Kitobni o'qish: «The King's Assegai: A Matabili Story», sahifa 3
Chapter Four.
The Tyay’igama Dance
“Hardly had the word left Gungana’s lips than I was up and away. No thought of the witch-doctor was in my mind as I sped over the ground in that long, even trot which I could keep up for days, and eventually overtake a horse which had started at the same time. Of cuts and stabs many were upon me, and I was red and hideous with blood, flowing or dried. But this mattered less than nothing, and I laughed loud and joyously as I coursed along to be the first to bear to the King the news he most loved to hear. Of a truth, the old isanusi I had saved from death – if, indeed, I had saved him from death – had gone clean out of my mind. Yet, if I had but known it, that day was to my life what the bent rods are to the roof of a hut.
“Soon I found myself in the midst of the great dust-cloud we had seen, and behind it came herds of cattle spreading over the plain, tended by women and boys of all ages. These were the herds which we had brought out from Zululand, increased by those we had taken from the tribes on our way, and which we were carrying with us to the land where we should be commanded to settle.
“‘Make way!’ I shouted. ‘Make way for the “ears of the King”!’
“Then the women shrieked with excitement, and the boys, rushing in among the cattle with shrill whoops, scattered them out of my way; for the path of the King’s messenger must be straight, and woe to whosoever shall obstruct it. The bellowing and trampling of the cattle mingled with the shouts and cries as I dashed straight on. Then I heard a voice say: —
“‘Yau! It is Untúswa! Is he not a man? Is he not a warrior indeed, covered with blood and wounds, and carrying the King’s “word”? Look at him, Sitele!’
“I knew the voice, still I could not refrain from turning my head ever so slightly as I ran. Close to my path I beheld Nangeza, looking so tall and fine and straight, standing there with her little sister. Whau, Nkose! I would have gone against those Basutu kraals again single-handed to have been allowed to tunga with her for a wife.
“Then came another cloud of dust, and the steady tramp of marching feet, and the hum of deep-toned voices; then a wavy shimmer of spear-points, like the sunshine on the blue sea. Spread out over the plain in four dense black columns the regiments marched, and as I, looking neither to the right nor to the left, sped between these, the confused wonder which had greeted my first appearance was succeeded by a dead expectant silence.
“Umzilikazi was riding on horseback near the rear of the army, surrounded by a group of indunas, among whom was my father. A circle of izanusi, clad in cow-tails and entrails and all the hideous paraphernalia of their order, preceded the King, dancing and waving green boughs as they chanted his praises, and the swift and sudden destruction which even then was falling upon his enemies. As I drew near the doctors scattered out of my path like a lot of frightened jackals, for even they must give way before him who bears the King’s message. Casting my shield and assegais to the ground where their circle had been – for no man may approach armed to have speech with the King – I advanced ten paces nearer, and, halting, raised my right hand and shouted a sonorous Bayéte! Then I prostrated myself to the earth.
“‘Rise, son of Ntelani,’ said the King, as soon as the thunder of the salute royal, which had been immediately caught up and re-echoed by the whole army, had ceased. ‘Rise, and speak thy word.’
“‘Those against whom we went forth are removed from the path of the King!’ I cried out in a loud voice. ‘The smoke of their dwellings is rising to the heavens yonder. The path of the King is straight!’
“An immense chorus of bonga went up from the army when I had spoken. All were eager to arrive at the scene of the victory. Then the King bade me withdraw, which I was not sorry to do, for I was tired and fasting.
“You may have observed, Nkose, that my news was of victory alone; that no questions were asked as to our losses, who had been killed or who had not. It is not the custom of us Zulus, on these occasions, to mix up good and ill news. It was sufficient that the King’s enemies were stamped out. The relatives of the slain could hold ceremonies of mourning afterwards if they wished, but that was a private undertaking. Wherefore I only announced to the ears of the nation at large that we were victorious.
“And then, as we drew near to the scene of our fierce and bloody conflict, what remained of the impi which had gone out against the Basutu kraals drew near to hail the King. It had gone out a full regiment – as we were in those days about fifteen hundred men – but little more than half were left alive; for, as I have said, the Basutu were numerous, and had fought bravely. Still, as our warriors advanced in a column with waving plumes, and beating time with shield and assegai to the thunder of a mighty war-song, and the marks of the recent battle upon them, my heart swelled within me as I thought that I had borne a man’s part that day with these.
