There was that about the look of your oxen just now, _Nkose_--shadowed
like black ghosts against the mist--that brought back to my old mind a
strange and wonderful time. And the night is yet young. Nor will that
tale take very long in telling, unless--ah, that tale is but the door
opening into a still greater one; but of that we shall see--yes, we
shall see.
I have already unfolded to you, _Nkose_, all that befell at the Place of
the Three Rifts, and how at that place we met in fierce battle and
rolled back the might of Dingane and thus saved the Amandebeli as a
nation. Also have I told the tale of how I gained the White Shield by
saving the life of a king, and how it in turn saved the life of a
nation. Further have I told how I took for principal wife Lalusini, the
sorceress, in whose veins ran the full blood of the House of
Senzangakona, the royal House of Zululand, and whom I had first found
making strange and powerful _muti_ among the Bakoni, that disobedient
people whom we stamped flat.
For long after these events there was peace in our land. The arm of
Dingane was stretched out against us no more, and Umzilikazi, our king,
who had meditated moving farther northward, had decided to sit still in
the great kraal, Kwa'zingwenya, yet a little longer. But though we had
peace from our more powerful enemies, the King would not suffer the
might of our nation to grow soft and weak for lack of practice in the
arts of war--oh, no. The enrolling of warriors was kept up with
unabated vigour, and the young men thus armed were despatched at once to
try their strength upon tribes within striking distance, and even far
beyond the limits of the same. Many of these were mountain tribes,
small in numbers, but brave and fierce, and gave our fiery youths just
as much fighting as they could manage ere wetting their victorious
spears in blood.
Now, although we had peace from our more formidable foes, yet the mind
of the King seemed not much easier on that account, for all fears as to
disturbance from without being removed, it seemed that Umzilikazi was
not wholly free from dread of conspiracy within. And, indeed, I have
observed that it is ever so, _Nkose_. When the greater troubles which
beset a man, and which he did not create, beset him no longer, does he
not at once look around to see what troubles he can create for himself?
_Whau_! I am old. I have seen.
So it was with Umzilikazi. The fear of Dingane removed, the
recollection of the conspiracy of Tyuyumane and the others returned--
that conspiracy to hand over our new nation to the invading Amabuna--
that conspiracy which so nearly succeeded, and, indeed, would have
completely, but for the watchfulness and craft of the old Mosutu witch
doctor. Wherefore, with this suspicion ever in the King's mind we,
_izinduna_, seemed to have fallen upon uneasy times. Yet the principal
object of dislike and distrust to the Great Great One was not, in the
first place, one of ourselves. No councillor or fighting man was it,
but a woman--and that woman Lalusini, my principal wife.
"Ha, Untuswa!" would the King say, talking dark, but his tone full of
gloomy meaning. "Ha, Untuswa, but thine _amahlose_ [Tutelary spirits]
watch over thee well. Tell me, now, where is there a man the might of
whose spear and the terror of whose name sweeps the world--whose
slumbers are lulled by the magic of the mighty, and who is greater even
than kings? Tell me, Untuswa, where is such a man?"
"I think such is to be found not far hence, Great Great One. Even in
this house," I answered easily, yet with a sinking fear of evil at
heart, for his words were plain in their meaning; my successes in war
surpassed by none; my beautiful wife, the great sorceress of the Bakoni,
the wandering daughter of Tshaka the Terrible. And his tone--ah, that,
too, spoke.
"Even in this house! _Yeh bo_! Untuswa--thou sayest well," went on the
King softly, his head on one side, and peering at me with an expression
that boded no good. "Even in this house! Ha! Name him, Untuswa. Name
him."
"Who am I that I should sport with the majesty of the King's name?" I
answered. "Is not the son of Matyobane--the Founder of Mighty Nations--
the Elephant of the Amandebeli--such a man? Doth not his spear rule the
world, and the terror of his name--_au_!--who would hear it and laugh?
And is not the bearer of that name greater than other kings--greater
even than the mighty one of the root of Senzangakona--whose might has
fled before the brightness of the great king's head-ring? And again,
who sleeps within the shadow of powerful and propitious magic but the
Father and Founder of this great nation?"
"Very good, Untuswa. Very good. Yet it may be that the man of whom I
was speaking is no king at all--great, but no king."
"No king at all! _Hau_! I know not such a man, Father of the World," I
answered readily. "There is but one who is great, and that _is_ the
King. All others are small--small indeed."
I know not how much further this talk would have gone, _Nkose_; and
indeed of it I, for my part, was beginning to have more than enough.
For, ever now, when Umzilikazi summoned me to talk over matters of
state, would he soon lead the conversation into such channels; and,
indeed, I saw traps and pitfalls beneath every word. But now the voice
of an _inceku_--or household attendant--was heard without singing the
words of _sibonga_, and by the way in which he praised we knew he
desired to announce news of importance. At a sign from the King I
admitted the man.
"There are men without, O Divider of the Sun," he began--when he had
made prostration--"men from the kraals of Maqandi-ka-Mahlu, who beg the
protection of the King's wise ones. The Red Magic has been among them
again."
