Kitobni o'qish: «The King's Assegai: A Matabili Story», sahifa 7

Chapter Eleven.
The Eaters of Men

“In that short flash of time I must have died a thousand deaths. In my terror I made no attempt to arrest my downward course. Stones and dust rattled past my ears, flashes, as of sparks, in front of my brain; then I stopped.

“At first I hardly dared open my eyes, but, feeling the grip on my leg relax, I looked beneath, shuddering, fearful as to what my glance might rest upon – I who had boasted that I knew not fear.

“As my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I made out little slanting rays of light penetrating from somewhere. I could see a vaulted rock wall above, around. But beneath?

“The black darkness of another pit, wherein voices were murmuring, shapes were moving. Ha! the vision of the wizard’s múti! And as I looked, claws shot upward to seize me. All the old horror which had overwhelmed me in Masuka’s hut came back to me now – the vision of the living creatures; shadowy, shapeless, hideous; mouthing and gnashing to draw me down. That frightful grip was again upon my legs, and, struggling, gasping, amid a cloud of dust and falling shingle, I was dragged down with a violent crash to the bottom of the pit.

“And now I could see I was beset by a number of the most grisly and horrible shapes the eyes of man ever beheld, for it was not quite dark in this evil hole. Frightful heads, with flattened skulls, and huge, champing jaws and horn-like ears, were wagging over me as I lay, and a bony claw put forth gripped me by the throat in the iron grip of strangulation, and with a growling, worrying snarl more than one pair of teeth seized me in different parts of the body.

“Then, desperate at the prospect of being torn in pieces and devoured by these foul and loathsome creatures, with the very despair of terror I put forth all my strength, and whirling my knobstick, it met and crashed against what felt like a head. There was a most blood-chilling yell of wild dismay; then these hideous ghosts flung themselves from me and fled shrieking.

“As I leaped to my feet, shivering with the horror of this awful fate, my eyes becoming more accustomed to the darkness, I made out that I was in a great square chamber, on the floor of which lay several skulls.

“The odour which rose up from this was unspeakably fearful, and as the shafts of light came in stronger I could make out six or eight shapes – human shapes, I was going to say; but they were as the skeletons of baboons with dry bags of skin hung around them, and they had huge heads. They were huddled together on the opposite side of the hole, staring, pointing at me with their bony claws, moving to and fro their hideous heads, while whispering together in a hoarse and uncouth tongue of which I could gather not a word. Then, while some still watched me, others bent down, and there was a sound as of tearing of meat, of cracking of bones; but what they had got before them I could not at first discern, for the ground was almost in darkness. But while I watched I heard a loud crack, and then two of them raised something from the ground – something large and heavy – each holding one end in his claws and teeth, tearing and growling like a beast. Then, Nkose, those unheard-of terrors predicted by the witch doctor were upon me; for the thing they held up and were thus devouring was the arm of a man, and I could see the fingers of the dead hand as though about to clutch their faces. What were these who haunted this gloomy hole of death? Were they indeed evil spirits, or were they Izímu, or man-eaters, such as in times past had been said to inhabit the country whence we had come out? Some, indeed, were said still to live there, hiding away in holes and caves; and such, you must know, Nkose, were held by us Zulus in the utmost detestation, as practising the vilest form of tagati.

“While I was thus gazing upon them in horror and disgust, one of the creatures, giving a frightful croak, as though to draw my attention, held up something towards me. It was against the light, and was round and shiny. I had not to look at it twice, for I knew it at a glance. It was a Zulu head-ring.

“But whence had it come? Had these vultures been hovering over the scene of the battle in order to drag away our brave dead to glut their own foul and loathsome carcases with? In my fury and loathing at the sight, I gripped my knobstick – for while falling I had not once lost hold of my weapons – and was about to spring upon them and batter out their miserable lives, when in the rapidly-increasing light I beheld that which caused me once more to sicken and all my blood to turn to ice. For in the torn and mangled body these carrion ghosts were devouring, the battered skull and swollen features, I recognised what had once been Gungana. This, then, was the very hole he had fallen into! What sort of omen was it that had caused me to fall into it likewise? In truth, his prediction that my death should be a worse one than his had nearly been fulfilled, might even yet be fulfilled.

