In Search of the Okapi Part 44

"The chiefs white men," was the cry that rose, that reached Mr. Hume as he fought coolly, warily, in a crisis of the battle, knowing that, if he gave back an inch, the men behind him would bolt, and Ha.s.san's horde would swarm into the valley.

"Hurrah, my brave lads!" he roared. "You there behind, meet the white men and lead them up to the place where I first stood."

"Yebo Inkose! (yes, chief)" cried a Zulu of the Angoni.

Thus the chief's "white men" were met in the gorge by a dark figure panting heavily, who led them through other dark forms, some lying groaning, others silent--led them up to a ledge that overlooked the enemy.

"What now?" asked Compton, looking at the Zulu, and in the better light noticing the wounds on his head and left arm.

The Zulu pointed down. "Fire, O white men, between that tree and the rock. There they are thickest."

The two rifles flashed out simultaneously.

"Hurrah!" roared the Hunter from below. "Give them the whole magazine."

"Empty the magazines," said Venning between his teeth; and the Lee- Metfords poured out a little rain of thin bullets into a s.p.a.ce between the tree and the rock.

"Yavuma!" cried the Zulu.

"Yavuma!" roared the Hunter. "Stand firm, my children!"

The Zulu knelt on the brink of the ledge and peered down into the gloom, out of which came the shouts of the enemy, thrown into confusion, when apparently all was going well with the attack. An arrow struck on the rock, then another.

"The tree," he said, pointing into a great tree-top. "Let one chief fire into the tree and the other at the white spot."

"I see the white spot," said Compton; and again he emptied his magazine, while Venning riddled the tree-top, out of which at the discharge men dropped in haste.

"Cease firing," came the command from below. "Now, my children, forward once more. They run."

"They run!" shouted Muata's men, as they swept out from the defile after Mr. Hume.

"At the white spot," said the Zulu, gripping Compton by the arm.

"Fire; ye will not hurt our men. There are men with guns where the white is; and, see, others join them. Quick! Shoot, white men, or they slay our friends."

A flame spurted out from the gloom down where the white specks gathered, and the Lee-Metfords were not idle. The little bullets rang into the place where those white-robed Arabs were waiting with their rifles, and before they could play their part, the beaten van of their a.s.saulting party broke upon them in their flight. The battle was over! Muata, returning from the killing of the men he had decoyed into the valley, raised the shout of victory, and the two boys went down into the gorge to join in the throng of exultant and excited warriors.

"Way for the chief's white men!" cried the Angoni Zulu, staggering from his hurts.

"Bayate! to the white men," shouted the warriors, rattling their spears.

"We are no chiefs men," said Compton, proudly.

"Ohe!" said Muata, overhearing the words. "Lion's cub, I hear. Ye shall have the chief's feather; and the great one, where is he?"

Out of the darkness beyond came the chant of deep voices--the song of the men who had held the gate, "The great one," "Lion-throated,"

"He whose roar filled the valley," and so on, until they recognized the form of their chief, when very wisely they directed their praise to his deeds.

Mr. Hume, bare-armed, reeking of battle, hoa.r.s.e from shouting, stepped up and gripped hands with the boys.

"We go to our house on the hill, chief," he said.

"There will be feasting to-night, my brothers, and your places will be beside the chief," said Muata.

"'Sot for us. Feast well; but watch well also, for Ha.s.san has not had his fill. Come, lads."

They left Muata giving directions for guarding the gate, and went back through the gorge into the valley, and down towards the village, where they were met by a band of women carrying torches and singing. The women formed a ring about them, and in this the chiefs mother danced, stamping her feet, and clapping her hands, while she sang of the battle.

"We go up to the cave," said Mr. Hume, when the dance was over.

"Send us food, mother."

"In plenty, O shield of my son!"

"And hark to this, wise woman--see that the warriors drink sparingly, for the wolf is most dangerous when he comes to the kraal a second time secretly."

"Wow! That is my thought also; but men are foolish. If the horn is filled, they would empty it without thought of the morrow. Ohe! you will eat well;" and she issued orders to some women, who returned to the village, and other orders to a couple of boys, who were only too glad to lead the popular white men up to the cave, to light the fires and bring water. And almost as soon as they were at the cave the women arrived with meat, fruit, and milk.

The Hunter stretched himself at once on the blankets. "I am not so young as I was," he explained.

"That won't do," said Venning, lighting the lamp. "You must not go to sleep without having had your supper." He turned the light on.

"Why, you're wounded!"

"I dare say, lad. It was pretty hot down there at one time."

"Oh, you know this is not fair to us! I say, d.i.c.k, come here."

"What is it?" asked Compton, coming in from attending the fire.

"Mr. Hume has got himself wounded, and he never told us."

"Don't bother about me, lads; I'll be all right in the morning."

But they did bother about him--washed the blood from his face, cleansed and treated a jagged wound on the skull and fomented a swelling on the right wrist, and then insisted on his taking food.

"Now, you go to sleep," said Venning; "and in the morning, perhaps, you'll tell us all about it."

They were very silent, until the Hunter fell into a deep sleep, when they tiptoed out to the fire, and sat long into the night listening to the noisy shouts of rejoicing that floated up from the village below, where the fires gleamed brightly, too anxious themselves to even discuss Mr. Hume's injuries. In the morning, however, when they opened their drowsy eyes, they were gladdened by the sight of the Hunter returning from the bath, with the drops still glistening on his tawny beard.

"Now tell us," they said, when the breakfast was prepared, "all about the fight."

"It is soon told. I let the enemy pa.s.s in pursuit of Muata, as arranged, but when it came to our part in the plan--that of closing the defile--we found the job tougher than we antic.i.p.ated. Those cannibals are hard fighters. They fell back as we unmasked our ambush; but they rallied quickly, and delivered one a.s.sault upon another. I tell you, we were at our last gasp when your arrival decided the matter."

"You must have come to close quarters?"

Mr. Hume nodded his head. "I received the blow on the wrist guarding my head from a club, and the cut on the head from a spear."

"And you used your knife?"

"I dare say I did my share," said the Hunter, who had held the defile alone at one time, his staunchest supporter, the Angoni Zulu, having fallen back exhausted.