"Shortly after this an _impi_ was sent out against some strong Basutu
kraals which lay in our path, and whose inhabitants, our scouts had
reported, were arming for resistance. Little they knew that they had to
contend against a whole nation. They imagined, doubtless, that they
only had to deal with a small _impi_ of Tshaka's which had crossed the
Ewahlamba range.
"`Go now, Untuswa,' said the King. `Here, it may be, you may win your
head-ring.'
"And this, _Nkose_, was in my mind. So we set forth, about fifteen
hundred strong, for the King would not send too large a force, in order
to keep us in practice for real hand-to-hand fighting on something like
even terms. Masipele was our head _induna_, and under him was Gungana,
a man of whom I was not over-fond, nor did he like me, whom he deemed
was ever too near the ear of the King.
"We started at dawn, and after marching about a quarter of a day, came
in sight of the Basutu kraals, standing upon an open plain, beneath a
low, round-topped range of hills. There were three of these kraals, but
it was in the largest that all the fighting men had gathered. This was
surrounded by a very high and very broad stockade, composed of dry thorn
boughs beaten together and interlaced. We made no attempt at
concealment, but advanced singing our great battle-song of victory or
death. Their Masipele gave orders to form in crescent formation, and to
charge forward to surround the kraal.
"_Whau_! that day! The Basutu did not run away when they spied our
approach. They were ready for us, and, clustering as thick as bees,
they fought behind their stockade with all the valour we could wish.
Roaring like lions, we sprang again to the charge, only to be met by
their ready spears and battle-axes on the other side of the stockade,
and before we could leap over and return stab for stab we were hurled
back blinded by great prickly boughs thrust into our faces. They were
nearly as numerous as ourselves, and fought as desperately. Twice we
were repulsed, and that, to us Zulus, represents more than half a
defeat. Our head _induna_ was killed, falling upon a heap of corpses,
the bodies of those he was leading. One horn of the _impi_ was wavering
on the verge of rout. Here was my chance; for I had formed a plan.
"`Follow me, soldiers of the King!' I cried. `I will find a road in!'
"Measuring the distance with my eyes, I ran and leaped. I could leap in
those days as well as run. My leap carried me clear over the stockade,
right into the thick of the swarming Basutu. But I was alone. None had
followed.
"Then I saw red. How I cut and slashed with the strong, broad--bladed
assegai in my hand! Grinning, furious faces hemmed me in; a bright
forest of blades struck and hacked at me from every side. I could feel
the burning sear of wounds, the stunning shock of knob-kerries on my
great war-shield. I could feel more--I could feel blood, that of my
enemies; I could feel the keen blade of my assegai shearing through
them, as they fell one upon another. Ah, the madness of it! The
ecstasy of it! What a glorious form of death was this! I, alone, beset
by foes--felling them around me like trees! I, alone, where none had
dared follow! Ha! surely no braver deed was ever done! The King would
be satisfied now! Dancing, leaping, thrusting, parrying, I hewed my way
through the encompassing crowd, further and further into the kraal,
further and further to death. But for death I cared nothing now, and I
laughed aloud. My furious war-shout was answered by my comrades
outside. Ah, but--they were still outside!
"Now my end would be gained. A curl of blue smoke arose from above the
lines of huts, and towards this I was making, surely, craftily,
cunningly. I had left off fighting now, and was dodging my enemies
round and among the huts. Ha! they could not overtake me, for had they
not to do with the King's chief runner?--and there were none to stop me,
for all were engaged in defending the stockade.
"The fire at last! It burned bright and clear in front of a larger hut
than the rest, and round it sat a ring of witch-doctresses mumbling
incantations. So intent were they upon this that I drove my assegai
through the nearest before they discovered that a Zulu warrior was in
their very midst. _Au_! the she-cats! What a yell they gave as they
flung themselves on the ground and screeched for mercy! But I laughed,
and, having speared two more of them as they lay there, I snatched the
flaming brands from the fire and flung them upon the thatch of half a
dozen of the nearest huts, which in an instant were a mass of flame and
smoke.
"All this had taken but a moment of time, and now, as my pursuers came
up, I shovelled as much of the fire upon my shield as I had time to do,
then started to run, dodging them round the huts as before. As I came
to the stockade again, those defending it looked round, and seeing a
strange figure bearing fire upon a shield, must have taken me in the
fray for one of their own witch-doctresses, and instead of attacking me
they waited to see what I would do. But they had not long to wait.
