CHAPTER THREE.
AN OMINOUS PARTING.
You will see, _Nkose_, that my times now were stormy and troublesome,and indeed I have ever observed that as it is with nations and people soit is with individuals. There comes a time when all is fair--all ispower and strength and richness--then comes a decline, and neithernation nor individual is as before.
Such a time had come upon myself. After the battle of the Three Rifts,when we had rolled back the might of Dingane--a matter, indeed, whereinI had fully borne my part--there had followed a time of great honour andof rest. I was, next to the King, the greatest man in the nation, forKalipe, the chief fighting induna, was getting on in age, and would fainhave seen me in his place, having no jealousy of me. I had taken towife the beautiful sorceress whose love I had longed to possess;moreover, the King had rid me of Nangeza, whose tongue and temper hadbecome too pestilent for any man to bear aught of. My cattle hadincreased, and spread over the land, and they who owned me as chief weremany, and comprised some of the best born and of the finest fighting menin the nation. Yet this was not to last, and as age and securityincreased for Umzilikazi, his distrust of me gained too, and now I knewhe would almost gladly be rid of me, and quite gladly of Lalusini, myprincipal wife. Yes. To this had things come. I, Untuswa, the secondin command of the King's troops, who had largely borne part in thesaving of our nation, who had even been hailed as king by the flower ofthe Zulu fighting indunas, had now to set out upon a ghost hunt, and, inthe event of failure, the penalty hanging over me was such as might havefallen upon a miserable cheat of an _izanusi_.
Thus pondering I took my way back to my principal kraal, followed byLalusini and others of my wives and followers who had separated from thethrong and joined themselves on to me when the order was given todisperse. Arrived there, I entered my hut, accompanied by Lalusinialone. Then I sat down and took snuff gloomily and in silence. Thiswas broken by Lalusini.
"Wherefore this heaviness, holder of the White Shield?" she said. "Doyou forget that you have a sorceress for _inkosikazi_?"
For a while I made no reply, but stood gazing at her with a glance fullof admiration and love. For, standing there, tall and beautiful andshapely, it seemed to me that Lalusini looked just as when I firstbeheld her in the rock cave high up on the Mountain of Death. Time hadgone by since I had taken her to wife, yet she seemed not to grow old asother women do. My two former wives, Fumana and Nxope, were no longeryoung and pleasing, but Lalusini seemed ever the same. Was it her magicthat so kept her? She had borne me no children, but of this I wasrather glad than otherwise, for we loved each other greatly, and Idesired that none should come between to turn her love away from me, aschildren would surely do. For my other wives it mattered nothing, butwith Lalusini it was different. I loved her, _Nkose_, as some of youwhite people love your women. _Whau_! Do you not allow your women towalk side by side with you instead of behind? This I have seen in myold age. And those among us who have been at Tegwini [Durban] tellstrange tales of white men who go out with their women, that they mightload themselves with all the little things their women had bought fromthe traders. Few of us could believe that, _Nkose_--the tale is toostrange; and yet it was somewhat after this manner that I lovedLalusini--I, the second induna of the King's warriors, I, who since Iwas but a boy had slain with my own hand more of the King's enemies thanI could count. I, moreover, who had known what the ingratitude andmalice of women could do, in the person of my first wife, Nangeza, forwhom I had sacrificed my fidelity to the King and the nation--even mylife itself. But with Lalusini, ah! it was very different. No evil orsullen mood was ever upon her; nor did she ever by look or word give meto understand that a daughter of the House of Senzangakona, the royalhouse of Zululand, might perchance be greater than even the secondinduna of a revolted and fugitive tribe, now grown into a nation. Evenher counsels, which were weighty and wise, she would put forward asthough she had not caused me to win the White Shield--had not saved ournation at the Place of the Three Rifts.
"It seems to me, Lalusini," I said at last, "it seems to me that in thisnation there is no longer any room for us two. I have served Umzilikazifaithfully and well. I have more than once snatched back the life ofthe King, when it was tottering on the very brink of the Dark Unknown,but kings are ever ungrateful; and now I and my house are promised thedeath of the traitor. The destruction of the Red Terror, which is myordeal, is no real trial at all--it is but a trick. The King would berid of us, and, whether I succeed or whether I fail, the Dark Unknown isto be our portion."
Lalusini bent her head with a murmur of assent, but made no remark.