“Things looked plainer now. One unexpected meal had come down to these wizards through the pit into which we had both fallen. On hearing the noise of my descent, in their eagerness for that which should yield another, they must have climbed up to drag me down. Au! it was fearful, the thought of such a fate; and, lest fear should again overpower me, I resolved to act. So with a shout I leaped across the floor of the pit. It crackled with bones.

“Those abatagati did not rise; they sat there and screamed. Au! that was a scream – one to come back to a man in his sleep, and cause him to start up trembling! It rang through that frightful den as though to pierce the very rocks. Something was hurled at me, but I stepped aside, and it shivered against the rock behind. It was the skull of a man. Another flung a weighty object which struck me full in the chest, nearly overturning me. Whau, Nkose! Then was horror indeed! That which had so nearly overthrown me was a human leg freshly torn off, and was that of Gungana himself. What an omen, that the man whom I had killed should even in death continue to fight against me!

“Then in my fury I sprang at them, crashing their brains out with my heavy knobstick till I had killed several. The others threw themselves on the ground and screamed dismally. No attempt at resistance made they; indeed, it seemed as though they were hardly able to rise. And then through my rage it flashed upon me that, were I to slay them all, there would be none to reveal the way out; for a way out there must be, and that a secret one; for, save the hole by which I had fallen down, no passage of any kind was there to be seen. So, standing over the three that yet remained alive, I held aloft my great knobstick, all dripping with blood, and bade them show me the way forth.

“They screeched and chattered, not understanding a word I said. So I made signs by pointing to the hole I had dropped down by, and then making as though I would walk through the rock. This they understood, and with much head-shaking and gesture pointed high above their heads. But all I could see there was solid rock.

“Yet – there was a crack; then two or three, letting in the light. It seemed to me, on looking long at this, that a flat, irregular hole was there stopped up by a slab of rock, and it was from the ground about twice the height of a tall man. Still, what could it mean? How could these miserable beings have entered by that – still more, how could they get out by it? More and more wonders were here.

“Not one word of their chattering could I understand. But at length, after trying all manner of signs, one of them seemed to convey to me two things – that they entered and went out by means of a thong, and that I must sit down and wait. Again I threatened them with death, but it was of no use. They could do no more than they had done – they still could only sign to me to wait and watch.

“Au, Nkose! Truly indeed did the old Mosutu speak when he predicted that I should pass through horrors which the imagination of man could not invent. For as the long watches of that awful day went by, and I sat there in that darksome den lighted by a crevice here and there in the rocks, sat there among skulls and crackling bones, while opposite me cowered the three evil shapes of those hideous beings among the corpses – more hideous still – of their kind, while on the ground in front of them lay the mangled and torn remains of my own countryman, whom I myself had given over to this fate, then indeed it seemed as though I were one already dead and passed away.

“Sometimes I would sing to drive away the awful thoughts which were crowding upon me, but then the Izimu would sign wildly for me to desist, pointing above their heads to the supposed doorway. Au! I would not live through that day again – no, not to reign as King over the Amazulu or over the Amandebili for twice the life-time of a man. For that long day came to an end at last, and then, instead of the bright threads of sun-dart through the crevices, there came greyness as though the shades of evening were falling. Think of it, Nkose! The day had been bad enough. But night, black rayless night, spent down there among these abatagati, among all the foul horrors of these Izimu– eaters of men!

“I had risen, and was preparing in my rage to slay those who were left, lest they should bind their magic around me and fall upon me in the darkness, and my fate should be even as that of Gungana, when I perceived them making quick signs to me to sit down, at the same time pointing to the stone overhead. Then I heard sounds above.

“With all the blood in my body tingling, I crouched in the shadow at the further end of the den, and sitting upon my shield to hide it, I fixed my eyes upon the stone which had been pointed out to me. I saw it move – move away with a rasping noise – and there was a hole wide enough to give passage to a man’s body. Two or three heads appeared against this and were withdrawn, amid mutterings in an unknown tongue.