"Ha! The Red Magic!" said Umzilikazi, with a frown. "It seems I have
heard enough of such childish tales. Yet, let the dogs enter and whine
out their own story."
Through the door of the royal dwelling, creeping on hands and knees,
came two men. They were not of our blood, but of a number whom the King
had spared, with their wives and children, and had located in a region
some three days to the northward as far as a swift walker could travel.
It was a wild and mountainous land--a land of black cliffs and
thunderous waterfalls--cold, and sunless, and frowning--a meet abode of
ghosts and all evil things. Here they had been located, and, being
skilled in ironwork, were employed in forging spear-heads and axes for
our nation. They were in charge of Maqandi-ka-Mahlu--a man of our race,
and a chief--and who, having been "smelt out" by our witch doctors, the
King had spared--yet had banished in disgrace to rule over these
iron-workers in the region of ghosts and of gloom.
Their tale now was this: The stuff which they dug from the bowels of the
earth to make the metal for our spears and axes was mostly procured in a
long, deep, gloomy valley, running right up into the heart of the
mountains. Here they bored holes and caves for digging the stuff. But,
for some time past, they had not been able to go there--for the place
had become a haunt of _tagati_. A terrible ghost had taken up its abode
in the caves, and did a man wander but the shortest space of time from
his fellows, that man was never again seen.
He was seen, though, but not alive. His body was found weltering in
blood, and ripped, not as with a spear, but as though by the horn of a
fierce and furious bull. This had befallen several times, and had duly
been reported to the King--who would know everything--but Umzilikazi
only laughed, saying that he cared nothing that the spirits of evil
chose to devour, from time to time, such miserable prey as these slaves.
There were plenty more of them, and if the wizard animals, who dwelt in
the mountains, wanted to slay such, why, let them.
But now, the tale which these men told was serious. They could no more
go to that place for the terror which haunted it. They had tried
keeping together, so that none might fall a prey to the evil monster--
and, for some while, none had. But there came a day when travelling
thus, in a body close together, through the gloom of the forest, a
sudden and frightful roaring, as of the advance of a herd of savage
bulls, burst upon them. Some fell, half dead with fear; others, crying
out that they could see fearful shapes, with gigantic horns and flaming
eyes, moving among the trees, rushed blindly in all directions. Of
thirty men who had entered that dreadful valley, ten only came forth,
nor of these could any be persuaded to return and see what had happened
to the remaining score. But the seer, Gasitye, who knew no terror of
things of the other world, had ventured in. Twenty bodies had he seen--
lying scattered--no two together--no, not anywhere two together--and all
had died the Red Death.
"And was this by day or by night?" said the King, who had been listening
with great attention to this tale.
"By day, O Ruler of the World. While yet the sun was straight
overhead," replied the men.
"Well, I care not," said Umzilikazi, with a sneer. "Go back now and
cause your seer, Gasitye, to charm away that _tagati_, and that soon,
lest I visit him and you with the fate of those who make witchcraft.
Shall we keep a dog who cannot guard our house? For to what other use
can we turn such a dog? Begone."
There was despair upon the faces of the two messengers as the meaning of
these words became plain to them--and in truth were they between two
perils, even as one who travels, and, being beset by a great fire,
fleeth before it, only to find himself stopped by a mighty and raging
river, whose flood he cannot hope to cross. Yet the man who had spoken,
instead of immediate obedience, ventured further to urge his prayer with
the intrepidity and hopeless courage of such despair.
"Who are we that we should weary the ears of the Father of the Great?"
he went on. "Yet, even a dog cannot entirely guard a house if he is but
a small dog, and they who would enter are many and strong. He can but
give warning of their approach--and this is what we have done. But the
King's magicians are many and powerful, and ours are weak. Besides, O
Black Elephant, how shall metal be procured for the spears of the Great
Great One's warriors, when the place where it is procured is guarded by
the horns of the ghost-bulls, who slay all who go in?"
Now, I thought those slaves must indeed have touched the lowest depth of
despair and terror, that they dared to use such speech to the King. And
upon the countenance of Umzilikazi came that look which was wont to mean
that somebody would never behold another sun to rise.
"Enough!" he said, pointing at the two messengers with his short-handled
spear. "Return ye hence. For the rest of you--hearken now, Untuswa.
Send one half of thy regiment of `Scorpions' under an experienced
captain, that they may drive the whole of the people of Maqandi within
this Ghost-Valley. Then let them draw a line across the month thereof,
and slay every one who shall attempt to escape. So shall the people of
Maqandi either slay this ghost or be slain by it. I care not which.
Go?"
I rose to carry out the King's orders, and upon the faces of the
grovelling messengers was an awful expression of set, hopeless despair.
But, before I could creep through the low doorway, a sign from
Umzilikazi caused me to halt. At the same time, a frightful hubbub
arose from without--the hubbub of a volume of deep, excited voices--
mingled with a wild bellowing, which was enough to make a man deaf.
