Now, _Nkose_, I am about to tell of the strange and momentous events
that next befell; for upon reaching my home that night, which you will
remember was at some little distance from the great kraal, I found my
family and followers in a state of wild consternation and grief. The
little white girl was lost!
She had not been wandering, not even playing outside with the other
children. When last seen she was creeping through the door of the hut
wherein she usually dwelt--that of Fumana, the youngest of my wives--and
this hut she had never been seen to leave. When last seen it was
shortly before the setting of the sun.
This was a matter to be turned inside-out, and that speedily, to which
end I called up all those concerned, and questioned them one by one; the
children who had last been with her, my wives, and the Bakoni
slave-girls. But while my two younger wives were half-mad with grief--
for they loved the little one--Nangeza only laughed evilly, saying that
it could be but a small thing to a mighty chief like myself the loss of
a wretched little whelp of the Amabuna: for thus she would often speak
to anger me, knowing that I always held Kwelanga to be not of the
Amabuna at all, but of a far greater race.
"So, woman!" I replied, pointing my stick at her menacingly, "it may be
a small matter to myself, but it will be a weighty one for all here
concerned, for did not the King give Kwelanga into our care? Ha! the
alligators have been robbed of their food to-night--it may be that
to-morrow they will be full."
I could see fear upon the faces of those who heard my words; but again
Nangeza laughed evilly. I was resolved now that the end of such doings
had come. The morrow would show.
"Now to the search!" I cried. "The little one may have wandered abroad
and have sunk down to sleep in the forest. She may not be far."
"Perhaps yonder moves her bed," said Nangeza, with her black laugh, as
the wild howling of a hyena sounded very near. "While such are moving
about it is little enough will be found of any child who has sunk down
to sleep in the forest, and it has long been night."
A murmur of approval greeted these words, for few among us liked to move
about at night. And the voices of the hyenas and other beasts wailing
dismally through the forest sounded as the ravenings of ghost animals
scenting the blood of those who still lived as men. But for such
considerations I cared little then. I gave my orders, and no man there
but preferred to face the ghost animals to facing me having disobeyed
them. So we set out, by twos and threes, on our search.
There was a half-moon low down in the heavens, and by its light we
searched--ah, yes, how we searched! We hunted hither and thither like
wild dogs questing a scent, beneath the dark shades of the forest trees,
where the beasts would howl dismally across our path, and the rustle of
huge serpents fleeing away in the brake would make our hearts leap--not
knowing what evil beings of the night were abroad. We searched over the
openness of the plain, and among the rugged rocks where we had found the
white _isanusi_. We searched indeed far out beyond any distance such a
little child could travel. But we searched in vain.
Not only through the night did we search, but well on into the next day.
Sometimes our hearts would chill as we saw something white, like a
skull or bones, lying away from us, but on drawing near it would prove
to be a stone, or perchance the skull of a kid or a buck, devoured by
wild animals. I sent runners to all the outlying kraals around us but
these returned bearing no news, and at last so thoroughly had we
searched that I was constrained to believe that it was as Nangeza had so
evilly suggested--the little one had wandered away from the kraal, and,
having lost herself, had been carried off or devoured by wild animals.
Now my own heart was sad and sore, for, _Nkose_, I loved this little
creature, with the eyes of heaven and hair like the sun, whom I had
saved from the spears of our young men, and who had come to look upon me
as her father; and, indeed, she would sometimes place her tiny white
hand upon my great dark one and laugh, and ask whether hers would grow
black, too, when she became old. And now I should see her no more; hear
her rippling, joyous laughter never again--ah, _Nkose_, my heart was
very sore. But my younger wives, Nxope and Fumana, they made terrible
moan, far more so than they would have made over child of their own
blood.
It came about, however, that some there might have even greater reason
to make moan, and that on behalf of themselves; for at day-dawn on the
third morning after the disappearance of Kwelanga an armed force stood
at the gate of my kraal, and in a loud voice summoned those within the
huts to come forth in the King's name.
