"Bolted! Every man Jack of them!"
Thus John Dawes, as he and Gerard stood looking dubiously at each other
in the faint sickly light of dawn. A thick mist lay heavy on the earth,
so thick that, as the former said, a man could hardly see the end of the
nose upon his face. The place occupied by the Swazi herdsmen and
drivers knew them no more, nor was there any trace of those worthies in
or around the encampment. Moreover, their traps had eke disappeared.
The thing John Dawes feared had come to pass, and, shaking his head, he
could only repeat blankly--
"Bolted! Every man Jack of them!"
Gerard could not but feel relieved in his innermost heart that this
defection had not befallen during his period of watching. He and Dawes
had gone the round together when the latter had relieved him. Then the
Swazis were rolled up, snug and snoring, in their blankets. An hour
before dawn a thick mist had rolled up, covering everything, and then it
was that their faithless retainers had seen their opportunity, and had
slipped away under cover of its folds.
"Overhaul them? Not we?" said Dawes, in answer to Gerard's suggestion.
"This mist may last for hours, and even if it didn't they'll have made
the most of their leg-bail by now, depend upon it. Besides, it would be
courting plunder to leave the waggons here in charge of `boys' only, as
we should have to do if we started to chevy those _schelms_. No. We
must get on as best we can without them, but it'll mean a goodish
handful for you and me. We shall have to drive and herd the stock
ourselves."
"What if we have to?" said Gerard, heartily. "It won't hurt us, and,
for the matter of that, I dare say I could undertake the whole lot of it
myself, leaving you as free as before."
"You can't, Ridgeley. Sheep and cattle can't be driven in one lump. I
wish we hadn't brought along that confounded small stock; taken
something else instead, only we couldn't get it. Now we'd better make
coffee, and be all ready to inspan as soon as the mist lifts."
They were seated at the fire, and had just filled up steaming pannikins
of the strong black brew, when the sound of deep voices was heard, and
immediately there appeared a group of figures out of the mist. That
these were their defaulting retainers was an idea which the first glance
served to dispel. There were more than twice the number; besides, the
tall fine frames, the haughty poise of the head, the large war-shields,
bespoke them Zulus.
They halted a brief moment as they came in sight of the fire, then
strode up to half a dozen paces of the two white men, and halting again,
eyed the latter in silence for a moment, and one of them said--
"_Saku bona_."
Dawes, as he returned the greeting, with one quick keen glance
scrutinised the group, and noted two things. The man they had met two
days before, Vunawayo, was not in it, and though all were fully armed,
they had not, in accordance with Zulu etiquette, deposited their weapons
a few paces in the background. They, for their part, he fancied, looked
meaningly at the two guns which lay beside himself and Gerard, and ready
to the hand of each. They were, as we have said, tall, fine men, and
most of them ringed. But though they carried the large war-shield
instead of the little ornamental shield usually employed on pacific
journeyings, and were fully armed with assegai and knobkerrie, and here
and there a battle-axe, their persons were bedizened by no martial
gear--being, in fact, devoid of little other adornment than the _mutya_.
These men, he decided, were either the whole or part of an "eating-up"
expedition [Note 1], or they were members of the dreaded Igazipuza.
The Zulus had squatted down on their haunches in crescent formation.
There were fifteen of them. Dawes handed them the large horn snuff-box
he always carried. It was passed round, and for a few minutes they were
all taking pinch after pinch in silent contentment. Then one of them
said--
"What have you got to sell, _Umlungu_?"
"Very little," was the answer. "We are at the end of our trip, not at
the beginning, and have got rid of nearly everything."
"Among the Swazi dogs? Why did you not come through the Zulu country?"
"We heard there had been too many traders there before us," replied
Dawes, unveraciously. "And in the part we did touch we could do
nothing. The people were not inclined to trade."
"Are these all your people?" went on the Zulu, with a glance at the four
Natal natives, who, Sintoba excepted, had been gazing at them with a
curiosity strongly dashed with awe. Sintoba, however, had given them
the "_Saku bona_" as on terms of perfect equality, and they had returned
it. "They are few to take care of so much property," went on the
spokesman.