“I saw something drop down the rock till it reached the bottom of the den. It was a line. Immediately a man, passing himself backwards through the hole, slid down this. I, crouching in shadow, was unseen by him, and, gripping my weapons, I gathered myself for a spring, for I could see that deliverance was to be now or never, and resolved with all my might that it should be now.

“He dropped upon the rocky floor, and stood upright. He was entirely naked, and in build and feature very like the mountain tribe against whom we had been fighting. He was armed with an assegai and battle-axe, and as he stood there rolling his eyes around, I could see the three miserable wretches shivering and speechless with fear.

“He made one spring, and drove his assegai through the body of the foremost; then, not waiting till the wretch was dead, he knelt upon the still struggling carcase, and with the axe hacked off the head, flinging it with a laugh across the horrible hole. It bounded over the crackling bones, nearly striking me where I sat. Then, dragging the spouting carcase to the line, he began to make fast the feet preparatory to the hauling of it up.

“Now, I began to see clearly where I was, and all manner of tales heard in childhood crowded back. Not these miserable beings, who were shut up in this place, were eaters of men – though probably they had been driven by hunger to devour the corpse of Gungana. Those who kept them there were the cannibals, and now I remembered wild and hideous legends of just such practices current among certain of the mountain tribes, and how their captives were shut up in caves or hollows and eaten one by one as they were required. I saw, too, how it was that the place was strewn with skulls. For some dark reason or other the heads were flung away here as I had seen this one flung. Those whom I had first found here were ‘cattle.’ It was the slaughterhouse of the Izímu.

“As the man bent down to knot the feet of the corpse to the line, I stepped lightly up behind him, and with one swift blow of my heavy knobstick shattered his skull to atoms. Then, tying around me the end of the line, which was of raw hide and strong, I signed to the two still alive that they should call to those above to draw up the line. This they did, being crafty enough to hope that my escape was to compass their own.

“Fortunately for me, the aperture was not large enough to admit the passage of more than one body at a time, wherefore, when my head rose above the surface, the only things I saw were the backs of eight or ten men who had hauled me to the surface by the simple plan of walking away with the other end of the thong! They must have thought that the slayer and the ‘ox’ were being drawn up together, from the weight of it. How they were tugging and straining! Au, Nkose! you would have laughed aloud to have seen the scare on the faces of those men when they turned round to behold – not the dead carcase, their expected cannibal feast, but a big live Zulu warrior, fully armed with shield and weapons, charging upon them like lightning, roaring out the war-shout with all the power of his lungs! Hau! Did they run? Did they scream? Hau! I saw nothing but their backs as they leaped away among the rocks in all directions, and, indeed, it is little to be wondered at if they did. And I, Nkose– having sufficiently frightened them, I did not linger either.

“When I emerged from the hole into the broad light of day – the shades of evening, rather, for it was growing dark – I saw that I was in a small rocky hollow, in the middle of which a fire was burning, doubtless for cooking the expected meal of the Izimu. But having given those who fled a sufficient fright, I lost no time in doing as they did, and fleeing myself. The growing darkness, too, was in my favour, and as I gained the outer ridge of the hollow, I saw beneath, a long rugged slope falling into the far depths of the defile up which our impi had marched the day before, and then my heart felt light again, and I began to sing softly to myself for joy, for now I could find my way back to Ekupumuleni. My enemy Gungana was cleared out of my path, I had fought well and bravely, and Kalipe, the war-chief who would succeed him, and who was kindly disposed towards me, would ‘point at’ me at the Tyay’igama dance. Then, after all I had gone through and my strange experiences, the face of the King would soften towards me, and I should obtain my heart’s desire. And, as though it were a good omen, I almost stumbled over a young buck crouching on the mountain-side, to send an assegai through which was as a flash of time. But I dared not light a fire, lest scattered bands of enemies should still be lurking about; yet, as I was nearly starving, in any event I could not have waited. So I devoured great portions of the animal raw, as I walked, carrying the remainder with me. Then a great weariness came upon me, and, crawling into a hole among the rocks, I slept until the next sun was very high.

