THE WAR OF THE CLEAN SPEAR
When Sihamba arose next day, Suzanne asked her if the home of her
people, the Umpondwana, was a great mountain faced round with
slab-sided precipices and having ridges on its eastern face like to the
thumb and fingers of a hand, with a stream of water gushing from
between the thumb and first finger, upon the banks of which grew
flat-topped trees with thick green leaves and white flowers.
Sihamba stared at her, saying:
“Such is the place indeed, and there are no trees like to those you
speak of to be found anywhere else. The maidens use the flowers of them
to adorn their hair, and from the leaves is made a salve that is very
good for wounds. But, say, Swallow, who told you about the mountain
Umpondwana that is so far away, since I never described it to you?”
“Nobody told me,” she answered, and she repeated the vision to her, or
as much of it as she wished.
Sihamba listened, and when the tale was done she nodded her little
head, saying:
“So even you white people have something of the power which has been
given to us Kaffir witch-doctors from the beginning. Without a doubt
your spirit spoke to the spirit of your husband last night and I am
glad of it, for now, although you are apart from each other, the hearts
of both of you will be rested. Now also I am sure that we must go to my
people and live among them for so long as may be appointed, seeing that
there and nowhere else you and the Baas Kenzie will come together
again.”
“I had sooner go back to the stead,” sighed Suzanne.
“That cannot be, Swallow, for it is not fated, and for the rest, if you
meet, what does it matter where you meet?”
That morning Suzanne, mounted upon the great _schimmel_, which by now
had almost recovered from his weariness, although he was still somewhat
stiff, and followed by Sihamba and Zinti riding the horse and the mule,
passed up and down before Sigwe’s regiments that saluted her as
chieftainess. Then amongst much wailing of women and children, the impi
started northward, Suzanne, preceded only by scouts and a guard to feel
the way, riding in front of it that she might escape the dust raised by
so many feet and the hoofs of the great herd of oxen that were driven
along to serve as food for the soldiers.
For fourteen days’ journey they travelled thus, and during that time
nothing of note happened to them, except that twelve men and Sihamba’s
brown mule were lost in crossing a flooded river, whereof there were
many in their path. The country through which they passed was populated
by Kaffirs, but these tribes were too small and scattered to attempt to
oppose so large an army, nor did the men of Sigwe do them any mischief
beyond taking such grain and meal as they required for food.
On the fourteenth day, however, they reached the boundary of the
territories of a very powerful tribe of Pondo blood, and here they
halted while messengers were sent forward to the Pondo chief, saying
that with him Sigwe had no quarrel, and asking for a safe-conduct for
the army while passing through his lands. On the third day these
messengers returned, accompanied by an embassy from the Pondo chief,
that after much talk, though to all appearance unwillingly, gave Sigwe
the promise of safe-conduct upon condition that he made a present of
ceremony of one ox to their ruler. Now Sihamba noticed that while the
envoys were talking, their eyes wandered all about, taking note of
every thing, and especially of the number of the soldiers and of
Suzanne, who sat beside Sigwe during the _indaba_, or council.
“These are no true men,” she thought to herself, and made a plan. In
the evening she visited the camp of the envoys who had heard already
that she was a famous doctoress, and offered her services to them for
payment should any of them chance to need the boon of her magic arts.
They laughed, answering that they wanted neither charms nor
divinations, but that she should see a certain young man, a servant in
their train, who was very sick with love and had bought philtres from
every doctor in their country without avail, wherewith to soften the
heart of a girl who would have nothing to do with him. When Sihamba,
without seeming to speak much of it, had drawn from them all that she
wished to know of the story of this man and girl, and with it other
information, though they won little enough from her, she took her
leave, and so set her trap that at night when all were asleep the young
man came to consult her in a place apart.
Now she looked at him and said at once, without suffering him to speak:
“Let me see. Your name is so-and-so, and you are in love with such a
girl, who turns away from you;” and she went on to tell him things
which he thought were known only to himself.
“Wonderful,” he said, “wonderful! But say, lady doctoress, can you help
me, for my heart is water because of this girl?”
“It is difficult,” she answered. “Do you know that when you come to
consult a wise woman you should keep your mind fixed upon the matter
about which you would take counsel with her from the first moment that
you set out to visit her until you stand in her presence? Now this you
have not done, for as you came you were thinking of other things; yes,
you were thinking about the ambush which is to be set for these people
in the pass yonder, and therefore I cannot see the girl’s heart clear,
and do not quite know what medicine I should give you to soften it.”
“It is true, lady,” answered the stupid fellow, “that I was thinking
about the ambush of which I have heard some talk, though I do not know
who told you of it.”
“Who told me? Why to my sight your thoughts are written on your face,
yes, they ran before you and reached me as I heard your footsteps. But
now, think no more of that matter, which has nothing to do with you or
me, think only of the girl, and go on thinking of her, and of her only,
until you get back home, and give her the medicine—that is if you wish
it to work.”
“I am thinking, lady,” he muttered, turning his stupid face up to the
skies.
“Fool, be quiet. Do I not know that? Ah! now I see her heart, and I
tell you that you are lucky, for when you have done as I bid you, she
will love you more than if you were the greatest chief in all the
land.” Then Sihamba gave him a certain harmless powder to sprinkle in
the hut where the girl slept, and bade him wait for her on six
different days when she came up from bathing, giving her on each day a
garland of fresh flowers, a new flower for every day.
The man thanked her and asked what he must pay her for a fee, to which
she replied that she took no fee in matters of love, since her reward
was to know that she had made two people happy; but she added:
“Remember what I tell you, or instead of earning love you will earn
hate. Say nothing of your visit to me, and if you can avoid it, do not
speak at all until you have sprinkled the powder in the hut; especially
put all things which do not concern you and her out of your mind and
think only of her face and how happy you will be when you have married
her, which, if you follow my instructions, you will shortly do.”
