The White Shield Part 12

[Note: Baqulusini, same as Abaqulusi. A mountain clan inhabiting Northern Zululand.]

Thus, _Nkose_, did I make use of the similarity between these two words, deeming that the King, if he detected any difference, would attribute it to the difficulty these people had in p.r.o.nouncing Zulu words; and, in fact, he must have done so.

"And is this all thou hast to urge in favour of thy miserable life, rebellious dog, who barks at my messengers?" said the Great Great One, haughtily.

"_And is this secret, indeed, known but to thee alone, and to no other?

Not even to a dog_?" I put it.

"To me alone; not even to a dog, Black Elephant," said the chief. But his answer I turned into:

"_This is all I have to urge, O Black Elephant. If it is not enough, I must even die_."

And now I felt safe. Nor could I help smiling to myself, for the words I had put into the mouth of Tauane were the words of a brave man, whereas the chief of the Blue Cattle was the greatest of cowards when face to face with death. And, indeed, I deserved grat.i.tude from him, for in any case he was as good as dead; and it was better to die with the words of a brave man on one's lips than with the grovelling whine of a coward.

Yet, just then, the laugh disappeared from my mind, for, looking up, I beheld drawing near old Masuka. Bent double, tottering with age, he crept along, and squatted, just a little apart, behind the _izinduna_.

"Now," I thought, "if the King chooses to converse yet longer with Tauane through the old Mosutu, then, indeed, I am undone."

But the Great Great One seemed in no mood for further _indaba_. Signing me to approach, he whispered a few words, and seldom or never have a few words sounded more welcome. Springing up, I pa.s.sed round my orders to the warriors, and in a moment Tauane and those that remained of his people were seized and bound with thongs.

Then the King spoke, and his tones never were softer:

"Yonder is a round wall within another. Within those walls two men, fighting-men of the Amazulu, fought throughout the shining of yesterday's sun--fought against a twofold enemy, the whole might of the People of the Blue Cattle and against fire! And one of these two men was the tongue and mouthpiece of myself. This day, again, those walls shall witness a merry strife, but it shall not be against such great and overpowering odds. The remaining fighting-men of the People of the Blue Cattle, who still number a great many more than two, shall, to-day, strive within those round walls. But they shall fight there against one enemy only--one enemy instead of two--wherein I am more merciful than they. And that enemy shall be fire! Go now, ye who remain of the warriors of Bakoni! go now, and fight where my two warriors fought.

Fare ye well, _Hambani gahle_!"

The wave of the hand with which the King concluded was our signal. The warriors hailed the Great Great One's words with roars of acclamation, and, throwing themselves upon the prisoners--nearly a hundred in number--began dragging them off to the round stone walls, which stood up from the plain some little distance off, amid the smoking ruins of the town of the Bakoni. Others, fleet-footed, had run on in advance, and by the time we arrived at the ruins had gathered and piled up a dense ring of brushwood and dry gra.s.s. The prisoners, bound, and shrieking and kicking, were flung within the inner wall, where they were heaped up, one upon another, a tossing, struggling ma.s.s.

"_Gahle--gahle_!" I cried. "Not so fast! The chief must crown the pile. It is only due to his rank."

The warriors laughed, and went on flinging in the wretched Bakoni.

"Ha, Tauane," I said, speaking in his own tongue, "it is not good to shake weapons in the face of the King's messenger. And know this. Not to thee alone is the secret of the Queen of the mysteries of the Bakoni known. Through the darkness of the earth, to an outward chamber in the cliff, like unto the place of an eagle's nest, there lies hidden she in whose veins runs the pure blood of the Amazulu, even the blood which is fit to mingle with that of kings. I know the place beside thyself--I alone."

He stared at me with a strange, wild expression.

"Thou and the King--yes," he muttered.

"Not the King--I only," I jeered. "Not the King; thy words did not travel so far."

"Yet he would have given me my life!" he said, in a bewildered way, looking giddily around. Then, as it seemed to burst upon him how he had been tricked, he began to scream aloud the story; but none there understood a word, and before he could say many words I had seized him by the neck. At a sign from me others seized him too, and, swinging him up, bound as he was, flung him right over the two walls, where he fell upon the living struggling ma.s.s of all that remained of his followers.

Now fire was put in, and the great piles of dry stuff crackled and flared, and the flames and smoke drove across the bodies of those who had taken the places of myself and Mgwali, and were now suffering the death to which they had destined us. And, as the flames roared upward to the heavens, in a great circle our warriors formed around as near as the heat would allow them to draw, and the thunderous stamp of the war-dance drowned the wild shrieks of the last of the victims due to the insult and outrage offered to the King's messengers. And that was the end of Tauane, the chief of the Bakoni, of the People of the Blue Cattle.

That night, when the fires were lighted, the King ordered a great dance of the _Tyay'igama_, or "calling of names," when those named by their captains for deeds of valour should have an opportunity of recounting their claims to such distinction before the King and the whole nation.