“‘Go forward, Untúswa,’ said the King, who had caught sight of me in the ranks. ‘Go forward and join the fighters, you who have fought so well this day. Your place is among them.’
“I thundered out the royal praises, and darted forth to meet those who were approaching; and falling into my place, we advanced, singing:
“‘Hail, King, Father of a new nation!
We, thy children, have smoothed a way before thee.
Thine enemies – where are they?
Their dwellings – where are they?
As the smoke which climbeth to heaven
their might is broken and shattered.
Might? Ha! ha! No might had these;
like blades of the grass when trampled,
Down went their bravest before the might of the Elephant,
Beneath the foot of the Elephant, whose tread shaketh the world.
Hail, King! Father! the chief and the maker of nations!’
“Thus sang the warriors, their voices roaring like the thunder of the heavens. Then, having prostrated ourselves, we rose, and wheeling up we fell into rank before the whole army escorting the King, and the march was continued until we were some distance beyond the smoking ruins of the Basutu kraals, for we might not halt upon the site of the battle, lest those who had borne no part in shedding it might be denied by the blood that had flowed. Here our vast camp was pitched, and by the light of hundreds of fires we who had fought, having gone through the ceremony of purification at the hands of the izanusi, were paraded before the King in full war array, and such of us as could establish a claim were allowed to perform the Tyay’igama, or the ‘calling by name,’ dance.
“This custom, you must know, Nkose, is one which consists of warriors who have performed deeds of distinction during the recent battle being pointed at by their commanders and called forward out of the ranks to dance before the King, while narrating their claims to notice for especial valour – who they have killed and how it has been done. They dance and leap with a quickness and to a height that would astonish you white people, springing from the earth more than their own height in the air, clashing their shields with both feet while leaping, and so on – the while telling of their deeds. It is arranged with the indunas in command as to who shall be allowed so to claim notice, and Gungana had readily accorded me a first place.
“Ha! that night! It was a sight to live in a man’s memory. By the red light of a thousand huge fires there was assembled the whole might of a nation, of a new nation, of a nation of warriors. The King sat in the midst of his indunas, an open space before him. On either side stretched a monster crescent of armed men, the glint of their spears, the sheen of their great hide shields, flickering in the wavy glow. Up the middle of this space our impi advanced, singing a battle-song, even the war-song of Umzilikazi:
“‘Yaingahlabi leyo’nkunzi!
Yai ukúfa!’
(That bull did not gore! It was death! – meaning “That bull did gore,” but in the most deadly manner.)
“Then, halting before the King, we shouted the Bayéte, and falling back, left a space for those who were to perform in the dance.
“They came out one by one, each, as he paused to take breath after recounting his deeds, being greeted by a roar of applause from the throats of the surrounding warriors. Then my turn came.
“I know not how it was, Nkose, unless it were the thoughtless rashness of youth, which has caused me to do many foolish and fatal things, but which has also carried me unscathed through their fearful consequences; but when I found myself thus, with a free hand, I forgot all prudence and diplomacy.
“Bounding forward in all my bravery of war, in my jackals’ tails and cowhair, with a great plume of cranes’ feathers streaming from my head, rapping my great shield against my knees, I leaped high in the air about ten times, each time spinning completely round before touching ground again. The roaring ‘Ha! ha!’ with which the whole multitude greeted this display completely intoxicated me. I felt as mad, as drunk, as though I had partaken of the white man’s tywala. With my eyes blazing from my head, I cried aloud the whole story of our attack upon the kraal. Not a word said I of having been Gungana’s left hand, of having carried out the plan which Gungana sent me to carry out. No, of this not a word; instead, I poured forth the whole naked truth – how that Masipele, the head induna, being killed, the impi was on the point of suffering defeat, when I conceived the idea of braving certain death by myself entering the kraal, which the rest were unable to enter, and myself setting it on fire, thus forcing the Basutu into the open and saving the day. I shouted out the number and description of the enemies who had fallen by my hand, and went through the exact performance of how they had met me and how I had slain them; but all the time never a word about Gungana and his generalship. I told no more, no less than the truth, with all my boasting; but, Nkose, he who does this is frequently no more and no less than a very great fool – at least, so it is among ourselves; I know not how it may be among you white people.