Chapter Twelve.
A Wild and Desperate Scheme

“Not until I was clear of the mountains did I dare to travel daring the light of day, for it seemed certain we had not entirely stamped out those abatagati. Now and then I could see them in small parties creeping warily about the mountainside, and though I was well armed, yet I was but one man and they were many. So by day I lay in some safe hiding-place and rested, travelling only at night. Whau! but I liked it not. Those great mountain ranges seemed full of ghosts and the whispers of wizard voices in the darkness. But I had got rid of my enemy Gungana, who was ever striving to turn the King’s ear against me, and it seemed that now things would go well. So I sang softly to my guardian serpent as I stepped through that shadowy place, and my heart felt strong again.

“At length I came in sight of Ekupumuleni, lying fair and proud in its immense circle, and I loved the sight, for it spake to me of all that makes the life of a warrior glad – of our nation’s greatness, of the mustering of impis, of the war dance and the beer-drinking, of our tales and songs round the fires on cold nights, of adventure and of love. I stretched out my hands to the kraal Ekupumuleni, and I cried aloud the praises of the Black Elephant who sat therein.

“As I drew near I met no one at first, for our herds were all feeding on the other side. Then I came upon a group of old amakehla who had just sat down to take snuff, and among them was my father, Ntelani, who, as I have said, loved me not overmuch. And when he saw me he cried out in astonishment, bringing his hand to his mouth and spilling the snuff from his spoon.

“‘Ha, it is his ghost!’ he said; ‘for was he not killed?’

“‘No ghost is it, my father,’ I answered, sitting down among them. ‘I was not killed, but lost myself in the pursuit. The calf of the cow has come home again.’

“Then they questioned me, but I parried all their answers, telling them nothing, for I had determined to keep what I had seen for the ears of the King first, though I was not sure whether I ought not to bury it entirely, and place a flat stone upon it for ever, lest I opened a way to the izanusi at any time to lay a charge against me of having brought foul múti from among the abatagati of the mountains. But my reserve angered them, and my father said:

“‘This calf bleats overload. Perchance he will bleat still louder before long, but not with delight.’

“I liked not his tone as he said this, and his look was one of malice. Immediately my heart felt heavy again, as though some evil awaited, so I bade them farewell and sped on to the kraal gates.

“Here I was hailed by many, for all thought of me as among the dead, several days having elapsed since the battle. But I spoke to none, pushing past all until I reached the entrance to the Isigodhlo, and there I threw down my shield and weapons, and called loud to those who attended within that the calf had returned to the kraal after strange wanderings. This I was bound in duty to do, for Umzilikazi made a point of being immediately informed when anything occurred; indeed, no event was too trifling and insignificant to be unworthy of his notice, although nine times out of ten he would appear to know nothing about it.

“I had not long stood thus without the fence before I received a summons to enter. Umzilikazi was seated upon a lion-skin in front of his house, and I thought he looked pleased as I drew near and shouted:

“‘Bayéte, ’Nkulu, ’nkulu! The calf has returned to the kraal of the Black Elephant.’

“‘Welcome, Untúswa!’ said the King. ‘I had thought to find another chief-runner – another inceku.’

“And then he bade me sit down and tell all that had befallen me.

“Now, Nkose, while I was beginning to tell my story, I thought, and thought hard, and, as a consequence, I determined to make no mention whatever of Gungana. If I should narrate his loathsome end, always suppressing how he had got into the hole, there were not wanting those who would assert that I had brought about his death. Even the King himself might suspect it. Indeed, I would have avoided all mention of the slaughter-cave of the Izimu, but my serpent whispered to me that one day it might come about that some of these abatagati would be taken alive and brought before the King, and the whole story would come out. And then where would I be? Apart from the deadly crime of concealing aught from the King, should I not by my reticence have laid myself out to a charge of wizardry of the worst kind? So, except in the matter of Gungana, I told my story to the King, even as I have told it to you, Nkose. He listened with the deepest attention, but when I told how my appearance at the end of the line had scared the Izimu, who had expected to haul up dead meat, the King laughed as I never heard man laugh before or since.

“‘Whau! That is a great tale!’ he cried. ‘In truth, Untúswa, thy doings have been strange. But these Baputi – they fought well! Think you that the Izimu are of their tribe?’

“‘That I know not, O Great Great One. They seemed to me of the same race.’

