The news of what had been done had already spread fast and far, and
before I reached Maqandi's kraal a great crowd of the iron-workers had
assembled. These increased more and more, and presently a vast number
of these people had joined in my train, dancing in their joy, and
singing songs of triumph and of praise of myself, who had rid them of a
twofold terror--of destruction by this thing of _tagati_, and of peril
of wholesale death by the assegai when the patience of the King should
become exhausted. But little attention did I pay to all this, for my
allotted time had nearly expired, and it would be all I could do to
reach Kwa'zingwenya ere it had quite. So I levied upon Maqandi for a
large body of slaves, and pushed on, travelling night and day, and
taking little or no rest.
No time even had I to visit my own kraal, which was somewhat off the
line of my nearest road. However, I sent messengers there, and swift
runners to Kwa'zingwenya, that news of my success might reach the King
as early as possible.
But as I travelled on swiftly through the night, whose dawn should see
me laying my trophies at the feet of the Great Great One, my mind was
torn by many misgivings, and many an anxious glance did I send upward to
the heavens. _The moon was at the full_.
Fair and splendid rose the dawn of that day, and as I came in sight of
our Great Place, and of the people flocking thither--for here, too, the
news had spread, and all were eager to hear about what had been done,
and, if possible, to behold the actual skin and horns of the great
_tagati_ beast--I forgot my fears, and felt proud and light-hearted as
ever when I had accomplished something great. And thus I stalked into
the great circle, looking neither to right nor left, and seemingly not
hearing the murmurs and exclamations of wonder which broke from all who
beheld the immense horned head borne behind me by the slaves.
"The Great Great One is sleeping, Untuswa," said the commander of the
armed body-guard before the gate of the _isigodhlo_. "His orders are
that none should awaken him."
"Yet what will he say if such news as I bring be allowed to grow old?
How will that be, Ngoza?"
"_Whau_! I know not, son of Ntelani," was the answer. "But I may not
go behind my orders. There is no safely that way."
Now I liked not this reply. I noticed, moreover, that the guard before
the _isigodhlo_ was much larger than usual, and in those days, _Nkose_,
anything unusual was likely to foreshadow trouble for somebody.
Further, there was a shortness in the tone of the captain of the guard
which sounded strange as addressed to one of my rank and influence.
There was nothing for it, however, but patience, so I sat down to await
the pleasure of the Great Great One.
As I sat there, taking snuff, I ran my eyes over those present, both
near and far, seemingly with unconcern, but in reality with something of
anxiety. Many of my own followers could I discern among the throng, and
their women; but among these last was no sign of Lalusini. Yet this did
not disconcert me, for of late my _inkosikazi_ had rather avoided coming
overmuch within the notice of the Great Great One.
Presently an _inceku_ came out and spoke to the captain of the guard.
Immediately it was proclaimed that the Great Great One was about to
appear; and, preceded by the _izimbonga_, or praisers, bellowing the
royal titles, Umzilikazi came forth and took his seat at the head of the
great circle, where he was wont to sit each morning and discuss matters
of state, or pronounce judgment on offenders.
As soon as the prostrate multitude had made an end of shouting the royal
praises I advanced to the King and made my report, leaving out, however,
my experience of the witchcraft of Gasitye.
"Thou hast done well, Untuswa," he said when I had concluded. "Now bid
them bring hither that head."
This was done--and as Umzilikazi stood up the better to examine it, even
he murmured in surprise at its gigantic size. And I, gazing upon the
thing, black and huge, with its glazed eyes and swollen tongue and
shaggy frontlet of hair, remembered the horrible and terrifying aspect
of those vast, pointed horns, tossing and tearing in the glade of the
moonlit forest.
"_Whau_! It stinks. Let them take it away," said Umzilikazi at length,
spitting in disgust, as a swarm of flies came buzzing about his face.
"And now, Untuswa, this thing will trouble the land no more?"
"No more, Great Great One."
"Ha! That is well. And now by virtue of what _muti_ didst thou triumph
over this evil thing of witchcraft?"
"By the virtue of no _muti_ save that of the spear of the King, O
Elephant," I answered, with a glance backward at where I had deposited
the great assegai, the erewhile royal gift.
I thought the answer seemed to please him, then not; for his expression
changed as though reading into my words a hidden meaning.
"But it has taken long to rid the land of this thing, Untuswa," he said,
looking at me with his head bent sideways, and speaking in a soft tone.
"That is so, Great Great One. But the thing was both crafty and
fierce."
"Yet not alone didst thou slay it, as my conditions were," he went on,
pointing at me with his short-handled spear.
"Alone indeed did I slay it, Serpent of Wisdom," I answered.
"Now thou liest, son of Ntelani. What of the slaves who were with
thee?"