“Well, I was carried away by my conceit; partly because, when I leaped in the air, I could see in the background, above and beyond the surrounding regiments, the face and form of my love, Nangeza. She was standing among the women, watching, listening in a perfect ecstasy of admiration and excitement. This was what nerved me to go through a Tyay’igama performance such as, surely, could never have been seen before. I extolled myself and my own deeds as though I were the only man alone in the whole world. The roaring shouts of the warriors rent the night in a frenzy of enthusiasm. The King, I could see, looked upon me approvingly, and I heard him mutter to my father, Ntelani, that he had bred a right good lion-cub indeed. I was drunk with my success. Then, when I had told all my story, as I was the last, the King gave orders for the beef feast to begin and the Tyay’igama dance was at an end.
“The huge joints were hissing and sputtering upon the fires, giving forth a most delicious odour to our hungry nostrils, and as we squatted around waiting until they should be sufficiently cooked, we talked over the events of the day, and congratulated ourselves on having escaped from the rule of Tshaka. For to us younger men there was something intoxicating in this journeying in search of a new land, fighting our way as we went, stamping out tribe after tribe which lay in our path. And Umzilikazi, had he not a free and an open hand? He never stinted his warriors, and after such a battle as that of to-day there was beef and tywala enough and to spare. Yes, it was good to konza to Umzilikazi. Moreover, he rarely caused any of his subjects to be killed; unlike Tshaka, who was wont to keep the slayers pretty busy. Had but another regiment or two joined us, we might have been strong enough to overturn the House of Senzangakona, to have slain Tshaka, and set up Umzilikazi as King in Zululand. Then we need never have started in search of a new country. On such matters, Nkose, did the tongues of us young men wag when among ourselves.
“After the feast, while I was returning to my place in the camp – for we had no huts at that time, moving as we were from day to day – someone came behind me in the darkness, and a man’s voice said:
“‘You are as great in the Tyay’igama dance as in battle, son of Ntelani. And I think you are greater with your tongue than in either.’ I knew the voice as that of Gungana, but its tone – ah! I liked not that.
“‘It is as you say, O my father,’ I answered. ‘But I am a child – and children sometimes talk too much.’
“‘That is so, Untúswa,’ he said. ‘And sometimes a dog thinks himself bigger than his master. The dog runs down and catches the buck, but tell me, umfane, who takes the dog to where he may find the buck?’
“‘His master,’ I answered. ‘But the dog is carried away by the chase, and sometimes linds it difficult to quit the game he has killed.’
“‘Until he is whipped off, Untúswa. And that has to be done sometimes. Ha! Go now and rest, for you must be badly in need of it after all your exertions.’
“Then Gungana left me, and I felt very uneasy. In my foolish egotism I had omitted any reference to him, had claimed all the credit – which, though really my due, I was a fool to insist on – and now the dark meaning of his words, the malice underlying his cold, sneering tones, left me under no sort of doubt that I had made for myself a most dangerous enemy. My attempts at apology had been lame in the extreme. Gungana had seen through them, and they had failed to appease him. And he was a powerful induna, and would certainly succeed to the command of my regiment. Of a truth, Nkose, when I lay down that night, it seemed that my coveted head-ring and the fulfilment of the King’s promise had faded away into the very furthest mists of the never-to-be.
Chapter Five.
The Mosutu Witch-Doctor
“You will be wondering, Nkose, what had become of the old Mosutu witch-doctor whose life I had spared, and who was the sole survivor of his people. The morning after the battle and the feast, before we resumed our march, Umzilikazi ordered the old man to be brought before him.
“I was in attendance upon the King that day, and was acting as his shield-bearer. It was my duty to stand behind him as he sat among the indunas, holding the great white shield above his head to shade him from the sun. This was an office the King often had me to perform in preference to most of the other young men of his body-guard, wherefore I heard much deliberation of matters, such as would have astounded many in our host, could they but have guessed they were known to the King – yes, and would have put them in terror for their lives. But these were matters for which I had neither eyes nor ears, and although I had revealed a secret to Nangeza – and that foolishly – it was one which concerned myself alone, and for the others, I would have suffered any death rather than let fall breath of them.
