The White Shield Part 11

It is true, _Nkose_, that I had made a half-promise to spare his life, but to do so now would be to throw away my own. Nor could the dog be relied upon to preserve silence. He had betrayed me once, and deserted to the Bakoni; he would certainly not hesitate to betray me again--this time to the Great Great One himself.

But as I returned, and mixed with the people, I told myself that I was indeed the very king of fools. Had I not thrown away my life before for the sake of a woman, and to-day this same woman was an element of great trouble and disturbance in my life? And now, here I was, older, and with plentiful experience, doing exactly the same thing again! For to secrete captives or cattle taken in war was one of the most deadly offences in the eyes of the King. Its penalty was death, and more than death, for it was usually death by torture. And this deadly offence, I, Untuswa, the second fighting captain and trusted _induna_ of the King, had deliberately committed; and all for the sake of a woman! In truth was I the very chief of fools!

Yet, at the time, I did not so name myself; for as we returned in triumph, with the captives in our midst, streaming down the mountain-side, and singing the war-song of Umzilikazi, I, for once, thought but little of warrior-pride, for my mind was back in that strange hiding-place, and in my ears was still the music of the voice of her whom I had found there. A spell indeed as of witchcraft had she cast over me; and now, as I walked among the triumphant warriors, I seemed quite outside of their rejoicings. It might be witchcraft, I told myself, but it was witchcraft that rose above the fear of death.

The plain beneath was covered with the blue cattle of the Bakoni, and, huddled in groups, were the women captives, frightened and sad. Other captives were there--men--and these had a set, still, stony look, for they reckoned themselves as already dead. To these were added the others we had brought down from the summit of the mountain--that fortified mountain which Tauane had boasted was able to defy the world.

Yet we had ascended it so easily!

"Ha, Chief of the Blue Cattle!" I said mockingly. "Behold thy fortress! Behold the lion who roars louder than thee! Thou art already dead, thou who wouldst have done violence to the amba.s.sadors of the Great King!"

"Perhaps not," he muttered, more to himself than to me. "Perhaps not.

It may be that I can tell the King that which is worth my life."

Now, _Nkose_, my heart stood still within me, for these were exactly the words of Maroane the slave. To how many was known the existence of Lalusini--the secret of her hiding-place? Had I dared, I would have slain Tauane with my own hand, but this was impossible. He was the King's prisoner. Walking in the midst of the other captives, no colour had I for slaying him, and had I done so I should have drawn down upon myself the darkest suspicion. True, there was no direct proof, as yet, that I was aware of the secret, but the King's distrust would be aroused and my undoing would then be a certainty. And, over and above all this, the thought that Lalusini might be reft from me filled my mind with a fierce and savage dread. I felt capable of slaying the King himself rather than that should befall.

Then the whole army mustered in two immense half-circles, and the tufted shields and waving plumes, and the quiver of a.s.segai-hafts made a noise like that of a mighty wind shaking a forest, and amid the thunder of the war-song, the King appeared, preceded by several _izimbonga_. These were roaring like lions, trumpeting like elephants, bellowing like bulls, wriggling like snakes, each ornamented with the skin, or horns, or teeth of the animal he represented and which const.i.tuted the King's t.i.tles.

Umzilikazi was arrayed in a war-dress of white ostrich-feathers and flowing cow-hair. The great white shield was held over him by his shield-bearer, but he himself carried a shield made of the skin of a lion, and a broad-bladed dark-handled spear similar to the one which he had given to me. It was not often the King appeared in all the war-adornments of a fighting leader, and now that he did the mad delight of the warriors knew no bounds.

"Elephant who bears the world!" they roared. "Divider of the sun!

Black Serpent of Night! Black Bull, whose horns bear fire! Lion whose roar causeth the stars to fall!" were some of the phrases of _bonga_ which arose; and, indeed, the King himself could hardly command silence, and then not for a very long time, so great was the excitement.

"Come hither, Untuswa," said the Great Great One. "Thou shalt be my voice, for I talk not with the tongue of these dogs. Bring forward the dog who names himself a young lion."

Tauane was brought forward. Deeming his obeisance not low enough, one of the body-guard seized him by the back of the neck and forced his face down on to the very earth before the King.

"Down, dog!" he growled. "Down before the Founder of Nations, the Scourge of the World!"

And in fierce, threatening chorus the warriors echoed the words.

Having contemplated with a scornful sneer the grovelling captive, Umzilikazi said--

"Speak now with my tongue, Untuswa. But wait. Let old Masuka be sent for. Two tongues are better than one."

Now I saw myself again undone, _Nkose_, for in turning that language into our own I thought not to render it all, and therein lay safety.

But the old Masuka would certainly render it word for word. Still, my snake was watching over me then, for a message came from the old _isa.n.u.si_ that he was making _muti_, as befitted so serious a time.

This answer, which no other man among us would have dared to send, unless he were more than tired of his life, seemed to satisfy the King.

"No matter," he said. "Thou wert my tongue before, Untuswa, when I despatched thee to offer favour to this dog who calls himself a lion Thou shalt be my tongue now."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE END OF TAUANE.

As the King thus spoke, _Nkose_, I felt safe again, for old Masuka might not arrive before I had finished interpreting, and when that time had come I felt sure that the moments left to the captive chief of the Blue Cattle would be few indeed.

"So, brother!" said the Great Great One, speaking in that soft and pleasant voice which was the most terrible of all, "so, brother--who thought to rule the world? What bad dreams disturbed thy night's rest to cause thee to make a mock of my messengers?"

This I put to Tauane. But he made no reply save a murmur, waiting for the King to continue.