"I think these ghost-bulls are upon us, too," said the King, with an
angry sneer. "Look forth, Untuswa, and see whether all the world has
gone mad."
Quickly I gained the gate in the woven fence which surrounded the
_isigodhlo_. From far and near people were flocking, while the great
open space within the kraal was becoming more and more densely packed;
and, making their way through the blackness of the crowd, which parted
eagerly to give them passage, came a weird and hideous throng, decked
with horrid devices of teeth and claws and the skulls of beasts, their
bodies hung with clusters of bleeding entrails and all the fooleries
which our _izanusi_ hang about themselves to strike terror into the
fearful. These, leaping and bounding in the air, rushed forward till it
seemed they were about to bear me down and pour into the _isigodhlo_
itself. But they halted--halted almost in the very gate--and redoubled
their bellowings, howling about the Valley of the Red Death and the woe
which should come upon our nation. And all the people, their faces
turned earthward, howled in response. Looking upon this, I bethought me
that there seemed truth in the King's words, and that all the world had
indeed gone mad. Making a sign to the _izanusi_ to desist their
howlings--a sign, however, which they did not obey--I returned to the
royal presence to report what I had seen.
"Send my guard, Untuswa, to beat back this mob," said the
King. "This must be looked into. As for these"--pointing to the
messengers--"custody them forth, for it may be I have further use for
them."
Quickly I went out to issue my orders, and hardly had I done so, than
the King himself came forward, and making a sign to myself and two or
three other _izinduna_ to attend him, sat himself down at the head of
the open space. The while the roars of _bonga_ which greeted his
appearance mingled with the howling of the gang of witch doctors and the
shouting and blows of the royal guard, beating back the excited crowd
with their sticks and shields. In very truth, _Nkose_, it seemed as
though the whole nation were gathered there.
Suddenly a silence fell upon the multitude, and even the bellowing of
the _izanusi_ was stayed, as there came through the throng, creeping
upon their hands and knees, nearly a score of men. Their leader was a
fine and well-built warrior of middle age, whom I knew as a fierce and
fearless fighter, and they had returned from "eating up" the kraal of
one of the subject tribes in accordance with the King's mandate. Now
the leader reported having carried out his orders fully. The evil-doers
were destroyed, their houses burnt, and their cattle swept off as
forfeit to the King.
"It is well," said Umzilikazi. "Yet not for that ye have obeyed your
orders has the whole nation gone mad."
"There is more to tell, Great Great One," answered the warrior, upon
whose countenance, and upon the countenances of his band, I could descry
signs of dread. "In returning we had to pass through the land of
Maqandi. Two of us fell to the Red Death."
"To the Red Death?" repeated the King, speaking softly and pleasantly.
"Ha! How and where was that, Hlatusa?"
Then the leader explained how he had allowed two of his followers to
wander into the Ghost Valley in pursuit of a buck they had wounded.
They had not returned, and when sought for had been found lying some
little distance apart, each terribly ripped and covered with blood, as
though they had been rolled in it.
"So?" said the King, who had been listening attentively with his head on
one side. "So, Hlatusa? And what did you do next, Hlatusa?"
"This, Black Elephant," answered the man. "Every corner of that
_tagati_ place did we search, but found in it no living thing that could
have done this--ghost or other. In every cave and hole we penetrated,
but nothing could we find, Father of the Wise."
"In this instance, Father of the Fools," sneered Umzilikazi, a black and
terrible look taking the place of the pleasant and smiling expression
his face had hitherto worn. "Yet, stay. What else did you find there?
No sign, perchance?"
"There was a sign, Divider of the Sun," replied Hlatusa, who now
considered himself, and they that were with him, already dead. "There
was a sign. The hoof-mark as of a huge bull was imprinted in the ground
beside the bodies."
"And wherefore did ye not rout out that bull and return hither with his
head, O useless ones?" said the King.
"No bull was it, but a ghost, Great Great One," replied the leader. And
they who had been with him murmured strongly in support of his words.
"Now have I heard enough," said Umzilikazi. "You, Hlatusa, you I send
forth at the head of twenty men, and you return, having lost two--not on
the spears of a fighting enemy, but in strange fashion. And no one do
ye hold accountable for this, but return with a child-tale about ghosts
and the hoof-mark of a ghost-bull. _Hamba gahle_, Hlatusa. The
alligators are hungry. _Take him hence_!"
With these fatal words the throng of slayers sprang forward to seize
him. But Hlatusa waited not to be seized. Rising, he saluted the King;
then turning, he stalked solemnly and with dignity to his doom--down
through the serried ranks of the people, down through the further gate
of the kraal, away over the plain, keeping but two paces in front of his
guards. A dead silence fell upon all, and every face was turned his
way. We saw him stand for a moment on the brow of the cliff which
overhung the Pool of the Alligators, wherein evil-doers were cast. Then
we saw him leap; and in the dead silence it seemed we could hear the
splash--the snapping of jaws and the rush through the water of those
horrible monsters, now ever ravening for the flesh of men.