“Standing thus behind Umzilikazi, I was able to command the fullest view of the old witch-doctor, and as they brought him along I noticed that he showed no sign of fear. His, eyes were as bright and piercing as before; and his old body, bowed and wrinkled with age, looked hardly human, so shrunken and withered was it.
“‘Are the ghosts of those slain yonder come to life again in this old man?’ I heard the King mutter as he signed the Mosutu to rise up from the prostration he had made. ‘What is thy name, old man?’
“‘I am called Masuka, lord. The guardian spirits of the Bapedi tribe whisper in my ears.’
“‘Ha, the Bapedi! So that is the name of those we swept out of our path yesterday.’
“‘It is, lord. Yet there are more of them left; but they dwell in the mountains.’
“‘Then fortunate are they, for so far as I care they can stay there,’ said the King. ‘It is only those lying in my path whom I sweep aside. But, old man, thy serpents (A favourite form of tutelary deity among Zulus is the serpent) must have been powerful yesterday, in that thou art the only one who has escaped with life from the fangs of my hunting dogs. Yet am I not sorry, for I have heard much of the powers of the Basutu izanusi, and would fain see some proof of them.’
“‘The hour is not propitious, King,’ replied the old man in a wearied sort of tone, with a glance at the heavens.
“A great growl of astonishment went up from all who heard this answer. The indunas sat open-mouthed with amazement. This wretched, shrivelled little old monkey, whose life had been spared by the merest chance, instead of being all eagerness to meet the King’s wishes, had returned a curt, almost contemptuous refusal.
“‘Atyi! Was ever such a thing heard of?’ they cried. ‘He is mad! He is tired of life!’
“But Umzilikazi made no reply. He whispered a word to one of the indunas, who rose and went away. In a few moments the sound of singing was heard, and a band of about twenty men and as many women was seen approaching. Battling with bones and bladders, bristling with porcupine quills and feathers, some of them crowned with dry and fleshless skulls, others twining snakes about their necks and arms, in them we recognised our own mystic circle – the witch-doctors who had accompanied us on our migration.
“‘Bayéte!’ they shouted, halting suddenly before the King, whom they had approached in a wild and whirling dance. ‘We smell a hyena – we smell a jackal – we smell a wizard – an impostor! Give him to us, O King, Lord of the nations! Let him die the death, lest he bewitch us, and our path be no longer smooth! Give him to us, that we may eat him up! Hou! hou! hou!’
“The whole circle was now whirling around the old Mosutu, springing at him in the attitude of wild beasts, snapping and growling. So frenzied were they, that the foam fell from their hideous mouths, and, indeed, I began to think they would end by really biting and tearing their rival to pieces. I found myself bending eagerly, anxiously forward in my suspense. But the old man sat there as unconcerned as though there was nobody within a day’s journey of him.
“‘See, O King!’ they howled in their fury. ‘We will eat him up – blood, hones, every fragment – as he sits there! All is possible with us. We are crocodiles – we are hyenas – we are lions! Hou! hou! hou!’
“‘Hear you what these say, Masuka?’ said the King.
“‘I hear a noise, lord. But – who are these?’
“The pity, the contempt, in the old man’s tone as he gazed wonderingly round upon the circle of frenzied magicians, I can hardly convey. They, seeing it, roared with rage.
“‘Thus does this impostor speak of the King’s izanusi!’ they howled.
“‘Izanusi?’ said the Mosutu. ‘Can they be izanusi– these?’
“‘Show him what you can do,’ said the King.
“Then our witch-doctors went through the most appalling performances. Some fell down in fits, during which they tore their own ears off; others gashed themselves, and stood on their heads for long at a time, and howled. Some placed snakes round their necks, and by compressing the reptiles’ throats caused themselves to be all but strangled in their constrictions. One man produced a huge serpent as long as himself and as thick as his own arm, and, indeed, this was the most marvellous of all, for where he could have secreted it passed all men’s comprehension. But all the while the old Mosutu sat watching these performances with the same smile of contemptuous pity.
