The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 10

"Possibly," a.s.sented the king unwillingly. "The death by hanging and the disgrace of it are greatly feared, and it may be that--"

"Yes," interrupted d.i.c.k soothingly, "of course it will. Then that is settled, eh? Because I want you to understand that unless you definitely promise me that there shall be no torture I shall be obliged to withdraw from this business altogether; moreover, I will take my magic off Sekosini, and then nothing that you can do will make him confess or incriminate the others. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, it is true," admitted the king reluctantly; "Sekosini is very obstinate; and if he were so minded he would refuse to confess, even were he staked out on an ant's nest."

"Of course he would," agreed d.i.c.k. "Therefore you see for yourself how futile anything of that kind would be. It would only make of him a martyr, and of you a cruel, revengeful, suspicious brute in the eyes of your people. But if he and his fellow conspirators can be brought to admit their guilt publicly, you at once become the righteous judge, and score accordingly. And I can make them confess if they are really guilty, as Sekosini a.s.serts."

"Then tell me, O Healer! what do you advise?" asked the king.

"This," answered d.i.c.k. "I advise that you summon the whole of your chiefs to present themselves before you, and when they are a.s.sembled, Sekosini shall be called into your presence and commanded to tell his version of the story of the conspiracy in the hearing of all the chiefs.

Then, if the chiefs implicated have any excuse to offer, let them offer it; if they have not, let them be hanged as plotters against the authority and person of the king."

"It is well said; the advice is good, and shall be followed," exclaimed the king. "It shall be done forthwith. I will send forth a messenger commanding all chiefs to present themselves before me in the Great Place, in connection with a matter of import; and when they have a.s.sembled, Sekosini also shall be brought hither."

"There is no need for you to trouble about Sekosini," answered d.i.c.k.

"When you require his presence I will bring him to you by the power of my magic."

About an hour later Lobelalatutu, having summoned his chiefs, sat upon his throne in the centre of the Great Place before his palace, with d.i.c.k beside him, and his bodyguard of some five hundred warriors, fully armed, arranged in a wide circle round him. Then the chiefs began to arrive, singly, or in twos or threes, until all were present; and as each arrived he was admitted to the interior of the circle of guards, where he squatted on his haunches before the king, the entire a.s.semblage of chiefs, some thirty in number, forming themselves into an arc of a circle at a distance of about twenty feet from the throne. When at length it had been ascertained that every chief except the sick 'Nkuni was present, the king turned to d.i.c.k and said:

"Now, O Healer! by the power of your magic, cause Sekosini, the chief witch doctor, to come hither, I pray you."

At the king's words there occurred an uneasy movement among the a.s.sembled chiefs, some of whom exchanged quick, furtive glances of apprehension, which were duly noted by d.i.c.k and the king. The latter smiled somewhat sardonically and, beckoning the chief of his bodyguard toward him, murmured certain instructions in his ear. Meanwhile d.i.c.k, concentrating his thoughts upon Sekosini, mentally commanded him at once to present himself before the king in the Great Place. A quarter of an hour of somewhat painful tension followed, during which no word was spoken by any one of those who were hemmed in by the circle of armed guards, and then the chief witch doctor was seen approaching. He entered the circle of the guards, through a gap which was opened to give him pa.s.sage--and which instantly closed again behind him--did _bonga_ (homage) to the king, and then stood, silent and serene, about midway between the king and the line of sitting chiefs. His aspect of perfect serenity, due to the fact that he was still completely under d.i.c.k's hypnotic influence, seemed to rea.s.sure certain of the a.s.sembled chiefs, whose faces had shown signs of anxiety; but the fact that The Healer, sitting there silent and impa.s.sive beside the king, had been able to summon Sekosini from a distance, and compel his presence, had been duly noted, and hands were placed over mouths, and low murmurs of "_Au!

'mtagati; 'mkulu 'mtagati_" (a wizard; a great wizard) ran round the a.s.sembly.

The king himself was by no means unimpressed by this evidence of d.i.c.k's wonderful power. He decided that it was a thing to be remembered; but it in nowise troubled him, for it was being exercised in his behalf.

He, however, allowed time for the effect to sink into and take good hold of the minds of the spectators, for he was shrewd enough to recognise that the possession of such an ally must materially strengthen his own position; and at length, when he believed that the incident had produced its full effect, he sprang a new surprise upon his audience by saying, in a loud voice:

"Stand forth, O Sekosini! and tell us what you know concerning the sickness of the chief, 'Nkuni, and the deaths of those other six who have recently travelled along the Dark Path!"

