Witch-Doctors Part 29

"Aie! Aie! I am the spirit of Kintu!

Aie! Aie! I am he who first was!

Aie! Aie! I am the Banana from whom I was made!"

Whites of eyes glimmered like b.u.t.terflies in starlight. Nothing was visible. The voice appeared to rise from every direction. The new miracle petrified the limbs of all.

"Aie! Aie! My soul is defiled and my children enslaved!

Aie! Aie! My face hath been scratched by an alien claw!

Aie! Aie! I send you the revenge which is white!

Aie! Aie! I send you the One who is bidden!

Aie! Aie! Let that One arise who is I!

Aie! Aie! The mighty One who will blot out the curse!

Aie! Aie! I have spoken, I, the Father of Men!

Aie! Aie! I, Tarum; the soul of your Ancestors!"

A faint whirr as of wings was drowned in the automatic grunt of acceptance squeezed from all the warriors and the wizards by the sacred chant, except those of the inner circle. In dread sat the warriors of the terrible magic of their doctors which they had once doubted. But the minds of Bakahenzie, Yabolo, and the other two master craftsmen were stunned. The phenomenon of the glowing hand had they never seen before, but they recollected the stones of Mungongo. Even was Sakamata, sophisticated to the wonders of Eyes-in-the-hands, impressed and bewildered. Dormant awe for the Unmentionable One was awakened in every one of them. Zalu Zako felt that his doom was upon him; that the Unmentionable One was about to call him to his duty, which invoked fear for the sacrilege he had committed in entertaining such radical thoughts in the immediate past. But in Bakahenzie was a streak of suspicion; how was it that Marufa was thus chosen as the divine messenger? Yet perhaps the veritable G.o.d was, or G.o.ds were, speaking! Doubt held him silent.

"O my brethren, would ye that we seek the voice of the Unmentionable One?"

cried Marufa.

"Ough! Ough!" grunted the wizards.

Marufa stalked slowly to the nearest fire, muttering a spell. From his loin cloth he took the three digital bones of an enemy and proceeded to discover the whereabouts by geomancy. And behold! the fingers pointed in one direction which all could see. Oblivious to the tight indifference of Bakahenzie the old man rose and began to gyrate, mumbling incantations, towards a thicket of gra.s.s on the fringe of the undergrowth, holding aloft the magic bones in the glowing hand. Anxiously the a.s.sembly watched the skinny figure, half bent, glide out from the glow of the fires into the blue shadows. A small log collapsed, throwing a red gleam upon the form poised upright before the clump of gra.s.s as Marufa cried out:

"Let him who-may-not-be-mentioned speak that his children may hear!"

Immediately commenced a high voice chanting:

"Take up, O Marufa, the wise, the pod of my soul!"

Then in the sight of every man Marufa bent upon his knees, muttering, and arose unharmed. Save for the slow turn of each head the better to follow the progress of the magician no limb nor muscle moved as in silence Marufa bore the like of which had never before been seen; a thing like unto a stone, having an ear almost as large and as erect as an angry elephant, the colour of a lion yet hairless. "The pod of the soul" Marufa placed within the circle of the fires so that all should see. More incantations did Marufa make, sitting fearlessly; he caressed it as a young man caresses a maid and came forth again the voice of Tarum:

"Rejoice, O my children, for he that is bidden shall come!

Rejoice, O ye warriors, for he that shall lead you shall come!

Rejoice, O ye wizards, for he that is greater than ye shall come!

Rejoice, O ye women, for he that fertilizes shall come!

He shall eat up your enemies as a lion eateth buck.

He shall make your dead to be seen and your phantoms to talk!

He shall give to your women to have sons of your breed!

He shall give you that which was slain on the hill!

He that walks in a flame in the night!

He that is whiter than the flesh of the baobab!

He shall come forth bearing that which ye seek!

He shall come forth bearing that which is yours!

Hear me, my people, and give voice to my word!"

"Ough! Ough!" came the chorus of a.s.sent.

Not a limb nor a hand moved among the concourse of warriors and wizards until a new voice, deep, as one who commands, cried out:

"Let the son of Kawa Kendi, the son of MFunya MPopo, the son of MKoffo, move not; neither he nor Marufa, the son of MTungo! Unto ye others we say unto you, depart that we speak in peace with this our son and priest!"

And simultaneously appeared in the gloom of the undergrowth three pairs of eyes as luminous as the glowworm, vaster than any human; and beside the souls of the dead King-G.o.ds were terrible hands. Warriors and wizards, all save Bakahenzie and Zalu Zako, literally leaped for the forest and village in one convulsive bound and grunt. Zalu Zako had remained upon the ground, green with terror. Bakahenzie stood upright, his scarlet feather fluorescent in the fire-glow. The anthem of the forest was only broken by the rustle of branches and the breathing of Zalu Zako and Bakahenzie. A harsh voice cried:

"Begone, Bakahenzie, son of a dog! Lest we take thy soul to be with us!"

The eyes appeared to float nearer; hands pointed menacingly. Bakahenzie boggled; hesitated; then the dignity of his pose melted into the graceful bounds of a fleeing leopard. Even for the professional ghost manipulator, such a phenomenon of the spirits, with whom he was supposed to be on familiar terms, was demoralizing. But half-way through a thicket of undergrowth, where he could no longer see the horrific eyes, his courage began to return.

To his ears came a new voice chanting:

"Sweeter than warm honey is the scent of my man!

Fiercer than scorpions is the grip of his hand!

Whiter than a spear flash is the gleam of his teeth!

Smoother than river stone is the feel of his chest!

Bak.u.ma rejoices!"

