Adventures in Swaziland Part 34

This settled the question. Lochien thought my threat was real--and he was not fooling himself much, either.

L'Tunga, who had a wide reputation throughout Swaziland as a witch-doctor, then went forward, accompanied by Lochien, Makets, and several others. They made the peace sign and went halfway across the debatable ground between the two armies. Here they waited for a few moments only, and then Lomwazi and half a dozen indunas came to meet them. I would have given much to have heard that conversation. After a short talk Lomwazi led our envoys into the village.

No sooner were they out of sight than Labotsibeni's men again began dancing and shouting their war-cries. I could feel our warriors tightening up, and shouted for Vilakazi. I told him to watch closely and prevent any warrior from breaking ranks, and demanded that he stop them from dancing. He went along the ranks and spoke to the indunas, who turned and yelled at their men. In spite of this, I could see the plumes beginning to sway and felt that it would not be long before they were at it again. This time I doubted whether we could stop them if the "enemy" began taunting them.

Labotsibini's men shouted and jumped, and presently one or two began running forward a short distance. A warrior would seemingly be overcome by his emotions and would make a quick dash into the "No Man's Land" between the forces, using up his energy by a particularly violent fit of dancing. When this was spent he would hop back to his place near the kraal, yelling all the while.

I realized the danger of this sort of thing. If these enthusiastic savages came far enough, they would tempt some of our men to dance out and meet them. This would mean a killing. There would be some rapid blows with the k.n.o.b-kerries, accompanied by the hollow thud when the shields caught the strokes, and finally one blow would go home and the victim would drop. Like a flash would come the stab of the a.s.segai and there would be a dead man on the ground!

Our indunas knew this better than I did, and they walked up and down before their excited warriors watching for the first man to break ranks. Tuys and I held our rifles ready, fully intending to shoot the first warrior who started for the middle ground. It was a ticklish position and my white companions stood nervously waiting for the break they felt was coming.

At the moment when it seemed as though the dam must burst and our men get beyond control, a sudden silence came over the shouting lunatics at the kraals. I understood the reason when I saw our envoys coming out of the royal kraal, still escorted by Lomwazi and his indunas.

Amid deep silence they walked slowly to the spot where they had met before and stopped long enough to ceremoniously salute each other.

Then Lomwazi and his bodyguard returned to the village and L'Tunga and the others came to where we stood.

They appeared angry and worried. Lochien also looked dejected, and Tuys and I listened while L'Tunga made his report.

"Queen Labotsibeni sends word that she will not surrender the throne, Nkoos," he said. "She told me to tell our queen that she must die before the throne pa.s.sed to Sebuza, and not after."

Evidently the old queen had made up her mind that the government could not protect her from the sacrifice if she allowed Sebuza to become king.

"When I told her that we had many more warriors than she had," the witch-doctor went on, "she declared that her indunas would fight to the death, that so long as she held Zombode she was Queen of Swaziland!"

I could picture the old queen when she delivered this defiance. Blind, too weak to stand, and more than one hundred years old, her spirit was still unbroken, her courage undiminished! She had lived like a queen and evidently had made up her mind to die like one.

Both armies remained quiet while we held a council of war. Makets insisted that we attack Zombode; he thought we could rush the village and take it. I could see that he was carrying out instructions that Umzulek had given him when he sent him to Lebombo. His advice was given in a torrent of words that I had difficulty in stopping. He had the attack all planned.

"Attack with fire!" he almost yelled, for he was much excited and in deadly earnest. "First the impis of Tzaneen, Sebuza, and Umzulek will attack those on guard. After them will come the others, carrying fire.

While we fight, the torch-bearers will break through and burn the kraals!"

He had it all planned out and I could perceive the cunning mind of his chief at work. Makets wanted a b.l.o.o.d.y holocaust that would bring back the old days with a vengeance. I had heard of such attacks when the Boers and British wiped out offending tribes, and I knew what such a thing meant--a ma.s.sacre, with the women and children burned to death!

