There she stood--she on whom my thoughts had dwelt day and night--she
for whom I had sought so carefully and yet so fruitlessly--she whom I
had never expected to behold again. There she stood, and as quick
murmurs of amazement, of admiration, went up from all who beheld, her
eyes swept around our circle and rested upon my face--yet hardly
rested--for in them there was no brightening, no recognition. She
looked at me as she looked at the others--as though she had never seen
me before.
Now I remembered Masuka's strange, dark, prophecy--how that the
"she-eagle" should return, but that then the alligators should be fed.
The King would remember the name as spoken by Tauane--and that, coupled
with Nangeza's accusation, ah--good night! Well, I cared not. I, like
others, leaned eagerly forward as I crouched, straining my eyes to gaze
upon the beauty of the sorceress. Yet even then, while her glance was
not directly meeting mine, I seemed to read in her eyes an unspoken, yet
none the less vividly-flashed, message--even as I had read the glance of
old Masuka that dreadful day upon which I stood between the King's
assegai and doom. And the language I read in this glance
was--"Caution!"
She was attired in the short, apron-like girdle of the Bakoni,
ornamented with rich bead-work, and a light mantle of dressed fawn-skin
similarly adorned hung from one shoulder. As when I saw her first, she
wore upon her arms and neck bands of solid gold, after the manner of the
richer of the Bakoni, and her hair was gathered up from the scalp into a
high cone as the Zulu women wear it.
"Who art thou, my sister?" said the King, not choosing to show the
astonishment which even he felt.
"I am of the Bakoni, Great Great One. I am called Lalusini," she
answered in purest Zulu.
"Of the Bakoni? Lalusini? _Hau_! That is no name ever brought forth
of the twisted tongues of those chattering dogs. It is a full ripe Zulu
name, born of the race of the Heavens," returned the King. "Say now,
Lalusini. What wert thou among the Bakoni dogs whom we have stamped
flat? A prisoner?"
"Yea and nay, Black Black One. I was the Queen of their _muti_."
"Ha! Yet another magician! It seems that all the magicians in the
world find their way, or are brought here: first old Masuka, then the
white man--now this one," said Umzilikazi. "Ha, Untuswa--thou
magician-finder! How is it thou didst not find this one--thou who didst
find the rest?"
I only made murmur, for I guessed that the King was mocking me. And the
moment was in truth a trial as he went on--
"Say now, Queen of the Bakoni _muti_. How didst thou escape death or
capture when my children stamped flat thy people?"
"By the name thou spakest just now, Black Elephant--Queen of the Bakoni
_muti_, Now of what use is _muti_ if it fails in the day of necessity?"
"Thy story I will yet hear," answered the King. "Now say, Lalusini,
knowest thou Untuswa?"
"Untuswa? I seem to have heard that name. Surely it was that of the
King's messenger, who with only one young man, and he unringed, did hold
the Bakoni in defiance like a lion at bay."
"And thou hast not beheld him since that day?"
"I think not, Great Great One--and that day only from afar did I behold
him. Nay I saw him once at the council, and then nearer. He was a tall
man, who carried a very large spear."
"Look around, my sister, and tell me if he is here to-day," said the
King.
Lalusini looked first among such groups of warriors as were mustered
around. Then she stepped over to the assemblage of _izinduna_ among
whom I sat, and looked long and earnestly. Umzilikazi, meanwhile, was
watching her narrowly.
"I think that is the King's messenger," she said, gazing into my face.
"He has the look of such a warrior as that one was."
But before anything more could be said Nangeza sprang forward, and her
eyes were glittering with hate, and in her voice was a snarl as that of
a wild beast.
"She is the witch whom Untuswa saved from the slaughter, reserving her
for himself. Look, O King! Now they pretend not to know each other,"
shrieked Nangeza, darting her hand furiously forth as though it
contained a weapon.
