The Induna's Wife Part 13

"My life is in the hand of the Great Great One," I answered.

"Ha! Thou hast well said," replied the King. And then he dismissed me.

For many days then I dwelt at Nkunkundhlovu; I, who had now become a wanderer; I, who had been a man of large possessions, the chief of many kraals, and the owner of vast herds of cattle, was now as poor as the poorest, living only on the King's bounty. But from time to time Dingane would send for me, and we would talk long and earnestly over our plans for conquering Umzilikazi. At last I saw my revenge within my grasp. All was in preparation. No more _impis_ were sent out on errands of plunder or punishment, and the regiments which dwelt at the great military kraal of Imbele-bele were ordered up to Nkunkundhlovu.

They came, making a splendid show as they paraded before the King, in full war-array.

When this was at an end and I was walking back to my hut, I heard myself hailed by a deep voice. Turning, I beheld a fighting chief arrayed in the war dress of the Imbele-bele regiment.

"It seems to me that this is not our first meeting. Wanderer from the North," said this man.

"Ha! I should know thee," I replied, "for we have exchanged hard blows in a great battle, Silwane. More than that, thou didst once cry me the '_Bayete_' and didst take orders from me as to the disposal of the invading host of Zulu."

At those words Silwane stared as though he were face to face with a madman. But I brought him to my hut, and there alone, over a bowl of good _tywala_, I told him of those things which had happened during the blackening of the moon which preceded that great battle which was the saving of a nation's life, and of which I have told you, _Nkose_, in another tale. When I had done, Silwane stared harder than ever, thinking perhaps I was the most wonderful strategist he had ever heard tell of, or the most wonderful liar.

"And now, having saved thy nation, thou art to be the means of destroying it, Untuswa?" he said. "Well, if thou art as good at fighting for us as thou wert against us it will go hard for Umzilikazi's army. Well do I remember that great white shield of thine in the thick of the battle. _Whau_! but we thought it was Umzilikazi himself."

Thus we talked, we two leaders of men--and often afterwards--and we two who had exchanged hard blows face to face now became friends, who were to deal hard blows side by side.

Almost were we ready to march northward, I say, and now the spirit of Lalusini would appear to me in my dreams, but glad and smiling, and by this I knew the omen of our success was good. But on one night I row her thus more plainly than ever, and it seemed I could touch her, and then her face changed, and grew quick and watchful, as though in warning, and it seemed as though the weight of some great peril lay upon me.

Now as I woke, in something very like fear, I found that one of my Swazi wives, who slept at my side, had sprung up and was shaking with fear.

She declared that the form of a woman had pa.s.sed through the hut; that it was a spirit, for a.s.suredly no living woman possessed such beauty of form or face.

I knew not what to make of this; yet, while affecting to scorn her tale, I questioned the girl closely. If she, like myself, had but dreamed, why then it was pa.s.sing strange that our dream should have shown us both the same vision. In truth, I knew not what to think. Powerful beyond all others I knew Lalusini's magic to be; was it then sufficiently powerful to bring her back from the dead? I thought much of this during the days that followed.

But the days that followed brought that which turned all our thoughts in an entirely new direction, for tidings came which were weighty indeed.

The Amabuna [Boers] were advancing into the land of Zulu.

They were swarming in, men said. The slopes of Kwahlamba were covered with flocks and herds--their waggon teams were winding through the mountain pa.s.ses, seen like vast serpents in the distance, far as the eye could see. In the face of this new enemy Umzilikazi was forgotten. No expedition to the North could be undertaken now. Day by day men brought tidings. The numbers of the Amabuna were countless, they said, and with them, besides their flocks and herds, they had their women and children in their waggons. They had come to remain in this land.

Well was it, now, that the army had been called up, and was disposed in or around the Great Place; well indeed for us now, for we would need all our strength to beat back or stamp out this locust swarm. Bitter and stubborn fighters were they, and knew how to use their long guns. The war-song was sung, and war-dances were held among our regiments, and the talk of all men was of war.