“‘Ha! I like not these wizards who hide behind rocks. I lose too many warriors for their wretched cattle and women, and their own miserable carcases slain. I have a mind to leave them in peace now.’

“Thus the King talked on familiarly with me, as was his wont. At last he bade me depart. But I, noting his good-humour, and that he seemed glad to see me once more, reckoned the moment a favourable one, and renewed my request to be allowed to tunga. Immediately the countenance of the Great Great One grew stern and his speech changed.

“‘What was the condition I named the first time you asked this, son of Ntelani?’ he said. ‘What was my “word” to you then?’

“‘The “word” of the King was: “Perform some act bolder than any act I have ever heard tell of.”’ I answered. ‘Thus did the Great Great One speak.’

“‘Thus did I speak, Untúswa. And it seems to me that the condition has not yet been accomplished. Now go.’

“I was of a different opinion, but not another word did I say. I cried out ‘Bayéte.’ and left the King.

“Then those among whom I moved hailed me joyfully, and would have heard my story; but in truth I was ill inclined for mirth and chatter. I felt sore at heart and revengeful. Thrice had the King put me off, and who had fought his battles more bravely than I – who had slain more of his enemies in open fight? So I left my comrades, being minded to wander alone.

“‘Greeting, son of Ntelani!’

“I turned quickly at the harsh, quavering croak. I was passing the hut of old Masuka. He it was who had hailed me.

“‘Ha-ha!’ he chuckled. ‘Do you desire to behold more múti, O traveller through the heart of the earth?’

“I answered him roughly, for he seemed but to mock me.

“‘An induna’s head-ring upon a floor of bones,’ he went on, speaking softly as though to himself. ‘The dead within the living.’

“‘Hau!’ I cried, bringing my hand to my mouth and fairly leaping, so astounded was I. But the old man met my glance with ever so faint a grin as I stared wildly at him. This was too marvellous. What did not this terrible old wizard know? The grim secret of Gungana’s end could not have been more exhaustively described.

“‘What is not possible to thee, O my father!’ I exclaimed. ‘Help me to gain my heart’s desire, thou who didst promise that I should obtain it. For again has the King refused it.’

“‘What was the condition the King attached to the fulfilment of his promise, Untúswa?’ he said, fixing his snake-like eyes upon my face.

“‘That I should perform some act braver than any he had ever heard tell of.’

“‘Then – perform it. Perform such an act, son of Ntelani;’ and, laughing softly, Masuka turned and went into his hut.

“Angry that he should mock me, yet dreading his knowledge and power, I left him. Then, for solitude, I wandered out of the kraal, and unconsciously directed my way towards where the cattle were being herded – unconsciously, because in my then mood I had no desire to encounter Nangeza. Of what avail was it, since my head-ring was as far distant as ever?

“Soon I came upon one I recognised. This was Nangeza’s little sister, Sitele. But she was alone, and it seemed to me that on beholding me she wished to avoid speech with me, for she immediately began driving calves in a direction where it was not in the least necessary, or even desirable, they should go. So I called out to her, and she stopped.

“‘Why are you alone, Sitele?’ I said. ‘Where is Nangeza?’

“‘Can I see people at a distance?’ was the answer. ‘She is not here.’

“I could see her manner was full of confusion, and now I began to fear I knew not what.

“‘Where is she, Sitele?’ I cried again.

“‘Au! I know not. She dwells in my father’s house no more.’

“That was quick work! Who could have sent lobola and taken her away in those few days during which I had been absent?

“‘Who has taken her, Sitele? Gungana is dead.’

“‘There is a greater than Gungana.’

“‘Kalipe?’ I cried, my thoughts flying to the King’s favourite war-chief. ‘Is it Kalipe?’

“‘There is a greater than Kalipe.’

“‘Ha! the King!’

“‘She is in the Isigodhlo,’ said the child, fixing her eyes in fear upon my face. And well she might, for I forgot all control, and my eyes blazed furiously as I gripped my assegai and poured forth words which had any man heard, I should have seen not another sun to set. For I was mad. Not only had the King been making a mock of me all this time, but now he had put forth his hand and taken her upon whom my heart was set. I was young then, Nkose, and therefore a fool, and did not reason as I should have done that there were other girls among the Amandebili as good as Nangeza.