Now, _Nkose_, it was a dreadful moment for me, for at first there was
dead silence. All were too amazed even to exclaim. I merely uttered a
disdainful click, shaking my head. But Lalusini--she turned towards
Nangeza, glanced her up and down, and laughed--laughed softly,
musically. Then, waving her hands into the air, she began to sing, and
the words were in the tongue of the Bakoni, which none there present
understood. Yet her voice was musical and sweet, and in it there
thrilled a mystery. All watched in silence as she moved her hands and
feet to the measure of her chant. Since I understood this tongue,
_Nkose_, I listened as though a great serpent were tightening its coils
more and more around me, for her words were dark and full of a strange
and terrifying mystery. Her song ceased.
"What dost thou seek here now, my sister?" softly said the King, for
even he could not refuse to acknowledge the influence of her charm. "Is
it to make _muti_ among thine own people, having had enough of the
Bakoni dogs whom we have eaten up?"
"I think there are enough who make such _muti_ here, Black Elephant,"
she answered. "Not for this have I come. I am here to save the Father
of a new nation."
"_Hau_!" we gasped, stricken well-nigh dumb, for the words were spoken
slow and sad, and with weighty warning. None doubted but that they
applied to a near attack on the part of our most to be dreaded enemies,
and at once all men's minds flew to the _impis_ of Dingane advancing
upon us in force--or, perhaps, the Amabuna, or even both in concert.
Dismay was on every face, for we liked not to be thus taken by surprise.
But upon that of Umzilikazi was a frown of terrible import, which meant
badly for those from whose quarter the foe should first appear, they
having failed to report it.
"Thy words are dark indeed," he said. "Explain, sorceress, for time
does not wait."
But Lalusini, for reply, only returned a swift, silent glance. Then
once more she burst into song, again in the Bakoni tongue. Her head was
thrown back, and she seemed to be gazing at some momentous object
invisible to us. She seemed to lose herself, to utterly forget our
presence, as her voice rose wild and sweet and clear. Yes, indeed,
there was a mystery in her song, and it seemed to me that the words had
a very certain meaning; also that, all the while standing facing me as
she was, her glance betimes met mine quickly, as in a flash, and with a
purpose. It was, I felt, in her mind that I should mark her words and
weigh them well. Thus they ran:--
"The Lion sinks
To the serpent's fang;
The eagle drops
To the bowstring's twang.
"Great is small;
Little is great;
Great ones fall
When the mean deal fate.
"The serpent's coil
Hides the fangs of death;
_A coil of blue_
Veils the serpent's breath.
"See the White Bull's pride
O'er the Black Bull wave;
_Now, the White Bull's hide
May the Black Bull save_."
_Whau, Nkose_! Then was amazement my master--I its slave! The "coil of
blue!" Such a blue-beaded girdle was that of Nangeza's skirt, beside
which she wore little else when summoned before the King. Upon this my
eyes fixed themselves, only, however, to follow once more the meaning
glance of Lalusini. And the King sat wondering, yet not understanding
the _muti_ song. And above his head, waving softly to and fro in the
hand of its bearer, rose aloft the royal white shield. It was as the
buzzing of bees within my ears that I heard the voice of the Great Great
ONE.
"I have a mind to end this _indaba_," he was saying. "Thou, Nangeza,
hast a pestilent tongue and an evil heart; wherefore my servant Untuswa
must seek a new wife, for _thy place among us shall be empty_. Take her
hence. The alligators are hungry."
"So, too, is Death, thou fool who art King!" yelled Nangeza. I saw her
hand swift at her girdle. Something flashed through the air. It
struck--struck hard and quivering--into the great white shield, which,
quick as the movement, as the flash itself, I had snatched from the
shield-bearer, and whirled down so as to cover the person of the King.
It was one of those short, javelin-shaped arrows, such as were used by
the mountain tribes, and sometimes among the Bakoni. And the point
thereof was green and sticky with the most deadly of poisons.
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 passing 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
_isigodhlo_ 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.