But Dingane was uneasy in his mind, and in his rage at not being sooner informed of the advance of the Amabuna, he sent for the head men of the outlying kraals and had them killed. Two of them he ordered to be impaled upon stakes, within sight of all in Nkunkundhlovu.

Now hard by there dwelt a white man--an _Umfundisi_ [Teacher or missionary], one of your countrymen, _Nkose_. Him the King had allowed to live there because he was the friend of another white man who had visited the country alone and in a friendly manner a short while before, but Dingane had no love for him or his teaching, nor had any of us in those days. This man, seeing from his house the death of those evil-doers, came quickly down to Nkunkundhlovu, hoping he might save the lives of others, for he was a man with a kind heart and hated to behold suffering.

Now as he came before the King he was very pale, for he had pa.s.sed close to the place of slaughter where lay those just slain, with broken skulls; and the sight of the agony of the two upon the stakes turned him very sick.

"You are somewhat late, my father," said Dingane, when the _Umfundisi_ would have pleaded for their lives. "The mouths of those who kept them closed too long are now closed for ever. Yonder they lie."

"But those under torture, King?" urged the white man, hardly able to look in the direction of the stakes, so filled was he with loathing and disgust. "At least give the word that they be put out of their pain."

"_Au_! Here is a marvel!" said Dingane laughing; "the white _Umfundisi_ actually pleading for the death of men!"

"Yes, but it is to save them hours of cruel torment," answered the white man quickly.

"Ah, ah!" laughed the King. "And yet, my father, you teach that nothing but torment awaits bad men after death--torment for ever and ever. Is it not so?"

Now we who listened awaited the _Umfundisi's_ reply with some curiosity.

"That is so, King, for it is in the word of G.o.d," he said.

"Why, then, if that is so, _Umfundisi_, it will make no difference whether I order these to be slain at once or not, since, they being bad men, torment awaits them after death," answered Dingane.

"But were they bad men, King? What was their crime?"

"Their crime was that of those who sleep when they should have been awake, _Umfundisi_; and I seem to remember that in the stories you teach to my people out of your sacred book such are thrown by the G.o.d whom you serve into a place of darkness and of never-ending torment. So the punishment I mete out to my people is less than the punishment your G.o.d metes out to his."

"But His ways are not as our ways," replied the _Umfundisi_, becoming angry. "He alone created life, and He alone has the right to take it.

Who art thou, sinful man?" he went on, his eyes blazing with wrath, and pointing his finger at the King. "Who art thou, thou man of blood, to wreck and mangle G.o.d's Image thus?" pointing to those upon the stakes.

"Tremble and know that a judgment awaits thee--yea, a burning fiery looking-for of judgment to come. Then the torment that these undergo now shall be a bed of flowers beside such as thine, for thy part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire for ever and ever and ever."

The eyes of the _Umfundisi_ seemed to blaze, his hair to bristle, as he thundered out his words, shaking his finger at the King; and we--_au_!-- we looked to see a third stake erected to receive the body of this white man, who dared to revile the majesty of the Lion of Zulu--or, at least, that he be led forth to die beneath the k.n.o.bsticks of the slayers--and we gazed at the King, awaiting the word. But Dingane only laughed.

"Thou mad _Umfundisi_," he said. "Had I but spoken of thy G.o.d as thy speech is to me I should have gone into torment for ever and ever according to thee and thy teachings. But I am more merciful than thy G.o.d, and thou canst go home. Yet hearken! I am G.o.d over the people of Zulu, and if a man disobeys me I order his death--_whau_!--a swift and easy and painless death, or at worst a few hours of torment. But thy G.o.d? _Whau_! for ever and ever and ever does He torment men after death, in a burning flame of fire! So, _Umfundisi_, I am the more merciful of the two; and I think the people of Zulu prefer the G.o.d they know to the one whom thou and such as thee would teach them to worship.

