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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2727-0.txt b/2727-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4347f0d --- /dev/null +++ b/2727-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5413 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Allan’s Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Allan’s Wife + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: July, 2001 [eBook #2727] +[Most recently updated: April 20, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN’S WIFE *** + + + + +Allan’s Wife + +by H. Rider Haggard + + +Contents + + CHAPTER I. EARLY DAYS + CHAPTER II. THE FIRE-FIGHT + CHAPTER III. NORTHWARDS + CHAPTER IV. THE ZULU IMPI + CHAPTER V. THE END OF THE LAAGER + CHAPTER VI. STELLA + CHAPTER VII. THE BABOON-WOMAN + CHAPTER VIII. THE MARBLE KRAALS + CHAPTER IX. “LET US GO IN, ALLAN!” + CHAPTER X. HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + CHAPTER XI. GONE! + CHAPTER XII. THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + CHAPTER XIII. WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA + CHAPTER XIV. FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + + + + +DEDICATION + + + My Dear Macumazahn, + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening of that + Allan who has become as well known to me as any other friend I + have. It is therefore fitting that I should dedicate to you this, + his last tale—the story of his wife, and the history of some + further adventures which befell him. They will remind you of many + an African yarn—that with the baboons may recall an experience of + your own which I did not share. And perhaps they will do more than + this. Perhaps they will bring back to you some of the long past + romance of days that are lost to us. The country of which Allan + Quatermain tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known + and explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and + trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized man, + there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of the flag of + Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the Transvaal plains; + the game has gone; the misty charm of the morning has become the + glare of day. All is changed. The blue gums that we planted in the + garden of the “Palatial” must be large trees by now, and the + “Palatial” itself has passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for + her love after we were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But + Jess is dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin. + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the mystery and + promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day sun burns overhead, + and at times the way is weary. Few of those we knew are left. Some + are victims to battle and murder, their bones strew the veldt; + death has taken some in a more gentle fashion; others are hidden + from us, we know not where. We might well fear to return to that + land lest we also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart + to-day, the past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still + we can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly + undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. Still we + can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria Horse, the face + of war and panic, the weariness of midnight patrols; aye, and hear + the roar of guns echoed from the Shameful Hill. + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those eventful + years of youth which we passed together in the African towns and on + the African veldt, I dedicate these pages, subscribing myself now + as always, + Your sincere friend, + Indanda. + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. + + + + +ALLAN’S WIFE + + + + +CHAPTER I. +EARLY DAYS + + +It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just +before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead +wife, stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. + +When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his +literary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the +following is one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. +Quatermain was not personally concerned—a Zulu novel, the story of +which was told to him by the hero many years after the tragedy had +occurred. But with this we have nothing to do at present. + +I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain’s manuscript begins) that I would +set down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss +of my most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and +to some extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it +is still keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun the +record. Once I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me beyond +bearing, once because I was suddenly called away upon a journey, and +the third time because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript convenient for +lighting the kitchen fire. + +But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth +attempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in +after years when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it +to be published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curious +reflections. + +I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in charge +of a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten years +married to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, +of whom I was the youngest. I remember faintly the place where we +lived. It was an ancient long grey house, facing the road. There was a +very large tree of some sort in the garden. It was hollow, and we +children used to play about inside of it, and knock knots of wood from +the rough bark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and my mother always +came and kissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake up and see her +bending over me, a candle in her hand. There was a curious kind of pole +projecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was dreadfully frightened +because my eldest brother made me hang to it by my hands. That is all I +remember about our old home. It has been pulled down long ago, or I +would journey there to see it. + +A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates to +it, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which were +so hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was +prophetic. One could see the house by peeping through the bars of the +gates. It was a gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it; +but in the summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the +grass plat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived +there. One Christmas—it must have been the Christmas before my father +emigrated, or I should not remember it—we children went to a +Christmas-tree festivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, +and footmen wearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the +dining-room, which was panelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. +Squire Carson stood in front of it. He was a tall, dark man, very quiet +in his manners, and he wore a bunch of seals on his waistcoat. We used +to think him old, but as a matter of fact he was then not more than +forty. He had been, as I afterwards learned, a great traveller in his +youth, and some six or seven years before this date he married a lady +who was half a Spaniard—a papist, my father called her. I can remember +her well. She was small and very pretty, with a rounded figure, large +black eyes, and glittering teeth. She spoke English with a curious +accent. I suppose that I must have been a funny child to look at, and I +know that my hair stood up on my head then as it does now, for I still +have a sketch of myself that my mother made of me, in which this +peculiarity is strongly marked. On this occasion of the Christmas-tree +I remember that Mrs. Carson turned to a tall, foreign-looking gentleman +who stood beside her, and, tapping him affectionately on the shoulder +with her gold eye-glasses, said— + +“Look, cousin—look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes; +his hair is like a—what you call him?—scrubbing-brush. Oh, what a droll +little boy!” + +The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson’s +hand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her +whisper— + +“Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like—like the +thunderstorm.” + +Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. + +After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was +shy, and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire’s only child, +giving the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as Father +Christmas, with some soft white stuff round her lovely little face, and +she had large dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than anything I +had ever seen. At last it came to my turn to receive a present—oddly +enough, considered in the light of future events, it was a large +monkey. Stella reached it down from one of the lower boughs of the tree +and handed it to me, saying— + +“Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain.” + +As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled +over with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught +fire—how I do not know—and the flame ran up her arm towards her throat. +She stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with fear; and +the ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. Then some +impulse seized me—perhaps instinct would be a better word to use, +considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, and, beating at the +fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in extinguishing it before it +really got hold. My wrists were so badly scorched that they had to be +wrapped up in wool for a long time afterwards, but with the exception +of a single burn upon her throat, little Stella Carson was not much +hurt. + +This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. What +happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I +sometimes see little Stella’s sweet face and the stare of terror in her +dark eyes as the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, +for I had, humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was destined to +be my wife. + +The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three +brothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the +poisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead +sheep into it. + +It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day +to the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in +the study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of +paper with a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room +talking to himself. Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the lives +of his wife and children. Presently a servant came to the door and said +that some one wanted to see him. + +“It is the squire, sir,” said the maid, “and he says he particularly +wishes to see you.” + +“Very well,” answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carson +came in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercely +that I was afraid of him. + +“Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain,” he said, +in a hoarse voice, “but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and I +wish to speak to you before I go—indeed, I must speak to you.” + +“Shall I send Allan away?” said my father, pointing to me. + +“No; let him bide. He will not understand.” Nor, indeed, did I at the +time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning +grew on me. + +“First tell me,” he went on, “how are they?” and he pointed upwards +with his thumb. + +“My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope,” my father answered, with +a groan. “I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord’s will +be done!” + +“The Lord’s will be done,” the squire echoed, solemnly. “And now, +Quatermain, listen—my wife’s gone.” + +“Gone!” my father answered. “Who with?” + +“With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me +that she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she +thought me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, +or most of it, and gone. I don’t know where. Luckily, she did not care +to encumber her new career with the child; Stella is left to me.” + +“That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson,” said my father. That +was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but +he was bigoted. “What are you going to do—follow her?” + +He laughed bitterly in answer. + +“Follow her!” he said; “why should I follow her? If I met her I might +kill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have +brought upon my child’s name. No, I never want to look upon her face +again. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go +and find her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life.” + +“Surely, Carson, surely,” said my father, “you do not mean——” + +“No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this +civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, I +and my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don’t know where. Anywhere, +so long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues——” + +“You are mad, Carson,” my father answered. “How will you live? How can +you educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down.” + +“I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. +Education! Was not she—that woman who was my wife—was not she highly +educated?—the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever for +me, Quatermain—too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be brought up +in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her very +name. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find me +out, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I +knew,” and he was gone. + +“Mad,” said my father, with a heavy sigh. “His trouble has turned his +brain. But he will think better of it.” + +At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in +his ear. My father’s face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table +to support himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! + +It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my +father took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which +had been my mother’s bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with +flowers in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three +little white beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. They +all looked as though they were asleep, and they all had flowers in +their hands. My father told me to kiss them, because I should not see +them any more, and I did so, though I was very frightened. I did not +know why. Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. + +“The Lord hath given,” he said, “and the Lord hath taken away; blessed +be the name of the Lord.” + +I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have +only a confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens +towards the grey churchyard! + +Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father +could no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen +on him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have +been poor at the time—indeed, I believe that a large portion of our +income went from my father on my mother’s death. At any rate we +travelled with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort of +the journey with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remain +upon my mind. At last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which I +was not to leave again for many, many years. + +In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern +Africa. My father went up the country and became a missionary among the +Kaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grew +to manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and +gradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission +station—a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the most +interesting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottish +poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, +literally by the page. It was from that I contracted a fondness for the +latter amusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared +for so much, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled +me. What little education I got was from my father, but I never had +much leaning towards books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On +the other hand, I was always a keen observer of the ways of men and +nature. By the time that I was twenty I could speak Dutch and three or +four Kaffir dialects perfectly, and I doubt if there was anybody in +South Africa who understood native ways of thought and action more +completely than I did. Also I was really a very good shot and horseman, +and I think—as, indeed, my subsequent career proves to have been the +case—a great deal tougher than the majority of men. Though I was then, +as now, light and small, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any +amount of exposure and privation, and I never met the native who was my +master in feats of endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I +am speaking of my early manhood. + +It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such +surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father’s society. He +was one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the +most savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good one for +me. He used to call himself one of the world’s failures. Would that +there were more such failures. Every morning when his work was done he +would take his prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or verandah +of our station, would read the evening psalms to himself. Sometimes +there was not light enough for this, but it made no difference, he knew +them all by heart. When he had finished he would look out across the +cultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had their huts. + +But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, +and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. + +It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one +evening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire and +my mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never been +out of his mind for a single day during all these years, and that he +rejoiced to think he was drawing near that land whither she had gone. +Then he asked me if I remembered the night when Squire Carson came into +the study at the vicarage, and told him that his wife had run away, and +that he was going to change his name and bury himself in some remote +land. + +I answered that I remembered it perfectly. + +“I wonder where he went to,” said my father, “and if he and his +daughter Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them +again. But life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, +give them my kind love.” + +After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the +depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, +as I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch +the kraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit +of mine of watching at night that I first got my native name of +Macumazahn, which may be roughly translated as “he who sleeps with one +eye open.” So I took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him +and kissed me on the forehead, saying, “God bless you, Allan! I hope +that you will think of your old father sometimes, and that you will +lead a good and happy life.” + +I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it +down to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the +years went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an hour +of sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the station. As I +came near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my father’s +chair. At first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then that my +father had fallen asleep there. + +And so he had,—for he was dead! + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE FIRE-FIGHT + + +When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his +place—for the station was the property of the Society—I set to work to +carry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute +because it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, +it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the +countries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much +further North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though +the emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these territories, +they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But I was now +alone in the world, and it mattered little what became of me; so, +driven on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old as I am, +will perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to undertake +the journey. + +Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, +reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceeds +I invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, +and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any modern +explorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a good +deal of execution with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, smooth +bore, fitted for percussion caps—a roer we called it—which threw a +three-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black +powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, although it +generally knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only did under +compulsion. The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. 12 +shot-gun, but it had flint locks. Also there were some old tower +muskets, which might or might not throw straight at seventy yards. I +took six Kaffirs with me, and three good horses, which were supposed to +be salted—that is, proof against the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an +old fellow named Indaba-zimbi, which, being translated, means “tongue +of iron.” I suppose he got this name from his strident voice and +exhaustless eloquence. This man was a great character in his way. He +had been a noted witch-doctor among a neighbouring tribe, and came to +the station under the following circumstances, which, as he plays a +considerable part in this history, are perhaps worth recording. + +Two years before my father’s death I had occasion to search the country +round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred to +me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a +Kaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty +miles from our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at +home. The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the following morning +I went to pay my respects to him before leaving, and was somewhat +surprised to find a collection of some hundreds of men and women +sitting round him anxiously watching the sky in which the +thunder-clouds were banking up in a very ominous way. + +“You had better wait, white man,” said the chief, “and see the +rain-doctors fight the lightning.” + +I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had +for some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, +although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country now +known as Zululand. But a son of the chief’s, a man of about thirty, had +lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritated +Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between the two +witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by lightning being +given and accepted. These were the conditions. The rivals must await +the coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve +their turn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take +their stand within fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of +ground where the big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, +and by the exercise of their occult powers and invocations to the +lightning, must strive to avert death from themselves and bring it on +their rival. The terms of this singular match had been arranged a month +previously, but no storm worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the +local weather-prophets believed it to be brewing. + +I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and was +told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the +second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be +jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. + +The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my +desire to be gone, and I accepted the chief’s invitation to see it out. +Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grew +darker and darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, +yet it did not come. By four o’clock, however, it became obvious that +it must burst soon—at sunset, the old chief said, and in the company of +the whole assembly I moved down to the place of combat. The kraal was +built on the top of a hill, and below it the land sloped gently to the +banks of a river about half a mile away. On the hither side of the bank +was the piece of land that was, the natives said, “loved of the +lightning.” Here the magicians took up their stand, while the +spectators grouped themselves on the hillside about two hundred yards +away—which was, I thought, rather too near to be pleasant. When we had +sat there for a while my curiosity overcame me, and I asked leave of +the chief to go down and inspect the arena. He said I might do so at my +own risk. I told him that the fire from above would not hurt white men, +and went to find that the spot was a bed of iron ore, thinly covered +with grass, which of course accounted for its attracting the lightning +from the storms as they travelled along the line of the river. At each +end of this iron-stone area were placed the combatants, Indaba-zimbi +facing the east, and his rival the west, and before each there burned a +little fire made of some scented root. Moreover they were dressed in +all the paraphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, fish-bladders, and I +know not what beside, while round their necks hung circlets of baboons’ +teeth and bones from human hands. First I went to the western end where +the chief’s son stood. He was pointing with his assegai towards the +advancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great excitement. + +“Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! + +“Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! + +“Spit on him with your rain! + +“Whirl him away in your breath! + +“Make him as nothing—melt the marrow in his bones! + +“Run into his heart and burn away the lies! + +“Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! + +“Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!” + +Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad +chest—for he was a very fine man—with some filthy compound of medicine +or _mouti_. + +After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the +iron-stone, to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting +at all, but his performance was much more impressive. It consisted in +staring at the eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and +every now and again beckoning at it with his finger, then turning round +to point with the assegai towards his rival. For a while I looked at +him in silence. He was a curious wizened man, apparently over fifty +years of age, with thin hands that looked as tough as wire. His nose +was much sharper than is usual among these races, and he had a queer +habit of holding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, which, in +addition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a most comical +appearance. Another strange thing about him was that he had a single +white lock of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke to him: + +“Indaba-zimbi, my friend,” I said, “you may be a good witch-doctor, but +you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky while +your enemy is getting a start with the storm.” + +“You may be clever, but don’t think you know everything, white man,” +the old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something +like a grin. + +“They call you Iron-tongue,” I went on; “you had better use it, or the +Storm Devil won’t hear you.” + +“The fire from above runs down iron,” he answered, “so I keep my tongue +quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I’ll put him out presently. Look +now, white man.” + +I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was +small, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. + +This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it +did not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa +for two thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different points +of the compass. + +“You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “the big storm is coming +along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours,” and I pointed to +the west. + +“Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man,” said Indaba-zimbi, +beckoning away vigorously. “Look now at my cloud-child.” + +I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, and +in shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, +and its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across the +heavens. The light of the setting sun escaping from beneath the lower +edge of the western storm shot across the intervening space in a sheet +of splendour, and, lighting upon the advancing figure of cloud, wrapped +its middle in hues of glory too wonderful to be described; but beneath +and above this glowing belt his feet and head were black as jet. +Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light shot from the head of +the cloud, circled it about as though with a crown of living fire, and +vanished. + +“Aha,” chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, “my little boy is putting on his +man’s ring,” and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives +assume when they reach a certain age and dignity. “Now, white man, +unless you are a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear +off, for the fire-fight is about to begin.” + +I thought this sound advice. + +“Good luck go with you, my black uncle,” I said. “I hope you don’t feel +the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last.” + +“You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man,” he +answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at that +very moment a flash of lightning, I don’t know from which storm, struck +the ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I took to +my heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi’s dry chuckle of +amusement. + +I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his +indunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man’s +face and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son’s safety, and by +no means confident of the young man’s powers to resist the magic of +Indaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. +I affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention on +the novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, and +caught the drift of the conversation. + +“Hearken!” the chief was saying, “if the magic of Indaba-zimbi prevails +against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, that when +he has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself chief in +my place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. _Ou!