Now the young man went away as though he were walking upon air, and
indeed so closely did he obey her that he was dismissed by his masters
as a dumb fool before he reached home again. But whether or no
Sihamba’s medicine softened the heart of the maid I have not heard.
So soon as he was gone Sihamba sent Zinti to bring Sigwe and two of his
generals to the place where she and Suzanne were encamped in a booth
made of branches and long grass. When they were come, she told them of
what she had learned from the love-stricken lad, adding that this plan
of making sure of what already she had suspected, had been born in the
brain of the Swallow, although she had carried it out. For when she
deemed that she could serve her mistress or win her honour, Sihamba
thought less of the truth than she should have done.
On learning this tidings Sigwe and his captains were full of wrath, and
spoke of making war upon the Pondo chief at once, but Sihamba said:
“Listen; the Swallow has whispered a better way into my ear. It is
this: the embassy of the Pondos leaves at dawn, and you must bid them
farewell, telling them that you will follow and camp to-morrow night at
the mouth of the pass, which you will enter at the next daybreak.
Meanwhile now at once we will send out my servant, Zinti, dressed like
a Pondo lad, to search the country, and find if there is not another
path by which the pass can be turned, for if such a way exists he will
discover it and report to us to-morrow at nightfall, since he, who is
stupid in many things, was born with the gift of seeking out roads and
remembering them; also he knows how to be silent if questioned.”
The chief and his captains thought this plan good, and thanked the
Swallow for it, praising her wisdom, and within an hour, having been
instructed what he must do and where he should meet them, Zinti was
despatched upon his errand.
Next morning the envoys departed suspecting nothing, and taking with
them gifts and the ox of ceremony; and that night the army of Sigwe
encamped within a mile of the pass, to the right and left of which
stretched tall and difficult cliffs.
About an hour after sunset Zinti crept into the camp and asked for food
to eat, for he had travelled far and was hungry; moreover, he had been
chased by some Pondo soldiers to whom, feigning the fool he was
commonly supposed to be, he would make no answer when they questioned
him. When he had eaten he made his report to Sigwe, Suzanne, and
Sihamba, and the gist of it was that he had found a good road by which
men might safely ascend the cliffs, though not so easily as they could
travel through the gorge. Following this road, he added, they could
pass round the Pondo town, avoiding its fortifications, and coming out
at the cattle kraals at the back of the town, for he had climbed a high
tree and mapped out the route with his eye. Then followed a council of
war, and the upshot of it was that, under the leadership of Zinti, the
army marched off in silence an hour before midnight, leaving its
cooking fires burning to deceive the Pondos.
They climbed the cliffs by the path he showed them, and, travelling all
night, at dawn found themselves before the cattle kraals, which, as no
enemy was expected, were unguarded except by the herds. These they
cleared of the cattle, some thousands of them, and marched on at speed,
sending a message back to the town by the herds that this was the luck
which those must expect who attempted to trap the Swallow in a snare
set for a rock-rabbit.
The Pondos were very angry at their loss, and, gathering their
strength, followed them for some days, but before they could come up
with them Sigwe and his army had reached country so difficult and so
far away that the Pondo chief thought it wisest to leave them alone. So
they marched on, taking the captured cattle with them, and after this
bloodless victory Suzanne and Sihamba were greatly honoured by the
soldiers, and even the lad Zinti was treated like a chief.
Now once more they reached wild lands, inhabited only by scattered
tribes, and passed through them at their leisure, for they had plenty
of food to eat, although from time to time they were obliged to encamp
upon the banks of flooded rivers, or to hunt for a road over a
mountain. It was on the thirty-first day of their journey that at
length they entered the territories of the Endwandwe, against whom they
had come to make war, where at once they were met by messengers sent by
Sikonyana, the chief of the Endwandwe, desiring to know why they came
upon him with so great a force. To these men the case was set out by
Sigwe, speaking in his own name and in that of the Swallow. As he had
promised Suzanne, for this was a savage who kept his word, he offered
to refrain from attack if the young Batwa was exchanged for her
one-eyed sister and sent to him, together with the thousand head of
cattle which he had paid, and two thousand more by way of fine. At
first these terms were refused, but afterwards an embassy came of whom
the captain was the brother of the king, who said that he was charged
to discuss the matter with the white chieftainess named Swallow,
herself, and with none other.
So Suzanne, accompanied only by Sihamba, and mounted upon the great
_schimmel_ that had come safe and well through all the journey, though
the black horse had died of sickness, rode out a hundred paces in front
of the army and met the man. There she spoke to him well and wisely,
pointing out to him that without doubt a trick had been played upon
Sigwe which he was mad to avenge. The captain answered that they were
well able to fight. She replied that this might be so, that they might
even conquer Sigwe and drive him back, but it could not be done without
great loss to themselves, and that if his tribe were at all weakened
the Zulus, who hated them, would hear of it, and take the opportunity
to stamp them out.
Well, the end of it was that the Endwandwe yielded, and upon the
promise of Suzanne—for they would take no other—that no spear should be
lifted against them, they sent the true Batwa, a beautiful but sullen
girl, to Sigwe, taking back the old Batwa, who departed cursing him and
all his race. With her they returned also the thousand head of cattle
which he had paid and twelve hundred more by way of fine, for the
balance was remitted by agreement.
And so came to an end the war of Sigwe with the Endwandwe, which among
the Kaffirs is still spoken of as the “War of the White Swallow,” or
sometimes as “The War of the Clean Spear,” because no blood at all was
shed in it, and not a man was killed by violence, although when Sigwe
passed through that country on his journey home, by means of a clever
trick the Pondo chief re-captured most of the cattle that had been
taken from him.