“‘Now, Masuka,’ said the King, as he signed to the izanusi to desist, ‘show thyself a greater magician than these, and thou shalt have thy life. Thou must show me something I have never seen before. If thou failest in this, I swear that thou shalt be eaten alive by these. I am bent upon seeing something new this day, and the spectacle of a man eaten alive by men will be a new one indeed. So pray for success upon thy magic.’
“The furious bowlings of our own magicians were renewed. There was an awesome, uneasy expression upon the faces of the lookers-on. Never was Umzilikazi known to depart from his word. Unless, therefore, the old Mosutu should show us some very strange and startling thing, he would certainly meet with a fate which to us Zulus – accustomed as we were to bloodshed in the ordinary way – seemed in the last degree horrible. Again, if he fulfilled his undertaking, we might look for some very terrifying exhibition of magic. Wherefore, the awe which rested upon every face is beyond words.
“‘Begin,’ said the King. ‘Begin, old man. We wait.’
“Masuka stared in front of him for a few moments, his lips moving. Suddenly he gave a convulsive start and fell over motionless. Time went by, yet no sign of life did he show. At last the King, tired of waiting, rose and went over to look at the apparently lifeless body.
“‘He is as cold as a stone,’ he said.
“‘I think he is really dead, Great Great One!’ I whispered, for, as the King’s shield-bearer, I alone had accompanied him from his place. ‘See he does not even breathe.’
“‘He is not dead, Untúswa,’ answered the King. ‘Whau! I have seen this trick before, but never better done. Yet he must show us something more than this if he is to keep his life. See; place snuff in his nostrils.’
“I hastened to obey, and as I bent over the set, rigid face, a glance into the wide-open but apparently sightless eyes all but unnerved me. Lustreless and filmy, there yet seemed such a demon-like power lying beneath their black depths. It made me feel as though I were looking into a dark and terrible pit, with some monster of unimaginable hideousness and cruelty lurking at the bottom. The hand which held the snuff spoon shook, and I could hardly carry out the King’s command.
“But with his nostrils well filled with snuff – and, indeed, there must have been a good deal in his throat, for my unsteady hand had spilt some – the old Mosutu never sneezed, never choked. He was not emitting the very faintest breath.
“‘He is dead!’ said Umzilikazi at last. ‘Remove him.’
“Now, for a long time we had been watching, and so, when the King’s word was given, there were not wanting those who were eager to drag the wizard’s body away out of the camp as soon as possible. There was a rush forward, but no sooner had the thong been placed around the ankles, than those who held it leaped high in the air with a cry of alarm. For the dead wizard had uttered a most thunderous sneeze. Another and another broke from his chest as he sat up, and, looking around, set to work coolly to loosen the thong from his ankles.
“‘Thy snuff is strong, Untúswa,’ said the King, bursting out laughing. ‘Well, old man, that was well done; I have never seen it better done. Still, I have seen it done before.’
“‘Can these do it better, lord, son of Matyobane?’ asked Masuka, pointing to our own magicians.
“‘Not so well. Now, Masuka, let this be the new feat, and, by my head-ring, if it is not new, nothing shall save thee from the fate I promised.’
“A roar of bonga went up from all. When it had subsided, the old man said:
“‘Search me. Let the King see himself that it is done thoroughly.’ And he stretched out his arms.
“‘Search him, Untúswa,’ said Umzilikazi. ‘Search him while I watch.’
“Handing the royal shield to another of the body-guard, I stepped forward. So frail and puny did the little old man look, his head hardly reaching to my chest, his withered limbs like bits of broken stick, that it seemed as though I could have blown him away. Yet I feared him. I feared the glitter of his snake-like eyes. But I feared the King even more, wherefore I was careful to show no sign of hesitation.
“Save for a very scanty mútya around his loins and a strip of hide which served as a bandage to his bruised and battered head, the old Mosutu was entirely naked. He no longer wore even his mystic adornments as witch-doctor. In a moment I was able to satisfy myself that there was absolutely nothing upon him.
“‘Where hast thou deposited thy múti, old man?’ said the King, when I had reported this. ‘Shall it not be brought?’
“‘I require it not, lord. Such as these,’ with a sweep of the arm towards our own izanusi, ‘such as these require many things – I, nothing.’
“‘Proceed, then.’
“‘Yonder is a mound upon the plain,’ pointing to a small rise outside our lines about four times the distance a man could cast a spear. ‘Does the King allow me to proceed yonder alone?’
“‘Go,’ said Umzilikazi.
“There lay upon our host a deep, dead silence, such as might be felt. Every breath was drawn in, every head bent forward, every eye dilated upon the little shrivelled form of the old witch-doctor as he shambled forth from our midst to the spot indicated.
“Arrived there, he lay flat upon the ground, placing his ear against it as though he were talking to someone beneath and listening for an answer; and, indeed, talking he was, for we could hear the muttering of his voice. Then he raised himself to a sitting posture, with his back towards us and his face turned upward to the heavens, and, lo, a marvel! There arose a thread of smoke, light, filmy, then thicker and blacker, till soon there poured upward a black column, in thickness as a man’s leg; and while we gazed there leaped into the smoke-pillar a ball of flame, and as it did so it gave forth a booming roar even as the thunder of the baï-nbaï (Cannon), which wrought such havoc among us Zulus yonder at Kambúla. Another and another followed, and then the blackness of the smoke ceased, and it rose blue and clear, and a gasp and shiver of wonder ran through our people, for the grass around the old Mosutu was blazing. He was standing in a ring of flame.
“‘Bid your izanusi put out this fire, O King of a new nation, if they dare approach the spot whence the Fire Spirit, who dwells in the heart of the world, has lifted up his voice,’ cried Masuka, stepping through the flaming circle and advancing towards us.
“Though thrilling with awe and wonderment myself, I had not omitted to watch Umzilikazi’s countenance during the witch-doctor’s manifestation: Fear was upon all other faces, but upon that of the King was only curiosity, and I thought triumph. Now he turned to the izanusi, and said:
“‘Do his bidding.’
“Their countenances told as plainly as possible that they liked not their errand. But to hesitate meant death, for Umzilikazi would not tolerate so much as a moment of hesitation in obeying his orders, not even from an izanusi. So with loud yells the whole band dashed forward, and with their green boughs beat out the flames, which, indeed, were spreading fiercely in the dry grass.
“‘Is the King satisfied?’ said Masuka, as, having prostrated himself, he rose to his knees.
“Umzilikazi looked at him steadily for a moment. Then his eyes grew stern, and we who saw it trembled.
“‘Do you know what we do with abatagati?’ he said.
“‘My life is in the King’s hands,’ answered the old Mosutu without flinching.
“‘Ha! the death of the hot stones. Let us see now if the fire-maker can also be the fire-quencher!’ said the King, giving a sign. And in obedience thereto those in attendance for such purposes sprang forward to seize the old man; while others, with incredible rapidity, kindled fire and fanned it to a roaring blaze. Into this several flat stones were placed. Au! Nkose, it is a terrible thing, the death of the hot stones! A man may live a whole day in agony of torment, for the stones are placed upon his naked body and held on him with sticks until they burn their own way into his vitals.
“Those whose work it was to hold down the Umtagati while he underwent this torment were not over-fond of the task, for the manifestation of his powers which old Masuka had afforded had struck fear into us all. But even this was small in comparison with the wrath of the King, so there was no hesitation. In a moment the old man lay stretched on his back; already the slayers were bringing the stones hot from the fire to place upon him. Yet these preparations he was watching without the smallest sign of fear.
“‘Hold!’ cried the King.
“Those who bore the hot stones – which were carried resting in the middle of two sticks – paused.
“‘Release him.’
“This, too, was immediately done.
“‘I was but trying thee, old man,’ said Umzilikazi; ‘I was but trying thee, and right well hast thou come through the ordeal. Yet, I think, had I detected but a sign of fear, I would have left thee to the terrible death of torture. But I see thou art afraid of nothing, and I love such, wherefore I grant thee thy life.’
“‘Baba! Nkose!’ (‘Father! Chief!’) cried old Masuka, prostrating himself and kissing the King’s foot. And all men, with right hand uplifted, shouted with a mighty voice in praise of the King’s justice and the King’s mercy.
“Thus came it about that the Mosutu witch-doctor was adopted as one of ourselves.”