Peering through the interstices Bakahenzie could see the gleam of the fire upon the bangles of the Son-of-the-Snake and the blue flash upon his spear as he melted into the forest wall.

CHAPTER 20

The actual sight of spirits from ghostland, of which hitherto they had only heard, had been too much for the nerves of the tribe already overstrung by the overthrow of the idol and the magic and slaughter of zu Pfeiffer; the warriors had fled like scared poultry to the jungle, up trees, in the undergrowth and in their huts, where they cowered among their women and slaves, reading awful omens and portents in every sound of the forest.

The phenomenon had been just as startling and awe-inspiring to Bakahenzie as it had been to his most ignorant dupe. His belief in ghostland was implicit, but now he had seen what, professionally, he was supposed to see and converse with on familiar terms. As Zalu Zako disappeared he continued to listen intently. Above the slight rustle of the bushes as the Son-of-the-Snake moved through the undergrowth rose a feminine laugh.

Bakahenzie's liver was squeezed by that sardonic chuckle; for, as is well known, female demons are much more malignant than the male. For the s.p.a.ce of a chant he remained crouching there, curiosity and the dread of revealing his terror to his fellows tugging at his feet and fear of the demons clutching him around the waist. Save the anthem of the forest no further sound of the ghosts was audible.

Cautiously rose Bakahenzie, wriggled out of his nest and with as much dignity as maybe, strode back to the fire. From the village came a slight whimpering. With satisfaction Bakahenzie noted that no one else was in sight. For another s.p.a.ce he sat with unquiet eyes and ears upon the forest. Then gathering courage as nothing happened, he pondered upon what att.i.tude he should a.s.sume.

Yabolo stalked from round a hut and squatting calmly beside Bakahenzie, nonchalantly proceeded to tap out snuff and offered some to Bakahenzie, who grunted acceptance and sniffed with even greater indifference.

Motionless they continued to sit and silently. Bakahenzie wondered whether Yabolo knew that he, too, had fled, and Yabolo, who did know, waited for the first move on Bakahenzie's part to retort.

Yabolo, indeed, who had been as panic-stricken as Bakahenzie, was more suspicious in view of the accounts he had heard of the magic of Eyes-in-the-hands. Who knew but this vision might not be another manifestation of Eyes-in-the-hands? And more slowly a similar idea began to occur to Bakahenzie, save that he had in mind the incident of Moonspirit's magic in the face of his bravest warriors. The calmer he became the more was he inclined to accept this explanation of the apparitions; such was infinitely more comforting to him than the conception that they had been in truth spirits from ghostland. As the doubt grew the wisdom of propitiating this powerful Moonspirit became apparent; yet was present the dread of loosing what remained of his autocratic power. The problem now was to enlist the white and discover some means of controlling him and his magic.

But to both men the vital question was, what had become of Zalu Zako?

There were two alternatives: if the visions had been genuine ghosts, then undoubtedly Zalu Zako was dead; but if they had been produced through the magic of a white man, then, Bakahenzie argued, Zalu Zako and Marufa must be in league with Moonspirit, and Yabolo opined that Zalu Zako had been captured by Eyes-in-the-hands. To the latter the effect was to strengthen the determination to go over to Eyes-in-the-hands. If the first possibility was correct the greater need had he of strong magic if real ghosts were taking to walking abroad visibly, and the other case merely proved beyond question the invincible magic of Eyes-in-the-hands. But to Bakahenzie the reaction was slightly different, for his elemental reason took him a little farther than Yabolo by pointing out that in all his wide experience never had spirits taken demons' shape, so that the suspicion that they had been due to Moonspirit became more plausible, and was supported by the recollection of Marufa's unexplained absence and sudden reappearance on familiar terms with the spirits.

The longer he pondered on the strange actions of Marufa the more he was persuaded that that wily colleague was acting upon sound information, and the tangle of his affairs made him so desperate that he decided to gamble upon that a.s.sumption: for magician Bakahenzie began to realize that Marufa had somehow scored a point and that now was approaching the crux which would determine whether he won back or lost for ever that which was the essence of life to him.

Meanwhile the two puzzled plotters sat motionless and silent as if mutually agreeing that no question regarding each other's late movements had better be asked.

Accordingly to the depth of his superst.i.tion returned each witch-doctor.

When they were come, without one word of explanation, Bakahenzie lifted his voice in a high falsetto, bidding the lay warriors to return to hear the voice of the elders. Rea.s.sured by this command which carried far on the still air, they began to emerge from hut and undergrowth. The first to arrive was MYalu, angry to find the whole a.s.sembly of wizards apparently sitting as if they had never moved, engaged in mystic incantations. MYalu had not fled far and from his cranny had seen the flight of Bakahenzie and the departure of Zalu Zako, but he dared not betray the doctors. He squatted sullenly and waited while the remainder of the warriors, of whom many had also seen the general stampede, filed to their places.

When all were a.s.sembled Bakahenzie looked up from his spell and bade them to listen to what message the faculty-for obvious policy's sake he included the whole of the ghosts-had received from ghostland by the three spirits, emphasising the vision of the magicians as proof positive of the terrible power of the craft. By reason of the sin committed by one who had broken the magic circle, as they all knew, said Bakahenzie, had this wrath of the Unmentionable One come upon them, permitting the incarnation of a demon, Eyes-in-the-hands, to work his will upon them and to make them slaves, as were their dogs the Wamungo; and so in the depth of their tribulation he, Bakahenzie, whose magic had been rendered impotent by the betrayal of the Bride of the Banana, had invoked the spirits of the three, as they all had witnessed.