The White Shield Part 21

That was a scene--the wild, quavering gasp of horror that went up from all who beheld! Nangeza, yelling, and biting like a wild beast, in the grasp of those who had seized her; myself, immovable as a stone, still holding the shield with the poisoned dart sticking through it--exactly as I flung it between the Great Great One and certain death. And the only two who were completely unconcerned were Lalusini and the King himself.

"_Whau_!" cried Umzilikazi, having taken a pinch of snuff. "I think that would have made me sneeze, Untuswa. See, the point was coming straight for my face, and it was flung hard--flung hard! Yet thou hast saved me from such a scratch, Untuswa--and it was well! Strange, too, that thou shouldst have been the one to do it, seeing that she was thine _inkosikazi_!"

There was suspicion in the tone--deadly suspicion--as the King sat looking at me with half-closed eyes, speaking softly withal.

"It is not strange, Father, seeing that I was the one who alone understood the Bakoni witch-song," I replied.

"Ha! And what said that?"

"'A coil of blue veils the serpent's breath.' Also, 'Now the White Bull's hide may the Black Bull save.' And, indeed, was it not so, Black Bull, Whose horns gore not merely, but kill?" I said.

"This, then, was the warning thou wouldst have conveyed, thou strange sorceress," said the King, pausing a moment, while shouts of amazement and of _konza_ went up from all. "Verily, thy _muti_ is great. But of this witch first. The alligators are hungry; but their teeth are not sharp enough for such royal prey as this. The stake of impalement is a still sharper tooth. Away with her! Yet for the alligators we will find some meat. It seems that Untuswa's wives are of a bad disposition--at any rate, after dwelling side by side with yonder witch, they will have drunk in some of her evil mind. Let them, therefore, be taken to the alligators."

Now, _Nkose_, my heart was sad, for I loved my two younger wives, who were ever laughing and pleasant, and needed not to be told twice to do a thing. But these, as the slayers sprang forward to drag them forth to the terrible pool of death, flung themselves on the ground weeping.

"Spare us, Father!" howled Fumana. "She who has done evil is nothing to us."

"We only live by the light of the King's presence," groaned Nxope.

"Spare us, Great Great One!" wept Fumana.

"We are only weak women, and fear the dreadful death, O Elephant who art strong!" screamed Nxope.

"Peace, witches!" said the King. "Well, Untuswa! And thou! What hast thou to say? Do not these deserve to die?"

That was something of a question, _Nkose_; and one which it might cost a man his life to hesitate in answering. For did I not at once agree, after what had happened, the people would howl for my death, as being privy to the bold attempt upon the King's life, just made by my chief wife; and I suspected the question was put to try me. Yet I was fond of these two women, who had always done well by me; nor did I ever err on the side of timidity in those days. So I made answer--

"I think these two are innocent of the other's evil-doing, Great Great ONE. The wisdom of the King is great, and his justice is terrible. Yet I would crave the boon of their lives; for I have never known them do or think harm. So, too, shall I be left without wives at all, if these are taken from me."

"New wives shall be found for thee, Untuswa--and better than the old ones," answered Umzilikazi, half in mockery. "Ha! I think thou keepest thy wives too long. _Whau_! A bowl of _tywala_, when fresh, is needful and pleasant; but if kept too long, it grows sour and unwholesome, even harmful, and is only fit to be thrown away. So it is with a woman. But thou, sister, whose _muti_ is great enough to discover serpent's fangs beneath a witch's girdle--what sayest thou? Is it well that these two should live?"

I looked at Lalusini and saw that her eyes were full of pity for these two horribly frightened women crouching there before the King, and then I knew that her heart was not dark and fierce as that of Nangeza, else had they certainly been dead.

"I think it well they should live, Great Great One, for they are innocent of the other's ill-doing," she answered.

"Ha! sayest thou so? Well, I give ye your lives, ye two. Begone! For the other, it seems that the stake is long in making ready."

This dreadful form of death, remember, being seldom used amongst us, some time must elapse while its instrument was preparing. Meanwhile, all crying aloud in praise of the King's mercy and justice, Nangeza seized the opportunity of wrenching herself from the grasp of those who held her, and before any could stay her--so lithe and active was she-- she was darting across the plain in leaps and bounds, fleeing with the speed of a buck.

"To the alligators!" she cried, laughing wildly. "The alligators are hungry. They must be fed! They must be fed!"

The ground was open, the way but short. Before any could come up with her she had gained the brink of the cliff overhanging the pool. She turned and stood facing us, and there, in sight of all, shrieked out a last curse upon the King, upon me, and upon the whole nation; then, just as the foremost of the pursuers sprang to seize her, she flung herself backward from the brink. There was a loud splash, but no cry, and they who hurried to look declared that the water was lashed into a red-and-white foam, as the ravenous monsters rushed upon their prey, rending it limb from limb in a moment; and, indeed, though this is a hideous death enough, it is but a mere pa.s.sing pang when compared with the black, lingering agony of the stake of impalement.

Thus died Nangeza, my _inkosikazi_, she whom I had stolen from the _isiG.o.dhlo_ in times past, and in doing so had thrust my head deep within the red jaws of death. Now she died thus, brave, fierce, defiant to the last; and, _Nkose_--I think it was about time she did.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE WHITE SHIELD.

"Praise on now, ye _izimbonga_, shout aloud, my children," said the King, "for we are rid of a most pestilent witch, even though Untuswa has lost his _inkosikazi_. Well, what matter? We can find him a new one.

