back. Now, hearingthe tumult, he ran out with it, and fired point blank at the stormers,who were pushing their way up the narrow path, driving the Umpondwanabefore them. The _roar_ was loaded with slugs, which, scattering, killedthree men; moreover, by good fortune, one of the slugs struck Van Voorenhimself through the fleshy part of the thigh, causing him to fall,whereon, thinking him mortally wounded, in spite of his curses andcommands, his followers lost heart and fled, bearing him with them.Sihamba called upon her people to follow, but they would not, for theyfeared to meet Swart Piet in the open.
In truth they began to weary of this constant war, which was broughtupon them through no fault or quarrel of their own, and to ask wherewas that good luck which the White Swallow had promised them. Had itnot been that they loved Suzanne for her beauty and her gentle ways, andthat Sihamba, by her cleverness and good rule, had mastered their minds,there is little doubt indeed but that they would have asked Suzanne todepart from among them.
On the day following the attack Sihamba learned that Swart Piet layvery sick, having lost much blood, and sought to persuade her peopleto attack him in turn, and make an end of him and his robbers. Butthey would not, and so the council broke up, but not before Sihamba hadspoken bitter words, telling them that they were cowards, and would meetthe end of cowards, whereat they went away sullenly. Afterwards theylearned through their spies that Van Vooren had gone to Zululand tovisit the King Dingaan, which Sihamba thought evil tidings, for shescented fresh danger in this journey, and not without reason. But toSuzanne she said nothing.
Two more months went by peacefully, when one morning a herd who wastending the cattle that belonged to Suzanne and Sihamba, sought audienceof the chieftainess.
"What is it?" asked Sihamba, for she saw by the man's face thatsomething strange had happened.
"This, lady," he answered. "When I went down to the kloof at dawn, whereyour cattle and those of the Lady Swallow are kraaled, I found amongthem strange oxen to the number of more than a hundred. They arebeautiful oxen, such as I have never seen, for every one of them is purewhite--white from the muzzle to the tail, and I cannot understand howthey came among your cattle, for the mouth of the kraal was closed asusual last night; moreover, I found it closed this morning."
When Sihamba heard this she turned cold to the heart, for she knewwell that these spotless white cattle must come from the royal herd ofDingaan, king of the Zulus, since none other were known like them in allthe land. Also she was sure that Swart Piet had stolen them and placedthem among her cattle so as to bring down upon her and her tribe theterrible wrath of Dingaan, for she remembered that this mingling ofcattle was a trick which he had played before. But to the herd she saidonly that doubtless they were cattle which had strayed, and that shewould make enquiry as to their owner. Then she dismissed him, biddinghim to keep a better watch in future.
Scarcely had he gone when another man appeared saying that he had met aKaffir from beyond the mountains, who told him that a party of white menwith women and children had crossed the Quathlamba range by what is nowknown as Bezuidenhout's Pass, and were camped near the Tugela River.This was strange news to Sihamba, who had heard nothing of thewhereabouts of the Trek Boers, so strange that she would not speak ofit to Suzanne, fearing lest it should fill her with false hopes. But shesent for Zinti, and bade him cross the Quathlamba by a little-used passthat was known to her near the place where the Tugela takes its rise,and which to-day is called Mont aux Sources, and following the riverdown, to find out whether or no it was true that white men were encampedupon its banks. When he had done this he was to return as swiftly aspossible with whatever information he could gather.
This task Zinti undertook gladly, for he loved following a spoor, whichwas a gift that Nature had given him; also he was weary of being coopedup like a fatting fowl upon the mountain Umpondwana.
When Zinti had gone Sihamba summoned other messengers, and commandedthem to travel swiftly to the kraal Umgungundlhovo, bearing her homageto Dingaan, king of the Amazulus, and asking whether he had lost any ofthe cattle from his royal herds, since certain white oxen had been foundamong her beasts, though how they came there she could not tell. Thesemen went also, though in fear and trembling, since in those days noneloved to approach the Lion of the Zulu with tales of cattle of his thathad strayed among their herd. Still they went, and with doubt in herheart Sihamba sat awaiting their return.