The King's Assegai Part 2

"'You are indeed a man, Untuswa!' she cried. 'Keep well within the favour of the King. One day you will be an _induna_. Who knows? One day you may command the whole army in battle.'

"'Why not propose that one day I may reign as King?' I said banteringly. 'The one is as likely as the other.'

"'Well, what then? Even that may be,' was her cool reply. 'A man who is brave and cautious may climb to any height; and did not the King promise you his dark-handled a.s.segai? What is the history of Umzilikazi himself?'

"'Speak low, girl, or speak not of these things at all,' I whispered warningly. 'One word of such talk falling upon other ears would certainly cost both of us our lives.'

"But, in truth, I was amazed, bewildered, the while more in love with her than ever, on account of this bold and scheming talk.

"'What, then?' she answered. 'The King may have us killed, but he cannot prevent us from loving each other. Come now, Untuswa, and let us love each other while we may.'

"_Au, Nkose_, who shall put grey hair upon--a cool brain into--a young head? The place was lonely, and my good dog would keep watch. And so Nangeza and I loved each other, and not until darkness had fallen did we separate from each other's arms and wend by different ways back to the camp.

"But we had both incurred the death penalty. For the stern and rigorous law of Tshaka had as yet undergone no relaxation, and even Umzilikazi himself would hardly have dared to pardon a breach thereof. Yet, such is the hot-blooded rashness of youth, this, though the first, was destined to be by no means the last time we should incur that awful penalty."

CHAPTER THREE.

THE BASUTU KRAALS.

"Shortly after this an _impi_ was sent out against some strong Basutu kraals which lay in our path, and whose inhabitants, our scouts had reported, were arming for resistance. Little they knew that they had to contend against a whole nation. They imagined, doubtless, that they only had to deal with a small _impi_ of Tshaka's which had crossed the Ewahlamba range.

"'Go now, Untuswa,' said the King. 'Here, it may be, you may win your head-ring.'

"And this, _Nkose_, was in my mind. So we set forth, about fifteen hundred strong, for the King would not send too large a force, in order to keep us in practice for real hand-to-hand fighting on something like even terms. Masipele was our head _induna_, and under him was Gungana, a man of whom I was not over-fond, nor did he like me, whom he deemed was ever too near the ear of the King.

"We started at dawn, and after marching about a quarter of a day, came in sight of the Basutu kraals, standing upon an open plain, beneath a low, round-topped range of hills. There were three of these kraals, but it was in the largest that all the fighting men had gathered. This was surrounded by a very high and very broad stockade, composed of dry thorn boughs beaten together and interlaced. We made no attempt at concealment, but advanced singing our great battle-song of victory or death. Their Masipele gave orders to form in crescent formation, and to charge forward to surround the kraal.

"_Whau_! that day! The Basutu did not run away when they spied our approach. They were ready for us, and, cl.u.s.tering as thick as bees, they fought behind their stockade with all the valour we could wish.

Roaring like lions, we sprang again to the charge, only to be met by their ready spears and battle-axes on the other side of the stockade, and before we could leap over and return stab for stab we were hurled back blinded by great p.r.i.c.kly boughs thrust into our faces. They were nearly as numerous as ourselves, and fought as desperately. Twice we were repulsed, and that, to us Zulus, represents more than half a defeat. Our head _induna_ was killed, falling upon a heap of corpses, the bodies of those he was leading. One horn of the _impi_ was wavering on the verge of rout. Here was my chance; for I had formed a plan.

"'Follow me, soldiers of the King!' I cried. 'I will find a road in!'

"Measuring the distance with my eyes, I ran and leaped. I could leap in those days as well as run. My leap carried me clear over the stockade, right into the thick of the swarming Basutu. But I was alone. None had followed.

"Then I saw red. How I cut and slashed with the strong, broad--bladed a.s.segai in my hand! Grinning, furious faces hemmed me in; a bright forest of blades struck and hacked at me from every side. I could feel the burning sear of wounds, the stunning shock of k.n.o.b-kerries on my great war-shield. I could feel more--I could feel blood, that of my enemies; I could feel the keen blade of my a.s.segai shearing through them, as they fell one upon another. Ah, the madness of it! The ecstasy of it! What a glorious form of death was this! I, alone, beset by foes--felling them around me like trees! I, alone, where none had dared follow! Ha! surely no braver deed was ever done! The King would be satisfied now! Dancing, leaping, thrusting, parrying, I hewed my way through the encompa.s.sing crowd, further and further into the kraal, further and further to death. But for death I cared nothing now, and I laughed aloud. My furious war-shout was answered by my comrades outside. Ah, but--they were still outside!