"And now I am weary of this ingratitude," I went on, sinking my voice toa whisper, but speaking in a tone of fierce and gloomy determination."What has been done before can be done again. I have struck down moreof the enemies of our nation than the King himself. One royal spear--one white shield is as good to sit under as another; and--it is time ournew nation sat down under its _second_ king."
"Great dreams, Untuswa," said Lalusini, with a smile that had somethingof sadness in it.
"Great acts shouldst thou say rather, for I am no dreamer of dreams," Ianswered bitterly. "Ha! do I not lead the whole nation in war? for, oflate, Kalipe is old, and stiff in the limbs. One swift stroke of thisbroad spear, and the nation will be crying `_Bayete_' to him who is itsleader in war. Ah! ah! What has happened before can happen again."
But here I stopped, for I was referring darkly to the death of thatGreat Great One, the mighty Tshaka, from whose loins my _inkosikazi_ hadsprung. Yet no anger did she show.
"So shall we be great together at last, Lalusini, and my might in war,and thy _muti_ combined, shall indeed rule the world," I went on. "Ha!I will make believe to go on this _tagati_ business, but to-night I willreturn in the darkness, and to-morrow--_whau_!--it may indeed be thatthe appearance of the Red Death has presaged the accession of a newKing--even as those dogs, who were burnt to-day, did declare. How nowfor that, Lalusini?"
"The throne of Dingiswayo is older than that of Senzangakona, and bothare older than that of Matyobane," she answered. "Yet I know not--my_muti_ tells me that the time is not yet. Still, it will come--it willcome."
"It will come--yes, it will come--when we two have long since been foodfor the alligators," I answered impatiently. "The King's word is that Islay this horror--this _tagati_ thing--by the foil of the moon. What ifI fail, Lalusini?"
"Fail? Fail? Does he who rolled back the might of the Twin Stars ofZulu talk about failure? Now, nay, Untuswa--now, nay," she answered,with that strange and wonderful smile of hers.
"I know not. Now cast me `the bones,' Lalusini, that I may know whatsuccess, if any, lieth before me against the Red Terror."
"The bones? Ha! Such methods are too childish for such as I, Untuswa,"she answered lightly. "Yet--wait--"
She ceased to speak and her face clouded, even as I had seen it when shewas about to fall into one of her divining trances. Anxiously I watchedher. Her lips moved, but in silence. Her eyes seemed to look throughme, into nowhere. Then I saw she was holding out something in her hand.Bending over I gazed. She had held nothing when we sat down nor wasthere any place of concealment whence she could have produced anything.But that which lay in her hand was a flat bag, made of the dressed skinof an impala. Then she spoke--and her voice was as the voice of one whotalks in a dream.
"See thou part not from this, Untuswa. Yet seek not to look within--until such time as thy wit and the wit of others fail thee--or the_muti_ will be of no avail--nay more, will be harmful. But in extremitymake use of what is herein--in extremity only--when at thy wit's end."
Still held by her eyes, I reached forth my hand and took the _muti_ bag,securing it round my neck by a stout leather thong which formed part ofthe hide from whence the bag had been cut. As I did so, Lalusinimurmured of strange things--of ghost caves, and of whole impis devouredin alligator-haunted swamps--and of a wilder, weirder mystery still,w
hich was beyond my poor powers of understanding--I being but a fighterand no _izanusi_ at all. Then her eyes grew calm, and with a sigh as ofrelief she was herself again.
Now I tried to go behind what she had been saying, but it was useless.She had returned from the spirit world, and being once more in this,knew not what she had seen or said while in the other. Even the _muti_pouch, now fastened to my neck, she glanced upon as though she had neverseen it before.
"Go now, Untuswa," she said.
We embraced each other with great affection, and Lalusini with her ownhands armed me with my weapons--the white shield, and the greatdark-handled assegai which was the former gift of the King, also myheavy knobkerrie of rhinoceros horn, and three or four light castingspears--but no feather crest or other war adornments did I put on. ThenI stepped forth.
No armed escort was to accompany me, for I must do this thing alone.But I had chosen one slave to bear such few things as I should require.Him I found awaiting me at the gate of the kraal.