"They were but bait for the ghost-bull, Divider of the Sun; and both
were duly slain by it," I replied. But now I knew my feet were standing
on slippery ground indeed--for never for a long time past had Umzilikazi
spoken to me in that tone, and for a longer time still, in the sight and
hearing of all men.
"And what of thy slave, Jambula?" went on the King. "Was he not armed?"
"No part did he take in slaying the thing, Father of the Wise. His part
lay in running away."
"Yet he was armed, and my condition laid down that no armed force should
accompany thee."
"_Au_! Now I would ask the Great Great One, the leader of the nations
in war, whether one man, and he a slave, constitutes an armed force?" I
replied, fully aware that whatever was in the King's mind towards me,
lack of courage never yet found favour in that mind.
"Let be, then," he said. "For that question we will let it rest. But
say then, son of Ntelani--what of the moon? That this thing should be
slain before the full of the moon--was not that one of my conditions?
Yet the moon has been full these two nights."
"But the thing was so slain, Black Elephant. Before the moon was full,
was it slain."
"But it should have been brought here by the full of the moon--the head,
even as now. Well, well, Untuswa! It is not always possible to carry
out conditions in their entirety, is it? Ah, ah! not always possible.
Now go home, thou slayer of ghost-bulls, for it may be that I have even
harder conditions awaiting thee than slaying _tagati_ beasts. Go!"
I saluted and withdrew, and as I did so, the chief of the _izanusi_ came
up and begged to be allowed to have the trophies of the ghost-bull for
_muti_ purposes. But Umzilikazi refused shortly, and gave orders that
they should be prepared and preserved until he had chosen how to dispose
them. And I, leaving the presence as commanded, felt sore and heavy at
heart, for the King's tone of mockery seemed cold and hostile, and to
bear some hidden meaning--one that boded ill to me and mine.
So concerned was I, trying to think out this matter, that I hardly
noticed how few of my own rank joined me to give me news or talk over
what had been done, and of my own followers none at all. These last
would give me greeting from afar, and hurry onward; yet, by what I had
done, I had saved them all from the death of the assegai. But it
behoved me not, as a chief of great rank and influence, to show
curiosity, and so, asking questions of no man, I eventually reached my
kraal.
Then as I entered the gate, looking up towards my principal hut, it came
back to me how I had last beheld Lalusini standing there in the setting
sun to see the last of me, on that evening when I set forth on my errand
of dread. Why was she not there now, waiting to welcome me? _Hau_! It
seemed to send a chill through my being--a foreboding of all that was
direful and deathly. Man of mature age and ripe experience as I was,
even I could hardly restrain a quickening of the step as I paced across
the open circle, returning the greetings of those who hailed my return.
Stooping through the doorway, I entered the hut. It was empty.
Everything was in its place as I had left it. But--no Lalusini.
"She has gone about some ordinary business," I thought; "or has come to
welcome me in the path, and we have missed." But my sinking heart cried
aloud that such thoughts told idle tales.
Stepping forth, I beckoned a young man standing near.
"Where is Mgwali?" I inquired.
He replied that he thought my brother must have tarried at the Great
Place, for he had seen him there that morning.
"Where is Ncala-cala?" I then asked.
He replied that the old man, who was the responsible head of the kraal
under me, had been sent for by the King the day before, and had not yet
returned. I asked him no more questions, but entered the hut of one of
my other wives.
I found Nxope and Fumana squatted together on the ground. They greeted
me in a manner that struck me as showing great if subdued fear.
"Where is Lalusini?" I said.
Then indeed was fear upon their countenances. They looked at each other
as though each expected the other to reply.
"Where is Lalusini?" I repeated.
"We know not," said Fumana sullenly.
Then my patience gave way.
"Ha! Ye know not! Hear me now, ye witches. I am tired of such as you.
Look at this," holding forth the great assegai, from which I never
parted, save when forced to disarm in the presence of the King. "Look
well at it and bear in mind I do not speak twice. This spear has drunk
much blood, but never yet the blood of women. Fail to answer my next
question and it will begin. Now. Where is Lalusini?"
"In truth we know not," screamed Nxope.
I know not how it was, _Nkose_, that in my awful grief and rage that
blade did not shear swiftly through the speaker's heart, even as I had
promised. I know not how it was, I say, unless it were that something
about the woman--some movement, perhaps--reminded me of Lalusini, but my
hand seemed arrested in the very act of striking.
"Ha! One more chance," I said. "Now, quick. Tell me."
"We will tell you all, lord," yelled Fumana, more quick-witted than the
other. "The third night after you left she disappeared. No one saw her
go; nor has she ever returned."
"Seven nights ago that would be; and she has never returned?"
"Never, lord."
"And that is all we know about it," whimpered Nxope, still in fear for
her life.
But she need not have been. My anger against them was past now, for I
could see they had told me all they knew, and that was--nothing.
Besides, of them I had no further thought. I sat down on the floor of
the hut and thought. The third night after I left. Ha! The vision in
Gasitye's cavern! Had I not seen Lalusini's face among the others--
among the faces of the dead--for such were all the others? She, too,
had passed into the Great Unknown.
Now my thoughts at once flew off to the King. I saw his hand in this
matter. Umzilikazi had broken faith with me. He had seized the
opportunity of my absence to put my sorceress-wife to death, and that
secretly and in the dead of night. Ha! I saw it all now. All that had
been said that morning connected him with this. Had he not repeatedly
taxed me with not carrying out the conditions of my challenge, so as to
justify his own act of treachery? And then his words, uttered in soft,
mocking tones: "Well, well, Untuswa. It is not always possible to carry
out conditions in their entirety, is it? Ah, ah! not always possible,"
That pointed to some breach on his part of his own conditions. And
again: "I have even harder conditions awaiting thee than the slaying of
_tagati_ beasts." It was all as clear now as the noonday sun. Yet why
should he thus have tried to excuse what he had done? At a nod from
him--one word--I had gone to join the others whose faces I had seen, dim
and horrible, in the wizard cave. And then I knew that if the son of
Matyobane, founder and first King of the Amandebeli nation, had never
made a mistake in his life, he had made one when he failed to give that
nod, to utter that word; for, so sure as he had ordered the death of
Lalusini, so sure would a new king reign over the Amandebeli, and that
speedily.
I have already told you, _Nkose_, that the love which I felt for
Lalusini was after the manner of the love which white people bear for
their women; and, indeed, I think but few, even, of them. Now, as I sat
there, realising that never again should I behold my stately and
beautiful wife, never again hear the tones of her voice--always soft
with love for me--the thoughts that hunted each other through my mind
were many and passing strange. In truth, I was bewitched. All that had
constituted the joy of living was as nothing now--my rank and influence,
my ambitions, the fierce joy of battle, the thunder of the war-march, of
rank upon rank of the splendid warriors I commanded--all this was as
nothing. And at this moment there crossed my mind the thought of that
priest-magician, the white man whom we found offering sacrifice in the
forest--of whom I told you in a former story--and who dwelt with us
long. I thought of his teaching and his mysteries, and of the God of
Peace of whom he taught, and how that, if he were here now, I would
gladly put myself through his strange water-rite, and participate in his
mysterious sacrifices, so that I might once more be reunited to Lalusini
in another world; for such seemed to me to have been his teaching--at
least, so as I remembered it. But he, too, was dead; and, though I
might sacrifice oxen at his grave, I doubted whether his voice even then
would tell me what to do, for I remembered he liked not such sacrifices.
Besides, he had always taught that it was not lawful to kill any man,
save in defence of our lives or nation; and if there was one thing as
firmly rooted in my mind then, _Nkose_, as the Intaba Zungweni yonder is
rooted to the plain, it was that the son of Matyobane should himself
travel the road of death. I cared not what fate should be mine
therefor; nor, indeed, that my whole kraal--wives, children, relatives,
followers--should die the death of the spear or the stake; I myself
would slay the King with my own hand. And then it seemed that waves of
blood were rolling red around my brain. I saw myself King--I saw all
those of Umzilikazi's House led forth to die--I saw the surface of the
Pool of Death scarlet with the blood of all who, in the farthest degree,
boasted a single drop of the blood of Matyobane, till even the
alligators, surfeited, refused to devour any more. _Haul_ I would slay.
_Haul_ I would invent new tortures for every man, woman, and child of
the now reigning House; I would execute such a vengeance that the tale
of it should be handed down as long as the tongue of the Zulu was spoken
in the world.
I know not, _Nkose_, what change this cloud of blood and flame rolling
around my brain must have produced in my countenance, but I awoke from
my thoughts to find Nxope and Fumana staring at me as though at a thing
of horror. Their eyes were starting from their heads, their mouths were
open, they seemed turned to stone, as though they were staring into the
very jaws of the most terrible form of death. Then I remembered. If I
would render my vengeance complete, I must be wary; silent and crafty as
the leopard when marking down his prey. The strength of the warrior,
the craft of the councillor, the coolness and self-control of both--such
must be the role of every moment, waking or sleeping, of life.
"I think I have travelled too fast and too far, and am tired," I said in
an ordinary and even tone; yet, even as it was, so frightened were those
two women that they half leapt at the sound of it. "You two," pointing
at them with my spear, "attend now. It is not good to talk too much.
The tongue that wags too much must be cut out with this"--fingering the
edge of the blade--"or the throat is less trouble to cut. Bear that in
mind, for I know not how ye escaped with your lives but a short while
ago."
They were quick in their declarations of silence and careful utterance,
and I knew I had sufficiently frightened them. And thus I left them.