"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 nobody 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 passed out through it. For
Tauane, he is as the ashes of last season's burnt grass."
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."
"_Hau_!" I cried, with a very dissatisfied shake of the head. "That
which is distant is ever that which is uncertain." For this proposition
startled me. It reminded me too much of past foolishness. Once before
I had sacrificed my chances as a warrior, had deserted my people, and
had thrown away my life with both hands, all for the sake of a girl, and
had found the position so little to my liking that I had willingly
exchanged it for certain death. I had not found the death I expected,
but life and great honour; yet that was a marvel, and such marvels do
not occur twice within the experience of any one man. Now, I desired
Lalusini greatly, but I desired her as a favourite wife of the King's
_induna_--not as the mate of a disgraced runaway. Wherefore her
proposal found but little favour in my eyes; and, indeed, I thought she
had made it only to try me.
Then we talked of other things, of Tauane and the nation we had
destroyed; but of her powers as a sorceress she would tell me nothing,
or how she had come among that people. And I sat and listened to her
talk, for I was young in those days, and the sound of her voice was to
my ears as the rippling of water in a sun-dried land. I know not how it
is among you white people, _Nkose_, but among ourselves, when we are yet
young, we are ever as fools in such matters; when we are older--ah, then
it is different.
While we talked, her eye fell upon my broad spear--the King's Assegai--
and, reaching for it, she examined it knowingly.
"Worthy to be wielded by Tshaka himself," she muttered. "A splendid
spear! A royal weapon," examining the haft, which was dark-red then,
although it is now black with age. "Truly a royal weapon!"
"And a royal weapon it is," I answered, "for I had it from Umzilikazi's
own hand."
"Ha! And how was that?" she asked eagerly. But I looked knowing and
laughed.
"Nothing for nothing, Lalusini," I said. "Tell me thine own tale; then
thou shalt have that of the King's Assegai. And I promise thee that it
is a stirring one."
But she would not. Nevertheless, I told her my own tale, or a part of
it. At the mention of Nangeza she looked up quickly. "How many wives
have you, Untuswa?" she asked.
"Only three. But my _inkosikazi_ is more trouble than any thirty
ordinary women, for she wants to be chief over me, too."
Lalusini laughed.
"And that is Nangeza for whom you deserted your nation and incurred
death under its most terrible form?" she said.