_” + +“Black One,” answered the induna, “wizards die as dogs die, and, once +dead, dogs bark no more.” + +“And once dead,” said the chief, “wizards work no more spells,” and he +bent and whispered in the induna’s ear, looking at the assegai in his +hand as he whispered. + +“Good, my father, good!” said the induna, presently. “It shall be done +to-night, if the lightning does not do it first.” + +“A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi,” I said to myself. “They mean to +kill him.” Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scene +before me was too tremendous. + +The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf +of blue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed +across this gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they +reminded me of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. +The storm that was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of the +sinking sun made an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts which +leapt from it could not have been surpassed even in mythological times. +Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by thunder. A deadly +stillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on the +hillside, even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows crept +along the bosom of the hills, the river to the right and left was +hidden in wreaths of cloud, but before us and beyond the combatants it +shone like a line of silver beneath the narrowing space of open sky. +Now the western tempest was scrawled all over with lines of intolerable +light, while the inky head of the cloud-giant to the east was +continually suffused with a white and deadly glow that came and went in +pulses, as though a blood of flame was being pumped into it from the +heart of the storm. + +The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and +blacker, then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of +an icy wind. On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was +ruffled by it into little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, +and in its wake came the hissing sound of furious rain. + +Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of +dazzling flame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of +the following thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell +suddenly on the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape +grew vivid in the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything +was visible for miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the +blackness. The thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of +doom, whirlwinds tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into the +air, and in a low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing +rain. + +I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, +and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash +followed flash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. +They were slowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his +foe with the assegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, and +it seemed to me that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone +all round them. + +Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grew +black, and, except for the rain, silent. + +“It is over one way or the other, chief,” I called out into the +darkness. + +“Wait, white man, wait!” answered the chief, in a voice thick with +anxiety and fear. + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up +again till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten +paces apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger +beneath the shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first—at any rate +when the next flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with +his assegai towards his enemy. The chief’s son was still on his legs, +but he was staggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen +from his hand. + +Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that +had gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the +head of Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief’s son wrapped, as +it were, in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burst +over us like a torrent, and I saw no more. + +The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so +dense that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the +safety of the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, +and venture down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still came +flashes, but, search as we would, we could see no trace of either of +the wizards. For my part, I believed that they were both dead. Now the +clouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, and with them +went the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. + +“Let us go and see,” said the old chief, rising and shaking the water +from his hair. “The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has +conquered.” + +I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards +with my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. + +We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the +iron-stone had been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was +staring about me, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give +a low moan, and saw the people cluster round him. I went up and looked. +There, on the ground, lay the body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. +The hair was burnt off his head, the copper rings upon his arms were +fused, the assegai handle which lay near was literally shivered into +threads, and, when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to me that every +bone of it was broken. + +The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. + +“Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!” said a man, at length. The chief +turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. + +“Great or not, thou dog, he shall die,” he cried, “and so shalt thou if +thou singest his praises so loudly.” + +I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared +the fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, +and at length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to +my waggon to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised +to see a strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a +blanket. + +“Hullo! come out of that,” I said. + +The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great +deliberation took a pinch of snuff. + +“It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?” said Indaba-zimbi, +in his high, cracked voice. “But he never had a chance against me, poor +boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of +presumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes +fly, didn’t I?” + +“You old humbug,” I said, “unless you are careful you will soon learn +what comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you with +an assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that.” + +“Now you don’t say so,” said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggon +with rapidity; “and all because of this wretched upstart. There’s +gratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. +Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long,” and he +was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the +chief’s men came up to the waggon. + +On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on +arriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. + +“How do you do, Macumazahn?” he said, holding his head on one side and +nodding his white lock. “I hear you are Christians here, and I want to +try a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wanted +to kill me for exposing an impostor.” + + + + +CHAPTER III. +NORTHWARDS + + +I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this +narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with +Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he +takes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a humbug, +he was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in his +pretensions to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, +though I may have my own opinion on the subject. But there was no +mistake as to the extraordinary influence he exercised over his +fellow-natives. Also he quite got round my poor father. At first the +old gentleman declined to have him at the station, for he had a great +horror of these Kaffir wizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi +persuaded him that he was anxious to investigate the truths of +Christianity, and challenged him to a discussion. The argument lasted +two years—to the time of my father’s death, indeed. At the conclusion +of each stage Indaba-zimbi would remark, in the words of the Roman +Governor, “Almost, praying white man, thou persuadest me to become a +Christian,” but he never quite became one—indeed, I do not think he +ever meant to. It was to him that my father addressed his “Letters to a +Native Doubter.” This work, which, unfortunately, remains in +manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned instances. It ought to be +published together with a _précis_ of the doubter’s answers, which were +verbal. + +So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be going +on now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. Meanwhile +Indaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition that he +practised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be a wile +of the devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there was +never an ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those +interested. + +When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the +tribe he had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with +them since he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was +dead. Old Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as he +listened, raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, +pointing to the little heap, “There is your tribe to-day,” he said. +Then he lifted his heel and stamped the heap flat. “There is your tribe +before three moons are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: +I will have no more to do with you; but when you are being killed think +of my words.” + +The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole +community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. + +When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old +Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find +him engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in his +blankets. + +“Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “I am going to trek north.” + +“Yes, Macumazahn,” he answered, with his head on one side; “and so am +I—I want to see that country. We will go together.” + +“Will we!” I said; “wait till you are asked, you old humbug.” + +“You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don’t you will +never come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to +where the storms come from,” and he nodded to the sky, “I feel myself +getting into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones +and worked out about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if you +don’t take me you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who is +dearer to you than life in a strange fashion. So just because you gave +me that hint a couple of years ago, I made up my mind to come with +you.” + +“Don’t talk stuff to me,” I said. + +“Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own +people six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen? +They drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you will +soon be gone too,” and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. Now I +was not more superstitious than other people, but somehow old +Indaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary influence over +every class of native, and bethought me that he might be useful in that +way. + +“All right,” I said: “I appoint you witch-finder to the expedition +without pay.” + +“First serve, then ask for wages,” he answered. “I am glad to see that +you have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most +white men, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes +people fools; they won’t believe what they can’t understand. You can’t +understand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could +understand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time +to trek, but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not +two.” + +“Why?” I said. + +“Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than +two.” + +“Oh, nonsense!” I said. + +“All right, Macumazahn, live and learn.” And without another word he +walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on +to the front seat. + +So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the +old Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns +till the tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled +slowly northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particular +befell me. Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, and +game literally swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africa +nowadays can have the remotest idea of what the veldt was like even +thirty years ago. + +Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the +sun rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast +field of white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden +glow, through which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic +beacons. From the dense mist would come strange sounds—snorts, +gruntings, bellows, and the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this +great curtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke from +a pipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide rolling +country interspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was not +tenantless as it is now, for as far as the eye could reach it would be +literally black with game. Here to the right might be a herd of +vilderbeeste that could not number less than two thousand. Some were +grazing, some gambolled, whisking their white tails into the air, while +all round the old bulls stood upon hillocks sniffing suspiciously at +the breeze. There, in front, a hundred yards away, though to the +unpractised eye they looked much closer, because of the dazzling +clearness of the atmosphere, was a great herd of springbok trekking +along in single file. Ah, they have come to the waggon-track and do not +like the look of it. What will they do?—go back? Not a bit of it. It is +nearly thirty feet wide, but that is nothing to a springbok. See, the +first of them bounds into the air like a ball. How beautifully the +sunshine gleams upon his golden hide! He has cleared it, and the others +come after him in numberless succession, all except the fawns, who +cannot jump so far, and have to scamper over the doubtful path with a +terrified _bah_. What is that yonder, moving above the tops of the +mimosa, in the little dell at the foot of the koppie? Giraffes, by +George! three of them; there will be marrow-bones for supper to-night. +Hark! the ground shakes behind us, and over the brow of the rise rush a +vast herd of blesbock. On they come at full gallop, their long heads +held low, they look like so many bearded goats. I thought so—behind +them is a pack of wild dogs, their fur draggled, their tongues lolling. +They are in full cry; the giraffes hear them and are away, rolling +round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. +See! the foremost dogs are close on a buck. He has galloped far and is +outworn. One springs at his flank and misses him. The buck gives a kind +of groan, looks wildly round and sees the waggon. He seems to hesitate +a moment, then in his despair rushes up to it, and falls exhausted +among the oxen. The dogs pull up some thirty paces away, panting and +snarling. Now, boy, the gun—no, not the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with +loopers. + +Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. +No, don’t touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he +shall have it. + +Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! + +Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to +see it again before I die. + +The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was +with elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. +Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch of +forest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered this forest +we camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead tambouki grass was +growing to the height of a man, or rather it had been; now, with the +exception of a few stalks here and there, it was crushed quite flat. It +was already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got up I walked +from the fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough for +me; a great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass +not many hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me +exceedingly, for though I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had +never shot one. Moreover, the sight of elephant spoor to the African +hunter is what “colour in the pan” is to the prospector of gold. It is +by the ivory that he lives, and to shoot it or trade it is his chief +aim in life. My resolution was soon taken. I would camp the waggons for +a while in the forest, and start on horseback after the elephants. + +I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The +latter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plenty +of meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express no +opinion. I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, +and go through some mysterious performances with bones and clay mixed +with ashes, which were watched with the greatest interest by the other +Kaffirs. At length he rose, and, coming forward, informed me that it +was all right, and that I did well to go and hunt the elephants, as I +should get plenty of ivory; but he advised me to go on foot. I said I +should do nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. I am wiser now; this +was the first and last time that I ever attempted to hunt elephants on +horseback. + +Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the +rest I left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, +a good rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and the +others walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of the +herd, which was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to let the +horses rest and feed, and about three o’clock started on again. Another +hour or so passed, and still there was no sign of elephants. Evidently +the herd had travelled fast and far, and I began to think that we +should have to give it up, when suddenly I caught sight of a brown mass +moving through the thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a quarter +of a mile away. My heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the +hunter who has not felt like this at the sight of his first elephant? + +I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk +the bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we +came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw the +elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay +all about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughts +were fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gave a +violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came a +mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me. I looked: there +was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four yards off. I +could just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on either +side. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away. + +Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was +young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I +lifted my “roer” or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my +horse’s head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the +horse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull +lurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will +quicken the movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realized +the folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take no +further notice of it. But he took a different view of the matter. +Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round and came for +me with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming terribly. I was +quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first thought was of +escape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but he would not +move an inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he simply +stood still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a +leaf. + +On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to +stir the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my +head. A thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from +the saddle. By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick +through as a man’s body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground by +the broken boughs which took its weight, and with a single movement, so +active is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath it. As I did +so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on the +back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, +for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the tree under +which I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there long. In ten seconds +more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag’s neck, and, with a +mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as +far as I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was +after. Presently I saw the red tip of the bull’s trunk stretching +itself towards me. If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I +was lost. But in the position I occupied, that was just what he could +not do, although he knelt down to facilitate his operations. On came +the snapping tip like a great open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my +hat, which vanished. Again it was thrust down, and a scream of rage was +bellowed through it within four inches of my head. Now it seemed to +elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it had me by the hair, which, luckily +for myself, was not very long. Then it was my turn to scream, for next +instant half a square inch of hair was dragged from my scalp by the +roots. I was being plucked alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchen +boys pluck a fowl. + +The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, +changed his tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and +lifted. The tree stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded +in the spongy soil, and some roots, which still held, prevented it from +being turned over, though he lifted it so much that, had it occurred to +him, he could now easily have drawn me out with his trunk. Again he +hoisted with all his mighty strength, and I saw that the tree was +coming, and roared aloud for help. Some shots were fired close by in +answer, but if they hit the bull, their only effect was to stir his +energies to more active life. In another few seconds my shelter would +be torn away, and I should be done for. A cold perspiration burst out +over me as I realized that I was lost. Then of a sudden I remembered +that I had a pistol in my belt, which I often used for despatching +wounded game. It was loaded and capped. By this time the tree was +lifted so much that I could easily get my hand down to my middle and +draw the pistol from its case. I drew and cocked it. Now the tree was +coming over, and there, within three feet of my head, was the great +brown trunk of the elephant. I placed the muzzle of the pistol within +an inch of it and fired. The result was instantaneous. Down sunk the +tree again, giving one of my legs a considerable squeeze, and next +instant I heard a crashing sound. The elephant had bolted. + +By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well +tired. I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or +indeed anything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking +some peach brandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me +nodding his white lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on +the narrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his +advice to go on foot. That reminded me of my horse—I got up and went to +look at it. It was quite dead, the blow of the elephant’s trunk had +fallen on the saddle, breaking the framework, and rendering it useless. +I reflected that in another two seconds it would have fallen on _me_. +Then I called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the elephants had +gone. + +“There!” he said, pointing down the gully, “and we had better go after +them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good.” + +There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feel +particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have had +enough of them. However, it would never do to show the white feather +before the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, and we +started, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we had +travelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a sudden +we came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than eighty. +Just in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed to +hesitate about entering it, and the sides of the valley were so rocky +and steep at this point that they could not climb them. + +They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was +filled with fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge +back up the gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at +the thick bush which went down before them like corn before a sickle. I +do not think that in all my experiences I ever heard anything to equal +the sound they made as they crashed through and over the shrubs and +trees. Before them was a dense forest belt from a hundred to a hundred +and fifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so that behind +them was nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen trunks, +crushed branches, and here and there a tree, too strong even for them, +left stranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, notwithstanding the +nature of the ground over which they had to travel, they kept their +distance ahead of us. This sort of thing continued for a mile or more, +and then I saw that in front of the elephants the valley opened into a +space covered with reeds and grass—it might have been five or six acres +in extent—beyond which the valley ran on again. + +The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, +hesitating—evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as only +Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose +martial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and +dashed into the treacherous swamp—for such it was, though just then +there was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, +though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the great bull +sank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained fixed. The +others, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and trumpetings, +but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the whole herd of +them were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled to escape, the +deeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a cow managed to win +back to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to charge us as we +came up. But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, and +rushed back to its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. + +Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all +over with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with their +screams of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and +fro. Now and then a monster would make a great effort and drag his mass +from its peaty bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It was a +most pitiable sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my men. +Even the best natives have little compassion for the sufferings of +animals. + +Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants +carried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we +shot them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and +some of the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them to +perish of hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull +I slew with my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction +in so doing. He knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at +me, but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast. + +The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owing +to the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen: +there they stood as though they were asleep. + +I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, +formed a camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of +cutting out the elephants’ tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious +reasons was a disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of +some wandering bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not +think we could ever have managed it. + +At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, +so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys +wanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too +much bent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five +years. Then I came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. +Ultimately I sold the ivory for something over twelve hundred +pounds—not bad pay for one day’s shooting. + +This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many +hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on +horseback. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THE ZULU IMPI + + +After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the +bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to +find the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more I +trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free State from +Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The only +difficulties met with were such as are still common to African +travellers—occasional want of water and troubles about crossing sluits +and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where Kimberley +now stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there was no +water. I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a +great city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and +old Indaba-zimbi’s magic cannot have been worth so much after all, or +he would have told me. + +I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before +Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka’s General had swept across it in his +progress towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident +enough. Time upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the +sites of Kaffir kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled +stones, and strewn about among the rank grass were the bones of +hundreds of men, women, and children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu +assegai. I remember that in one of these desolate places I found the +skull of a child in which a ground-lark had built its nest. It was the +twittering of the young birds inside that first called my attention to +it. Shortly after this we met with our second great adventure, a much +more serious and tragic one than the first. + +We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbock +crossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It +galloped about a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay +down. As we were in want of meat, not having met with any game for a +few days past, I jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that +I would overtake the waggons or meet them on the further side of a rise +about an hour’s trek away, I started after the wounded buck. As soon as +I came within a hundred yards of it, however, it jumped up and ran away +as fast as though it were untouched, only to lie down again at a +distance. I followed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. This +happened three times. On the third occasion it vanished behind a ridge, +and, though by now I was out of both temper and patience, I thought I +might as well ride to the crest and see if I could get a shot at it on +the further side. + +I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and +saw—a Zulu Impi! + +I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They +were halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying +down, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with +spears and shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand +or more of them in all. While I was wondering—and that with no little +uneasiness—what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard a +wild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then the +other. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their +broad stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. +The man to the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was +not more than ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out +of their heads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another +three seconds those broad “bangwans” might be buried in my vitals. On +such occasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anything +else—there is no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reins +and, raising my gun, fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bullet +struck him in the middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed through +him, and over he rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle; +most happily my horse was accustomed to standing still when I fired +from his back, also he was so surprised that he did not know which way +to shy. The other savage was almost on me; his outstretched shield +reached the muzzle of my gun as I pulled the trigger of the left +barrel. It exploded, the warrior sprung high into the air, and fell +against my horse dead, his spear passing just in front of my face. + +Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the +Zulus had seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and +drove my heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the +rise I pulled a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons +before the Zulus saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this +new direction when, to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked +with waggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have +been at least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had +passed within twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I +understood; the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in +all probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. + +The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I +followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and +there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough +laager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own waggons +trekking down the slope towards them. + +In another five minutes I was there. The Boers—for Boers they were—were +standing about outside the little laager watching the approach of my +two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw me. The very +first man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom I had known +well years ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his class, but +a very restless person, with a great objection to authority, or, as he +expressed it, “a love of freedom.” He had joined a party of the +emigrant Boers some years before, but, as I learned presently, had +quarrelled with its leader, and was now trekking away into the +wilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor fellow! It was his +last trek. + +“How do you do, Meinheer Botha?” I said to him in Dutch. + +The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch +stolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon— + +“Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the +son of the ‘Predicant.’ How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the +news down in the Cape yonder?” + +“I don’t know what the news is in the Cape, Hans,” I answered, +solemnly; “but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your +spoor and within two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just +shot two of their sentries,” and I showed him my empty gun. + +For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzed +faces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of the +women gave a little scream, and the children crept to their sides. + +“Almighty!” cried Hans, “that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that Dingaan +sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because of the +marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north to +join Mosilikatze.” + +“Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a +horse and drive in the cattle.” + +At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the +box of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the +news. + +“Ill tidings, Macumazahn,” he said; “there will be dead Boers about +to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will +wipe out the laager _so!_” and he passed his hand before his mouth. + +“Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow,” I said, though I knew his +words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told +against at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? + +“Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?” Indaba-zimbi said, +presently. + +“What is it?” I asked. + +“This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run +for it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won’t follow us, they will be +looking after the Boers.” + +“I won’t leave the other white men,” I said; “it would be the act of a +coward. If I die, I die.” + +“Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed,” he answered, taking a +pinch of snuff. “Come, let us see about the waggons,” and we walked +towards the laager. + +Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha and +put it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make a +run for it. + +“How can we do it?” he answered; “two of the women are too fat to go a +mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. +Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we +must fight it out with the savages, and God help us!” + +“God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!” + +“I can’t bear to think,” he answered, in a broken voice, looking at his +own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, named +Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. “Oh, Heer Allan, your father, +the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I never +would listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I +see my folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those +black devils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can’t save her, +kill her,” and he clasped my hand. + +“It hasn’t come to that yet, Hans,” I said. + +Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including my +two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the +disselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of that +in front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space between the +ground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branches of +the “wait-a-bit” thorn that fortunately grew near in considerable +quantities. In this way a barrier was formed of no mean strength as +against a foe unprovided with firearms, places being left for the men +to fire from. In a little over an hour everything was done that could +be done, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the cattle, which +had been driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were anxious to +get them into the laager, small as it was, or at least as many of them +as it would hold. I argued strongly against this, pointing out that the +brutes would probably be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, +and trample the defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative +plan I suggested that some of the native servants should drive the herd +along the valley of the river till they reached a friendly tribe or +some other place of safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would +be taken, but the nature of the ground was favourable, and it was +possible that they might escape if they started at once. The +proposition was promptly agreed to, and, what is more, it was settled +that one Dutchman and such of the women and children as could travel +should go with them. In half an hour’s time twelve of them started with +the natives, the Boer in charge, and the cattle. Three of my own men +went with the latter, the three others and Indaba-zimbi stopped with me +in the laager. + +The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to +dwell. The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on with +scared white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was +thankful of it. There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four +natives, the two Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in +childbed and her baby, and Hans Botha’s little daughter Tota, whom he +could not make up his mind to part with. Happily her mother was already +dead. And here I may state that ten of the women and children, together +with about half of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never saw them, +and on the third day of travel they came to the fortified place of a +Griqua chief, who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in +payment. Thence by slow degrees they journeyed down to the Cape Colony, +reaching a civilized region within a little more than a year from the +date of the attack on the laager. + +The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no +signs of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone on +about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the +regiment was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I +noticed, been plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and +volunteered to go out and spy upon their movements. At first Hans Botha +was against this idea, saying that he was a “verdomde swartzel”—an +accursed black creature—and would betray us. I pointed out that there +was nothing to betray. The Zulus must know where the waggons were, but +it was important for us to gain information of their movements. So it +was agreed that Indaba-zimbi should go. I told him this. He nodded his +white lock, said “All right, Macumazahn,” and started. I noticed with +some surprise, however, that before he did so he went to the waggon and +fetched his “mouti,” or medicine, which, together with his other +magical apparatus, he always carried in a skin bag. I asked him why he +did this. He answered that it was to make himself invulnerable against +the spears of the Zulus. I did not in the least believe his +explanation, for in my heart I was sure that he meant to take the +opportunity to make a bolt of it, leaving me to my fate. I did not, +however, interfere to prevent this, for I had an affection for the old +fellow, and sincerely hoped that he might escape the doom which +overshadowed us. + +So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form I +thought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little +knew that he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one +and all, but for me whom in his queer way he loved. + +When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, +strengthening the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. +Then at sunset we ate and drank as heartily as we could under the +circumstances, and when we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the party, +offered up prayer to God for our preservation. It was a touching sight +to see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, his broad face lit up by the +last rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in homely, simple language +to Him who alone could save us from the spears of a cruel foe. I +remember that the last sentence of his prayer was, “Almighty, if we +must be killed, save the women and children and my little girl Tota +from the accursed Zulus, and do not let us be tortured.” + +I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for +in common with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be +admitted not without reason. + +Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each +with a rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. +Occasionally one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from +the smouldering fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments +on his pale, anxious face. + +Behind me one of the stout “fraus” lay upon the ground. Even the terror +of our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomed +sleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by the +fire, lay little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, her +thumb in her mouth, and from time to time her father would come to look +at her. + +So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my +intimate knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they +would attack us at night, though, had they done so, they could have +compassed our destruction with but small loss to themselves. It is not +the habit of this people, they like to fight in the light of day—at +dawn for preference. + +About eleven o’clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I +heard a low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and +all along the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked +their guns. + +“Macumazahn,” said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, “are you there?” + +“Yes,” I answered. + +“Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager,” he +said. + +“Yah! yah! hold a light,” put in one of the Boers. “I don’t trust that +black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some of his +countrymen with him.” Accordingly a lantern was produced and held +towards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the +laager and asked him the news. + +“This is the news, white men,” he said. “I waited till dark, and +creeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself +behind a stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as +Baas Botha yonder thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three +days ago and followed it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, +to-morrow at daybreak they will attack the laager and kill everybody. +They are very bitter against the Boers, because of the battle at Blood +River and the other fights, and that is why they followed the waggons +instead of going straight north after Mosilikatze.” + +A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. + +“I tell you what it is, Heeren,” I said, “instead of waiting to be +butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon +the Impi while it sleeps.” + +This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man +could be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which +makes great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and +rather than embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in a +laager, however poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmly +believe that had my advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. +Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would have produced no +small effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, so +it is no use talking about it. + +After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore +on towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar +circumstances while they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel +death, can know the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they +went somehow, and at last in the far east the sky began to lighten, +while the cold breath of dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons and +chilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, +then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth chattered with +cold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of peach +brandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a +stiff dram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his +affected jocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. +Certainly it depressed me. + +Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist +which still hung densely over the river, and now—ah! there it was. From +the other side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, +came a faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a +chant—the awful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. +They were simple enough: + +“We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? +Our spears shall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? +For we are the sucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. +Awake, children of the Umtetwa, awake! +The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air; +Awake, children of the Umtetwa—cry aloud, ye ringed men: +There is the foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? +_S’gee! S’gee! S’gee!_” + + +Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very +day I often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on +paper, but if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have +heard it as it rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly +three thousand warriors singing all to time, he would have found it +impressive enough. + +Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came by +companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were +thirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed +themselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. +At a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot of +such guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing again— + +“Yonder is the kraal of the white man—a little kraal, my brothers; +We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. +But where are the white man’s cattle—where are his oxen, my brothers?” + + +This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the song +again and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivory +rings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out to +us asking where our cattle were. + +Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they +might answer that question themselves. + +Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been +sent away. + +“We shall go and find the cattle,” he said, “then we shall come and +kill you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if we +wait to kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too +far for us to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch +you white men!” + +This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an +enemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain +amount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it +all might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards the +river. Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of the +cattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till they +vanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. + +We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. + +“Now I wonder if the devils have really gone,” said Hans Botha to me. +“It is very strange.” + +“I will go and see,” said Indaba-zimbi, “if you will come with me, +Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over.” + +At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those +days and weary with suspense. + +“Very well,” I said, “we will go.” + +So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had +his medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like +sportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with +rocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. + +“They must have gone down the Donga,” I said to Indaba-zimbi, “I can’t +see one of them.” + +As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, from +every tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before I +could lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. + +“Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!” cried a voice. “Hold him, or he +will slip away like a snake. Don’t hurt him, but hold him fast. Let +Indaba-zimbi walk by his side.” + +I turned on Indaba-zimbi. “You black devil, you have betrayed me!” I +cried. + +“Wait and see, Macumazahn,” he answered, coolly. “Now the fight is +going to begin.” + + + + +CHAPTER V. +THE END OF THE LAAGER + + +I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi +mean? Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, being +seized, was I not instantly killed? They called me the “White Spirit.” +Could it be that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I had +heard of such things being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and my +blood ran cold at the thought. What an end! To be pounded up, made +medicine of, and eaten! + +However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole +Impi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had +hidden while their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the +side of the slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and placed in +the centre of the reserve line in the especial charge of a huge Zulu +named Bombyane, the same man who had come forward as a herald. This +brute seemed to regard me with an affectionate curiosity. Now and again +he poked me in the ribs with the handle of his assegai, as though to +assure himself that I was solid, and several times he asked me to be so +good as to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed before the +“Amaboona,” as they called the Boers, were “eaten up.” + +At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goaded +into anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! + +He only laughed aloud. “Oh! White Spirit,” he said, “is it so? Well, +I’ve walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest.” + +And he got it shortly, as will be seen. + +Now the Zulus began to sing again— + +“We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! +Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. +Now the Maboona are ours—they are already dead, my brother.” + + +So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the +chief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, +and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who +stood near him. Instantly they ran to the right and left down the first +line, saying a word to the captain of each company as they passed him. +Presently they were at the respective ends of the line, and +simultaneously held up their spears. As they did so, with an awful roar +of “Bulala Amaboona”—“Slay the Boers,” the entire line, numbering +nearly a thousand men, bounded forward like a buck startled from its +form, and rushed down upon the little laager. It was a splendid sight +to see them, their assegais glittering in the sunlight as they rose and +fell above their black shields, their war-plumes bending back upon the +wind, and their fierce faces set intently on the foe, while the solid +earth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing feet. I thought of my +poor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What chance had they against +so many? + +Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager +round on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every +waggon broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, but +the rest cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, +striving to force a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley after +volley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded with +slugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only one man even got on +to a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the head +with an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision from the +two lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. + +“Let us go, father!” shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom I +was, to their chief, who had come up. “You have sent out the little +girls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way.” + +“No, no!” the chief Sususa answered, laughing. “Wait a minute and the +little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight +against Boers!” + +The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed +forward again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time +to load, and they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till +the Zulus were packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with +the roers, and the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that the +blood of the Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back this +time, and the end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a waggon, +slain the man behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were killed +there, but others followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not +shut my ears to the cries of rage and death, and the terrible _S’gee! +S’gee!_ of the savages as they did their work of murder. Once only I +looked up and saw poor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men +with the butt of his rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like +tongues of steel, and when I looked again he was gone. + +I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were +all dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death would +not be so swift. + +The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, +and moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful +sight it was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead—quite fifty I +should say, and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of them +mortally. The chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were picked up +and piled in a heap, while those who were slightly hurt walked off to +find some one to tie up their wounds. But the more serious cases met +with a different treatment. The chief or one of his indunas considered +each case, and if it was in any way bad, the man was taken up and +thrown into the river which ran near. None of them offered any +objection, though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He did not stop +there long, however, for they pushed him back and drowned him by force. + +The strangest case of all was that of the chief’s own brother. He had +been captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususa +came up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for +failing in the first onslaught. + +The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers +had hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, +and talked to him amicably. + +“Well,” he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, “you cannot +walk again.” + +“No, chief,” said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. + +“And to-morrow we must walk far,” went on Sususa. + +“Yes, chief.” + +“Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or——” and he nodded towards +the river. + +The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in +thought. Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. + +“My ankle pains me, my brother,” he said; “I think I will go back to +Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I +creep about it like a snake.”