It was evening when I stepped forth--evening, the busiest and cheeriesttime of the day--yet my kraal was silent and mournful as thoughexpecting every moment the messengers of death. The cattle within theirenclosure stood around, lowing impatiently, for the milking wasneglected; and men, young and old, sat in gloomy groups, and no womenwere to be seen. These murmured a subdued farewell, for not only was I,their chief and father, about to sally forth upon an errand of horrorand of gloom, but in the event of failure on my part, who should standbetween them and the King's word of doom?
Through these I strode with head erect as though proceeding to certainsuccess--to a sure triumph. When without the gate I turned for a momentto look back. The rim of the sinking sun had just kissed the tips ofthe forest trees on the far sky-line, and his rays, like darts of fire,struck full upon my largest hut, which was right opposite the great gateof the kraal. And there against the reed palisade in front of the doorstood Lalusini, who had come to see the last of me, ere I disappearedinto gloom and distance. _Au_! I can see her now, my beautiful wife,as she stood there, her tall and splendid form robed as it were inwaving flames of fire, where the last glory of the dying sun fell fullupon her. And through the dazzle of this darting light, her gaze wasfixed upon me, firm and unflinching. Yes, I can see her now as I sawher then, and at times in my dreams, _Nkose_, old man as I am, my heartfeels sore and heavy and broken as it did then. For as I returned herparting gesture of farewell, and plunged into the forest shades, at thatmoment a voice seemed to cry in my ears that I should behold her nomore. In truth was I bewitched.
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"Will you not rest a while, lord, and suffer me to prepare food, for wehave travelled fast and far?"
The voice was that of my attendant slave, and it struck upon my ears asa voice from the spirit world, so wrapped up was I in the gloom of myown thoughts. Now I glanced at the sky and judged the night to be morethan half through. And we had marched since the setting of the sun.But the light of the half moon was sufficient for us, for the foresttrees were of low stature and we were seldom in complete darkness.
"Rest a while? Not so, Jambula," I answered. "Are we not on the King'serrand? and from hence to the full of the moon is not far."
"The forest is loud with the roarings of strange ghost-beasts, myfather; and the time of night when such have most power must already behere. And we are but two," he urged, though with great deference.
"And what are such to me--to me!" I answered, "I who am under theprotection of great and powerful _muti_? Go to, Jambula. Art thouturning fearful as time creeps upon thee?"
"I fear nothing within touch of thy _muti_, father," he answered, likingnot the question.
And then, indeed, I became alive to the meaning of the man's words, forstrange and fearful noises were abroad among the shadows on either hand,low sad wailings as of the ghosts of them that wander in darkness andpain, mingling with the savage howls of ramping beasts into whose grimbodies the spirits of many fighters had passed, to continue their fiercewarring upon such as still trod this earth in the flesh. And over andabove these came the mighty, muffled, thunderous roar of a lion.
But those sounds, many and terrifying as they were, held no fears forme--indeed, they had hitherto fallen upon deaf ears--so filled was mysoul with forebodings of another kind. Now, however, a quick, startledmurmur on the part of my follower caused me to halt.
Right in front I saw a huge shape--massive and shaggy--and I saw thegreen flash of eyes, and the baring of mighty jaws in the moonlight.Then up went the vast head, and a quivering thunderous roar shook thenight.
Then the beast crouched. It was of enormous size in the half light.Was it only a lion--or a ghost-beast, which would spread and spread tillits hugeness overshadowed the world? If the latter, mere weapons werepowerless against it.
Jambula stepped to my side, every muscle of his frame tense with theexcitement of the moment. His shield was thrust, forward, and his righthand gripped the haft of a broad-bladed stabbing spear. But I--nomovement did I make towards using a weapon. I advanced straight uponthe beast, and as I did so, some force I knew not caused my hand to restupon the _muti_ bag which hung upon my breast.
With a snarling roar the beast moved forward a little, preparing for itsrush. We were but ten paces apart. Then the fierce lashing of the tailceased, the awful eyes seemed to glare with fear where rage had firedthem before--the thunder of the threatening roar became as the shrillwhine of a crowd of terrified women--and, backing before me as Iadvanced, the huge beast slunk away in the cover, and we could hear itsfrightened winnings growing fainter and fainter in the distance.
By this, _Nkose_, two things were clear--that the shape, though that ofa huge and savage lion, was but a shape to give cover to something whichwas not of this world--and that Lalusini's _muti_ was capable ofaccomplishing strange and wonderful results.