"I offered thee life, and thou didst choose death; death for thyself and thy people. Go, ask such as remain of the tribes and peoples which have lain in and around our path--ask if the son of Matyobane was ever known to send forth his 'word' twice?"

Still the chief made no reply, save for a murmur. But there was a light in his eyes as of hope, for Umzilikazi's voice was soft and pleasant, and therein he read mercy. Ha! we knew better than that--knew that for such a purpose the King's voice had better have in it the roar of thunder.

"Not only didst thou turn a deaf ear to my offer of thy life and the lives of thy people, O Chief of the Blue Cattle," went on Umzilikazi, "but to my messenger, Untuswa, thou didst offer violence, to him and to those who were with him. But for my arrival in time, he who was the tongue of the King would have been slain; slain by thee and thy people.

What hast thou to say, Chief of the Blue Cattle?"

This I put to Tauane in glee, for I had not forgotten how they had smoked us like bees within the stone walls; how, but for our prowess and their cowardice, we should long since have been slain; how that we in our capacity of amba.s.sadors should have been sacred, but, instead, had been set upon and a.s.sailed by these dogs of Bakoni. He urged eagerly in excuse that for what had happened he was not responsible, that he had been unable to control his people, which, when I had rendered into our tongue, raised an exclamation of derision from all who heard it; for to us the idea of a people refusing to listen to the voice of its chief, or any man remaining a chief who was unable to compel the implicit obedience of his people, seemed the most ridiculous thing in the whole world. If he thought to save his own life by throwing the blame upon his people, why then, never made any man a greater mistake, for never was cowardice in any form a way to the favour of Umzilikazi.

"And that is all thou hast to say, thou treacherous and cowardly dog?"

said the King, dropping his soft and pleasant voice and pointing his spear at the captive chief.

"Not all, O Black Elephant," was the answer; and now I felt on my own trial, for, if he mentioned the secret of Lalusini's existence and hiding-place, how could I suppress it, or turn it into something else?

I knew that none of the _izinduna_ or others seated near by understood that language, yet many of the Amaholi, or slaves, did; and although these were in the background, I knew not how far Tauane's voice might reach.

"There is yet more I would say," he answered. "It is whispered that the great nation before whose irresistible bravery our race has gone down is followed by a hostile nation greater even than itself, before whom it flees. Now, O King, our weapons are good, and there are still some of our warriors left. Let them therefore _konza_ to the Elephant of the Amandebeli, so when the Lion of the Zulu roars in pursuit behind, he will be met by many more spears than he had expected."

This offer of alliance was so ludicrous that the warriors listening could not restrain their shouts of derision.

"Lo, a fighting bull! a lion indeed! _Hau_! listen to the trumpeting of the elephant!" they jeered, mocking the unfortunate chief. Then the King spoke, and again his voice was soft.

"Ha! That is what thou hast to say, Chief of the Blue Cattle? A n.o.ble alliance truly! An alliance between the elephant and the cricket, between the serpent and the frog! Ha! a people who in their armed hundreds are driven backwards and forwards like cattle by two men--only two! A people who in their armed thousands, and with fire to help them, are kept at a distance for half a day by two men--only two! Such are they who would fight side by side with us! Say now, chief of a nation of old women--if thy spears in their thousands could do nothing against two Zulu fighting-men, and that during half a day, how would they think to stand against a whole _impi_? The ostrich who vanishes beyond one sky-line when a man appears on the other is preferable as an ally to thee and thine. We want not such."

So great were the murmurs of contemptuous hate which went up that I could hardly make myself heard as I rendered the King's speech. It seemed to me, watching the countenance of Tauane, that hope had now left it, to be succeeded, however, by a rekindling gleam.

"I lie beneath the foot of the Elephant," he said; "but there is that, which, if I am suffered to go untrampled, the Elephant would gladly know."

I looked around. No sign of Masuka, and it seemed to me that none within hearing would understand this tongue. Now the moment had come, now was Tauane about to try and purchase his life by disclosing Lalusini's secret and mine, and I was resolved that he should not. Yet it was a terrible thing to stand before the majesty of the Great Great One, and deliberately deceive him--a terrible thing! But I turned the speech of Tauane into a mere prayer that he might not be crushed beneath the foot of the Elephant.

"The house of the Great King should be full of beautiful women," he went on; "yet the most beautiful of all is not there."

Yes, the air was getting hot now; but I rendered the words so as to mean that the most beautiful women of the Bakoni _had already_ fallen to the King's possession.

"The blood of the most beautiful of all is that of the Amazulu. There flows in her veins the pure blood of kings," he continued.

"_They are beautiful as those of the Amazulu, almost worthy to mingle with the pure blood of kings_," I translated.

"She is the Queen of the hidden mysteries of the Bakoni; beautiful as the mate of the Great King should be, and she has yet to be brought to the Elephant of the Amandebeli."

"_Some even are skilled in the hidden mysteries of the Bakoni; and all have been delivered to the Elephant of the Amandebeli_," I put it.

"The secret of her hiding-place is known to me alone," he said. "She is there, safe and unharmed, awaiting the arrival of those who shall lead her before the King. She is of the Amazulu, and is called Lalusini."

I started inwardly. Ha! The name! I might play tricks with the remainder, but the name! It sounded so plain--stood forth so unmistakably Zulu among the wretched monkey-like speech of these people, that I saw, or fancied I saw, a spasm of astonishment come into the King's face. Then I saw light.

"_None have been hidden away in secret hiding-places_," I translated; "_all have been delivered safe and unharmed to those who should lead them before the King. They are worthy mates for the Amazulu or the Baqulusini_."