Now, many of these, looking upon the armed men, felt themselves already
dead, deeming that Umzilikazi had sent to "eat up" my kraal, by reason
of the manner in which its trust had been fulfilled; nor was I myself
for the moment at ease.
"Greeting, Ngubu!" I said. "What is the will of the Great Great One?"
"This, son of Ntelani," answered the leader of the armed band, that same
Ngubu who had headed the party in pursuit of me that time I had fled
with Nangeza, and who was present when I slew Njalo-njalo; "this--that
thou betakest thyself at all speed to the Black Elephant, who would
confer with thee. That for thee. For these, they must go with us,
every one, to the last man, woman, and child."
"Whither, Ngubu?" I asked, troubled. "Into the Dark Unknown?"
"Not so, Untuswa. Into the presence of the King."
They looked relieved at this I thought, though it might be but the
lengthening out of their agony, for the assegais of the "eaters-up" are
swifter than the teeth of the alligators. And so they started, hemmed
in by the spears of the warriors, while I alone strode on in advance, by
no means easy in my mind because of what was to befall, for some,
assuredly, would look into darkness long before that night.
A little way outside the great kraal Kwa'zingwenya was a grassy mound,
crested by two large and spreading trees, and from this the plain sloped
away, smooth and open, to the brink of the cliff overhanging the Pool of
the Alligators. Beneath the shade of these trees Umzilikazi was wont to
sit sometimes throughout the whole day, hearing and settling disputes,
talking over the affairs of the nation, or it might be reviewing one or
two of the young regiments practising drill upon the open plain before
him. Here now I found him.
"Well, Untuswa? And so there have been _tagati_ doings at your kraal?"
he said, when I had saluted. "Where is Kwelanga?"
"Now are all our hearts sore, Black Elephant," I answered, "for search
has been diligently made, but in vain.
"Yet I gave her into your keeping, son of Ntelani. There has been
_tagati_ herein, and some shall die."
"The will of the Great Great One is the delight of his children," I
replied. "Lo--now here are they who must answer for this business."
Now there came in sight across the plain the whole company of my people,
surrounded by the spears of the warriors who custodied them. All, as
they drew near, bent low before the King, shouting aloud the _Bayete_,
and on every face was stamped varying stages of fear and dread.
"Here has been _tagati_ at work," said the King, after eyeing them in
silence for a few moments. "I think, Untuswa, the women it was who had
the care of Kwelanga?"
"That is so, Black Elephant," I answered.
"There are thy three wives and two Bakoni slave-girls--five in all,"
went on the King. "Five women, and they are not able to custody one
little child! Ha! If a woman is unable to do this, of what use is she?
Not to give us the aid of her counsels in war," with a frown at
Nangeza. "Clearly these are of no use at all. Away with them! The
alligators are hungry!"
But before the slayers could spring forward, my two younger wives flung
themselves on the ground at the King's feet.
"Spare us, father!" they wailed.
"She who is gone was more to me than my own children," howled Fumana.
"Our own children will die of grief for loss of her," groaned Nxope.
"Spare us, Great Great One, that we may never rest until she is found,"
cried Fumana.
"No _tagati_ is there among us two, Father--among us two," screamed
Nxope.
"What mean you--witch? Ha, Nangeza, _inkosikazi_ of Untuswa! Hast thou
nothing to say, no tears for Kwelanga--for thine own life?"
While the others had thus been bemoaning and praying for mercy, Nangeza
was watching them with contempt in her eyes, which latter would flash
into the most intense hate and menace as she met my glance. Now she
answered:
"I have much to say, if the King will hear it--ah, much to say;" and her
glittering eyes sought my face in the triumph of their hate.
"I think we have heard enough of this babble," said Umzilikazi, with a
bitter sneer; for he loved not women, deeming them, though in some ways
necessary, yet of no account whatever, and only producing mischief if
allowed to raise their voices at all. But even the Great Great One had
reckoned without the length of Nangeza's tongue. Hardily she went on:
"There has been _tagati_ indeed; but not among us wives of Untuswa must
such be sought. Ho, Untuswa! Where is the witch thou didst save alive
from the slaughter of the Bakoni? Ha, ha, Untuswa, where is she?"