I finally silenced Makets, but barely in time. He had almost fired the others with his bloodthirstiness, and for a moment I was afraid they would bolt and start the carnage. L'Tunga came to my a.s.sistance, and a moment later Lochien joined the anti-war party which Tuys and I headed. Our argument lasted a long time, but finally we prevailed.

"Indunas and leaders of the true king's impis," I said at the conclusion of our council. "We have shown Queen Labotsibeni and Lomwazi that their nonsense must end. They know now that a majority of the loyal warriors of Swaziland are behind the son of Buno and they are afraid! Let us take our impis back to Lebombo, and to-morrow we will send to Labotsibeni and demand that she give up the throne. She is afraid that she will be killed, according to the ancient custom, and for that reason refuses to abdicate. We white men will pledge ourselves to guard her and escort her to Portugese territory, where she will be safe. When she hears this, she will have no hesitation in permitting Sebuza to be crowned."

This reasoning seemed good to Lochien, L'Tunga, and the others, except Makets, who grumbled a bit and still wanted to end the business then and there. I suspect that he hated the thought that he would have to report to Umzulek that there had been no fighting and that Lomwazi had escaped.

Our warriors were squatting on the ground when the command was given for the return to Lebombo. They rose at once, and Labotsibeni's watch-dogs also sprang to their feet. These expected that we were about to attack, and so were greatly puzzled when our army turned about and started off slowly for Lebombo. Their silence lasted only a few minutes, however. Then they broke out into revilings and taunts that would have made a saint fight. Our impis grew more and more sullen under this volley of insults, and went away from Zombode with murder in their hearts and the feeling that they would have many explanations to make when they returned to the home kraals.

I was sorry that our bluff had failed, but very thankful that we had pulled through without bloodshed. Tuys walked along beside me, silent and thoughtful. When Lebombo's kraals came in sight he told me what was on his mind.

"Owen, my lad, I know these people," he said, "and I'm afraid that your peaceful ruse will cause trouble. The Swazi warrior is a proud man and does not like to be called names. I pray that we may get through the next few days without an explosion."

I made light of his forebodings, though probably my att.i.tude was due to our having withdrawn without a battle. Had I known what was going to happen, I would not have been so lighthearted.

Tzaneen and Sebuza were angry at our failure. The prince, of course, was indignant that we had accepted the insults of Labotsibeni's troops and was quite rude to Oom Tuys and me for preventing the capture of Zombode.

"It would have all been over by this time," he said, "and I would be king! My impis have lost faith in me for permitting you white men to do this thing. I shall lose my warriors. They will go over to Labotsibeni and Lomwazi because they are not afraid."

Then I explained to him and his mother about our plan to send a message to Labotsibeni on the following day. When they heard that we white men would guard the old queen and escort her to safety, they thought that it might succeed. Sebuza, though, very pointedly mentioned the fact that according to custom the old queen ought to die. I protested that she was too old and feeble to do him any harm after he became king, and he agreed that I was right.

He was insistent, however, that Lomwazi should die. He felt that Lomwazi would be a menace to the throne and, it seems, had some old scores he wanted to pay off. We argued over this for some time, and Sebuza, on the urging of his mother, finally came around to our point of view. Yet I had the feeling that we would have to move fast to prevent an accident happening to Lomwazi.

I little realized that all this talk was for nothing. My nice little plan, which sounded so simple, would never even be tried!

That night Tuys and I arranged the details of the next day. We planned to take the wagonette and use it to transport Labotsibeni and Lomwazi to Portuguese territory. We would walk beside it with our rifles ready and protect the old queen with our lives. We both felt that the safest thing to do with Lomwazi would be to hide him inside and we spent some time arranging the vehicle so that he could be concealed within. Of course he would be found easily if the wagonette was searched, but we intended to prevent that, even if we had to fight off curious kaffirs.

In high hopes that we had reached the end of the trail and that the coronation was at last in sight, we went to bed. Sugden and Crespinell were glad, too, since they had had their fill of Swaziland and wanted to go home.

