The King's Assegai Part 4

"'Yaingahlabi leyo'nkunzi!

Yai ukufa!'

[That bull did not gore! It was death!--meaning "That bull _did_ gore,"

but in the most deadly manner.]

"Then, halting before the King, we shouted the _Bayete_, and falling back, left a s.p.a.ce for those who were to perform in the dance.

"They came out one by one, each, as he paused to take breath after recounting his deeds, being greeted by a roar of applause from the throats of the surrounding warriors. Then my turn came.

"I know not how it was, _Nkose_, unless it were the thoughtless rashness of youth, which has caused me to do many foolish and fatal things, but which has also carried me unscathed through their fearful consequences; but when I found myself thus, with a free hand, I forgot all prudence and diplomacy.

"Bounding forward in all my bravery of war, in my jackals' tails and cowhair, with a great plume of cranes' feathers streaming from my head, rapping my great shield against my knees, I leaped high in the air about ten times, each time spinning completely round before touching ground again. The roaring 'Ha! ha!' with which the whole mult.i.tude greeted this display completely intoxicated me. I felt as mad, as drunk, as though I had partaken of the white man's _tywala_. With my eyes blazing from my head, I cried aloud the whole story of our attack upon the kraal. Not a word said I of having been Gungana's left hand, of having carried out the plan which Gungana _sent me to carry out_. No, of this not a word; instead, I poured forth the whole naked truth--how that Masipele, the head _induna_, being killed, the _impi_ was on the point of suffering defeat, when I conceived the idea of braving certain death by myself entering the kraal, which the rest were unable to enter, and myself setting it on fire, thus forcing the Basutu into the open and saving the day. I shouted out the number and description of the enemies who had fallen by my hand, and went through the exact performance of how they had met me and how I had slain them; but all the time never a word about Gungana and his generalship. I told no more, no less than the truth, with all my boasting; but, _Nkose_, he who does this is frequently no more and no less than a very great fool--at least, so it is among ourselves; I know not how it may be among you white people.

"Well, I was carried away by my conceit; partly because, when I leaped in the air, I could see in the background, above and beyond the surrounding regiments, the face and form of my love, Nangeza. She was standing among the women, watching, listening in a perfect ecstasy of admiration and excitement. This was what nerved me to go through a _Tyay'igama_ performance such as, surely, could never have been seen before. I extolled myself and my own deeds as though I were the only man alone in the whole world. The roaring shouts of the warriors rent the night in a frenzy of enthusiasm. The King, I could see, looked upon me approvingly, and I heard him mutter to my father, Ntelani, that he had bred a right good lion-cub indeed. I was drunk with my success.

Then, when I had told all my story, as I was the last, the King gave orders for the beef feast to begin and the _Tyay'igama_ dance was at an end.

"The huge joints were hissing and sputtering upon the fires, giving forth a most delicious odour to our hungry nostrils, and as we squatted around waiting until they should be sufficiently cooked, we talked over the events of the day, and congratulated ourselves on having escaped from the rule of Tshaka. For to us younger men there was something intoxicating in this journeying in search of a new land, fighting our way as we went, stamping out tribe after tribe which lay in our path.

And Umzilikazi, had he not a free and an open hand? He never stinted his warriors, and after such a battle as that of to-day there was beef and _tywala_ enough and to spare. Yes, it was good to _konza_ to Umzilikazi. Moreover, he rarely caused any of his subjects to be killed; unlike Tshaka, who was wont to keep the slayers pretty busy.

Had but another regiment or two joined us, we might have been strong enough to overturn the House of Senzangakona, to have slain Tshaka, and set up Umzilikazi as King in Zululand. Then we need never have started in search of a new country. On such matters, _Nkose_, did the tongues of us young men wag when among ourselves.

"After the feast, while I was returning to my place in the camp--for we had no huts at that time, moving as we were from day to day--someone came behind me in the darkness, and a man's voice said:

"'You are as great in the _Tyay'igama_ dance as in battle, son of Ntelani. And I think you are greater with your tongue than in either.'

I knew the voice as that of Gungana, but its tone--ah! I liked not that.

"'It is as you say, O my father,' I answered. 'But I am a child--and children sometimes talk too much.'

"'That is so, Untuswa,' he said. 'And sometimes a dog thinks himself bigger than his master. The dog runs down and catches the buck, but tell me, _umfane_, who takes the dog to where he may find the buck?'

"'His master,' I answered. 'But the dog is carried away by the chase, and sometimes linds it difficult to quit the game he has killed.'

"'Until he is _whipped off_, Untuswa. And that has to be done sometimes. Ha! Go now and rest, for you must be badly in need of it after all your exertions.'

"Then Gungana left me, and I felt very uneasy. In my foolish egotism I had omitted any reference to him, had claimed all the credit--which, though really my due, I was a fool to insist on--and now the dark meaning of his words, the malice underlying his cold, sneering tones, left me under no sort of doubt that I had made for myself a most dangerous enemy. My attempts at apology had been lame in the extreme.

Gungana had seen through them, and they had failed to appease him. And he was a powerful _induna_, and would certainly succeed to the command of my regiment. Of a truth, _Nkose_, when I lay down that night, it seemed that my coveted head-ring and the fulfilment of the King's promise had faded away into the very furthest mists of the never-to-be.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE MOSUTU WITCH-DOCTOR.

"You will be wondering, _Nkose_, what had become of the old Mosutu witch-doctor whose life I had spared, and who was the sole survivor of his people. The morning after the battle and the feast, before we resumed our march, Umzilikazi ordered the old man to be brought before him.