"Now my end would be gained. A curl of blue smoke arose from above the lines of huts, and towards this I was making, surely, craftily, cunningly. I had left off fighting now, and was dodging my enemies round and among the huts. Ha! they could not overtake me, for had they not to do with the King's chief runner?--and there were none to stop me, for all were engaged in defending the stockade.

"The fire at last! It burned bright and clear in front of a larger hut than the rest, and round it sat a ring of witch-doctresses mumbling incantations. So intent were they upon this that I drove my a.s.segai through the nearest before they discovered that a Zulu warrior was in their very midst. _Au_! the she-cats! What a yell they gave as they flung themselves on the ground and screeched for mercy! But I laughed, and, having speared two more of them as they lay there, I s.n.a.t.c.hed the flaming brands from the fire and flung them upon the thatch of half a dozen of the nearest huts, which in an instant were a ma.s.s of flame and smoke.

"All this had taken but a moment of time, and now, as my pursuers came up, I shovelled as much of the fire upon my shield as I had time to do, then started to run, dodging them round the huts as before. As I came to the stockade again, those defending it looked round, and seeing a strange figure bearing fire upon a shield, must have taken me in the fray for one of their own witch-doctresses, and instead of attacking me they waited to see what I would do. But they had not long to wait.

"Darting through them, I poured the whole glowing burning ma.s.s into the stockade; and, indeed, it was high time, for my shield was nearly charred through. The thick thorn-fence was as dry as months of uninterrupted sunshine could make it. It caught at once, shooting out into myriads of serpentine tongues of fire. _Hau_! It roared, it crackled, and already the flames from the huts I had first set on fire were darting like lightning from thatch to thatch!

"'I return, men of the King!' I roared, fearing to be mistaken for one of the Basutu and speared as I leaped back over the stockade. A shout of recognition greeted my words, and, striking right and left, I plunged through the now flaming fence, through the fire itself.

"'Now we have them!' I cried, as I once more found myself among my own people. 'A pretty blaze! Now have we smoked the game from its cover!'

"As the words left my lips there burst forth a wild shrieking and yelling. The wind had fanned the flames so that the kraal was now one ma.s.s of red fire and whirling smoke-clouds. The women and children, panic-stricken, were fleeing wildly, rushing headlong upon our spears.

But just then the fighting Basutu, ma.s.sing into a body, charged furiously out of the kraal on the side I was attacking. With their heads lowered, emitting from their teeth a succession of the most shrill and strident whistles, striking to right and to left with their a.s.segais and battle-axes, on they came. Not even the King's troops could have charged more impetuously, more unswervingly. _Whau_! In a moment they were in our midst. In a moment we had closed up around them. Their whole fighting strength was here, and we had hemmed it in. In a moment they were all broken up into furious struggling groups--and how they fought, how we fought! It was silence then. No man spoke--no man shouted. You could hear only the gasp of laboured breathing, the stamp of striving feet, the jarring crash of shields and weapons, the dull thump of a falling body, the crackling roar of the blazing kraal, whence clouds of smoke were floating across our faces and blinding our eyes so that we could hardly see each other, and struck and stabbed wildly at random, to the peril of friend as well as of foe. But it could not last--we were too many, too invincible. We stood stupidly staring at each other, swaying, tottering with exhaustion and excitement, for the fray had been fierce. Before, around us, lay heaps of weltering corpses, hacked and battered, the blood welling from scores of spear-stabs. These we ripped according to our custom; those of the enemy, that is; for of our own warriors there were also heaps of slain; indeed, the Basutu had fought like cornered lions. No prayer for mercy was upon their lips. Brave, fierce, defiant to the last, they had fallen.

"And now above the crackling roar of the flames and the wild, fierce, triumphant shout which swelled to the heavens from our victorious throats came the doleful shrieking of women, who saw their little ones speared or flung into the flames, who themselves lay beneath the sharp kiss of the spear-blade; for we Zulus, when we see red, spare no living thing. And we saw red that day--ah, yes, we saw red. Ha! By the time a man could have counted fifty from the moment the fighting had ceased not one who had inhabited that kraal, even to the last dog, was left alive.

"'_Hau_!' cried Gungana, the second _induna_ in command of our _impi_, as he stood gazing upon a heap of the slaughtered women, among whom were several who were young and pleasant to look upon. '_Hau_! I think we have made too much of a mouthful of the King's enemies. Now, some of these would have been better alive than dead, for of girls among us we have none too many. It is a pity we did not save some.'

"'Perhaps so,' said I. 'But, deferring to your head-ring, O Gungana, I seem to have heard the King say he liked not these intermarriages, and the mingling of the blood of the Amazulu, "the People of the Heavens,"

with that of inferior races.'