And, among others, I "named" my brother, Mgwali, who, in his manner of setting forth his deeds, when dancing alone amid the circle of warriors, reminded me not a little of my own performance when I was "named" by Gungana on a like occasion. However, the King "pointed at" him, and thereby he obtained permission to _tunga_. Yet his admiration for the female captives we had taken from the Bakoni was destined to bring him some disappointment; for the King exacted that, being young, he should choose his bride from among the girls of our own nation. For so jealous was Umzilikazi on behalf of keeping the old Zulu blood pure and strong, that, as yet, he would hardly ever allow a young man to take to wife captives or girls of an inferior race. And when the _Tyay'igama_ dance was ended there was a great slaughter of cattle--the blue cattle of the Bakoni--and the night was spent in feasting and singing. And in the morning we moved on further away still from this place of death. And behind us, where the abodes of the destroyed race had been--although the houses had long since burnt out--yet above the smouldering cattle-kraals the grey smoke still went wreathing up; and, high overhead in the blue heavens, their pinions dazzling white in the sun, like flakes of driving snow, floated clouds of vultures. For in those days the march of our conquering and destroying nation might ever be followed and marked out by two things: a cloud of smoke and a cloud of vultures.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

"YOU--AN INDUNA?"

Many days went by before I was able to return and visit Lalusini in her strange hiding-place, and herein I found that it was not always an advantage to be great. For Untuswa the _induna_ was a man of such consequence that, did any one meet him wandering abroad, heads would be turned to see whither he was going, whereas Untuswa the _umfane_ and unringed might go where he would and n.o.body would be at the trouble to so much as wonder concerning his business. Howbeit, I was ever known as a great hunter, and keen in the pursuit of game; wherefore, on this ground alone, I found opportunities of wandering afar.

I climbed the mountain of death, and there, indeed, so plenteous had food been that there were not enough vultures and crows and jackals to devour it all; for more than half the dead bodies were untouched, and lay, shrivelled and withered, just where they had been slain. For it is our custom, _Nkose_, to rip the bodies of those who fall beneath our spears, in order that they should dry up and spread no disease; and, remembering how we "ate up" whole nations in those days, the custom was a wise one. Carefully I took my way across the flat summit, stepping in and out between the skulls and fleshless ribs, and fearful lest I might be seen from beneath, whether from far or near. But when I gained the cleft in the ground, and began to descend into cold darkness, I felt a strange feeling, for all was silence, and I wondered whether I should indeed find Lalusini still there. So I began to sing, and presently I heard that soft voice answering, as I had heard it at first.

And now, as I stood once more within this strange retreat, looking upon the beautiful and splendid form and into the shining eyes of her who dwelt in it, all thoughts of the danger I had incurred had fled as the morning mists when the sun mounts high. No longer did I call myself the king of fools--oh, no! I was the very _induna_ of wisdom, so my feelings told me. I sprang forward to seize her in my arms, but she repulsed me very decidedly--though laughing.

"Not yet, Untuswa, not yet. The time has not yet come," she cried.

"But--are you come to fetch me for the King?"

And her eyes full of mockery, were laughing at me.

"The King? _Hau_! Not so. An _indunas_ wife only shalt thou be, Lalusini--not the wife of a King."

"Ah, ah! An _induna's_ wife? But I love not old men, and _indunas_ are always old."

"Not so, Lalusini. But yesterday I was only a boy, and unringed."

"Ah, ah! son of Ntelani! You--an _induna_? You?"

And again she made the rocks ring with the music of her laughter.

"I?--yes, I," was my answer, given with dignity, for my pride was ruffled. "I am only the second _induna_ in command of the King's army.

Nothing very great. But a small thing. Laugh on, Lalusini; laugh on!"

But she did not laugh. Something in my words seemed to turn her suddenly grave. "Ah--the chance! The chance at last!" I heard her murmur. "I, too, am somebody," she said. Then, turning to me, "Yes, Untuswa, I am somebody who is great--greater than any man among the Aba-ka-zulu; greater than Umzilikazi himself. And it may be that the day will come when you, too, shall be greater, son of Ntelani--greater than the King yonder."

"_Hau_! We are talking in a ring!" I cried, but her words troubled me.

"How now didst thou come among the people of the Blue Cattle, Lalusini?--for it seems to me the time has come for me to hear that tale."

"The time has not come--not yet--but it will. And now tell me of the end of the Bakoni, for I think there must be few still alive."

"Few, indeed," I said. "But Tauane--was he the only one to know of this place?"

"The only one--he and the slave who brought you hither. What of them?"

And her tone became quick and anxious.

"The slave, or what is left of him, lies above our heads. He got no further than the entrance hither when last I pa.s.sed out through it. For Tauane, he is as the ashes of last season's burnt gra.s.s."

And then I told her all about the end of the prisoners, how the chief would have sold the secret of her hiding-place to save his own life, and how I had so misinterpreted his words as to prevent him from doing so.

Lalusini's eyes beamed with delight.

"Ha! You deserve to be an _induna_," she said, "and a great one. The big, brave, strong fighting-man is frequently a fool in matters requiring head. But you, Untuswa, are no part of a fool. You have both the head and the strength. Lalusini--Baqulusini!" she repeated.

"_Whau_! that was crafty indeed. But the King, did he have no suspicion?"

"He showed none," I answered, in just the shadow of a cloud. "Yet how will I finally bring you in among ourselves? The name will bring back the King's recollections."

"Perhaps I will never go back among yourselves," she answered. "There is a people into whose midst I will one day return, and there I shall be great indeed, and you through me. Come now, Untuswa--let us return to that people together."