Now, _Nkose_, my heart turned to water within me; for such a suspicion,
once implanted in the King's mind, would surely bear fruit sooner or
later. And the offence was among the most deadly I could commit. But
at the words, I laughed; threw back my head and laughed softly, while
murmurs of amazement went up from those who heard.
"Hear you the words of this woman, Untuswa?" said the King.
"I hear them, Black Elephant."
"They are strange words, son of Ntelani. Hast thou no answer to make to
them?"
"Now, my Father, who am I that I should weary the ears of the Great
Great One by crossing answers with a woman in his presence?" I cried.
"That is well said," muttered Umzilikazi. Then aloud, "So, woman, where
doth she dwell, this witch whom Untuswa saved alive from the slaughter
of the Bakoni?"
"Upon the Mountain of Death, the mountain whereon her people were
slain," said Nangeza.
"And how is she named?"
"That I know not, O Elephant; but if Untuswa ever whispers her name in
his sleep, it is Fumana or Nxope you should ask, O Calf of a Black
Bull," she said, in a tone full of meaning and of malice.
Now I thought and thought how Nangeza could have obtained even that
amount of knowledge of my secret. Could she have followed me,
stealthily, the last journey I made to the Mountain of Death? It almost
seemed so. Or had she set others on to watch me? Anyhow, I felt not
over-certain of seeing many more suns set.
"And is that all thou hast to say, wife of Untuswa?" said the King,
softly, and putting his head on one side, as his manner was.
"This, too, Father. For many nights past I have heard, as it were, a
woman's voice singing around our kraal. I doubt not it was the voice of
this witch, and that she hath lured the little one into the forest, to
devour her, as the way is with such evildoers. But it is Untuswa who
has brought her about our ears to blight us with a curse."
"In truth, thou art an excellent wife--a very milch-cow of price," said
the King, mocking her. "In truth, it is worth a man's while to throw
away his life for such as thee. Thou art, indeed, worthy to be the
chief wife of one of my best fighting-captains. Thou who wouldst seek
to throw on to his shoulders the consequences of thine own neglect, and
fill up our ears with such childish tales of witches singing around the
gates! And thou, Untuswa, thou art happy, indeed, in the possession of
such! Well, woman, such babble is of no avail. The alligators are
hungry."
The _izimbonga_ raised a chorus of praise, and the frightened company of
my people, seeing that only five of their number were to suffer, joined
in. And now, bending low before the King, I craved a boon.
"The wisdom of the King is great, and his justice is terrible," I said.
"But these, it is for these I would speak," pointing to my younger
wives.
"Say on, Untuswa," said the King.
"Not for me is it to question the will of the Great Great One. But I
would ask, Father, that these might be spared, at any rate, for a few
days longer. It may yet be that Kwelanga is found, and then, my Father,
what will she do, finding that those who took care of her are no more?"
"Strange care have they taken of her, Untuswa," replied Umzilikazi.
"Hold! Whom have we here?"
For over the plain a great multitude was advancing. As it drew nearer,
we could make out that at some paces in front of it walked a woman.
That she was tall and straight, and beautiful of build, we could see
even from there. Nearer--nearer, she drew; advancing direct to where
was seated the Great Great One. In silence the people parted to make
way for her, and, not hesitating a moment, she paced up to the King, her
head thrown slightly back, proud, stately of bearing, as though she were
a queen. Then, halting, she bent down, yet not very low, and cried,
"_Bayete_!" And we who looked thought we had never beheld so fair and
gracious a type of womanhood; while I, for my part--_Whau Nkose_! it
seemed as though the end of all things was at hand, for she upon whom I
now gazed--upon whom we all gazed--standing there before the King, was
none other than Lalusini, the beautiful sorceress who had bewitched me
with her love.