Adventures in Swaziland Part 26

None of the indunas, warriors, or women came near us, and I soon realized that we were in disfavor for some reason or other. Only a direct command from Lomwazi or the old queen would have made the people avoid us in this manner. However, it was not fitting that I should visit the royal kraal without invitation, so I did not stir from our camp that night. In the morning I announced my arrival to Labotsibeni without the indignity of supplicating an interview. This came about in a peculiar manner.

Shortly after dawn I was awakened by the deep ba.s.s of a native who seemingly was greatly annoyed. The voice was strangely familiar, but I could not place it for the moment. In a little while Sibijaan came into the tent with my coffee and announced that I had a visitor.

"Ou Baas, there is a great induna outside," he said, "and he wants to see you. He says he is very angry. Shall I tell him to go to h.e.l.l?"

Thirsting for information regarding things at the royal kraal, I bade Sibijaan send him in. This my old playmate did with poor grace, since he would have preferred to be cheeky to the chief.

To my surprise, Manaan--he of the savings-bank account--strode in. He was carrying his war tools and stood facing me for an instant in quite a belligerent att.i.tude. I was wearing only a thin bathrobe and for a second or two the angry black man faced the white. Then the age-old supremacy of race a.s.serted itself and Manaan dropped his eyes with the familiar "Nkoos!"

"What the devil is the matter with you?" I demanded angrily. "Why do you make all this row so early in the morning?"

"Peace, Nkoos, peace!" the old induna answered. "I did not know that it was you. I would not have made talk if I had known."

Then he went on to explain that our donkeys had strayed across the stream during the night and had ruined his corn patch. He insisted that the poor beasts had eaten all the young corn and that he and all his wives faced starvation during the coming year. What he really was worried about, it developed, was that there would be no corn to make tswala and in consequence he would have to go without his beer until a new crop came in.

I sympathized with him and told him that I would go over and see the damage as soon as I was up and about, agreeing to pay him for it. I felt sure that he was lying, but did not want to make an enemy of him, since I knew that he was said to be close to Labotsibeni. In the olden days he was leader of one of Buno's crack impis and was a noted warrior.

In a little while I accompanied him to look at the ruined crop, and, as I suspected, found he had lied like a kaffir. The damage was about three shillings worth, and I told him so and offered to pay him the money. He became very indignant.

"This is not right, Nkoos!" he almost shouted. "I am a great induna and cannot be treated in this way. I am one of the queen's most important chiefs and I shall report this injustice to her."

Now this threat suited me. If the old fool reported that I was robbing him, he would also be notifying Labotsibeni that I was in the neighborhood.

"I am willing to abide by what the queen decides," I said. "You tell her that I await her word. I shall state my side to her, and you can state yours!"

This was what I really wanted. It would bring me before the old queen and allow me to ask her about the coronation. With this understanding Manaan left for the royal kraal, while I went to breakfast. Shortly after we had finished, Manaan returned.

"I have seen the queen," he announced in an important manner, "and she is much offended because you have treated Manaan so unjustly. She says that you must pay me five shillings and a bottle of gin, and then the debt will be satisfied."

To make the payment seem greater I protested for a moment and then gave it to the old fellow. I asked him how the queen was, but he answered evasively. This brought the suspicion that he had not seen Labotsibeni at all and had concocted the story about her decision as to the payment. Manaan would have been quite capable of this because he had lived for some time among the whites in Johannesburg and had been schooled in guile.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied that he had brought word to the royal kraal that I was there, and I expected that I would soon receive a message from the queen to come and see her. When the sun showed that it was nearly noon I decided to force her hand and sent Sibijaan with presents, which means gin, to the royal kraal. He returned presently, saying that Lomwazi had taken them from him and that they had been accepted by the queen.

Sunset came and yet there was no word from the old lady, and I began to grow anxious. I sent for Manaan and cultivated him in an attempt to get some information. He soon became drunk and told me many little things, none of which threw much light on my problem. One statement, however, was important.

"All the people, except Lomwazi and a few of those close to the queen, want Sebuza to be king," he said. "They are tired of being ruled by a queen, and Lomwazi asks too much. He always wants more cattle and corn from each kraal, and the people are dissatisfied. Even now they are waiting for Sebuza to come down out of the mountains and it is said they will demand that he be made king then!"

Part of this was very interesting. I was glad to know that the people wanted Sebuza, but I doubted that they would dare to ask for him to be appointed king. The Swazis are subservient to their rulers and it was unthinkable that they would a.s.sume to ask Labotsibeni to abdicate.

They were very afraid of the old queen; she seemed to exert some sort of extraordinary influence over them. It was cheering, however, to know that I had public opinion on my side.

CHAPTER XVI

Labotsibeni refuses to see me--Sugden and my men escape a.s.sa.s.sination--A fruitless conference--We flee to Lebombo--Oom Tuys turns up--We confer with Queen Tzaneen and Lochien--Five-and-ten-cent- store jewelry has persuasive powers--Sugden falls ill--We build his coffin--Sebuza returns from his sanctification.

Next morning I got up, pocketed my pride, and decided to call on Queen Labotsibeni. When I reached the entrance of the royal kraal I was met by Lomwazi. He was furtive in manner and did not look me in the eyes.

His voice, as usual, was quite low, and for once his dramatic gestures were lacking.

I demanded to be allowed to see Labotsibeni. Lomwazi shook his head and spread out his hands deprecatingly.