"Darting through them, I poured the whole glowing burning mass into the
stockade; and, indeed, it was high time, for my shield was nearly
charred through. The thick thorn-fence was as dry as months of
uninterrupted sunshine could make it. It caught at once, shooting out
into myriads of serpentine tongues of fire. _Hau_! It roared, it
crackled, and already the flames from the huts I had first set on fire
were darting like lightning from thatch to thatch!
"`I return, men of the King!' I roared, fearing to be mistaken for one
of the Basutu and speared as I leaped back over the stockade. A shout
of recognition greeted my words, and, striking right and left, I plunged
through the now flaming fence, through the fire itself.
"`Now we have them!' I cried, as I once more found myself among my own
people. `A pretty blaze! Now have we smoked the game from its cover!'
"As the words left my lips there burst forth a wild shrieking and
yelling. The wind had fanned the flames so that the kraal was now one
mass of red fire and whirling smoke-clouds. The women and children,
panic-stricken, were fleeing wildly, rushing headlong upon our spears.
But just then the fighting Basutu, massing into a body, charged
furiously out of the kraal on the side I was attacking. With their
heads lowered, emitting from their teeth a succession of the most shrill
and strident whistles, striking to right and to left with their assegais
and battle-axes, on they came. Not even the King's troops could have
charged more impetuously, more unswervingly. _Whau_! In a moment they
were in our midst. In a moment we had closed up around them. Their
whole fighting strength was here, and we had hemmed it in. In a moment
they were all broken up into furious struggling groups--and how they
fought, how we fought! It was silence then. No man spoke--no man
shouted. You could hear only the gasp of laboured breathing, the stamp
of striving feet, the jarring crash of shields and weapons, the dull
thump of a falling body, the crackling roar of the blazing kraal, whence
clouds of smoke were floating across our faces and blinding our eyes so
that we could hardly see each other, and struck and stabbed wildly at
random, to the peril of friend as well as of foe. But it could not
last--we were too many, too invincible. We stood stupidly staring at
each other, swaying, tottering with exhaustion and excitement, for the
fray had been fierce. Before, around us, lay heaps of weltering
corpses, hacked and battered, the blood welling from scores of
spear-stabs. These we ripped according to our custom; those of the
enemy, that is; for of our own warriors there were also heaps of slain;
indeed, the Basutu had fought like cornered lions. No prayer for mercy
was upon their lips. Brave, fierce, defiant to the last, they had
fallen.
"And now above the crackling roar of the flames and the wild, fierce,
triumphant shout which swelled to the heavens from our victorious
throats came the doleful shrieking of women, who saw their little ones
speared or flung into the flames, who themselves lay beneath the sharp
kiss of the spear-blade; for we Zulus, when we see red, spare no living
thing. And we saw red that day--ah, yes, we saw red. Ha! By the time
a man could have counted fifty from the moment the fighting had ceased
not one who had inhabited that kraal, even to the last dog, was left
alive.
"`_Hau_!' cried Gungana, the second _induna_ in command of our _impi_,
as he stood gazing upon a heap of the slaughtered women, among whom were
several who were young and pleasant to look upon. `_Hau_! I think we
have made too much of a mouthful of the King's enemies. Now, some of
these would have been better alive than dead, for of girls among us we
have none too many. It is a pity we did not save some.'
"`Perhaps so,' said I. `But, deferring to your head-ring, O Gungana, I
seem to have heard the King say he liked not these intermarriages, and
the mingling of the blood of the Amazulu, "the People of the Heavens,"
with that of inferior races.'
"I fancied that Gungana looked at me somewhat askance, and a queer smile
played about his bearded lips. He was that same _induna_ who had come
over to us with Tshaka's force, and him our King had promoted to great
honour.
"`_Whau_, Untuswa! Thou art but a boy, and claimest to know over-much
of the King's mind,' he said.
"`In fear I do so, my father,' I replied deferentially. `I ask nothing
but such a fight as we have had to-day. And have I not fought?' showing
my hacked and charred shield and my body streaming with blood from
several ugly gashes. `Did I not put in the fire that smoked these
wolves out of their den? And now, O my father, will you not whisper it
in the ear of the King that the son of Ntelani, although but a boy, can
fight, can plan?'
