WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA
The fight was over. In all we had lost seven men killed, and several
more severely bitten, while but few had escaped without some tokens
whereby he might remember what a baboon’s teeth and claws are like. How
many of the brutes we killed I never knew, because we did not count,
but it was a vast number. I should think that the stock must have been
low about Babyan’s Peak for many years afterwards. From that day to
this, however, I have always avoided baboons, feeling more afraid of
them than any beast that lives.
The path was clear, and we rushed forward along the water-course. But
first we picked up little Tota. The child was not in a swoon, as I had
thought, but paralyzed by terror, so that she could scarcely speak.
Otherwise she was unhurt, though it took her many a week to recover her
nerve. Had she been older, and had she not remembered Hendrika, I doubt
if she would have recovered it. She knew me again, and flung her little
arms about my neck, clinging to me so closely that I did not dare to
give her to any one else to carry lest I should add to her terrors. So
I went on with her in my arms. The fears that pierced my heart may well
be imagined. Should I find Stella living or dead? Should I find her at
all? Well, we should soon know now. We stumbled on up the stony
watercourse; notwithstanding the weight of Tota I led the way, for
suspense lent me wings. Now we were through, and an extraordinary scene
lay before us. We were in a great natural amphitheatre, only it was
three times the size of any amphitheatre ever shaped by man, and the
walls were formed of precipitous cliffs, ranging from one to two
hundred feet in height. For the rest, the space thus enclosed was
level, studded with park-like trees, brilliant with flowers, and having
a stream running through the centre of it, that, as I afterwards
discovered, welled up from the ground at the head of the open space.
We spread ourselves out in a line, searching everywhere, for Tota was
too overcome to be able to tell us where Stella was hidden away. For
nearly half an hour we searched and searched, scanning the walls of
rock for any possible openings to a cave. In vain, we could find none.
I applied to old Indaba-zimbi, but his foresight was at fault here. All
he could say was that this was the place, and that the “Star” was
hidden somewhere in a cave, but where the cave was he could not tell.
At last we came to the top of the amphitheatre. There before us was a
wall of rock, of which the lower parts were here and there clothed in
grasses, lichens, and creepers. I walked along it, calling at the top
of my voice.
Presently my heart stood still, for I thought I heard a faint answer. I
drew nearer to the place from which the sound seemed to come, and again
called. Yes, there was an answer in my wife’s voice. It seemed to come
from the rock. I went up to it and searched among the creepers, but
still could find no opening.
“Move the stone,” cried Stella’s voice, “the cave is shut with a
stone.”
I took a spear and prodded at the cliff whence the sound came. Suddenly
the spear sunk in through a mass of lichen. I swept the lichen aside,
revealing a boulder that had been rolled into the mouth of an opening
in the rock, which it fitted so accurately that, covered as it was by
the overhanging lichen, it might well have escaped the keenest eye. We
dragged the boulder out; it was two men’s work to do it. Beyond was a
narrow, water-worn passage, which I followed with a beating heart.
Presently the passage opened into a small cave, shaped like a pickle
bottle, and coming to a neck at the top end. We passed through and
found ourselves in a second, much larger cave, that I at once
recognized as the one of which Indaba-zimbi had shown me a vision in
the water. Light reached it from above—how I know not—and by it I could
see a form half-sitting, half lying on some skins at the top end of the
cave. I rushed to it. It was Stella! Stella bound with strips of hide,
bruised, torn, but still Stella, and alive.
She saw me, she gave one cry, then, as I caught her in my arms, she
fainted. It was happy indeed that she did not faint before, for had it
not been for the sound of her voice I do not believe we should ever
have found that cunningly hidden cave, unless, indeed, Indaba-zimbi’s
magic (on which be blessings) had come to our assistance.
We bore her to the open air, laid her beneath the shade of a tree, and
cut the bonds loose from her ankles. As we went I glanced at the cave.
It was exactly as I had seen it in the vision. There burnt the fire,
there were the rude wooden vessels, one of them still half full of the
water which I had seen the baboon bring. I felt awed as I looked, and
marvelled at the power wielded by a savage who could not even read and
write.
Now I could see Stella clearly. Her face was scratched, and haggard
with fear and weeping, her clothes were almost torn off her, and her
beautiful hair was loose and tangled. I sent for water, and we
sprinkled her face. Then I forced a little of the brandy which we
distilled from peaches at the kraals between her lips, and she opened
her eyes, and throwing her arms about me clung to me as little Tota had
done, sobbing, “Thank God! thank God!”
After a while she grew quieter, and I made her and Tota eat some food
from the store that we had brought with us. I too ate and was thankful,
for with the exception of the mealie cobs I had tasted nothing for
nearly four-and-twenty hours. Then she washed her face and hands, and
tidied her rags of dress as well as she was able. As she did so by
degrees I drew her story from her.
It seemed that on the previous afternoon, being wearied with packing,
she went out to visit her father’s grave, taking Tota with her, and was
followed there by the two dogs. She wished to lay some flowers on the
grave and take farewell of the dust it covered, for as we had expected
to trek early on the morrow she did not know if she would find a later
opportunity. They passed up the garden, and gathering some flowers from
the orange trees and elsewhere, went on to the little graveyard. Here
she laid them on the grave as we had found them, and then sitting down,
fell into a deep and sad reverie, such as the occasion would naturally
induce. While she sat thus, Tota, who was a lively child and active as
a kitten, strayed away without Stella observing it. With her went the
dogs, who also had grown tired of inaction; a while passed, and
suddenly she heard the dogs barking furiously about a hundred and fifty
yards away. Then she heard Tota scream, and the dogs also yelling with
fear and pain. She rose and ran as swiftly as she could towards the
spot whence the sound came. Presently she was there. Before her in the
glade, holding the screaming Tota in her arms, was a figure in which,
notwithstanding the rough disguise of baboon skins and colouring
matter, she had no difficulty in recognizing Hendrika, and all about
her were numbers of baboons, rolling over and over in two hideous
heaps, of which the centres were the unfortunate dogs now in process of
being rent to fragments.
“Hendrika,” Stella cried, “what does this mean? What are you doing with
Tota and those brutes?”
The woman heard her and looked up. Then Stella saw that she was mad;
madness stared from her eyes. She dropped the child, which instantly
flew to Stella for protection. Stella clasped it, only to be herself
clasped by Hendrika. She struggled fiercely, but it was of no use—the
Babyan-frau had the strength of ten. She lifted her and Tota as though
they were nothing, and ran off with them, following the bed of the
stream in order to avoid leaving a spoor. Only the baboons who came
with her, minus the one the dogs had killed, would not take to the
water, but kept pace with them on the bank.
Stella said that the night which followed was more like a hideous
nightmare than a reality. She was never able to tell me all that
occurred in it. She had a vague recollection of being borne over rocks
and along kloofs, while around her echoed the horrible grunts and
clicks of the baboons. She spoke to Hendrika in English and Kaffir,
imploring her to let them go; but the woman, if I may call her so,
seemed in her madness to have entirely forgotten these tongues. When
Stella spoke she would kiss her and stroke her hair, but she did not
seem to understand what it was she said. On the other hand, she could,
and did, talk to the baboons, that seemed to obey her implicitly.
Moreover, she would not allow them to touch either Stella or the child
in her arms. Once one of them tried to do so, and she seized a dead
stick and struck it so heavily on the head that it fell senseless.
Thrice Stella made an attempt to escape, for sometimes even Hendrika’s
giant strength waned and she had to set them down. But on each occasion
she caught them, and it was in these struggles that Stella’s clothes
were so torn. At length before daylight they reached the cliff, and
with the first break of light the ascent began. Hendrika dragged them
up the first stages, but when they came to the precipitous place she
tied the strips of hide, of which she had a supply wound round her
waist, beneath Stella’s arms. Steep as the place was the baboons
ascended it easily enough, springing from a knob of rock to the trunk
of the tree that grew on the edge of the crevasse. Hendrika followed
them, holding the end of the hide reim in her teeth, one of the baboons
hanging down from the tree to assist her ascent. It was while she was
ascending that Stella bethought of letting fall her handkerchief in the
faint hope that some searcher might see it.
By this time Hendrika was on the tree, and grunting out orders to the
baboons which clustered about Stella below. Suddenly these seized her
and little Tota who was in her arms, and lifted her from the ground.
Then Hendrika above, aided by other baboons, put out all her great
strength and pulled the two of them up the rock. Twice Stella swung
heavily against the cliff. After the second blow she felt her senses
going, and was consumed with terror lest she should drop Tota. But she
managed to cling to her, and together they reached the cleft.
“From that time,” Stella went on, “I remember no more till I woke to
find myself in a gloomy cave resting on a bed of skins. My legs were
bound, and Hendrika sat near me watching me, while round the edge of
the cave peered the heads of those horrible baboons. Tota was still in
my arms, and half dead from terror; her moans were pitiful to hear. I
spoke to Hendrika, imploring her to release us; but either she has lost
all understanding of human speech, or she pretends to have done so. All
she would do was to caress me, and even kiss my hands and dress with
extravagant signs of affection. As she did so, Tota shrunk closer to
me. This Hendrika saw and glared so savagely at the child that I feared
lest she was going to kill her. I diverted her attention by making
signs that I wanted water, and this she gave me in a wooden bowl. As
you saw, the cave was evidently Hendrika’s dwelling-place. There are
stores of fruit in it and some strips of dried flesh. She gave me some
of the fruit and Tota a little, and I made Tota eat some. You can never
know what I went through, Allan. I saw now that Hendrika was quite mad,
and but little removed from the brutes to which she is akin, and over
which she has such unholy power. The only trace of humanity left about
her was her affection for me. Evidently her idea was to keep me here
with her, to keep me away from you, and to carry out this idea she was
capable of the exercise of every artifice and cunning. In this way she
was sane enough, but in every other way she was mad. Moreover, she had
not forgotten her horrible jealousy. Already I saw her glaring at Tota,
and knew that the child’s murder was only a matter of time. Probably
within a few hours she would be killed before my eyes. Of escape, even
if I had the strength, there was absolutely no chance, and little
enough of our ever being found. No, we should be kept here guarded by a
mad thing, half ape, half woman, till we perished miserably. Then I
thought of you, dear, and of all that you must be suffering, and my
heart nearly broke. I could only pray to God that I might either be
rescued or die swiftly.
“As I prayed I dropped into a kind of doze from utter weariness, and
then I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that Indaba-zimbi stood over
me nodding his white lock, and spoke to me in Kaffir, telling me not to
be frightened, for you would soon be with me, and that meanwhile I must
humour Hendrika, pretending to be pleased to have her near me. The
dream was so vivid that I actually seemed to see and hear him, as I see
and hear him now.”
Here I looked up and glanced at old Indaba-zimbi, who was sitting near.
But it was not till afterwards that I told Stella of how her vision was
brought about.
“At any rate,” she went on, “when I awoke I determined to act on my
dream. I took Hendrika’s hand, and pressed it. She actually laughed in
a wild kind of way with happiness, and laid her head upon my knee. Then
I made signs that I wanted food, and she threw wood on the fire, which
I forgot to tell you was burning in the cave, and began to make some of
the broth that she used to cook very well, and she did not seem to have
forgotten all about it. At any rate the broth was not bad, though
neither Tota nor I could drink much of it. Fright and weariness had
taken away our appetites.
“After the meal was done—and I prolonged it as much as possible—I saw
Hendrika was beginning to get jealous of Tota again. She glared at her
and then at the big knife which was tied round her own body. I knew the
knife again, it was the one with which she had tried to murder you,
dear. At last she went so far as to draw the knife. I was paralyzed
with fear, then suddenly I remembered that when she was our servant,
and used to get out of temper and sulk, I could always calm her by
singing to her. So I began to sing hymns. Instantly she forgot her
jealousy and put the knife back into its sheath. She knew the sound of
the singing, and sat listening to it with a rapt face; the baboons,
too, crowded in at the entrance of the cave to listen. I must have sung
for an hour or more, all the hymns that I could remember. It was so
very strange and dreadful sitting there singing to mad Hendrika and
those hideous man-like apes that shut their eyes and nodded their great
heads as I sang. It was a horrible nightmare; but I believe that the
baboons are almost as human as the Bushmen.
“Well, this went on for a long time till my voice was getting
exhausted. Then suddenly I heard the baboons outside raise a loud
noise, as they do when they are angry. Then, dear, I heard the boom of
your elephant gun, and I think it was the sweetest sound that ever came
to my ears. Hendrika heard it too. She sprang up, stood for a moment,
then, to my horror, swept Tota into her arms and rushed down the cave.
Of course I could not stir to follow her, for my feet were tied. Next
instant I heard the sound of a rock being moved, and presently the
lessening of the light in the cave told me that I was shut in. Now the
sound even of the elephant gun only reached me very faintly, and
presently I could hear nothing more, straining my ears as I would.
“At last I heard a faint shouting that reached me through the wall of
rock. I answered as loud as I could. You know the rest; and oh, my dear
husband, thank God! thank God!” and she fell weeping into my arms.