"I was in attendance upon the King that day, and was acting as his shield-bearer. It was my duty to stand behind him as he sat among the _indunas_, holding the great white shield above his head to shade him from the sun. This was an office the King often had me to perform in preference to most of the other young men of his body-guard, wherefore I heard much deliberation of matters, such as would have astounded many in our host, could they but have guessed they were known to the King--yes, and would have put them in terror for their lives. But these were matters for which I had neither eyes nor ears, and although I had revealed a secret to Nangeza--and that foolishly--it was one which concerned myself alone, and for the others, I would have suffered any death rather than let fall breath of them.

"Standing thus behind Umzilikazi, I was able to command the fullest view of the old witch-doctor, and as they brought him along I noticed that he showed no sign of fear. His, eyes were as bright and piercing as before; and his old body, bowed and wrinkled with age, looked hardly human, so shrunken and withered was it.

"'Are the ghosts of those slain yonder come to life again in this old man?' I heard the King mutter as he signed the Mosutu to rise up from the prostration he had made. 'What is thy name, old man?'

"'I am called Masuka, lord. The guardian spirits of the Bapedi tribe whisper in my ears.'

"'Ha, the Bapedi! So that is the name of those we swept out of our path yesterday.'

"'It is, lord. Yet there are more of them left; but they dwell in the mountains.'

"'Then fortunate are they, for so far as I care they can stay there,'

said the King. 'It is only those lying in my path whom I sweep aside.

But, old man, thy serpents [A favourite form of tutelary deity among Zulus is the serpent] must have been powerful yesterday, in that thou art the only one who has escaped with life from the fangs of my hunting dogs. Yet am I not sorry, for I have heard much of the powers of the Basutu _iza.n.u.si_, and would fain see some proof of them.'

"'The hour is not propitious, King,' replied the old man in a wearied sort of tone, with a glance at the heavens.

"A great growl of astonishment went up from all who heard this answer.

The _indunas_ sat open-mouthed with amazement. This wretched, shrivelled little old monkey, whose life had been spared by the merest chance, instead of being all eagerness to meet the King's wishes, had returned a curt, almost contemptuous refusal.

"'_Atyi_! Was ever such a thing heard of?' they cried. 'He is mad! He is tired of life!'

"But Umzilikazi made no reply. He whispered a word to one of the _indunas_, who rose and went away. In a few moments the sound of singing was heard, and a band of about twenty men and as many women was seen approaching. Battling with bones and bladders, bristling with porcupine quills and feathers, some of them crowned with dry and fleshless skulls, others twining snakes about their necks and arms, in them we recognised our own mystic circle--the witch-doctors who had accompanied us on our migration.

"'_Bayete_!' they shouted, halting suddenly before the King, whom they had approached in a wild and whirling dance. 'We smell a hyena--we smell a jackal--we smell a wizard--an impostor! Give him to us, O King, Lord of the nations! Let him die the death, lest he bewitch us, and our path be no longer smooth! Give him to us, that we may eat him up!

_Hou! hou! hou_!'

"The whole circle was now whirling around the old Mosutu, springing at him in the att.i.tude of wild beasts, snapping and growling. So frenzied were they, that the foam fell from their hideous mouths, and, indeed, I began to think they would end by really biting and tearing their rival to pieces. I found myself bending eagerly, anxiously forward in my suspense. But the old man sat there as unconcerned as though there was n.o.body within a day's journey of him.

"'See, O King!' they howled in their fury. 'We will eat him up--blood, hones, every fragment--as he sits there! All is possible with us. We are crocodiles--we are hyenas--we are lions! _Hou! hou! hou_!'

"'Hear you what these say, Masuka?' said the King.

"'I hear a noise, lord. But--who are these?'

"The pity, the contempt, in the old man's tone as he gazed wonderingly round upon the circle of frenzied magicians, I can hardly convey. They, seeing it, roared with rage.

"'Thus does this impostor speak of the King's _iza.n.u.si_!' they howled.

"'_Iza.n.u.si_?' said the Mosutu. 'Can they be _iza.n.u.si_--these?'

"'Show him what you can do,' said the King.

"Then our witch-doctors went through the most appalling performances.

Some fell down in fits, during which they tore their own ears off; others gashed themselves, and stood on their heads for long at a time, and howled. Some placed snakes round their necks, and by compressing the reptiles' throats caused themselves to be all but strangled in their constrictions. One man produced a huge serpent as long as himself and as thick as his own arm, and, indeed, this was the most marvellous of all, for where he could have secreted it pa.s.sed all men's comprehension.

But all the while the old Mosutu sat watching these performances with the same smile of contemptuous pity.

"'Now, Masuka,' said the King, as he signed to the _iza.n.u.si_ to desist, 'show thyself a greater magician than these, and thou shalt have thy life. Thou must show me something I have never seen before. If thou failest in this, I swear that thou shalt be eaten alive by these. I am bent upon seeing something new this day, and the spectacle of a man eaten alive by men will be a new one indeed. So pray for success upon thy magic.'

"The furious bowlings of our own magicians were renewed. There was an awesome, uneasy expression upon the faces of the lookers-on. Never was Umzilikazi known to depart from his word. Unless, therefore, the old Mosutu should show us some very strange and startling thing, he would certainly meet with a fate which to us Zulus--accustomed as we were to bloodshed in the ordinary way--seemed in the last degree horrible.

Again, if he fulfilled his undertaking, we might look for some very terrifying exhibition of magic. Wherefore, the awe which rested upon every face is beyond words.

"'Begin,' said the King. 'Begin, old man. We wait.'