Then, to the unutterable confusion and dismay of his fellow conspirators, the chief witch doctor, speaking in a loud, clear voice, proceeded clearly and succinctly to unfold detail after detail of the plot for the overthrow of the king, and the means whereby it had been hoped to accomplish it, including the murder of the six chiefs who, it was believed, were powerful enough to render the scheme abortive. As the full, cold-blooded atrocity of the conspiracy became revealed, murmurs of anger and detestation, low at first, but louder as the story proceeded, began to run round the line of chiefs, while those who sat next the parties implicated edged away from them on either side as far as possible, until they crouched, isolated, crestfallen, and self- condemned by their guilty countenances, a target for all eyes. At length Sekosini's story came to an end, and for a few tense moments a profound silence ensued. There was not an individual present who did not realise the vital importance to the entire nation of the issues that had been raised by the witch doctor's confession, and the manner in which those issues would be dealt with by the king. Disaffection, secretly fomented and carefully nurtured, had grown so strong that it now threatened to disintegrate the whole nation, and unless it were firmly dealt with would probably split up the Makolo into a number of petty tribes, at enmity with each other, and an easy prey to those other nations who surrounded them. Would the king have the courage boldly to seize the hydra-headed menace and choke the life out of it, or would he resort to a policy of temporising and concession? Everybody present awaited the king's action in breathless suspense, while some were already grimly counting the number of spears upon which they might reckon to back them. But the anxious broodings of the a.s.semblage were suddenly broken in upon by the voice of the king, who, lifting his head, cried in a loud voice:

"Ingona, trusted friend and counsellor of the king, induna of the Makolosi regiment, the very flower and backbone of my army, you have heard the tale told by Sekosini. Say now, is that tale false, or is it true?"

Ingona, a war-scarred veteran of perhaps fifty years of age, tall, straight as a spear shaft, and of commanding presence, rose to his feet and answered in a clear, deep voice:

"It is true, O Mighty One! true in every detail."

"It is true," repeated the king, in a tone of deep sorrow; "yes, unhappily there is no room to doubt it; every word carried conviction of its truthfulness to my mind. It is true; and the meaning of that is that the chiefs of the Makolo are divided into two factions, one of which would leave the government of the nation in my hands, while the other would entrust it to--whom?"

"Nay, O Great One! who can say? We had not agreed as to that," answered Ingona.

"Then--after my death--how was the matter to have been decided?"

demanded the king.

"Who can say?" again answered Ingona. "We should probably have fought it out, and the victor would have seized the throne."

"And ye would have set the Makolo at each other's throats for--what?"

demanded Lobelalatutu.

"Truly, I know not," answered Ingona, "unless it were to satisfy the ambition of Sekosini. He has already confessed that he was the originator of the conspiracy, and therein he spoke no more than the truth. He is guileful as a snake; he has the gift of persuasive speech, and knowing that some of us were chafing under prolonged inaction, he used his cunning and the power of his tongue to stir our discontent into indignation, and finally into hatred and a fierce determination to effect a change. By the power of his magic he turned our hearts from thee, O Great One! and made us long, even as he did, for a return of such days as those when M'Bongwele reigned, when we were ever at war, when our young men became warriors instead of husbandmen, and when we enriched ourselves with the spoils of the vanquished. It was a dazzling dream that he brought before our eyes, and for a time it blinded me to the evils that lay behind it, and it is only now, when it is too late, that I perceive that evil, and understand that Sekosini befooled and bewitched me to the end that he might be raised to such power as M'Pusa enjoyed during the reign of M'Bongwele, when he and not M'Bongwele actually ruled the Makolo people. It is enough; I have said!"

"Take him away to his hut; set a guard over him; and see that he escape not," ordered the king. "If he be not forthcoming when wanted, the officer and guard who have him in charge shall be crucified. Lambati, you too are implicated in this conspiracy. Have you aught to say in your defence?"

"Nay, O Great One!" answered Lambati; "I could but repeat the words of Ingona; and what would that avail me? Nothing! I, too, have said!"

"Let him also be taken away, and watched as carefully as Ingona,"

ordered the king. "Mapela, have you aught to say in justification of your conspiracy against me?"

"Ay, that have I," answered Mapela, springing to his feet and speaking in a defiant tone of voice. "My justification, O Lobelalatutu! is that under your governance the Makolo, formerly the most powerful and warlike nation in the world, is fast becoming a nation of women, and the contempt and laughing-stock of our neighbours. Soon shall we forget the art of war, our young men will sicken at the sight and smell of blood, and we shall become the prey of the first nation that dares attack us.