"They are," said Dawes. "We had some Swazis--six of them--but they ran
away in the night."
"_Whau_! They will not run far," said the Zulu, and a meaning grin
played upon the faces of his countrymen.
"Do you know Sobuza?" asked Gerard, handing them a huge pannikin of
strong black coffee, well sweetened, of which, in accordance with
custom, he took a preliminary sip.
They looked at each other, and then followed a discussion as to whether
it was Sobuza the son of Panhla, or that other Sobuza who was once in
command of the king's bodyguard, or Sobuza the son of somebody else.
Gerard added that he didn't know who Sobuza's father was, but his
father's son, at any rate, was a chief in the Udhloko regiment.
"_Ehe_!" cried the warriors in concert. "That is Sobuza the son of
Panhla. He has his kraal by the Intaba'nkulu. Do you know him,
_Umlungu_?"
"I did, once. But, next time you see him, ask him when he is inclined
for another swim in the Umgeni river." And then, as well as he could,
he described the incident of the chief's misadventure, and how, indeed,
he was able to come to his aid twice in the same day. The Zulus
listened attentively, and Gerard hoped that his object in telling the
story was gained, viz. to establish some sort of a claim upon their
friendship in case they should belong to the dreaded freebooting clan.
"Do you belong to the chief Ingonyama?" said Dawes, when he had done.
"Ingonyama?"
"Yes."
"Ingonyama's kraal is out Hlobane way. Are you going to visit him?"
said the Zulu, in true native fashion avoiding a direct answer, and
further, replying to one question by another.
"We know not. Perhaps, if we have time," answered Dawes, rising. "And
now, _amadoda_ [men], it is becoming light. We must get upon our road
again."
With magical suddenness the sun had burst forth. The sky overhead was a
vivid blue, which had almost a shade of the most lovely green in it, in
direct contrast to the white and solid masses of fleecy vapour which was
giving way before the arrowy rays. The curtain of mist, rolling back
from the slopes of the hills, was disclosing a carpet of sheeny
dewdrops, sparkling, glittering in the sun like a sea of diamonds.
Dawes was about to give orders to inspan, when there burst forth from
around the spur of the hill a most horrible and startling tumult.
A wave of dark figures surged into view, shouting, whistling, leaping.
On they poured like a pack of wolves. But some distance ahead of them--
fleeing for their lives, their eyes starting from their heads in deadly
fear--coming straight for the camp, ran five or six men, natives, hard
pressed by the surging mass in their rear. Then arose from a multitude
of fierce throats, drawn out into a half chant, half roar, but deafening
in its thunderous volume, a most hideous and appalling shout--
"_Igazi_--_pu_--_za_!"
Assegais hurled from the onrushing mass whistled through the air. One
of the fugitives fell. In a moment a howling, raving crowd was around
him, upon him, their tiger-like roars drowning the shrieks of the
wretched man being literally hacked to pieces. Another staggered into
camp, and fell almost at Gerard's feet, covered with spear-wounds. And
in the fleeing refugees frenzied with terror, they recognised the
treacherous and defaulting Swazis.
"Save me, save me, father!" yelled Kazimbi, rolling like a log at
Dawes's feet.
"Keep cool, Ridgeley," muttered the latter. "Don't fire a shot, on your
life."
Anything more ferocious and appalling than the aspect of these savages
as they poured like a torrent upon the camp it would be hard to
conceive. There seemed to be hundreds of them. Naked save for their
_mutyas_, each had a red disc painted on his breast, and another between
the eyes. They leaped high in the air as they ran, brandishing their
assegais and great shields, and, roaring in long-drawn, bloodthirsty
cadence, their terrible slogan. It seemed as though no living thing
there, whether man or beast, would survive the blind fury of their
overwhelming rush.
And indeed it was a fearful moment for all concerned as they swarmed
around the waggons. Gerard, well-nigh carried off his feet by the
surging rush, doubted not but that his last moment had come, as the sea
of spear-blades, some red and reeking with blood, flashed in front of
his eyes, as the deafening vibration of the hideous shout stunned his
ears. Still, his presence of mind never deserted him; still through it
all he remembered Dawes's emphatic injunction to keep cool and offer no
violence.
It was hard all the same, as he felt himself hustled here and there by
the fierce horde. However, he was of strong and athletic build, and
with a well-affected, good-humoured bluffness, he was able to push back
the foremost aggressors without having recourse to any weapon.
"What have you got to sell, _abelungu_?" shouted the wild crowd, with a
roar of boisterous laughter. "We come to trade--we come to trade."
"The way to trade isn't to raise all this abominable din," replied
Dawes, coolly. "Sit down, can't you, and talk quietly."
A roar of derision greeted this.
"We are the Igazipuza, _'mlungu_," they shouted. "Ha--Come forth, you
dogs!"
This to the Swazi fugitives who had slunk under one of the waggons, in
the desperate hope that these terrible and dreaded warriors might take
their departure as suddenly as they had appeared.
"Come forth, dogs--come forth!" they vociferated again. And daring no
longer hesitate, the wretched Swazis crept trembling from their would-be
hiding-place.
"Ha, you long-legged, wolf-faced jackal," cried a savage-looking
villain, seizing Kazimbi by the throat, and placing the point of his
assegai against his breast. "What is your name?"
"Kazimbi, _Inkose_!" faltered the trembling Swazi.
"Kazimbi? _Hau_! not much _iron_ about you," jeered his tormentor in a
great mocking voice. "_Whau_! I did not do that," he laughed, as some
of the crowd behind wantonly or accidentally jogged his elbow, causing
the blade of the assegai to pierce the chest of Kazimbi, eliciting from
that unfortunate a startled shriek, for the wound was a deep one, and
the blood spurted forth in a warm jet. The bystanders yelled with
laughter. The jest was excellent.
"I did not do it, but now I will." And maddened by the sight of blood,
the ferocious savage drove the broad spear blade up to the hilt into the
chest of the miserable Swazi, and continuing the blow by a swift,
powerful, down-stroke, ripped open the whole body, which fell to the
earth a horrible weltering mass. Raising their terrific war-cry, these
human wolves clustered around it, stabbing, ripping, hacking, till soon
the only distinguishable remains of the wretched Kazimbi was his
bleeding heart, plucked out and reared aloft upon an assegai point.
This shocking and appalling scene the two white spectators of it were
powerless to prevent. Themselves hemmed in by the fierce crowd, now
infuriate in its growing blood-lust, their own lives hung upon no more
than a hair. Another of the wretched Swazis was set upon and
barbarously slaughtered, and then Gerard could stand it no longer.
Scattering all considerations of prudence to the winds, he threw himself
in front of the three remaining victims, and drawing his revolver--as
being more readily handled than the gun which he carried--presented it
full at the mass of infuriated savages. And Dawes, himself hemmed in,
seeing this, held his breath for the life of his young companion.
"Stand back!" thundered Gerard. "Stand back, you cowardly dogs!"
The voice, the act, the deadly weapon pointing right in their faces, the
resolute countenance and flashing eyes, had an extraordinary effect.
That one man should thus dare to beard them, the dreaded Igazipuza, in
their might, to stand before their reddened spears in the thick of their
blood fury, to wrest the prey from the raging lion in the act of
devouring it, to throw himself between their wrath and a few miserable
dogs of Swazis, struck these ferocious savages as little short of
miraculous. To the wild fierce hubbub there succeeded a dead silence.
The forest of bristling spear-blades tossing aloft, dropped motionless.
Heads were bent forward and a sea of rolling eyeballs glared upon the
intrepid form of the young Englishman. Then from every chest went up a
quick, deep-toned gasp of wonder--of amazement.
"Who is your chief?" cried Dawes, who had taken advantage of their
momentary confusion to edge his way to the side of his young companion.
"Is this a horde without a leader? We are not at war with the Zulu
people that an _impi_ should `eat up' our camp and kill our servants.
Where is your chief?"
"Your servants have not been harmed, _Umlungu_," said a voice in the
crowd. "There they are, your Amakafula. These were not your servants,
only some miserable Swazi dogs, who had run away from you, as you
yourselves just now told us. Have they not been well and rightly
served?"
The crowd had parted, making way for the speaker, in whom our friends
now recognised the man who had been talking with them prior to the
startling interruption. He with the remainder of the group now came
forward.
"Well, three of them have been killed, let the rest now be spared," said
Dawes, who was not inclined to dispute the logic of the Zulu's dictum,
and whose matter-of-fact nature was in the last degree averse to running
any quixotic risk on behalf of the worthless fellows who had treated him
so scurvily. "And now, if the Igazipuza wish to trade, let them sit
down quietly and say so, if not, let them go their way in peace, and we
will proceed upon ours."
This was pretty bold, considering how absolutely at the mercy of these
turbulent barbarians was the speaker and his mere handful of companions.
But he thoroughly knew his ground. A bold and resolute attitude is the
only one which commands their respect, as indeed Gerard's intrepid and
apparently foolhardy act served to show. And in pursuance of this idea
he would not offer them even the smallest gift, at any rate until they
became civil, lest they should construe the act into a concession to
fear.
"We want to trade, _abelungu_, but not here," shouted several voices.
"Not here. At the kraal of our father, Ingonyama."
"Yes, yes. To the kraal of our father," repeated the crowd.
"You have not enough people to drive all that stock," cried a voice.
"We will help you."
"We will--we will," echoed the crowd, with a shout of boisterous
laughter. And tearing away the thin fence of bushes which enclosed
them, the savages began to drive out the cattle and sheep, pricking them
with their assegais, and roaring with laughter at the pain and terror of
the poor beasts.
"Wait one moment!" cried Dawes. "We have hardly anything to trade, and
are returning home. It will be very inconvenient to us to go out of our
way. Take a couple of oxen and half a dozen goats as a present to your
chief, Ingonyama, and tell him we hope to visit him at some future time.
Now we will keep on our way."
"No--no!" roared the crowd. "No--no! You cannot pass so near the kraal
of our chief without paying him a visit. So come with us, _abelungu_.
We will help drive your cattle."
The tone though effusively good-natured was not to be mistaken. The
best policy was to affect to believe the good nature genuine, and that
these playful barbarians really were consumed with anxiety to show
hospitality to the two white traders, instead of practically taking them
prisoners. And that such they were admitted of no shadow of a doubt.
In a second the minds of both had grasped the situation. If they
refused to proceed to Ingonyama's kraal, the Igazipuza would assuredly
plunder them of every hoof, for they were already driving off the
stock--plunder them even it might be of the trek-oxen and the two
horses. They might even take it into their heads to massacre them, but
this was improbable. So making a virtue of necessity, and giving his
companion a hint to do the like, Dawes replied that since they and their
chief were so anxious to have them as guests, why, they should have
their wish. Then he gave orders to inspan.
Shouting, singing, and indulging in horseplay the savages crowded round,
watching the process. Then as the waggons rolled slowly off, they would
clamber into the huge vehicles, or hang on behind in clusters, roaring
with laughter as some fellow tumbled off, or a whole bunch of them got
jerked into the air by an unexpected bump. Indeed, it became difficult
to drive the oxen at all. Gerard and Dawes were riding their ponies,
surrounded by the group of ringed men who had first visited their camp.
These, though evidently men of authority, seemed little inclined to
exert that attribute, and made no attempt to check the rowdiness and
horseplay of the younger warriors. Among these latter the poor Swazis
were having a bad time; being jeered and threatened, and in momentary
fear of sharing the fate of their countrymen whose mangled corpses lay
behind, another feast for the vultures. The Natal natives were treated
with more respect--especially Sintoba, who, marching beside his span,
seemed perfectly indifferent to all the brag and swagger of the armed
crowd. Indeed, once or twice, when they pressed him too close, he
menaced them with the butt end of his long whip-handle.
Thus in the midst of their most unwelcome escort did our two friends
proceed upon their enforced visit across the border of northern
Zululand.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. The process of carrying out sentence pronounced against anybody
for witchcraft or other offence, and which may consist of the slaughter
of the individual and the confiscation of his cattle and wives, or the
massacre of himself and his whole family, or even of his whole kraal.