"I fancied that Gungana looked at me somewhat askance, and a queer smile played about his bearded lips. He was that same _induna_ who had come over to us with Tshaka's force, and him our King had promoted to great honour.

"'_Whau_, Untuswa! Thou art but a boy, and claimest to know over-much of the King's mind,' he said.

"'In fear I do so, my father,' I replied deferentially. 'I ask nothing but such a fight as we have had to-day. And have I not fought?' showing my hacked and charred shield and my body streaming with blood from several ugly gashes. 'Did I not put in the fire that smoked these wolves out of their den? And now, O my father, will you not whisper it in the ear of the King that the son of Ntelani, although but a boy, can fight, can plan?'

"'It may be that I will do so, Untuswa,' he answered.

"But that strange look was still upon his face as he turned away, and I liked it not. For by this time my continual presence about the King was looked upon with distrust by many of the _indunas_. Even my father was jealous of me, and this being so, wherefore should Gungana look upon me with more favourable eyes? But it was in his power to speak the word which should obtain for me my head-ring, or not to speak it, wherefore I treated him almost as deferentially as I would the King himself.

Moreover, I flattered him.

"'_Au_!' I cried, 'am I not but a thoughtless boy? Who am I that I should boast of my own deeds in the presence of an _induna_ of the King, before the brain which thought for the _impi_, before the eyes which were the sight of the _impi_? Let it be but whispered in the King's ear that the son of Ntelani was near the right hand of Gungana throughout the battle. That will be distinction enough.'

"This told. The _induna_ turned half round to listen, and a different expression came into his face. This time he looked pleased.

"'Rest easy, son of Ntelani,' he said. 'The man _whom I sent_ to set fire to the kraal will not be forgotten.'

"We Zulus are not like you white people, _Nkose_, whose faces are to be read like a white man reads a book, else had I been quite undone that day. For the idea of setting the kraal on fire had been entirely my own--planned by me, carried out by me alone; that, too, only in time to save us from defeat, which would have meant ruin to Gungana, if not death. And now he coolly gave me to understand that all the credit of it, the generalship of it, was to belong to him. This I had thought was the feat which should win me honour among the people, and my head-ring at the approving word of the King, and now it was all to go to the credit of my commander. I could hardly keep my face from speaking the wrath and disgust I felt--yet I did so, and called out that Gungana was my father, and as his child I had been privileged to do his bidding.

For although it flashed upon me that if ever a day of reckoning should come Gungana would fare badly at my hands, yet now I wanted his good word; wherefore I flattered him.

"Just then my eye was attracted by a movement among a heap of bodies lying piled up near me. I thought I heard a smothered groan. Then all the wolf-nature of my warrior blood sprang up within me. Here, then, was something more to slay. Good! With kindling eyes I gripped anew my broad a.s.segai and leaped to the group of bodies. Yes; it was a groan.

A pair of legs was protruding from the pile and feebly moving. Seizing them by the ankles, I tugged with all my might.

"'Come forth,' I growled, for I was holding my a.s.segai in my mouth to leave both hands free. 'Come forth, and taste blade over again. Ha!

killing is the only thing good to live for, after all. Come forth!'

"Jerking out these words, I threw the corpses aside as one might throw f.a.ggots from a stack of firewood. Then another tug, and I found I was holding by the legs the body of an old man, wrinkled and white-bearded.

Beyond a gash or two in the chest, he seemed unwounded, but his head was covered with blood. Clearly, a blow had felled him, but how was he still alive, how had he escaped being ripped, as is our custom?

"'Ha! I will make that good,' I muttered savagely, seizing my a.s.segai with that intent.

"But something in the old man's aspect arrested my arm.

"He was, as I have said, very wrinkled and white-bearded. But his eyes--ah, such eyes! bright, keen, glittering--they were the eyes of a youth who, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow-warriors, is sweeping down upon his first enemy, instead of the filmy orbs of an old man who is tired of looking on this world. They seemed to burn, to pierce through me, to wither up all the strength of my right arm. I could not strike the spear down into his vitals; I could not remove my gaze from his. It was terrible! If his eyes burned like this while he was weak and wounded, and almost lifeless, what would they be like in the full vigour of health? And then I saw that his neck and body were hung with trappings and charms such as the _iza.n.u.si_ [Witch-doctors] use.

"'Strike and slay me, if thou wilt, son of the King's _induna_,' he said, and his eyes seemed to glitter more fiercely, like those of a snake. 'But if so, thou shalt never attain thy dearest desire.'

"'Son of the King's _induna_,' he had said. This was _tagati_ [Wizardry] indeed. How did he know my estate?