Look, Untuswa. This stranger is fair. Will she not make a n.o.ble subst.i.tute for the evildoer who sleeps yonder beneath the water?"

Now, _Nkose_, my heart leaped within me at the words; yet I did not like the tone, for I could see that the King was mocking me, and I suspected a trap; for Umzilikazi's ways were dark at times, and of late his suspicions, in one direction or the other, were seldom at rest. Still, I answered, as was my wont, boldly--

"She would indeed, Father. Is this, then, the 'word' of the Lion to the lion-cub?"

All gazed silently and in wonder at my boldness, for none doubted but that this beautiful stranger should reign queen in the _isiG.o.dhlo_.

"Ah, ah, Untuswa," mocked the King. "Know you not that she is a sorceress, and such can wed with none? Yet, it is a pity--a pity," he added, gazing longingly at the beauty of Lalusini, who stood with a half smile on her lips, looking down at us as though we were a couple of children discussing our games. Indeed, there were not wanting some who thought, that, n.o.ble and stately as the King's presence was, the aspect of this strange woman was the more royal of the two.

Now, Umzilikazi took up the great white shield, and began examining the little hole, or rather slit, made by the poisoned dart, murmuring softly to himself the while. Then, carefully, he picked up the little weapon itself, which I had immediately plucked from the royal shield, and flung down in disgust. An idea seemed to strike him.

"See, Untuswa, here is a great _muti_ shield," he said. "It will make a fitting mate to the dark-handled _umkonto_. And as it has once stood between my life and treason, so may it always. Take it, Untuswa, my shield-bearer. It will be seen afar in the line of battle, when the meat stands ready to the teeth of the lion-cubs. Take it, Untuswa. It is thine."

Speaking thick and fast the words of _bonga_, I bent down and received this great gift from the hand of the King. It was a splendid bull-hide shield, of pure white, and not bound with black facings, as was the way with those borne by the royal guard. It was a royal shield, and of the royal colour, and was tufted with the tail-tuft of a bull, also pure white. And now I held two royal gifts: the King's a.s.segai, and the great white shield of the King. And since I had held the first naught but success had been mine. What would not follow upon the possession of the last?

The arrow which Nangeza had thrown we examined also. It was larger somewhat than those usually shot by the mountain tribes, and looked as though it had been made for this purpose. The point, too, was thick and green with an ugly poison, which was not all snake-poison, but a mixture of such with something of the nature of distilled herbs. Now, from whom had she obtained that secret? Then the King and I put our heads together, and whispered, and some of the royal guard bounded forth, to return immediately, dragging two men whom we knew to be of our own _iza.n.u.si_; yet not altogether, for they were of a lower cla.s.s, who a.s.sisted our witch-doctors without being altogether of them. They were not our own people, both being of the Bapedi, and as they were brought before the presence, their knees knocked together, and their eyes protruded with fear.

"Take that arrow, ye dogs who are no _iza.n.u.si_, but cheats," said the King. "Now touch each other with the point thereof."

"We are but dust beneath the feet of the King," whined one, yet not obeying.

"To do this is death, Great Great One," moaned the other.

"Ha! And do ye hesitate? Who hesitates to face death at the word of the King? And if it is death for most men, ye jackals, is not your _muti_ strong enough to render this of no avail? I speak not twice."

So these two grasped the arrow--first one, then the other--and obeyed the King's word. And we, bending forward, watched them keenly and with joy; for we hated these crawling snakes of _iza.n.u.si_, who would have made of themselves, King, army, nation, all rolled into one. And we took care that there was no trickery in what they now did. So it happened that not long after they had p.r.i.c.ked each other with the arrow they grew heavy and sleepy, and soon rolled over dead, and frothing at the mouth. For Umzilikazi judged that these two had supplied Nangeza with the poison, and there was nothing he loved so much as making the evil which one had prepared for another the manner whereby that one himself should fall.

"Now talk we of Kwelanga," he said, when the bodies had been removed.

"Thou, Lalusini, will the little one ever return to us?"

"They who wander abroad by night without weapons of defence run great danger, O Elephant," she replied. "When such are but little children, what chance have they?"

"Yet the witch who is gone accused thee of a hand in her disappearance?"

"Then did she lie, Great Great One," answered Lalusini softly. "No part did I bear in this. Yet one thing my serpent tells me. Not for ill was this child of the sunshine saved from reddening the Amandebeli spears what time the other children of the Amabuna perished thereby.

Wherefore, when her voice again shall be heard, neglect it not, lest a nation be a nation no more. Lo, it groweth dark and all things are night! I hear the sound of a trampling of feet, of the quiver of spears as the forest boughs in a gale, the clash and roar of hosts in battle, the song of victory!"

"And to whom the victory, my sister?" said the King.

Lalusini turned wonderingly at the voice and pa.s.sed her hand once or twice over her brow. Her eyes came back to earth again, and she seemed as one who has but awakened from a long, deep sleep. And we who beheld it were stricken with awe, for we knew that the sorceress had parted with her spirit for a time; and this, soaring away through the fields of s.p.a.ce and of the future, had beheld that to which her lips had given utterance, and, indeed, a great deal more to which they had not. And now, her vision ended, it; was not within her power to reply to the King's question.

"Get thee gone now, and rest, my sister, for I perceive that thy powers are great," said Umzilikazi with a wave of the hand. And at the signal, some of the women who hung upon the outskirts of the crowd, came forward to lead the stranger to a large new hut which had been prepared for her reception.

When the a.s.sembly of the people had dispersed, the King and I still lingered talking over these matters.