Are not these sufficient reasons for our desire to see thee removed, and a man placed upon the throne in thy stead?"

A low murmur, whether of approval or the reverse it was difficult to say, ran round the line of a.s.sembled chiefs at this defiant speech from the mouth of one of the most powerful chiefs of the nation, but it subsided again instantly.

"Have you aught further to say, O Mapela?" demanded the king.

"Nay," answered Mapela, still in the same defiant tone of voice. "What I have already said should surely be sufficient."

"It is," answered the king dryly, as he signed the guards to remove the rebel. "Is there anyone present who thinks and feels as does Mapela?"

"Yea!" answered two of the implicated chiefs, named respectively Amakosa and N'Ampata, as they simultaneously sprang to their feet.

"And have you, Amakosa, anything to add to, or take from, what Mapela has said?" demanded the king.

"Nothing!" briefly answered Amakosa.

"Or you, N'Ampata?" pressed the king.

"Only this, O Great One! that I think it would have been better had we approached thee and opened our minds to thee before conspiring against thee. But the plan was Sekosini's, and he would listen to no such proposal; while I, who had been sworn to secrecy, dared not break my oath," answered N'Ampata.

"Why not?" demanded Lobelalatutu. "When I was placed upon the throne, did not you, N'Ampata, with all the other chiefs, swear allegiance and loyalty to me? Yet you have dared to break that oath. Why, then, should you not dare to break your oath to Sekosini? Was he greater than I, or his power more than mine?"

"He persuaded me that it was; and also that, since in the opinion of many you were misgoverning the nation, I should be justified in breaking my oath of allegiance," was the answer.

"Take them away!" commanded the king. And when they had gone he called upon the two remaining chiefs, Moroosi and Sekukuni, to justify themselves, if they could.

"I have naught to say, O Great One!" answered Moroosi, "save that, as it was with Ingona so was it with me."

"And you, Sekukuni?" demanded the king.

"I also am the victim of Sekosini's wiles and his serpent tongue,"

answered the chief. "I should never have joined the conspiracy had he not led me secretly to believe that when thou wert gone I should be made king in thy stead. And the prospect dazzled me, for I believed that I could govern better than thou."

Again the king waved his hand, and the last two of the conspirators were led away, amid an intense, breathless, almost ominous silence. For a few minutes Lobelalatutu sat, with his chin resting upon his chest, apparently reviewing the situation; then, lifting his head, he spoke.

"Chiefs of the Makolo," he said, "ye have to-day heard how Sekosini, the chief witch doctor, and seven of the most powerful and influential among you secretly plotted together to destroy me, and, by so doing, to set you at each other's throats like wolves fighting over a carca.s.s, and ye have also heard what means were adopted to render the plot successful; how six of your number were sent along the Dark Path by the witchcraft of Sekosini, and how another would have taken the same journey but for the superior witchcraft of him who sits here at my side. It was his power that compelled Sekosini to come hither to-day and tell the truth; and it is to his power that 'Nkuni will owe his life, for the Healer has promised to save him and make him whole again. Think ye that it was mere chance that brought the Healer and his friend the Mighty Hunter into the land of the Makolo at the moment when, but for them, Sekosini's plot must have been crowned with success? I tell you, nay; it is because it has been ordained that I, whom the Four Spirits of the Winds set upon the throne, should continue to rule over you! It is useless to plot against me, who am under the protection of the Spirits; for, as ye have seen, it can but lead to the detection and overthrow of the plotters. Yet the eight who have to-day confessed their guilt before you are not all equally guilty, and therefore their punishment shall not be equally severe. Had such a thing as this happened in the days of M'Bongwele they had all died lingering and painful deaths; but I have been taught to temper justice with mercy; therefore, while all must be punished for conspiring against me, their lawful king, their punishment shall be in strict proportion to their guilt. And this is a matter that requires careful consideration; for while, on the one hand, I am determined that the punishment shall not be too severe, I am equally determined that it shall not be weakly lenient. Go, therefore, now; and to-morrow I will summon you again to hear sentence p.r.o.nounced upon the guilty ones. You are dismissed."

Five minutes later the Great Place was empty, d.i.c.k having followed the king, by the invitation of the latter, into his house. For several minutes Lobelalatutu remained sunk in a profound reverie, evidently pondering upon some question of exceeding difficulty; at length, however, he raised his head and said: