The village of Yagonyana, the son of Zahilazaan, was situated some five
days’ march to the north-west of Kawa Kendi’s, in open cattle country near
the fringe of the forest. Here were gathered nearly every witch-doctor and
warrior of the tribe. Most of the women, children, and slaves had been
sent still farther to the west, driving the cattle before them.
Bakahenzie, Zalu Zako, Marufa, and all those warriors who had escaped from
the massacre by zu Pfeiffer were distinguished from their brethren by
circles of yellow earth around each left eye, and each right breast and
arm was smeared with red, which is part of the ceremony of magic
purification for those who have slain, lest, as is well known, the ghost
of the dead wreak their wrath upon their slayers.
The affairs of the tribe were in a parlous state. The netting of the tabu
had been tangled by the death of the King-God, Kawa Kendi, and the
unprecedented act of the overthrow of the idol. Kawa Kendi’s body, which
had not been recovered so that the doctors could release his unhappy soul,
might be used to make more magic against the tribe.
For three weeks there had been much discussion among the doctors, the
chiefs, and the people. Opinions were at variance; no two men could agree.
Lesser wizards, who before had been content with the perquisites of the
smaller offices, were now made drunken by the insecurity of Bakahenzie’s
position. Each of the doctors, seeing a chance to prove his superior merit
and win Bakahenzie’s post as chief doctor, had busily made magic to
destroy the usurper, and each and every one provided a different reason
for the failure thereof. Every day came news of the doings of the white
god with eyes upon his hands, of shootings and floggings, of the burning
of the village including the idol, the temple, and the sacred tombs of
MFunya MPopo, of MKoffo, of MZrakombinyana, and other kings before them.
The council of the craft could not even decide whether Zalu Zako was to be
King-God or not. Bakahenzie, whose interest lay in supporting the dynasty
of the present royal family, maintained that he should be anointed
forthwith. But with the downfall of the idol and his own impotence to make
successful magic, Bakahenzie’s prestige had been badly shaken; no longer
dared he issue dicta autocratically. As ever, political ambition tore
patriotism to shreds.
Marufa, former close ally of Bakahenzie, but lacking his active principle,
continued to mutter incantations most impressively by himself, waiting
cautiously to see which side of the river the arrow fell. Bakahenzie
became seriously alarmed at the growth of Yabolo’s faction and the
indifference of Marufa. He knew well that submission would entail the loss
of his post as well as his worldly goods; and he was aware that all men
knew that his most potent and strenuous magic had failed as utterly as
that of the youngest novice in the craft. His only chance to retrieve a
portion of his lost reputation was to invent a more plausible excuse for
failure than any other doctor had done. He did.
Although he did not know that Bakuma had broken the magic circle of her
own volition, he had the shrewd imagination to suggest that she had either
fled with the other women during the attack or that, even if she had
stayed, the askaris would have taken her from the hut. Therefore did he
demand an assembly of the craft and chiefs. One of the reasons, if not the
reason, of Bakahenzie’s success, as of other witch-doctors before, such as
Savonarola, had been a faculty, inspired by, or derived from, hysterical
epilepsy, of working himself up at will into a state of convulsion without
actual loss of consciousness and the spectacular exhibition of foam, which
no other sorcerer had been able to simulate so successfully. Therefore
Bakahenzie invoked the great Tarum (apotheosis of ancestors’ spirits) who,
through the convulsed body, did proclaim that the disaster had been caused
by the breaking of the magic circle by one whose name was accursed; and
that only could the magic of Bakahenzie be made potent, and the consequent
overthrow of the Eyes-in-the-hands be assured, by the sacrifice of the
victim to her destiny as the Bride of the Banana.
Marufa, appreciating the shrewdness of this move, immediately abandoned
his incantations to reassume his allegiance to the cause of Bakahenzie.
The prophecy was hailed by nearly every one as a most timely excuse for
the failure of magic in general. The miraculous recall of the
Unmentionable One now seemed so easy of accomplishment through the person
of Bakuma that many of those who had sided with Yabolo deserted him,
foreseeing the renewed ascendancy of Bakahenzie and fearing his wrath.
Yabolo, however, made an attempt to recover the lost adherents by
protesting that the Moon of the Harvest Festival had not yet come, and
that therefore victory could not be obtained until two more moons had
waned. But MYalu saw that by submitting to the new god he might be able to
have removed the tabu upon Bakuma—all things were possible to one who had
overthrown the Unmentionable One—and thus obtain her by the price of
submission; also he might possibly recover his wealth of ivory abandoned
after the massacre. Therefore did he with his people go over to the Yabolo
faction.
Uproar and confusion ensued. Bakahenzie recovered from his trance with
unprecedented rapidity and even did not require to be told what the spirit
of Tarum had said through his lips. The tribe was split into fiercer
factions than ever. They argued and screamed and cursed. Bakahenzie had
lost the hold over them; for as the god, of which he was the sponsor, was
dead, his credit had gone too. He dared no longer to remove a troublesome
brother or chief by magic. His only hope was to restore the god: so to
that end he declared that Zalu Zako must be anointed King-God. Uproar
arose once more. But Bakahenzie’s purpose had been served; he had diverted
their attention from the subject of submission.
From time to time came terrified runners with horrific stories of the
burning of villages, of massacre and rapine. Bakahenzie, determined not to
yield, secretly dispatched a slave to Eyes-in-the-hands with an arrow
which is a sign of war; Yabolo, whose mind ran in the same tracts, sent a
banana which is a sign of peace. In the meantime factions grew and
multiplied. One chief counselled his followers to take their cattle and
women and seek to conquer another tribe to the south-west; another wished
to go west. But each and every follower began to bargain with his chief
for disproportionate rewards for service. Two chiefs and five hundred men
started to the south-west, but they returned because they had met in their
path the skeleton of a slain elephant, which is, as everybody knows, a
sure sign of disaster.
Bakahenzie sent runners far and wide to discover Bakuma. As she could not
be found he concluded that she had been killed or taken as a slave and
urged the warriors to fight. Zalu Zako immediately desired the anointing
to be delayed in order that he should not be debarred from fighting.
Bakahenzie, none too sure of his authority, was compelled to acquiesce.
Marufa, observing that the arrow was still in the air, took to his
non-committal incantations again. Bakahenzie strove to keep the warriors
and chiefs occupied by dissension until the result of his challenge to
battle should mature. Yabolo, equally perturbed for his influence, did
exactly the same with the banana in view.
Yabolo and MYalu contemplated going in to make submission, but the former
wished to negotiate through Sakamata for the best terms, although he tried
to persuade MYalu to go; but MYalu was suspicious and would not do so
without Yabolo. But at the hour of the monkey one morning came a terrified
goatherd crying news that cut the tangled threads of their intrigues as a
sword cuts a goat’s throat. The white god, Eyes-in-the-hands, was within
an arrow’s flight of the village of Yagonyana.
Consternation ensued. The village and the temporary camp of grass huts
buzzed and hummed. Zalu Zako dashed out, sword and spear in hand, and in
the glow of the awakened fires harangued the warriors, urged that they
should make a swift detour through the forest and attack the white man as
he entered the village. Bakahenzie supported this plan of campaign. MYalu,
stung by the recollection of the loss of many tusks to the invader,
incontinently abandoned Yabolo and pressed for a frontal attack. Yabolo
contended that they send an envoy to make terms, but not very insistently.
In spite of the assurance of Sakamata, he was suspicious of the new god’s
gentle ways. Marufa, the wise, collected those of his household who had
remained with him, and quietly made his way to the forest.
But Zalu Zako’s martial spirit was overcome by the clamour of those who
would flee before worse befell, crying that the white god,
Eyes-in-the-hands, would eat them all up with the terrible monsters who
coughed flames and death; others screeched that the uniformed devils were
spirits of the night and therefore invincible; for always they came in the
dark. So they hesitated, shouted and argued. Then came a scout screaming
that the enemy was upon them, corroborated by a vicious cough.
A pom-pom shell landed in the midst of the crowded village. Zalu Zako,
Bakahenzie and their small following were nearly swept away in the rush of
five thousand odd warriors in flight. From the forest they watched with
awestruck eyes the burning of the village.