"`It may be that I will do so, Untuswa,' he answered.
"But that strange look was still upon his face as he turned away, and I
liked it not. For by this time my continual presence about the King was
looked upon with distrust by many of the _indunas_. Even my father was
jealous of me, and this being so, wherefore should Gungana look upon me
with more favourable eyes? But it was in his power to speak the word
which should obtain for me my head-ring, or not to speak it, wherefore I
treated him almost as deferentially as I would the King himself.
Moreover, I flattered him.
"`_Au_!' I cried, `am I not but a thoughtless boy? Who am I that I
should boast of my own deeds in the presence of an _induna_ of the King,
before the brain which thought for the _impi_, before the eyes which
were the sight of the _impi_? Let it be but whispered in the King's ear
that the son of Ntelani was near the right hand of Gungana throughout
the battle. That will be distinction enough.'
"This told. The _induna_ turned half round to listen, and a different
expression came into his face. This time he looked pleased.
"`Rest easy, son of Ntelani,' he said. `The man _whom I sent_ to set
fire to the kraal will not be forgotten.'
"We Zulus are not like you white people, _Nkose_, whose faces are to be
read like a white man reads a book, else had I been quite undone that
day. For the idea of setting the kraal on fire had been entirely my
own--planned by me, carried out by me alone; that, too, only in time to
save us from defeat, which would have meant ruin to Gungana, if not
death. And now he coolly gave me to understand that all the credit of
it, the generalship of it, was to belong to him. This I had thought was
the feat which should win me honour among the people, and my head-ring
at the approving word of the King, and now it was all to go to the
credit of my commander. I could hardly keep my face from speaking the
wrath and disgust I felt--yet I did so, and called out that Gungana was
my father, and as his child I had been privileged to do his bidding.
For although it flashed upon me that if ever a day of reckoning should
come Gungana would fare badly at my hands, yet now I wanted his good
word; wherefore I flattered him.
"Just then my eye was attracted by a movement among a heap of bodies
lying piled up near me. I thought I heard a smothered groan. Then all
the wolf-nature of my warrior blood sprang up within me. Here, then,
was something more to slay. Good! With kindling eyes I gripped anew my
broad assegai and leaped to the group of bodies. Yes; it was a groan.
A pair of legs was protruding from the pile and feebly moving. Seizing
them by the ankles, I tugged with all my might.
"`Come forth,' I growled, for I was holding my assegai in my mouth to
leave both hands free. `Come forth, and taste blade over again. Ha!
killing is the only thing good to live for, after all. Come forth!'
"Jerking out these words, I threw the corpses aside as one might throw
faggots from a stack of firewood. Then another tug, and I found I was
holding by the legs the body of an old man, wrinkled and white-bearded.
Beyond a gash or two in the chest, he seemed unwounded, but his head was
covered with blood. Clearly, a blow had felled him, but how was he
still alive, how had he escaped being ripped, as is our custom?
"`Ha! I will make that good,' I muttered savagely, seizing my assegai
with that intent.
"But something in the old man's aspect arrested my arm.
"He was, as I have said, very wrinkled and white-bearded. But his
eyes--ah, such eyes! bright, keen, glittering--they were the eyes of a
youth who, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow-warriors, is sweeping
down upon his first enemy, instead of the filmy orbs of an old man who
is tired of looking on this world. They seemed to burn, to pierce
through me, to wither up all the strength of my right arm. I could not
strike the spear down into his vitals; I could not remove my gaze from
his. It was terrible! If his eyes burned like this while he was weak
and wounded, and almost lifeless, what would they be like in the full
vigour of health? And then I saw that his neck and body were hung with
trappings and charms such as the _izanusi_ [Witch-doctors] use.
"`Strike and slay me, if thou wilt, son of the King's _induna_,' he
said, and his eyes seemed to glitter more fiercely, like those of a
snake. `But if so, thou shalt never attain thy dearest desire.'
"`Son of the King's _induna_,' he had said. This was _tagati_
[Wizardry] indeed. How did he know my estate?
"`And what desire I the most at this moment?' said I.
"`The head-ring,' he whispered.
"`All young warriors desire that,' I answered with a laugh. `Tell me, O
my father, if thy _muti_ is strong enough, what desire I further,
together with the _isicoco_?'