“‘Hau! Do we not all lie beneath the foot of the Elephant, and his tread is light!’ I said, remembering myself. ‘Farewell, Sitele. The Great Great One has chosen well.’

“And I walked away.

“But although I thus spoke before the child, I was full of rage in my heart, and pondered over plans of deadly vengeance, wherein, of course, I was a fool, as an angry man ever is. And he who ponders vengeance against kings may well ponder also on the land of shadows and perpetual sleep, for into it must he soon assuredly fall.

“As this was borne in upon my mind, I threw off my recklessness, and went among my fellows and laughed and feasted. The Tyay’igama dance had been held before my return, so I missed that opportunity of making my deeds known in the sight of all men. Yet what mattered it, since the King still turned a deaf ear to my prayer, whatever brave acts I might perform? And no more war expeditions were then sent forth, our time being passed in hunting game and exploring the country far and wide.

“At last I saw Nangeza. She was walking in a long file of other girls carrying bowls of the King’s beer, for although he had taken her into the Isigodhlo, Umzilikazi had not yet taken her to wife, though he might at any moment do so. No speech dared I obtain with her, but she understood my glance, and it would be hard but that I would find some opportunity. And this at length occurred.

“She was hoeing a corn-patch bordered by thick bush which lay along the stream. It was the middle of the day, and there were few people about; wherefore I thought, ‘If I neglect to seize this opportunity when shall I find another?’ So, while the other girls who were with her had their backs turned, I showed myself and beckoned her. She understood, and after I had waited some time, she joined me.

“She was hurried and rather frightened, which was not in the least surprising, for every moment she passed with me she was risking her life. But I whispered to her the tale I had not told the King, namely, how I had slain Gungana in pursuance of the plot we had laid together previously. She looked at me, and her face was full of admiration, of awe at my daring.

“‘You are indeed great, Untúswa, and dare all things,’ she said. But still she shook her head. Things were different now. The King had taken her.

“Then I reminded her of her prediction, that I should one day do great things, and that I meant to do them. Still she said that we had better speak with each other no more, lest we both lost our lives, for in a matter such as this the King would be merciless.

“‘Attend now, Nangeza!’ I said at last, when we had talked for as long as we dared. ‘I have served the King well, and he has requited me ill. Now I will bear it no longer. I will leave, and seek out some other tribe beyond the mountains or elsewhere, and of that tribe I will make myself chief. And you shall accompany me. So shall the plan you proposed but a short while back find fulfilment.’

“‘Are you going to move the world, Untúswa?’ she asked, laughing.

“‘I will do great things,’ I answered. ‘How many tales have we among the people about men like myself who have made themselves into chiefs and kings! Well now, let us throw our lives into the venture, and strike a blow to be great or to fall in the attempt.’

“‘We are very much more likely to do the last, Untúswa,’ she said, laughing again.

“Now, when I looked at her I felt as though I would dare anything. She looked finer, handsomer than ever, and, being one of the King’s girls, had begun to do her hair up into the reddened cone, such as our married women wear, and which corresponds to our head-ring. This added to her height, and as I stood there I vowed she looked every inch an inkosikazi, and swore that she should certainly be one, did she but trust herself to me. And, although she laughed and shook her head, I knew that the thought, once implanted in her mind, would obtain firm root, for she was full of daring and ambition. Then we bade each other farewell.

“After this meeting with Nangeza all manner of wild and ambitious plans took possession of my mind. I pictured to myself strange tribes among whom I would arrive, and to whom my prowess and valour should ensure me a welcome. Then I would seize the chieftainship, and federate a great nation, even as Tshaka had done, and Nangeza should help me to rule it. Day and night this idea was before me – by day I thought on it, by night I dreamed of it. But I did more. I secreted by degrees stores of provision at intervals between Ekupumuleni and the mountains, and even well into the mountains, with which my former experiences had rendered me familiar. This I did, knowing that in our flight we could carry but little; nor was it done all at once, but took many days, for little indeed could I take away at a time, and suspicion was easily aroused.”