Now, go home. _Hamba gahle, Umfundisi! Hamba gahle_!"

"_Hamba gahle, Umfundisi_!" we all cried, deriding the white man as he went away. But some of us wondered that the King should allow him to live, or, at any rate, to remain in the country; and, indeed, had he been a man of any other nation I think he would have died that day; but, being a man of your country, _Nkose_, he was allowed to live unmolested, for Dingane had no wish to quarrel with the English. But most of us-- especially Tambusa--would gladly have seen this interfering _Umfundisi_ despatched to--well, to that place of torment whither he had predicted the King should come.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE TONGUE OF THE SNAKE.

The cloud which had rolled down upon the land of Zulu from the slopes of Kwahlamba was destined to be no mere summer cloud, _Nkose_, but was charged with thunders, black and threatening. The army, which had been doctored and made ready for war, wearied the King with its clamour to be sent forth against the invaders, and long and oft would Dingane hold council with the _izinduna_ as to what was best to be done to repel this peril. Now I reckoned it a sign of the honour in which I was held that at such conferences I was ever commanded to be present.

But counsels were various. Some were for falling upon the Amabuna in the pa.s.ses of Kwahlamba; others for allowing them all to cross in peace, and when encamped on our side to throw the whole strength of our army upon them, and, having cut off their retreat, to put every one of them-- man, woman and child--to the a.s.segai--even the suckling babe.

"I have a mind to send to the white people at Tegwini," [Durban.

Literally "The Bay"] said the King. "They are my friends, but not of this new race. It may be that they will aid me to get rid of these Amabuna."

But Tambusa, who hated all whites, opposed this idea of the King's. The people at Tegwini, he urged, would stand by these other whites and support them. White was white, and black was black, and all white people stood together against black, although they professed very great friendship when but a mere handful, and had anything to gain by it. He had always objected to this handful of English being allowed to remain at Tegwini from the very first. If it was inexpedient to kill them they should have been sent away right out of the country.

In this counsel Tambusa was right, as subsequent events proved; but, _Nkose_, few men would have dared to speak their minds thus boldly. But Tambusa although he hated me, I could not but regard with respect as a brave man, and as such he lived and died, as will be shown.

"And thou, Untuswa," said Dingane, "thou hast fought these Amabuna.

What is thy mind in this matter?"

"It is that of Tambusa, Great Great One," I answered. "These Amabuna fight hard and die hard, nor is their word to be trusted. He whom I served knew how to handle them--and there is but one way." Then I told that tale of how they would have enslaved our nation, and how they plotted with certain of Umzilikazi's _izinduna_ to procure the death of that king; and all who heard me murmured aloud that there was but one way for these people, and that was the way of the spear.

"A swarm of locusts beaten off returns again," I ended, "and again and again, until the land is eaten up; but a swarm of locusts stamped flat--_au_! there is no more of that swarm. That is my counsel, Lion of Zulu."

And again all murmured aloud in approval of my words, for it was intolerable to us that these strangers should swarm down upon the land, not even so much as asking leave of the King; and this, _Nkose_, I felt, as though I had done _konza_ to the House of Senzangakona all my life, instead of growing great in the service of another king; for, after all, this was the land of my birth--this people the parent race from which we were all proud to have sprung. Moreover, for the present, I thought no more of my revenge. Here was more than one great and glorious battle awaiting; it was long since I had taken part in such a one, and the blood rushed and danced in my veins at the thought.

From day to day our spies brought in word to the King. The Amabuna continued to advance, and they were in great force. Their leaders and picked men were stern, determined-looking fighters, fierce of aspect, with their long guns and leather breeches and s.h.a.ggy beards; and our warriors, listening, lay under arms, their eyes glaring like those of lions, as they awaited the word that should let them loose.

Then came tidings that the Amabuna had formed a great camp some ten days distant from Nkunkundhlovu, and that several of their leaders were advancing to talk with the King.