But our real troubles were only beginning.

Tuys waked me roughly next morning before day-break. He was much excited, and I could see that he was fully dressed and had his rifle in his hand.

"Get up! Get up at once, Owen!" he said hoa.r.s.ely. "There is the devil to pay! War has broken out and there has been killing already!"

I jumped out of bed and into my clothes in one motion. While I pulled them on he told me what had happened.

"Some of Sebuza's indunas started for their kraals last night," he said. "They went by way of Zombode, and when they pa.s.sed the little hill just before you reach the plain they were attacked by several score of Labotsibeni's warriors and every one of them was killed! It was cold-blooded murder. They must have been outnumbered about ten to one!"

It seems that an induna and his men had lagged behind the others and had seen the ambush. From their description it was a most unexpected and brutal attack. Sebuza's indunas tried to put up a fight and resisted for a short time. Then the enemy overpowered them and stabbed them to death.

So it was war after all! In spite of my efforts to prevent it, the question of who should be ruler of Swaziland was to be settled in the old-fashioned way.

Tuys and I went to the royal kraal and found Tzaneen and Lochien already up. Thousands of warriors and scores of indunas were on guard and the whole place was in whirl of excitement. As we forced our way to the royal hut, Sebuza came marching in surrounded by his young indunas, all of whom were officers in his impis. The prince pushed by us into his mother's hut and a second later Lochien came out and beckoned us to enter.

As soon as she saw us, Queen Tzaneen motioned us to her side.

"It is war now," she said decisively. "There is no other way! Our indunas have been murdered and my warriors cannot be restrained. You white men did everything you could to keep peace, but Labotsibeni makes war against us and we cannot help ourselves. It is war!"

The others echoed the word "war," and I could see that they were all pleased at the prospect. Even Lochien, peace-loving though he was, realized that there was no help for it and counselled quick action to secure the capture of Zombode. Makets was in his glory and I knew that the smell of blood was already in his nostrils.

But I would not give up. I could not see these people go to war and I made one last attempt to prevent it.

"The government will avenge the murder of your indunas, Nkosikaas," I declared. "The government will send rifles to Zombode and will hang all those who did the killing. There is no need for you to meet murder with murder--then you will be also punished by the government's rifles! Thousands will be killed, and needlessly, for those at Mbabane will send white troops to catch the murderers and hang them."

They listened while I spoke, but I could feel that I was talking against a flood that was irresistible. Tzaneen answered me, and her words met the hearty approval of all the others.

"We do not need the government to avenge our dead," she said, holding her head erect with pride. "Our dead are our own and their blood cries to us for revenge!"

That seemed to settle it. They asked us to take part in the war, but we flatly refused. We told them that it was not a "white man's war"

and that we would have nothing to do with it. Then Sebuza, with his customary impudence, asked me to lend him my rifle. I refused, and he grew quite huffy about it.

"You gave my father, King Buno, a rifle," he retorted. "I shall soon be as great a king and then you will be sorry you refused!"

I realized he might be speaking the truth, but nevertheless would not let him have the gun. I would have felt guilty of any killing he did with it and I know the government would have taken the same view.

When Tuys and I got back to our camp we immediately held a council of war. Our position was dangerous. If Labotsibeni's men attacked Lebombo, we might have to fight for our lives. We were known as friends of Tzaneen and Sebuza, and our taking part in the "demonstration" of the day before had shown all Swaziland that we were not friendly to Labotsibeni and Lomwazi. Realizing that we might have to fight and not caring to take advantage of the slim protection of the kraals, we built up the sides of the great wagon so that it became more like a fort than anything else. In addition, we arranged for night watches, so that there would always be at least one white man on guard, with several of the black boys to a.s.sist him. Of course I had Sibijaan a.s.signed to my watch, while Tuis was to watch with Oom Tuys, with whom he had become a favorite. Crespinell and Sugden each had their boys, and we felt that there would be little chance for a surprise attack on the wagon, if matters worked out as planned.