"`The dark-handled assegai of the King,' he answered, without a moment's
pause.
"`_Whau_!' I cried, bringing my hand to my mouth, and starting back in
staring, open-mouthed amazement. This was more than marvellous. The
promise which Umzilikazi had made to me, half laughingly, when we two
were alone together, was known to this old sorcerer of an alien race,
who must have been many days distant at the time. Nor, of course, had
he ever seen Nangeza, who alone shared the secret. My desire for the
head-ring proved nothing as to his wonder-working powers, because, as I
had said, all young men wished for that. But this! In truth it was
more than marvellous!
"`Thy _muti_ is indeed strong, O my father!' I went on when I had
recovered a little. `But say--shall I obtain that which I desire?'
"`If I die here thou shalt never obtain it. If I live thou shalt have
the King's dark-handled assegai.'
"Now, while I had been talking with this wonderful old man, my comrades
and the bulk of our _impi_ had been seated on the ground resting after
the violence and fury of the fight. Some, too, had wounds to attend to;
but all were sitting or lying about resting, and the place where I now
stood being a little depression in the ground, they had not noticed me.
Now, however, attracted by the sound of voices, several of them came
swaggering up.
"`Ha, Untuswa!' roared the foremost. `You have found more meat to kill.
Come, we will help you kill it.' And, poising his assegai, he sprang
forward to the old Mosutu witch-doctor.
[Mosutu and Basutu. Basutu is a plural word, and denotes the tribe, or
more than one member of it. The singular is Mosutu.]
"`Stand! Stand back!' I thundered. `This is not a man to kill. He
must be taken to the King.'
"`To the King! Ha, ha! The King does not want to see the faces of such
withered old images. You are mad, Untuswa.'
"`Mad or sane, this man shall be taken to the King,' I answered.
"`Ha! Since when has Untuswa, the _umfane_ been made an _induna_?' they
jeered. `Of a truth he believes himself a bigger man than the King.'
[Umfane: "boy," i.e., technically, one who has not attained to the
distinction of the head-ring.]
"And others, drawn by the tumult, had come to join the first, and now
the air rang with roars and shouts of derision. But above them all the
old man's marvellously prophetic words still echoed in my ears. At all
risks I was determined to save him.
"`Who is the most about the King, O pack of fools?' I cried.
`Yourselves or I? Know, then, that the Elephant, whose tread shaketh
the world, has heard much of these Basutu _izanusi_, who learn their
magic in dark caves of the mountains--has often wished to converse with
them and test their skill. Here is one of them at last, and go to the
King he shall. I would not give much for the life of the man who slays
him.'
"Standing over the old witch-doctor with my assegai in my hand
confronting that riotous, roaring crowd, flushed with victory and
bloodshed, I know not how things might have gone even then. But at that
moment the _induna_ Gungana, attracted by the tumult, himself drew near,
and that in time to catch my last words.
"`Give way!' he said, striding through the group--`give way! What is
this? An _isanusi_, and alive? By the head-ring of the Great Great One
from whose rule we have gone out, but he must have brought himself to
life again, for assuredly all were slain but a moment before. Ha! that
is well. Now shall the King have his oft-expressed wish. He shall
behold this Mosutu rain-maker, and test his magic. What--is that you,
Untuswa?'
"Now, it happened that Umzilikazi had expressed no such wish. In my
despair of finding a plea, I had invented this as a reason for sparing
the old magician. I could see now that Gungana's design was to supplant
me in this, even as he had done in my plan for overmastering the Basutu
kraal. If sparing the life of the old witch-doctor proved acceptable to
the King, he, Gungana, would get the credit for it; if not--then I
laughed to myself, for in that case he would have fallen into his own
trap. And if anything should go wrong with the King hereafter, who but
Gungana was it who had brought this foreign wizard into our camp? But
before I could answer a shout went up from the warriors standing in the
background, and all heads were turned accordingly.
"`The King! The King is coming!' And the words were taken up by all
there present, and, with the phrases of _bonga_ flowing thick and fast
from our lips, all eyes were turned upon a cloud of dust on the
horizon--distant, but drawing nearer and nearer.
"`Go now, Untuswa, who art the chief runner. Go now, and meet the Great
Great One with word of our victory,' commanded Gungana."