"The queen will not see you, Nkoos," he said, "and she sends word that you are not to camp on the royal ground."

"But why won't she see me? I bring her presents and much gin," I protested. "She promised that I should attend the coronation of Prince Sebuza!"

"She is very, very old, but still she doesn't want to die," added the wily Lomwazi, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

At last I understood. Lomwazi had let the cat out of the bag and the delay in the coronation of Sebuza explained itself. Tempted by the great price I had offered for the picture rights--five hundred cattle, five hundred gallons of gin, and five hundred pounds in gold--the old queen had overlooked the fact that Sebuza's accession to the throne meant her death. At the time I made the bargain with her, or with Lomwazi as her agent, she had consoled herself with the thought that the British Government would be able to save her life. Now she was afraid that the government might not be able to do so and wanted the coronation delayed indefinitely, or put off for good.

Labotsibeni and Lomwazi were in an uncomfortable position. They faced either the certainty of being sacrificed when Sebuza mounted the throne or the breaking of their contract with me. In addition, the sentiment of the people of Swaziland was against the old ruler and Lomwazi must have known it. Under Labotsibeni there had been more than twenty years of peace, and there had grown up a feeling that the nation was becoming decadent without a war, if only a little one against some inferior tribe. The British had backed the old queen in all her moves toward keeping peace within her borders, and the fighting men of Swaziland were unhappy at not having any opportunities to show their mettle. From the days of Ama-Swazi the Swazis had been a warlike people, and the bloodthirsty Buno had developed their ferocity by frequent raids and forays on neighboring tribes. The accession of Sebuza, young and warlike, made the Swazis feel that they would have a real leader again, and the fact that the crown prince was the son of Buno added to their desire for him to reign.

I had left Oom Tuys in Ermelo with the understanding that he would join us in Zombode. I began to wish he would show up, since I seemed to be b.u.t.ting my stubborn Boer head against a brick wall and my uncle was the one white man in all the Transvaal in whom old Labotsibeni placed her trust. I knew that she would not refuse to see him and there was a chance of his getting her to agree to the coronation.

Realizing that we were in for a delay that might last several months, Dr. Sugden and his companions decided to study the Swazis at close range and compile data concerning the tribe. To me was left the politics and "w.a.n.gling" of the expedition, while they started out blithely one morning to catch Swazis.

Their expedition was abortive, to put it mildly. Of course Sugden would only be content with Swazi life as exhibited in the royal kraal, and it was there that he decided to begin. I did not know this, and thought that he was going to visit some of the little kraals where the indunas lived.

I was sitting in my tent thinking about sending a man to find Tuys, when Sibijaan came running in very much excited.

"Ou Baas, Mlung Emantzi Eenui, Makofa, and the other white man are going to be killed at the royal kraal!" he cried.

Now Sugden was called Mlung Emantzi Eenui--"The Man of Living and Burning Words"--by the kaffirs, and Crespinell was given the name of Makofa, which means "The Small Alert One." The other white man was Rossman, of course.

I sprang out of the tent, across the little stream, and ran to the royal kraal. There I found my companions surrounded by a full impi of warriors who had hemmed them in with their a.s.segais. The white men had drawn their revolvers and were ready to use them. It only remained for some one to make a sudden break and there would be a killing.

"Make way! Make way!" I yelled, diving through the throng.

In a second or two I reached Sugden, who had the grim look that means fight. He had Lomwazi covered with his revolver and I could see that the induna would be the first to go if the shooting started.

"What's all this trouble?" I demanded, as though I were the chief of all. "Why are these warlike manoeuvers? Why have these warriors stopped my men?"

Lomwazi hesitated for a moment, during which I could see the tension relax and the Swazis begin to drop their spear-points.

"It is forbidden that white men enter the royal kraal," the chief said. "These men tried to force their way in. They said they wanted to see all things in the kraal. The queen sent her own impi to stop them and gave orders that they were to be killed if they did not go away!"

Sugden was much disgusted, and gave his side of the affair.

"I only wanted to take a look around," he said. "We were just inside the kraal when these men came running from every direction and surrounded us. I thought we would have to fight our way out and would have popped some of them off if Lomwazi had not come up. He told us to get out, and here we are!"

That seemed to be all there was to it. However, it was a bad affair, as it put me in the position of trying to break into the queen's kraal without permission. Later I realized that it did not make much difference, since we were out of favor at Zombode anyway.

I was well nigh desperate now. It seemed as though nothing could be accomplished through Labotsibeni or Lomwazi, but I decided to make one last appeal to him. I sent him a present by Sibijaan and asked that he come and see me at my camp.

My boy brought back word that Lomwazi would see me next morning, but would meet me at the crossing of the little stream. "When the sun reaches the royal kraal" was the time set, which must have been about seven or seven-fifteen o'clock.

The stream was only a short distance from our camp, and I watched until I saw Lomwazi coming to the rendezvous. I had expected that he would arrive with four or five of his indunas, and I had arranged that all my white companions should accompany me to the interview. Instead, Lomwazi brought practically the whole royal impi with him. The savages were in full war costume and made a splendid picture as they marched, the sun reflecting from their black shoulders and a.s.segais. It was the first time that Sugden and the others had seen a whole impi in all its glory and they were much impressed. The warriors were drawn up in a sort of regimental formation at the meeting-place, with Lomwazi waiting in front, by the time I decided we should leave our tents.