[*] + +[*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter into the +bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the kraals. To kill +these snakes is sacrilege. + + +“It is well, my brother,” said the chief. “Rest softly,” and having +shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and +turned away. + +Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the +banks of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone +round his neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole +sad scene, and the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to +admire the extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck +with the cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the act +was necessary from his point of view. The man must either die swiftly, +or be left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will encumber +itself with wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened +these people that they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do them +justice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. +When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it +consisted of some nine thousand men. Now it numbered less than three; +all the rest were dead. They, too, would probably soon be dead. What +did it matter? They lived by war to die in blood. It was their natural +end. “Kill till you are killed.” That is the motto of the Zulu soldier. +It has the merit of simplicity. + +Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, +having first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the +heap; all of them were there, including the two stout fraus, poor +things. But I missed one body, that of Hans Botha’s daughter, little +Tota. A wild hope came into my heart that she might have escaped; but +no, it was not possible. I could only pray that she was already at +rest. + +Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in +the congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that +he had got the “little white one.” I looked; he was carrying the child +Tota, gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked up +to where we were, and held the child before the chief. “Is it dead, +father?” he said, with a laugh. + +Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden +away, and fainted with fear. + +The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said— + +“Find out with your kerrie.” + +Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to +kill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang +at him and struck him with all my force in the face, little caring if I +was speared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. + +“Ou!” he said, putting his hand to his nose, “the White Spirit has a +hard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child.” + +The soldiers cheered and laughed. “Yes! yes!” they said, “let Bombyane +fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais.” + +For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? +But I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what did +it matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left to +make a favour of it, and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbi +that I was quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, on condition +that if I did so the child’s life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbi +interpreted my words, but I noticed that he would not look on me as he +spoke, but covered his face with his hands and spoke of me as “the +ghost” or the “son of the spirit.” For some reason that I have never +quite understood, the chief consented to the duel. I fancy it was +because he believed me to be more than mortal, and was anxious to see +the last of Bombyane. + +“Let them fight,” he said. “Give them assegais and no shields; the +child shall be to him who conquers.” + +“Yes! yes!” cried the soldiers. “Let them fight. Don’t be afraid, +Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he’s a very small one.” + +“I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run away +from a White Ghost,” answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examined +the blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. + +Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us +some ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to +show no signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. +Humanly speaking, my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had +used the assegai from a child—I had no experience of the weapon. +Moreover, though I was quick and active, he must have been at least +twice as strong as I am. However, there was no help for it, so, setting +my teeth, I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and waited. + +The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi +walked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, “Keep cool, +Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right.” + +As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought +this good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could “make it all right” I +failed to see. + +Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, +but the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind us +was the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; round +us was rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to wait +the issue of the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired chief +and general, Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard skin +upon his shoulders. At his feet lay the senseless form of little Tota, +to my left squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and muttering +something—probably spells; while in front was my giant antagonist, his +spear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle wind. Then over all, +over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the waggons of the laager, +the piles of dead, the dense masses of the living, the swooning child, +over all shone the bright impartial sun, looking down like the +indifferent eye of Heaven upon the loveliness of nature and the cruelty +of man. Down by the river grew thorn-trees, and from them floated the +sweet scent of the mimosa flower, and came the sound of cooing +turtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear the other without the scene +flashing into my mind again, complete in its every detail. + +Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed +straight at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw +the broad spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it +by some providential impulse—or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything +to do with the matter?—I dropped to my knee, and quick as light +stretched out my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. +I felt a weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his great +limbs knocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was staggering +along with head thrown back and outstretched arms from which his spear +had fallen. His spear had fallen, but the blade of mine stood out +between his shoulders—I had transfixed him. He stopped, swung slowly +round as though to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank +down—_dead_. + +For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose—a cry of +“Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the +wizard, kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft.” + +Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before +my eyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a moment +it would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their champion +overthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I heard the +high, cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +“Stand back, you fools!” it cried; “can a spirit then be killed?” + +“Spear him! spear him!” they roared in fury. “Let us see if he is a +spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, +rain-maker, and we shall see.” + +“Stand back,” cried Indaba-zimbi again, “and I will show you if he can +be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again +before your eyes.” + +“Macumazahn, trust me,” he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, +which the Zulus did not understand. “Trust me; kneel on the grass +before me, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one +dead; then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me—it is your +only hope.” + +Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the +faintest idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, +and once more the warriors drew back. + +“Great White Spirit—Spirit of victory,” said Indaba-zimbi, addressing +me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, “hear me and forgive me. +These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because thou +hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. Deign +to kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this spear, +then when I call upon thee, arise unhurt.” + +I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not +overmuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was in +truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with +fears, and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, +that I did not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneeling +thus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. + +“People of the Umtetwa, children of T’Chaka,” he said, “draw back a +little way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick with +ghosts.” + +They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in +diameter. + +“Look on him who kneels before you,” went on Indaba-zimbi, “and listen +to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of the +rain-maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a +young man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no +man. He is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who +gave them assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were +the Impis of Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because _he_ was +there. Why did the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the +thousand? Because _he_ was there. And so I say to you that, had I not +drawn him from the laager by my magic but three hours ago, you would +have been conquered—yes, you would have been blown away like the dust +before the wind; you would have been burnt up like the dry grass in the +winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, because he had but been +there many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a few—a pinch of +men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I loved you, +because your chief Sususa is my half-brother—for had we not one +father?—I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew the +Spirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was yours, +when the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little thing—a +white child to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make the medicine +of his magic of——” + +Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought +better of it. + +“You said him nay; you said, ‘Let him fight with our bravest man, let +him fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.’ And he deigned to +slay Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, ‘Slay him; he is no +spirit.’ Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him +before your eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this +upon yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the +Spirit, he would have stayed with you, and you should have become +unconquerable. Now he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if +you try to stay him. + +“Now all men,” he went on, “look for a space upon this assegai that I +hold up,” and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high above +his head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was fixed +upon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he +moved it round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still +their gaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the +greatest anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I +found at all pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further +acquaintance with it. Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not +really going to kill me. I could not understand his proceedings at all, +and at the best I did not relish playing the _corpus vile_ to his +magical experiments. + +“_Look! look! look!_” he screamed. + +Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt +nothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through +me. + +“See!” roared the Zulus. “Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red assegai +stands out behind his back.” + +“Roll over, Macumazahn,” Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, “roll over and +pretend to die—quick! quick!” + +I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling on +to my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as +artistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. + +“See!” said the Zulus, “he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at the +blood upon the assegai!” + +“Stand back! stand back!” cried Indaba-zimbi, “or the ghost will haunt +you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. +Look!” and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it +was fixed, and held it aloft. “The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, +watch! _it grows white!_” + +“Yes, it grows white,” they said. “Ou! it grows white.” + +“It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came,” said +Indaba-zimbi. “Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath +has gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, +awake and show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!” + +I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. + +“Not so fast, Macumazahn,” whispered Indaba-zimbi. + +I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let +it fall again. + +“He lives! by the head of T’Chaka he lives!” roared the soldiers, +stricken with mortal fear. + +Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched +my arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked +upon them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old +Indaba-zimbi was almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration +stood upon his brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. + +As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the +whole regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we +were left alone with the dead, and the swooning child. + +“How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?” I asked in amaze. + +“Do not ask me, Macumazahn,” he gasped. “You white men are very clever, +but you don’t quite know everything. There are men in the world who can +make people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us be +going while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, +they will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps _they_ will +begin asking questions that I can’t answer.” + +And here I may as well state that I never got any further information +on this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it +is for whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi +_mesmerized_ the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making them +believe that they saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon the +blade. The reader may smile and say, “Impossible;” but I would ask him +how the Indian jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. The +spectators _seem_ to see the boy go under the basket and there pierced +with daggers, they _seem_ to see women in a trance supported in mid-air +upon the point of a single sword. In themselves these things are not +possible, they violate the laws of nature, as those laws are known to +us, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so through the glamour +thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi’s will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see +me transfixed with an assegai which never touched me. At least, that is +my theory; if any one has a better, let him adopt it. The explanation +lies between illusion and magic of a most imposing character, and I +prefer to accept the first alternative. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +STELLA + + +I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi’s hint. About a hundred and fifty +yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden my +horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and +bridle. Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To +our joy we found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, +of course, they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen had +been sent away, and even had they been there we could not have found +time to inspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid his knee +halter, and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck me, and I +told Indaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could find my +double-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only my +elephant “roer” and a few charges of powder and ball with me. + +He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and +began to cry, till she saw my face. + +“Ah, I have had such a bad dream,” she said, in Dutch: “I dreamed that +the black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?” + +I winced at the question. “Your papa has gone on a journey, dear,” I +said, “and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You +don’t mind going with Heer Allan, do you?” + +“No,” she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presently +she remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her to +the river and she drank. “Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?” she asked, +pointing to the smear of Bombyane’s blood-stained fingers. + +At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. + +“It is only paint, dear,” I said; “see, we will wash it and your face.” + +As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; he +said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some +things and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about +twenty pounds weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few +double-handfuls of biscuits, two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some +matches and sundries. + +“And now, Macumazahn,” he said, “we had best be going, for those +Umtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise.” + +That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my +saddle, climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. +Indaba-zimbi slipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer +horses, threw the sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, +holding the elephant gun in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred +yards in silence till we were quite out of range of sight from the +waggons, which were in a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such a feeling +of thankfulness in my heart as cannot be told in words; for now I knew +that, mounted as we were, those black demons could never catch us. But +where were we to steer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking +him if he thought that we had better try and follow the oxen which we +had sent away with the Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He +shook his head. + +“The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently,” he answered, “and we +have seen enough of them.” + +“Quite enough,” I answered, with enthusiasm; “I never want to see +another; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a +little girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?” + +“Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus,” answered +Indaba-zimbi; “let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, +Macumazahn; to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter.” + +So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the +river. From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but +before sunset I had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at +least twenty-five miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little +Tota slept most of the way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she +was worn out. + +At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. +There was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, +and Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done +I took off Tota’s frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we +had made, and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the sleeping +orphaned child, and from my heart thanked Providence for saving her +life and mine from the slaughter of that day. What a horrible +experience it had been! It seemed like a nightmare to look back upon. +And yet it was sober fact, one among those many tragedies which dotted +the paths of the emigrant Boers with the bones of men, women, and +children. These horrors are almost forgotten now; people living in +Natal now, for instance, can scarcely realize that some forty years ago +six hundred white people, many of them women and children, were thus +massacred by the Impis of Dingaan. But it was so, and the name of the +district, _Weenen_, or the Place of Weeping, will commemorate them for +ever. + +Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old +Indaba-zimbi had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself +had lived among the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a +noted rain-doctor and witch-finder. But when T’Chaka, Dingaan’s +brother, ordered a general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had +saved his life by his skill in magic, and ultimately fled south for +reasons too long to set out here. When he heard, therefore, that the +regiment was an Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving their wives and +children, had broken away from Zululand to escape the cruelties of +Dingaan; under pretence of spying on them, he took the bold course of +going straight up to the chief, Sususa, and addressing him as his +brother, which he was. The chief knew him at once, and so did the +soldiers, for his fame was still great among them. Then he told them +his cock and bull story about my being a white spirit, whose presence +in the laager would render it invincible, and with the object of saving +my life in the slaughter which he knew must ensue, agreed to charm me +out of the laager and deliver me into their keeping. How the plan +worked has already been told; it was a risky one; still, but for it my +troubles would have been done with these many days. + +So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so +saw old Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some +mysterious performances with bones which he produced from his bag, and +ashes mixed with water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He +replied that he was tracing out the route that we should follow. I felt +inclined to answer “bosh!” but remembering the very remarkable +instances which he had given of his prowess in occult matters I held my +tongue, and taking little Tota into my arms, worn out with toil and +danger and emotion, I went to sleep. + +I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in +sheets of primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke +me by kissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me +“papa.” It wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, +washed and dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had +supped, on biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to +give her. Then we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. + +“Well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “now what path do your bones point to?” + +“Straight north,” he said. “The journey will be hard, but in about four +days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, not a +Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peak +behind it where there are many baboons.” + +I looked at him. “This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi,” I said. “Whoever +heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how do you +know anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towards +Port Natal.” + +“As you like, Macumazahn,” he answered, “but it will take us three +months’ journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the +child will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true +heretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the +elephants on horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with you +instead of two, as it is better to lose one than two?” + +“You told me all these things,” I answered. + +“And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will +find great happiness—yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run away +from happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!” + +Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I came +to the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. It +struck me as possible that he might have heard of some white man living +like a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his prophetic +character would not say so. + +“Very well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “let us ride north.” + +Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned off +in a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode across +rolling uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a little +stream which ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By this +time I was heartily tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant +rifle—for I had nothing else—I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started +to try if I could shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no game all +the day, nor did we see any on the subsequent days. For some mysterious +reason they had temporarily left the district. I crossed the little +streamlet in order to enter the belt of thorns which grew upon the +hill-side beyond, for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so I was +rather disturbed to see the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy edge +of a pool. Breathing a hope that they might not still be in the +neighbourhood, I went on into the belt of scattered thorns. For a long +while I hunted about without seeing anything, except one duiker buck, +which bounded off with a crash from the other side of a stone without +giving me a chance. At length, just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie +buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger than a large hare, +standing on a stone, about forty yards from me. Under ordinary +circumstances I should never have dreamed of firing at such a thing, +especially with an elephant gun, but we were hungry. So I sat down with +my back against a rock, and aimed steadily at its head. I did this +because if I struck it in the body the three-ounce ball would have +knocked it to bits. At last I pulled the trigger, the gun went off with +the report of a small cannon, and the buck disappeared. I ran to the +spot with more anxiety than I should have felt in an ordinary way over +a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there the little creature lay—the +huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering all the circumstances I do +not think I have often made a better shot than this, but if any one +doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit’s head fifty yards away with +an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. + +I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we +skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good +meal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. + +There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly +remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie +up the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knew +they were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only make +up the fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to sleep +with little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing that +peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to the +fire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a noise +of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared +in the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring +eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had +been knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for +on his back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form +came a growling sound. It was a lion. + +The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he +had run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, +and vanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or +more, then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. +As may be imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited +anxiously till the dawn broke, two hours later. + +As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota still +asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had +vanished. When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains +lying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms +slinking away in the grey light. + +To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned +to look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet +full; the horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and +smell of the lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim +with which it had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat +down, feeling as though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left +alone in these vast solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a +child who was not old enough to walk for more than a little way at a +time. + +Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our +camp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself +alone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we +divided such articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, +rejecting everything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an +afterthought, we filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was +rather against doing so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi +overruled me in the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled +to look after Tota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun to +Indaba-zimbi. At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the +help of occasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the +slope of the hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we +reached it, and, looking at the country beyond, I gave an exclamation +of dismay. To say that it was desert would be saying too much; it was +more like the Karroo in the Cape—a vast sandy waste, studded here and +there with low shrubs and scattered rocks. But it was a great expanse +of desolate land, stretching further than the eye could reach, and +bordered far away by a line of purple hills, in the centre of which a +great solitary peak soared high into the air. + +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “we can never cross this if we take six days.” + +“As you will, Macumazahn,” he answered; “but I tell you that there”—and +he pointed to the peak—“there the white man lives. Turn which way you +like, but if you turn you will perish.” + +I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost +hopeless. It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost +without food, with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As well +perish in the sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the trees of +the hill-side. Providence alone could save us, and we must trust to +Providence. + +“Come on,” I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already +tired. “All roads lead to rest.” + +How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tell +how we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, and +quite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs? +We soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the water in our +bottles for the child. To look back on it is like a nightmare. I can +scarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns carrying the +child through the heavy sand; night after night lying down in the +scrub, chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there was from the +scanty grass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of game! It was the +third night; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was in a comatose +condition. Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his bottle—perhaps +a wine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and blackened tongues. +Then we gave the rest to the child. It revived her. She awoke from her +swoon to sink into sleep. + +See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles or +so away now, and they were green. There must be water there. + +“Come,” I said. + +Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out of +the blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on for +an hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we had +none to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could +scarcely speak. + +We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then +Indaba-zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man’s strength was +wonderful. + +Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two +miles away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab tree. +Could we reach its shade? We had done half the distance when +Indaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither of +us could lift the child on to our backs. He rose again, and we each +took one of her hands and dragged her along the road. Fifty yards—they +seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at last; compared +with the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed like the +dusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a good place +to die in. Then I remember no more. + +I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my +face and head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, +then shut them again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, +while the rain continued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or +off my head with thirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came I +to imagine that a lovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me sprinkling +water on my face? A white girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. However, the +dream went on. + +“Hendrika,” said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had ever +heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. +“Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag; +get it.” + +“Ah! ah!” grunted a harsh voice in answer; “let him die, Miss Stella. +He will bring you bad luck—let him die, I say.” I felt a movement of +air above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once +again I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that +she was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyes +flashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before +her, dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by +either a man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, very +short, with bowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was not +bad-looking, but the brow receded, the chin and ears were prominent—in +short, she reminded me of nothing so much as a very handsome monkey. +She might have been the missing link. + +The lady was pointing at her with her hand. “How dare you?” she said. +“Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told you, +Babyan?”[*] + +[*] Baboon. + +“Ah! ah!” grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel +up beneath her anger. “Don’t be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I +can’t bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the +brandy.” + +Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. + +“Not brandy,” I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue would +allow; “give me water.” + +“Ah, he lives!” cried the beautiful girl, “and he talks English. See, +sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a +spring, it is on the other side of the tree.” + +I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and +drank from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted +anything so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into +me. But wisely enough she would not let me have much. “No more! no +more!” she said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. + +“The child,” I said—“is the child dead?” + +“I do not know yet,” she answered. “We have only just found you, and I +tried to revive you first.” + +I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It +was impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkled +Tota’s face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirst was +still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office for +Indaba-zimbi. Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes and +tried to cry, but could not, poor little thing, because her tongue and +lips were so swollen. But the lady got some water into her mouth, and, +as in my case, the effect was magical. We allowed her to drink about a +quarter of a pint, and no more, though she cried bitterly for it. Just +then old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He opened his eyes, glanced +round, and took in the situation. + +“What did I tell you, Macumazahn?” he gasped, and seizing the bottle, +he took a long pull at it. + +Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and +tried to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good +horses—one bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady’s saddle on it. +By the side of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, +that sat watching us, and near the dogs lay a dead Oribé buck, which +they had evidently been coursing. + +“Hendrika,” said the lady presently, “they must not eat meat just yet. +Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it.” + +The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she +returned. “I see some ripe fruit,” she said, “but it is high, quite at +the top.” + +“Fetch it,” said the lady. + +“Easier said than done,” I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. +Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caught +one of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing +that would have filled an acrobat with envy—and she was on it. + +“Now there is an end,” I thought again, for the next bough was beyond +her reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, +gripping it with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, +caught it and swung herself into it. + +I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. “Do not +wonder, sir,” she said, “Hendrika is not like other people. She will +not fall.” + +I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary person +with the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself from +bough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last she +reached the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripe +fruit. When she was near enough she shook the branch violently. There +was a crack—a crash—it broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see her +crushed on the ground before me. + +“Don’t be afraid,” said the lady again, laughing gently. “Look, she is +quite safe.” + +I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to +it, and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also +watched this performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonish +him over-much. “Baboon-woman?” he said, as though such people were +common, and then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaning +for more water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with +extraordinary rapidity, and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped +about eight feet to the ground. + +In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In an +ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I +thought it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three days +spent without food or water, in the desert, one is not particular. +While we were still eating the fruit, the lady of my vision set her +companion to work to partially flay the oribé which her dogs had +killed, and busied herself in making a fire of fallen boughs. As soon +as it burned brightly she took strips of the oribé flesh, toasted them, +and gave them to us on leaves. We ate, and now were allowed a little +more water. After that she took Tota to the spring and washed her, +which she sadly needed, poor child! Next came our turn to wash, and oh, +the joy of it! + +I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. +There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling +her to sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last +the child went off into a sound natural slumber—an example that I +should have been glad to follow had it not been for my burning +curiosity. Then I spoke. + +“May I ask what your name is?” I said. + +“Stella,” she answered. + +“Stella what?” I said. + +“Stella nothing,” she answered, in some pique; “Stella is my name; it +is short and easy to remember at any rate. My father’s name is Thomas, +and we live up there,” and she pointed round the base of the great +peak. I looked at her astonished. “Have you lived there long?” I asked. + +“Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before +that we came from England—from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place on +a big map. It is called Garsingham.” + +Again I thought I must be dreaming. “Do you know, Miss Stella,” I said, +“it is very strange—so strange that it almost seems as though it could +not be true—but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire many years +ago.” + +She started up. “Are you an English gentleman?” she said. “Ah, I have +always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but one +Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman—no +white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live +among black people and baboons—only I have read about English +people—lots of books—poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? +Macumazahn the black man called you, but you must have a white name, +too.” + +“My name is Allan Quatermain,” I said. + +Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at me +wildly with her beautiful dark eyes. + +“It is wonderful,” she said, “but I have often heard that name. My +father has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved +my life by putting out my dress when it was on fire—see!”—and she +pointed to a faint red mark upon her neck—“here is the scar of the +burn.” + +“I remember it,” I said. “You were dressed up as Father Christmas. It +was I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so.” + +Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella +slowly fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white +ostrich plumes were fixed. + +“This is God’s doing,” she said at last. “You saved my life when I was +a child; now I have saved yours and the little girl’s. Is she your own +daughter?” she added, quickly. + +“No,” I answered; “I will tell you the tale presently.” + +“Yes,” she said, “you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to be +starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, +Hendrika, bring the horses here!” + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +THE BABOON-WOMAN + + +Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. + +“Now, Mr. Allan,” said Stella, “you must ride on my horse, and the old +black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carry +the child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry +you or me.” + +Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method of +speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, +sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did both +together, when she became quite unintelligible. + +I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could +walk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a +mile; but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my +elephant gun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, +and Hendrika took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. + +“See that the ‘Baboon-woman’ does not run away into the mountains with +the little white one,” said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he climbed +slowly on to the horse. + +Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grew +livid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbi +as a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentleman +was too quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine fright he threw +himself from the horse on the further side, with the somewhat ludicrous +result that all in a moment Hendrika was occupying the seat which he +had vacated. Just then Stella realized the position. + +“Come down, you savage, come down!” she said, stamping her foot. + +The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally +grovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. + +“Pardon, Miss Stella,” she clicked and grunted in villainous English, +“but he called me ‘Babyan-frau’ (Baboon-woman).” + +“Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. +Allan,” Stella said to me. “If he does,” she added, in a whisper, +“Hendrika will certainly kill him.” + +I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, +deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war between +these two. + +Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. A +small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the +peak—perhaps it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich +grass lands, for here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; +but it did not flow across the barren lands, it passed to the east +along the foot of the hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. +Hendrika walked boldly through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella +leapt across from stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself +that she was the most graceful creature that I had ever seen. After +this the track passed around a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, +which was, I found, known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we +could only go at a foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked +for some way in silence, then she spoke. + +“Tell me, Mr. Allan,” she said, “how it was that I came to find you +dying in the desert?” + +So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she +listened intently, now and again asking a question. + +“It is all very wonderful,” she said when I had done, “very wonderful +indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogs +for a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, +and I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to +turn, when we were about where we are now—yes, that was the very +bush—an oribé got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the +gallop, and when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left +as bucks generally do, the oribé swam the stream and took to the Bad +Lands beyond. I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big tree +the dogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I said +that we would rest under the shade of the tree, for I knew that there +was a spring of water near. Well, we went; and there I saw you all +lying like dead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, said +no—and you know the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful.” + +“It is indeed,” I said. “Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?” + +She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. + +“Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know +that all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. +When I was a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in +the hills and valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the +rocks. There was one family of baboons that I watched especially—they +used to live in a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man baboon +was very large, and one of the females had a grey face. But the reason +why I watched them so much was because I saw that they had with them a +creature that looked like a girl, for her skin was quite white, and, +what was more, that she was protected from the weather when it happened +to be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round her throat. +The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and would sit with +their arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I watched this +particular white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity quite +overmastered me. I noticed that, though she climbed about the cliffs +with the other monkeys, at a certain hour a little before sundown they +used to put her with one or two other much smaller ones into a little +cave, while the family went off somewhere to get food, to the mealie +fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch this white +baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this by myself, +so I took a Hottentot—a very clever man when he was not drunk—who lived +on the stead, into my confidence. He was called Hendrik, and was very +fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen to my plan, +because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I bribed him +with a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we started, +Hendrik carrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope running through +it so that the mouth could be drawn tight. + +“Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the +trees at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and +grunting to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took +the white one and three other little babies and put them in the cave. +Then the old man came out, looked carefully round, called to his +family, and went off with them over the brow of the kloof. Now very +slowly and cautiously we crept up over the rocks till we came to the +mouth of the cave and looked in. All the four little baboons were fast +asleep, with their backs towards us, and their arms round each other’s +necks, the white one being in the middle. Nothing could have been +better for our plans. Hendrik, who by this time had quite entered into +the spirit of the thing, crept along the cave like a snake, and +suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide bag over the head of the white +baboon. The poor little thing woke up and gave a violent jump which +caused it to vanish right into the bag. Then Hendrik pulled the string +tight, and together we knotted it so that it was impossible for our +captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby baboons had rushed from the +cave screaming, and when we got outside they were nowhere to be seen. + +“‘Come on, Missie,’ said Hendrik; ‘the babyans will soon be back.’ He +had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking +violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear its +shrieks. + +“We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as +we could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about +three hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and +there, leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the +whole family of baboons headed by the old man. + +“‘Run, Missie, run!’ gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving +him far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were +working, crying, ‘The babyans! the babyans!’ Luckily the men had their +sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who +was almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, +and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they +ran away. + +“Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father +sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and +has a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having +untied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, +shutting the door behind him. In another moment the poor little thing +was out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It +sprung at the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head +against them till the blood came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat +upon it crying like a child, and rocking itself backwards and forwards. +It was so sad to see it that I began to cry too. + +“Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I +told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and +said that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the bars +of the window he nearly fell down with astonishment. + +“‘Why!’ he said, ‘this is not a baboon, it is a white child that the +baboons have stolen and brought up!’ + +“Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge for +yourself. You see Hendrika—we named her that after Hendrik, who caught +her—she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the ways of +monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, for +instance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and when +she is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever as +anybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the baboons when she +was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why she is so like +them. + +“But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika at +any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat +nothing, and I thought that she would die, for all the while she sat +and wailed. On the third day, however, I went to the bars of the window +place, and held out a cup of milk and some fruit to her. She looked at +it for a long while, then crept up moaning, took the milk from my hand, +drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the fruit. From that time forward +she took food readily enough, but only if I would feed her. + +“But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that +we captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which +were evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went +out towards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come +back again, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can +show you, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of +his assegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him +to pieces. + +“My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not let +Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was our +duty to reclaim her. And so we did—to a certain extent, at least. After +the murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, and +have only returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to let +Hendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of me; still, on the +first opportunity she ran away. But in the evening she returned again. +She had been seeking the baboons, and could not find them. Shortly +afterwards she began to speak—I taught her—and from that time she has +loved me so that she will not leave me. I think it would kill her if I +went away from her. She watches me all day, and at night sleeps on the +floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was swept down the +river in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. Look, how +she is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!” + +I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and +staring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her +eyes. + +While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman’s strange story, and +thinking that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a +sudden turn. + +“Look!” said Stella, “there is our home. Is it not beautiful?” + +It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a +bay had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight +hundred or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in +depth. At the back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the +height of several hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great +Babyan Peak towered up towards the heavens. The space of ground, +embraced thus in the arms of the mountain, as it were, was laid out, as +though by the cunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one +above the other. To the right and left of the topmost terrace were +chasms in the cliff, and down each chasm fell a waterfall, from no +great height, indeed, but of considerable volume. These two streams +flowed away on either side of the enclosed space, one towards the +north, and the other, the course of which we had been following, round +the base of the mountain. At each terrace they made a cascade, so that +the traveller approaching had a view of eight waterfalls at once. Along +the edge of the stream to our left were placed Kaffir kraals, built in +orderly groups with verandahs, after the Basutu fashion, and a very +large part of the entire space of land was under cultivation. All of +this I noted at once, as well as the extraordinary richness and depth +of the soil, which for many ages past had been washed down from the +mountain heights. Then following the line of an excellent waggon road, +on which we now found ourselves, that wound up from terrace to terrace, +my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the scene. For in the centre of +the topmost platform or terrace, which may have enclosed eight or ten +acres of ground, and almost surrounded by groves of orange trees, +gleamed buildings of which I had never seen the like. There were three +groups of them, one in the middle, and one on either side, and a little +to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, the plan of all was the +same. In the centre was an edifice constructed like an ordinary Zulu +hut—that is to say, in the shape of a beehive, only it was five times +the size of any hut I ever saw, and built of blocks of hewn white +marble, fitted together with extraordinary knowledge of the principles +and properties of arch building, and with so much accuracy and finish +that it was often difficult to find the joints of the massive blocks. +From this centre hut ran three covered passages, leading to other +buildings of an exactly similar character, only smaller, and each whole +block was enclosed by a marble wall about four feet in height. + +Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the +general outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even +old Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, +deigned to show wonder. + +“Ou!” he said; “this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built +of white stone?” + +Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but +said nothing. + +“Did your father build those kraals?” I gasped, at length. + +“My father! no, of course not,” she answered. “How would it have been +possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He +found them as you see.” + +“Who built them, then?” I said again. + +“I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the +people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, +and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they must +have stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show you +the quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is +the entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks was a silver +mine. Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the marble huts. The +world is old, and no doubt plenty of people have lived in it and been +forgotten.”[*] + +[*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described by Mr. +Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico district of the +Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to be found in Mr. Anderson’s +“Twenty-five Years in a Waggon,” vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. Anderson says, “In +this district are the ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early +chapter; but it requires a fuller description to show that these +extensive kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood +building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, lintels, and +sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill to erect the stone huts, +with stone circular roofs, beautifully formed and most substantially +erected; strong enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years.” +—Editor. + + +Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in +Africa, and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and +worthless, but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was +no one thing—it was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth on +to the everlasting plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that +sparkled in rainbow hues, the rivers girdling the rich cultivated +lands, the gold-specked green of the orange trees, the flashing domes +of the marble huts, and a thousand other things. Then over all brooded +the peace of evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled +heaven with changing hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and +cliffs in cloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of +the water like the smile of a god. + +Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days and +nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the +beauty of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am +sure, that of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she +was the sweetest and the loveliest. + +Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be before +I find her once again? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +THE MARBLE KRAALS + + +At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up +outside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts—for so I +must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been +observed by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able to +determine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section +of the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several of +these ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. We dismounted—speaking for myself, not without +difficulty—indeed, had it not been for Stella’s support I should have +fallen. + +“Now you must come and see my father,” she said. “I wonder what he will +think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my hut +and give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently.” + +Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress’s +bidding, and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the +marble wall, which may have enclosed nearly half an “erf,” or +three-quarters of an acre of ground in all. It was beautifully planted +as a garden, many European vegetables and flowers were growing in it, +besides others with which I was not acquainted. Presently we came to +the centre hut, and it was then that I noticed the extraordinary beauty +and finish of the marble masonry. In the hut, and facing the gateway, +was a modern door, rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a beautiful +reddish wood that has the appearance of having been sedulously pricked +with a pin. Stella opened it, and we entered. The interior of the hut +was the size of a large and lofty room, the walls being formed of plain +polished marble. It was lighted somewhat dimly, but quite effectively, +by peculiar openings in the roof, from which the rain was excluded by +overhanging eaves. The marble floor was strewn with native mats and +skins of animals. Bookcases filled with books were placed against the +walls, there was a table in the centre, chairs seated with rimpi or +strips of hide stood about, and beyond the table was a couch on which a +man was lying reading. + +“Is that you, Stella?” said a voice, that even after so many years +seemed familiar to me. “Where have you been, my dear? I began to think +that you had lost yourself again.” + +“No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody +else.” + +At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old +gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much +courtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a +pale face that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a +long white beard. + +“Be welcome, sir,” he said. “It is long since we have seen a white face +in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an +Englishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, +and he, I grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice,” and he +bowed again and stretched out his hand. + +I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my +mind. I took his hand. + +“How do you do, Mr. Carson?” I said. + +He started as though he had been stung. + +“Who told you that name?” he cried. “It is a dead name. Stella, is it +you? I forbade you to let it pass your lips.” + +“I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it,” she answered. + +“Sir,” I broke in, “if you will allow me I will show you how I came to +know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study of +a clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leave +England for ever?” + +He bowed his head. + +“And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing +with a pencil?” + +“I do,” he said. + +“Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children +who lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your +old friend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died +in the Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, +one Kaffir, and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad +Lands, where we had wandered for days without water, and there we +should have perished, but your daughter, Miss——” + +“Call her Stella,” he broke in, hastily. “I cannot bear to hear that +name. I have forsworn it.” + +“Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives.” + +“By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?” he answered. “There is +little chance in all this; such chances spring from another will than +ours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in +a hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is +yours, and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; +talk no more now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk.” + +To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that +evening. A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting +at a table next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember +nothing more. + +I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and +fashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering +what time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, +and, luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, +feeling a very different man, my strength had come back again to me; I +dressed, and following a covered passage found myself in the centre +hut. Here the table was set for breakfast with all manner of good +things, such as I had not seen for many a month, which I contemplated +with healthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and there before me +was a more delightful sight, for standing in one of the doorways which +led to the sleeping huts was Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. + +She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, +and girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of +her robe was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied +in a single knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, +asking how I had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under her +loving care the child had been quite transformed. She was neatly +dressed in a garment of the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair +hair was brushed; indeed, had it not been for the sun blisters on her +face and hands, one would scarcely have believed that this was the same +child whom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour through +the burning, waterless desert. + +“We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan,” she said; “my father is so upset +by your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how +thankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of +late. He grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strength +were ebbing away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have to +manage everything about the farm; he does nothing but read and think.” + +Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of +milk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look of +little love at me as she did so. + +“Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee,” said Stella. +“Don’t you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will +tell you—we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to +show you. You don’t know what we have managed to do in the time that we +have been here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about +look upon my father as their chief.” + +“Yes,” I said, “but how do you get all these luxuries of civilization?” +and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives and forks. + +“Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we +first trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. +But every few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right +down to Port Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, +and come back with all kinds of things that have been sent out from +England for us. So you see, although we live in this wild place, we are +not altogether cut off. We can send runners to Natal and back in three +months, and the waggons get there and back in a year. The last lot +arrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are very +faithful, and some of them speak Dutch well.” + +“Have you ever been with the waggons?” I asked. + +“Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from +Babyan’s Peak,” she answered. “Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, +with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a +book. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I +have had one advantage—a good education. My father has taught me +everything, and perhaps I know some things that you don’t. I can read +French and German, for instance. I think that my father’s first idea +was to let me run wild altogether, but he gave it up.” + +“And don’t you wish to go into the world?” I asked. + +“Sometimes,” she said, “when I get lonely. But perhaps my father is +right—perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he would +never return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am +sure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that +our name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our +lives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast? +Let us go out, and I will show you our home.” + +I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, +Mr. Carson—for after all that was his name, though he would never allow +it to be spoken—had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, and +would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. + +So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old +Indaba-zimbi whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing +could tire that old man. + +The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the +lower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, +faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the +great peak till nearly eleven o’clock in the morning—a great advantage +in that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was +beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw. +There were three or four natives working in it, and they all saluted my +host as “Baba,” or father. Then we visited the other two groups of +marble huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, the +other as storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned into +a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to +convert the natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for +shelter, and he had practised the more elementary rites of the church +for so long that I think he began to believe that he really was a +clergyman. For instance, he always married those of his people who +would consent to a monogamous existence, and baptized their children. + +When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble +huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive +like weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the +next platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think +that it was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample +water for purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage +for hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people +were most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. +Carson on the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the +produce—indeed, in this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with +more? Consequently the tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves +the “Children of Thomas,” were able to accumulate considerable wealth. +All their disputes were referred to their “father,” and he also was +judge of offences and crimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, +whipping, and loss of goods, other and graver transgressions by +expulsion from the community, a fiat which to one of these favoured +natives must have seemed as heavy as the decree that drove Adam from +the Garden of Eden. + +Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter’s arm and contemplated the +scene with pride. + +“I have done all this, Allan Quatermain,” he said. “When renouncing +civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotest +places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing was +to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the +waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden +land and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by +degrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we +live in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no +more. Heaven has prospered me so far—may it do so to the end, which for +me draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to see +the old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show +them to you. No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. +Look! some of the headmen are waiting to see me.” + +So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, +and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the +marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which +they were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a +very thick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know +another like it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; +not by natives, that is certain, though the builders of these kraals +had condescended to borrow the shape of native huts for their model. By +the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw was a highly +finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the quarry. + +After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill till +we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a +gorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and +narrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a sound +of groaning and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I knew +what it was at once: the whole place was filled with baboons, which +clambered down the rocks towards us from every direction, and in a +manner that struck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a +little pale and clung to my arm. + +“It is very silly of me,” she whispered. “I am not at all nervous, but +ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those +animals. I always think that there is something human about them.” + +Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. +Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I and +Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only +Hendrika stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her +monkey face. When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly called +aloud. Instantly they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a word +of command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it so. +That is to say, she began to make a noise such as baboons do when they +converse with each other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who said +that they could talk with the baboons and understand their language, +but I confess I never heard it done before or since. + +From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, +squeals, clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be +conceived, conveying to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At any +rate the baboons listened. One of them grunted back some answer, and +then the whole mob drew off to the rocks. + +I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, for +Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dining +hut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me +by the sleeve, and I stopped outside. + +“Macumazahn,” he said. “Baboon-woman—devil-woman. Be careful, +Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called Stella +the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star will +set!” + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +“LET US GO IN, ALLAN!” + + +It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which +elapsed between my arrival at Babyan’s Peak and my marriage with +Stella. When I look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of +flowers, and dim as with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through +the sweetness comes the sound of Stella’s voice, and through the gloom +shines the starlight of her eyes. I think that we loved each other from +the first, though for a while we said no word of love. Day by day I +went about the place with her, accompanied by little Tota and Hendrika +only, while she attended to the thousand and one matters which her +father’s ever-growing weakness had laid upon her; or rather, as time +drew on, I attended to the business, and she accompanied me. All day +through we were together. Then after supper, when the night had fallen, +we would walk together in the garden and come at length to hear her +father read aloud sometimes from the works of a poet, sometimes from +history. Or, if he did not feel well, Stella would read, and when this +was done, Mr. Carson would celebrate a short form of prayer, and we +would separate till the morning once more brought our happy hour of +meeting. + +So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling +better. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeed +there are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had +given such depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of +communing with Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, +the grace we find in opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught +that murmuring voice from the sound of the streams which fall +continually about her rocky home? Was it the tenderness of the evening +sky beneath which she loved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her +face, and the light of the evening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? +At the least to me she was the realization of that dream which haunts +the sleep of sin-stained men; so my memory paints her, so I hope to +find her when at last the sleep has rolled away and the fevered dreams +are done. + +At last there came a day—the most blessed of my life, when we told our +love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. Carson +was so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met again, +and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had grown +much attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on the +couch. + +The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the +garden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a little +breeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, +and bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, +broken only by the sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to a +faint murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudly in +our ears. The moon was not yet visible, but already the dark clouds +which floated through the sky above us—for there had been rain—showed a +glow of silver, telling us that she shone brightly behind the peak. +Stella began to talk in her low, gentle voice, speaking to me of her +life in the wilderness, how she had grown to love it, how her mind had +gone on from idea to idea, and how she pictured the great rushing world +that she had never seen as it was reflected to her from the books which +she had read. It was a curious vision of life that she had: things were +out of proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality—a +mirage than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, and +especially of London, had a kind of fascination for her: she could +scarcely realize the rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men +and women, strangers to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth and +pleasure beneath a murky sky, and treading one another down in the fury +of their competition. + +“What is it all for?” she asked earnestly. “What do they seek? Having +so few years to live, why do they waste them thus?” + +I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard +necessity that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. +Living as she had done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a +fruitful earth, she did not seem to be able to grasp the fact that +there were millions who from day to day know not how to stay their +hunger. + +“I never want to go there,” she went on; “I should be bewildered and +frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adam +and Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live—in +peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of +perfect life. I want no other.” + +“I thought you once told me that you found it lonely,” I said. + +“So I did,” she answered, innocently, “but that was before you came. +Now I am not lonely any more, and it is perfect—perfect as the night.” + +Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her rays +stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, +brooding on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, +wrapping the fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil through +which her beauty shone mysteriously. + +Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at the +scarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beauty +of the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on her +hair, the mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked +at me, I looked on her, and all our hearts’ love blossomed within us. +We spoke no word—we had no words to speak, but slowly we drew near, +till lips were pressed to lips as we kissed our eternal troth. + +It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, in +soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smitten +harp. + +“Ah, now I understand,” she said, “now I know why we are lonely, and +how we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in +the beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of +flowers. It is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his +voice we understand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is +answered and the gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the +way that wends through death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of +which our love is but a shadow. + +“Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that +whatever overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always have +this perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!” + +I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I +rose my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage of +the orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze +stirred the orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full upon +the white object. + +It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had +called her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. + +I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark +in the rocks behind. + +Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I +saw Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. + +“Hendrika,” I said, “why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in +the garden?” + +She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. + +“Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to +watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you +kissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a +star?” + +“I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me,” I +answered. “What has that to do with you, Hendrika?” + +“Because you love her,” she hissed in answer; “and do I not love her +also, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you +are a man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than +women love women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman +loves a man she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather +her flowers—beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never +dare to go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the +garden and give it to her. What does she do?—she takes the orange +bloom, she puts it in her breast, and lets my flowers die. I call to +her—she does not hear me—she is thinking. You whisper to some one far +away, and she hears and smiles. She used to kiss me sometimes; now she +kisses that white brat you brought, because you brought it. Oh, I see +it all—all; I have seen it from the first; you are stealing her from +us, stealing her to yourself, and those who loved her before you came +are forgotten. Be careful, Macumazahn, be careful, lest I am revenged +upon you. You, you hate me; you think me half a monkey; that servant of +yours calls me Baboon-woman. Well, I have lived with baboons, and they +are clever—yes, they can play tricks and know things that you don’t, +and I am cleverer than they, for I have learnt the wisdom of white +people also, and I say to you, Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will +fall into a pit,” and with one more look of malice she was gone. + +I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature +who seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared her +with the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her +hands. And yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness of +her jealousy. It is generally supposed that this passion only exists in +strength when the object loved is of another sex from the lover, but I +confess that, both in this instance and in some others which I have met +with, this has not been my experience. I have known men, and especially +uncivilized men, who were as jealous of the affection of their friend +or master as any lover could be of that of his mistress; and who has +not seen cases of the same thing where parents and their children are +concerned? But the lower one gets in the scale of humanity, the more +readily this passion thrives; indeed, it may be said to come to its +intensest perfection in brutes. Women are more jealous than men, +small-hearted men are more jealous than those of larger mind and wider +sympathy, and animals are the most jealous of all. Now Hendrika was in +some ways not far removed from animal, which may perhaps account for +the ferocity of her jealousy of her mistress’s affection. + +Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. +Carson was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his +hand, and her head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had +been telling him of what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, +for it is a task that a would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do by +deputy. + +“Come here, Allan Quatermain,” he said, almost sternly, and my heart +gave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go +about my business. But I came. + +“Stella tells me,” he went on, “that you two have entered into a +marriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that you +say that you love her.” + +“I do indeed, sir,” I broke in; “I love her truly; if ever a woman was +loved in this world, I love her.” + +“I thank Heaven for it,” said the old man. “Listen, my children. Many +years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow +that, as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I +determined to do what most men would have considered the act of a +madman, to go far away into the wilderness with my only child, there to +live remote from civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this +place, and here we have lived for many years, happily enough, and +perhaps not without doing good in our generation, but still in a way +unnatural to our race and status. At first I thought I would let my +daughter grow up in a state of complete ignorance, that she should be +Nature’s child. But as time went on, I saw the folly and the wickedness +of my plan. I had no right to degrade her to the level of the savages +around me, for if the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a bitter fruit, +still it teaches good from evil. So I educated her as well as I was +able, till in the end I knew that in mind, as in body, she was in no +way inferior to her sisters, the children of the civilized world. She +grew up and entered into womanhood, and then it came into my mind that +I was doing her a bitter wrong, that I was separating her from her kind +and keeping her in a wilderness where she could find neither mate nor +companion. But though I knew this, I could not yet make up my mind to +return to active life; I had grown to love this place. I dreaded to +return into the world I had abjured. Again and again I put my +resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this year I fell ill. +For a while I waited, hoping that I might get better, but at last I +realized that I should never get better, that the hand of Death was +upon me.” + +“Ah, no, father, not that!” Stella said, with a cry. + +“Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our +separation in the happiness of a new meeting,” and he glanced at me and +smiled. “Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined to +abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that the +journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella +would, and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savages +in the wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to take +this step Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, +and brought you here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, +whose father had been my dear friend, and who once with your baby hands +had saved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours from +thirst. At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of Providence in +this, and I determined to wait and see what came about between you. At +the worst, if nothing came about, I soon learned that I could trust you +to see her safely to the coast after I was gone. But many days ago I +knew how it stood between you, and now things are determined as I +prayed they might be. God bless you both, my children; may you be happy +in your love; may it endure till death and beyond it. God bless you +both!” and he stretched out his hand towards me. + +I took it, and Stella kissed him. + +Presently he spoke again— + +“It is my intention,” he said, “if you two consent, to marry you next +Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will be +allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated and +entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be +perfectly legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality +the first moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is one +more thing: when I left England my fortunes were in a shattered +condition; in the course of years they have recovered themselves, the +accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when the waggons last +returned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all charges, and +there is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not marry +on nothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to +make a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you +should leave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to +England. I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too much +for people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask +you to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise this?” + +“I do,” I answered. + +“And so do I,” said Stella. + +“Very well,” he answered; “and now I am tired out. Again God bless you +both, and good-night.” + + + + +CHAPTER X. +HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + + +On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First +of all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. + +“Oh!” he said, “I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you +would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watch +the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your +heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set.” + +“Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?” I answered, angrily, +for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. + +“A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I +only speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, +loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all +the things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and +there was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it +is change, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops +of rain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink +into the ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth will be +dry, the drops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, +they will never be one again, they will never again fall side by side. +But I am a rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The +drops will drain by many paths into the river, and will be one water +there. They will go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and +there will again be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, +Macumazahn. When we fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground +that is death, and when we are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, +Macumazahn? No! no! when we find we lose, and when we seem to lose, +then we shall really find. I am not a Christian, Macumazahn, but I am +old, and have watched and seen things that perhaps Christians do not +see. There, I have spoken. Be happy with your star, and if it sets, +wait, Macumazahn, wait till it rises again. It will not be long; one +day you will go to sleep, then your eyes will open on another sky, and +there your star will be shining, Macumazahn.” + +I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. +But often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbi +and his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strange +man, this old rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him than +in many learned atheists—those spiritual destroyers who, in the name of +progress and humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave us +wandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated hell. + +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, changing the subject, “I have something to +say,” and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. + +He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals +as the narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. + +“Macumazahn,” he said at length, “I have told you that this is an evil +woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in +her veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make you +mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star +is waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you.” + +So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of +Indaba-zimbi, I found a deeper meaning in Stella’s simplest word. All +the rest of that day I passed in her company, and the greater part of +the two following days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of our +marriage. It rained that night, so we did not go out, but spent the +evening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carson +talked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and of countries +that he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade us +goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut by +the covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what the +night was like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but as +the light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight of +a dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika flashed into my +mind; could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had said nothing +of Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, because I +did not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was attached to +this strange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence in her +unless it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood +hesitating, then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should +stop, I went in and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure +the door. For the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of +sleeping in the covered passage, which was the only other possible way +of access. As I came to bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his +blanket, and to all appearances fast asleep. So it being evident that I +had nothing to fear, I promptly dismissed the matter from my mind, +which, as may be imagined, was indeed fully occupied with other +thoughts. + +I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great +happiness in store for me, and of the providential course of events +that had brought it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was +wandering in the desert a dying man, bearing a dying child, and with +scarcely a possession left in the world except a store of buried ivory +that I never expected to see again. And now I was about to wed one of +the sweetest and loveliest women on the whole earth—a woman whom I +loved more than I could have thought possible, and who loved me back +again. Also, as though that were not good fortune enough, I was to +acquire with her very considerable possessions, quite sufficiently +large to enable us to follow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I +lay and reflected on all this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old +Indaba-zimbi’s melancholy prophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he had +always prophesied truly. What if these should be true also? I turned +cold as I thought of it, and prayed to the Power above to preserve us +both to live and love together. Never was prayer more needed. While its +words were still upon my lips I dropped asleep and dreamed a most +dreadful dream. + +I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. She +was dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, +spiritual beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a pale +flame played about her features, and the wind that blew did not stir +her hair. Nor was this all, for her white robes were death wrappings, +and the altar at which we stood was formed of the piled-up earth from +an open grave that yawned between us. So we stood waiting for one to +wed us, but no one came. Presently from the open grave sprang the form +of Hendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she stabbed at me, but +pierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, fell backwards into +the grave, still looking at me as she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after +her into the grave. I heard her feet strike heavily. + +“_Awake, Macumazahn! awake!_” cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. +In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious +struggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which +were matches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the +taper. Now in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over +the other on the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. +The fat melted and the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the +woman Hendrika who were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was +getting the better of the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards them. +Now she was uppermost, now she had wrenched herself from his fierce +grip, and now the great knife she had in her hand flashed up. + +But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked +with all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save +herself, most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves +upon her. Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not +experienced it could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, and +at one time nearly mastered the two of us. As it was she did break +loose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straight +up at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and could not +conceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes +which I have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered +with overhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, +and, catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw +herself through it. But here her strength, exhausted with the long +struggle, failed her. For a moment she swung, then dropped to the +ground and fell senseless. + +“Ou!” gasped Indaba-zimbi. “Let us tie the devil up before she comes to +life again.” + +I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner +of the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even +she could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, and +Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to +raise an alarm at that hour of the night. + +“Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?” he said. “For several +nights I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made +a plan. To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An +hour after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of +light come into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw +the beam of light vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing +over the moon, but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was +squeezing himself through a narrow space. Presently he was through, and +hanging by his hands. Then the light came in again, and in the middle +of it I saw the Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop +into the hut. She clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great +knife. She dropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and +gripped her round the middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing the +knife, struck at me in the dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and +you know the rest. You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn.” + +“Very nearly indeed,” I answered, still panting, and arranging the rags +of my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my +horrid dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by +the sound of Hendrika dropping to the floor—in my dream it had been a +grave that she dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in +that second of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is +nothing but a dream, and events that seem far apart really occur +simultaneously. + +We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came +to herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned +buffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi +unceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. + +In due course the day broke—my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to +watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the +stables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut—that same +hut in which she had been confined when she had been brought a +baboon-child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leaving +Indaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place and +dressed in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. But +when I looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It was +covered with scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored +them up as best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, +which, what between the events of the past night, and of those pending +that day, were not a little disturbed. + +When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and +there Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with +orange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; +then, seeing the condition of my face, started back. + +“Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?” she asked. + +As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, +catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. + +Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika’s threats and of her +fierce attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my +horrid dream. + +Stella’s face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her +father became very stern. + +“You should have spoken of this before, Allan,” he said. “I now see +that I did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful +creature, who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes +that reared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day.” + +“Oh, father,” said Stella, “don’t have her killed. It is all dreadful +enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond of +her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on my +marriage day.” + +“No,” her father answered, “she shall not be killed, for though she +deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a +brute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence +she came.” + +No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast—which +was rather a farce—was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gave +him certain orders. + +We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every +Sunday morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The +service began at ten o’clock, but long before that hour all the natives +on the place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present at +the wedding of the “Star.” It was a pretty sight to see them, the men +dressed in all their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in their +hands, and the women and children bearing green branches of trees, +ferns, and flowers. At length, about half-past nine, Stella rose, +pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A few minutes to ten +she reappeared again with her father, dressed in a white veil, a wreath +of orange flowers on her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange flowers +in her hand. To me she seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her came +little Tota in a high state of glee and excitement. She was Stella’s +only bridesmaid. Then we all passed out towards the church hut. The +bare space in front of it was filled with hundreds of natives, who set +up a song as we came. But we went on into the hut, which was crowded +with such of the natives as usually worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, +as usual, read the service, though he was obliged to sit down in order +to do so. When it was done—and to me it seemed interminable—Mr. Carson +whispered that he meant to marry us outside the hut in sight of all the +people. So we went out and took our stand under the shade of a large +tree that grew near the hut facing the bare space where the natives +were gathered. + +Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the +native dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife +after the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he +proceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and +beautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring—it was her +father’s signet ring, for we had no other—upon Stella’s finger, and it +was done. + +Then Mr. Carson spoke. “Allan and Stella,” he said, “I believe that the +ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the sight +of God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage binding +is, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of the country +where the parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that has +been in force here for fifteen years or more that you have been married +in the face of all the people, and in token of it you will both sign +the register that I have kept of such marriages, among those of my +people who have adopted the Christian Faith. Still, in case there +should be any legal flaw I again demand the solemn promise of you both +that on the first opportunity you will cause this marriage to be +re-celebrated in some civilized land. Do you promise?” + +“We do,” we answered. + +Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my wife +signed hers “Stella” only, but her father bade her write it Stella +Carson for the first and last time in her life. Then several of the +indunas, or headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks in +witness. Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, in +humorous allusion to Stella’s native name. That register is before me +now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling’s hair which lies +between its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names +and marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of the +tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where are +those who wrote them? + +“My people,” said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had +kissed each other before them all—“My people, Macumazahn and the Star, +my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of one +bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my +people, you know this woman,” and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, +unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut. + +“Yes, yes, we know her,” said a little ring of headmen, who formed the +primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had +squatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. “We know +her, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant +of the Star.” + +“You know her,” said Mr. Carson, “but you do not know her altogether. +Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last +night in the hut of Macumazahn.” + +Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told +his moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, +finishing up by producing the great knife from which his watchfulness +had saved me. + +Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his +story: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. + +Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her +eyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. + +She looked up boldly and answered— + +“Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have +robbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which +I have lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had +I killed him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and +shone on me again.” + +“Never,” murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with +wrath. + +“My people,” he said, “you hear the words of this woman. You hear how +she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She +says that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the +man who is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, +we tamed her, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us +back. Say, my people, what reward should be given to her?” + +“Death,” said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, +and all the multitude beyond echoed the word “Death.” + +“Death,” repeated the head induna, adding, “If you save her, my father, +we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a +devil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain +before she works more evil.” + +Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika’s life +in moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman’s nature, her +long service, and the affection that she had always shown towards +herself. She said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, +and she, my wife, who had nearly been left a widow before she was made +a bride, forgave her; let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, +not slain, let not her marriage day be stained with blood. + +Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of +killing Hendrika—indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But the +people were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a +devil, and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they +have had their way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had +already gained a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. +Suddenly the old man rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging +them to kill Hendrika at once or mischief would come of it. + +At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to +drag her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tears +that the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson’s orders and my own +remonstrances, carried the day. + +All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the +tumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising +that if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should be +stabbed like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice and +in English— + +“Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to love +I shall go mad and become a babyan again.” + +Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and +looked at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked +past me, and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, +being literally translated, means, “Till another moon,” but which has +the same significance as the French “au revoir.” + +It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, +and saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran +swiftly from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movement +snatched her great knife from his hand. When she had gone about twenty +paces she halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, gave one loud +cry of anguish, and fled. A few minutes later we saw her far away, +bounding up the face of an almost perpendicular cliff—a cliff that +nobody except herself and the baboons could possibly climb. + +“Look,” said Indaba-zimbi in my ear—“Look, Macumazahn, there goes the +Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, _she will come back again_. Ah, why will +you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, +Macumazahn?” and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. + +For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone for +the present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, +and in her smiles I forgot my fears. + +For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?—there are things +too happy and too sacred to be written of. + +At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that +perfect joy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +GONE! + + +I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found +ourselves. Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can +survive a honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only married +once, and can but speak from my limited experience. But certainly our +illusion, or rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, did +survive, as to this day it survives in my heart across all the years of +utter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of gloom. + +But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. +As our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been +described, so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. + +Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long +impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and found +him lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was +dying, but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he +recovered his speech and some power of movement. But he never recovered +his memory, though he still knew Stella, and sometimes myself. +Curiously enough he remembered little Tota best of all three, though +occasionally he thought that she was his own daughter in her childhood, +and would ask her where her mother was. This state of affairs lasted +for some seven months. The old man gradually grew weaker, but he did +not die. Of course his condition quite precluded the idea of our +leaving Babyan Kraals till all was over. This was the more distressing +to me because I had a nervous presentiment that Stella was incurring +danger by staying there, and also because the state of her health +rendered it desirable that we should reach a civilized region as soon +as possible. However, it could not be helped. + +At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by +Mr. Carson’s bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up and +spoke in a strong, full voice. + +“I hear you,” he said. “Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you too +have suffered,” and he fell back dead. + +I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision +of whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was +overwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been her +sole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between them +was much closer than is usual even in the case of father and daughter. +So deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect upon her +health. Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives on the +settlement called Mr. Carson “father,” and as a father they lamented +him. The air resounded with the wailing of women, and the men went +about with bowed heads, saying that “the sun had set in the heavens, +now only the Star (Stella) remained.” Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. +He said that it was best that the Inkoos should die, for what was life +worth when one lay like a log?—moreover, that it would have been well +for all if he had died sooner. + +On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the +waterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite +of all I could do to comfort her. + +That night as I sat outside the hut smoking—for the weather was hot, +and Stella was lying down inside—old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, and +squatted at my feet. + +“What is it, Indaba-zimbi?” I said. + +“This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?” + +“I don’t know,” I answered. “The Star is not fit to travel now, we must +wait awhile.” + +“No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must take +her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well.” + +“Why do you say so? why must we go?” + +“For this reason, Macumazahn,” and he looked cautiously round and spoke +low. “The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is full +of them.” + +“I did not know that they had gone,” I said. + +“Yes,” he answered, “they went after the marriage, all but one or two; +now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a whole +cliff black with them.” + +“Is that all?” I said, for I saw that he had something behind. “I am +not afraid of a pack of baboons.” + +“No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with +them.” + +Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, and +though at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degrees +she to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was fully +preoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law’s illness. I started +violently. “How do you know this?” I asked. + +“I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is +dressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though +she was a long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white +flesh of her arm when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, +Macumazahn, with all the baboons in the world, and she has come back to +do evil. Now do you understand why you should trek?” + +“Yes,” I said, “though I don’t see how she and the baboons can harm us, +I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp the +waggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: +say nothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And +hearken again. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all +round the huts and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we +will get the waggons ready, and next day we will trek.” + +He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a +little disturbed—unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. That +this woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] That was +not so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to do +the same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that she had +been able to muster them, and by the strength of her human will and +intelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of revenge, +seemed to me so incredible that after reflection my fears grew light. +Still I determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox waggon would +not be such a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to +roughing it, whatever her state of health. And when all was said and +done I did not like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with +countless hosts of baboons. + +[*] For an instance of this, see Anderson’s “Twenty-five Years in a +Waggon,” vol. i. p. 262.—Editor. + + +So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon +story, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the +conclusion that it was our duty to follow her father’s instructions to +the letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need +not enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declared +that she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that +now that her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. + +Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morning +I was up early making preparations. The despair of the people when they +learned that we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. +I could only console them by declaring that we were but on a journey, +and would return the following year. + +“They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead,” they +declared; “ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. He +had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a mat +to lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in his +shadow. Then he had died, and the Star, their father’s daughter, had +married me, Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take their +father’s place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they do +when there was no one to protect them? The tribes were kept from +attacking them by fear of the white man. If we went they would be eaten +up,” and so on. Alas! there was but too much foundation for their +fears. + +I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said that +she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it +necessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to +allude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged +to. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon as +I could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out +such cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to +the Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, +and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little before +sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got +on my horse and rode homewards. + +Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the +central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had +been packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, +thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her. +Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if he +had seen his mistress. + +He answered “yes.” He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towards +the graveyard, holding the little white girl—my daughter—as he called +her, by the hand, when the sun stood “there,” and he pointed to a spot +on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half +before. “The two dogs were with them,” he added. I turned and ran +towards the graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the +huts. Of course there was no reason to be anxious—evidently she had +gone to lay the flowers on her father’s grave. And yet I was anxious. + +When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my +orders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed +that he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I +asked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not, +which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping to +reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the +graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson’s grave, lay the drooping flowers which +Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the spoor of +Tota’s veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they? + +I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but +no answer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in +tracing their spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he +came to a clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream and +the ancient marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the mouth +of the ravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled cry. I +rushed to the spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The little +open space in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a struggle. +There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of human +feet—two shod, one naked—Stella’s, Tota’s, and _Hendrika’s_. Nor was +this all. There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs—they were +nothing more—and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had been bitten +in the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of numberless +baboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into my mind. + +My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had +not been killed, for if so their remains would have been found with +those of the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under +the direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to +some secret den, there to keep them till they died—or kill them! + +For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. +Then I roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm +the people at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns +and ammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the +spoor. For a few yards it was plain enough—Stella had been dragged +along. I could see where her heels had struck the ground; the child +had, I presumed, been carried—at least there were no marks of her feet. +At the water’s edge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, and they +had gone along in it, or at least Hendrika and her victim had, in order +to obliterate the trail. I could see where a moss-grown stone had been +freshly turned over in the water-bed. I ran along the bank some way up +the ravine, in the vain hope of catching a sight of them. Presently I +heard a bark in the cliffs above me; it was answered by another, and +then I saw that scores of baboons were hidden about among the rocks on +either side, and were softly swinging themselves down to bar the path. +To go on unarmed as I was would be useless. I should only be torn to +pieces as the dogs had been. So I turned and fled back towards the +huts. As I drew near I could see that my messenger had roused the +settlement, for natives with spears and kerries in their hands were +running up towards the kraals. When I reached the hut I met old +Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious face. + +“So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn,” he said. + +“It has fallen,” I answered. + +“Keep a good heart, Macumazahn,” he said again. “She is not dead, nor +is the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember +this, Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans +to harm her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all.” + +“Pray God that we may find her,” I groaned. “The light is going fast.” + +“The moon rises in three hours,” he answered; “we will search by +moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get +the men together, eat, and make things ready. _Hamba gachla_. Hasten +slowly, Macumazahn.” + +As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I +packed some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind +of litter. If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! if +we found them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before the +moon rose. But at last it did rise. + +Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only +mustered five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had +belonged to Mr. Carson. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + + +We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The +natives looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of +violence, and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether the +Star lived or died they would not rest till they had exterminated every +baboon on Babyan’s Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, we +kept it. + +We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as +we best could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks +very little. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the +lonely moonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes +with our cries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched +the sides of precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically piled +one upon another; in vain we searched through endless dells and +fern-clad crannies. There was nothing to be found. How could we expect +to find two human beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast +stretch of mountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. +They were lost, and in all human probability lost for ever. + +To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore +and weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waiting +for the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had brought +with them, and sent to the kraals for more. + +I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my +feelings. Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may +get some idea of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring +straight before him as though he were looking into space, and taking +note of what went on there. An idea struck me. This man had some occult +power. Several times during our adventures he had prophesied, and in +every case his prophecies had proved true. He it was who, when we +escaped from the Zulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because there +we should find the place of a white man who lived under the shadow of a +great peak that was full of baboons. Perhaps he could help in this +extremity—at any rate it was worth trying. + +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “you say that you can send your spirit through +the doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know that +you can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and +will save her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here.” + +“I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn,” he answered. “I do +things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I +do like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use +my wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without +being asked—no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I +love, for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I +had a part, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this +matter I have no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless +you thought well to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have been no +good to ask me before, for I have only just found the herb I want,” and +he produced a handful of the leaves of a plant that was unfamiliar to +me. It had prickly leaves, shaped very much like those of the common +English nettle. + +“Now, Macumazahn,” he went on, “bid the men leave us alone, and then +follow me presently to the little glade down there by the water.” + +I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a +small fire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. + +“Sit there, Macumazahn,” he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, +“and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you move +or call out we shall learn nothing.” + +I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, +the old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of +the pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering with +the cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plant +I have mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, muttering as he +chewed. Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to the fire. A dense +smoke rose from them, but he held his head in this smoke and drew it +down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting every sign of +suffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, he gasped +loudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, seemed as though +they were going to start from his head. Presently he fell over on his +side, and lay senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and my first impulse +was to run to his assistance, but fortunately I remembered his caution, +and sat quiet. + +Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had +all the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin to +stiffen, exactly as though _rigor mortis_ had set in. Then, to my +astonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time there +appeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread and +spread; in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid +corpse. + +I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further +natural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was going +to fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed that the +discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from the +extremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. +Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage of +stiffness or _rigor_, and the first stage of after-death collapse. When +all these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly woke +up. + +I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth +open. + +“Well, Macumazahn,” he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, +and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, “it is all right; I +have seen her.” + +“Seen who?” I said. + +“The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, +but unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons +obey her, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, +so I whispered in her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you +would soon rescue her, and that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased +to have Hendrika near her.” + +“You whispered in her ear?” I said. “How could you whisper in her ear?” + +“Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your +eyes? You don’t know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had to +die to pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all the +healthy strength and life from my body in order to gather power to +speak with the Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I +had let things go a little further they must have stopped so, and there +would have been an end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so +much that you think you know everything. But you don’t! You are always +staring at the clouds and can’t see the things that lie at your feet. +You hardly believe me now, do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. +Have you anything on you that the Star has touched or worn?” + +I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my +pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, he +lit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which he +caught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with the +juice of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. + +“Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes,” he said. + +I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt +me, then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and +my brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground +with my feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us +was a pool of beautifully clear water. + +“Look into the pool, Macumazahn,” said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice +sounded hollow and far away in my ears. + +I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. I +saw a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave +rested Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfully +pale and weary, and her eyelids were red as though with weeping. But +she slept, and I could almost think that I saw her lips shape my name +in her sleep. Close to her, her head upon Stella’s breast, was little +Tota; she had a skin thrown over her to keep out the night cold. The +child was awake, and appeared to be moaning with fear. By the fire, and +in such a position that the light fell full upon her face, and engaged +in cooking something in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat the +Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon skins, and her face +had been rubbed with some dark stain, which was, however, wearing off +it. In the intervals of her cooking she would turn on Stella her wild +eyes, in which glared visible madness, with an expression of tenderness +that amounted to worship. Then she would stare at the child and gnash +her teeth as though with hate. Clearly she was jealous of it. Round the +entrance arch of the cave peeped and peered the heads of many baboons. +Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of them; apparently she did not +speak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake Stella. The brute hopped +forward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot which was lying by +her. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as the vision +slowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboon +returning with the pot full of water. + +Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath +me was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. + +“You have seen things,” he said. + +“I have,” I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What +was there to say?[*] “Do you know the path to the cave?” I added. + +[*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir magic the +reader is referred to a work named “Among the Zulus,” by David +Leslie.—Editor. + + +He nodded his head. “I did not follow it all just now, because it +winds,” he said. “But I know it. We shall want the ropes.” + +“Then let us be starting; the men have eaten.” + +He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make +ready, adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all +right, if Indaba-zimbi had “smelt her out,” they should soon find the +Star. So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much +improved that I was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we +walked. + +We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a +mile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another +kloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the great +hill. + +On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was +never at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills +with the certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about +three hours’ march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern +slope of the great peak. On one side of this valley was a series of +stony koppies, on the other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched along +the wall for a distance of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba-zimbi +halted. + +“There is the place,” he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. +This opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. +It cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was +partially hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface +of the cliff. Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have +noticed it, for there were many such cracks and crannies in the rocky +face of the great mountain. + +We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I +noticed was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been +worn by the continual passage of baboons; the second, that something +white was hanging on a bush near the top of the ascent. + +It was a pocket-handkerchief. + +Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I +began the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, +for the rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still +possible to an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. +But the last twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing a +rope over the trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of the +opening. This we accomplished with some trouble, and the rest was easy. +A foot or two above my head the handkerchief fluttered in the wind. +Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was my wife’s. As I did so I +noticed the face of a baboon peering at me over the edge of the cleft, +the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute gave a bark and +vanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my feet +against the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew that +we had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the others. +I gained the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, ending +in a gulley, which led to a wide open space of some sort. I looked +through the passage and saw that the gulley was black with baboons. On +they came by the hundred. I unslung my elephant gun from my shoulders +and waited, calling to the men below to come up with all possible +speed. The brutes streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards me, barking, +grunting, and showing their huge teeth. I waited till they were within +fifteen yards. Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded with +slugs, right into the thick of them. In that narrow place the report +echoed like a cannon shot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the +volley of piercing human-sounding groans and screams that followed. The +charge of heavy slugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of +which at least a dozen lay dead or dying in the passage. For a moment +they hesitated, then they came on again with a hideous clamour. +Fortunately by this time Indaba-zimbi, who also had a gun, was standing +by my side, otherwise I should have been torn to pieces before I could +re-load. He fired both barrels into them, and again checked the rush. +But they came on again, and notwithstanding the appearance of two other +natives with guns, which they let off with more or less success, we +should have been overwhelmed by the great and ferocious apes had I not +by this time succeeded in re-loading the elephant gun. When they were +right on us, I fired, with even more deadly effect than before, for at +that distance every slug told on their long line. The howls and screams +of pain and rage were now something inconceivable. One might have +thought that we were doing battle with a host of demons; indeed in that +light—for the overhanging arch of rock made it very dark—the gnashing +snouts and sombre glowing eyes of the apes looked like those of devils +as they are represented by monkish fancy. But the last shot was too +much for them; they withdrew, dragging some of their wounded with them, +and thus gave us time to get our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all +were there, and we advanced down the passage, which presently opened +into a rocky gulley with shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at +the bottom of it; it was about a hundred yards long, and the slopes on +either side were topped by precipitous cliffs. I looked at these +slopes; they literally swarmed with baboons, grunting, barking, +screaming, and beating their breasts with their long arms, in fury. I +looked up the water-way; along it, accompanied by a mob, or, as it +were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, her long hair flying, madness +written on her face, and in her arms was the senseless form of little +Tota. + +She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. +To me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearly +understood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulder +leaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from the +roof of the arch on to a man’s head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi lifted +his gun to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the shot went over +her, crying that he would kill the child. Then I shouted to the men to +open out and form a line from side to side of the shelving gulley. +Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they obeyed me, and keeping +in the water-way myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the other guns, +I gave the word to charge. + +Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most +fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the +slopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who +rushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, the +apes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, and +many more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor did +we go scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over in +the grip of a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon him +like dogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in this +way, and I myself received a bite through the fleshy part of the left +arm, but fortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before I was +pulled down. + +At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to +seize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more +of fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away +from the assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces +in their paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. + +Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her +arms, she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I +lifted my gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad +thing, half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed +full on Indaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay to do any +more. Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and through the +arch, followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and vanished from our +sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + + +Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that +night in the baboons’ home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella +would not sleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I +made her up a kind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley +was one of the hottest places I ever was in, I thought that this would +not matter; but when at sunrise on the following morning I saw a veil +of miasmatic mist hanging over the surface of the ground, I changed my +opinion. However, neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, so as soon +as was practical we started homewards. I had already on the previous +day sent some of the men back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and when +we reached the cliff we found them waiting for us beneath. With the +help of the ladder the descent was easy. Stella simply got out of her +rough litter at the top of the cliff, for we found it necessary to +carry her, climbed down the ladder, and got into it again at the +bottom. + +Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of +Hendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here +with—“and lived happily ever after.” But alas! it is not so. How am I +to write it? + +My dearest wife’s vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that +the danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that +her state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of +leaving Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of +mind, and the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, +combined with her delicate state of health, had completely broken her +down. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack of +fever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that accursed +valley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfully +weak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. + +I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my +future, never of _our_ future. It is impossible for me to tell how +sweet she was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I +wish to tell it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if +ever a woman drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, +Stella Quatermain did so. + +The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived to +kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had +little skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through one +weary night I watched her with a breaking heart. + +The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak +behind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. +Stella awoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to +open the door of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the +splendour of the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an angel +might smile. Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, pointing +to the radiant heavens, whispered: + +“_There, Allan, there!_” + +It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wander +to the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; it +cannot be written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! + +Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we can +never go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my father +before me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there +is but one word of comfort. “The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath +taken away.” Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble +heart, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” + +I buried her by her father’s side, and the weeping of the people who +had loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could +weep no more. + +On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed +myself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, and +by its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near +silently, and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on +the further side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella’s +grave, and tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would +unearth that which lay within, was _Hendrika_. Her face was wild and +haggard, her form was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore slipped +aside, the shoulder-blades seemed to project almost through her skin. +Suddenly she looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful maniac laugh, +she put her hand to her girdle and drew her great knife from it. I +thought that she was about to attack me, and prepared to defend myself +as I best could, for I was unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. +Lifting the knife on high, for a moment she held it glittering in the +moonlight, then plunged it into her own breast, and fell headlong to +the ground. + +I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently +she opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. + +“Macumazahn,” she said, speaking in English and in a thick difficult +voice like one who half forgot and half remembered—“Macumazahn, I +remember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?” + +“Yes,” I said, “she is dead, and you killed her.” + +“I killed her!” the dying woman faltered, “and I loved her. Yes, yes, I +know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and now +once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her—because I +loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not dead +yet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. +It was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and +now she never can forgive me.” + +“Ask forgiveness from above,” I said, for Hendrika had been a +Christian, and the torment of her remorse touched me. + +“I ask no forgiveness,” she said. “May God torture me for ever, because +I killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to find me +and forgives me! I only want her forgiveness.” And wailing in an +anguish of the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be +forgotten, Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. + +I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had +happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed +to give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the +natives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to +the vultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of +Hendrika. + +A week after Hendrika’s death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was +hateful to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi +and told him that I was going. He answered that it was well. “The place +has served your turn,” he said; “here you have won that joy which it +was fated you should win, and have suffered those things that it was +fated you should suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy +and the suffering, like the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, +and will rest at last in the same heaven, the heaven from which they +came. Now go, Macumazahn.” + +I asked him if he was coming with me. + +“No,” he answered, “our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We met +together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes +his own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my years +are few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhaps +we may meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we have +each of us a friend the less.” + +“Heavy words,” I said. + +“True words,” he answered. + +Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving +Indaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of such +cattle and goods as I did not want. + +Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almost +recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwards +named, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting a +respectable native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight +with the baboons, to accompany me as his nurse. + +Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away +from Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the +Bad Lands, and my first night’s outspan was beneath that very tree +where Stella, my lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. + +I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not died +in the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from year to +year I have continued to feel while I wander through the lonely +wilderness of life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had won my +darling’s love, and for a little while we had been happy together. Our +happiness was too perfect to endure. She is lost to me now, but she is +lost to be found again. + +Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. + +“Good-bye, Macumazahn,” he said, nodding his white lock at me. +“Good-bye for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make +me that. But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved +each other shall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in +my way, Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All +my prophecies to you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall +come true also. I tell you that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and +shall not find me. I tell you that you shall journey to a further land +than Babyan Kraals and shall find me. Farewell!” and he took a pinch of +snuff, turned, and went. + +Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many +adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived +safely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both +Tota and my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well +chronicle the destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. +Then she was adopted by a lady, the wife of an English colonel, who was +stationed at the Cape. She was taken by her adopted parents to England, +where she grew up a very charming and pretty girl, and ultimately +married a clergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her again, though we +often wrote to each other. + +Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gathered +to the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! all +this took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. + +Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson’s +property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I +wrote to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer to +whom the matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not +having been celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according +to English law, and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly enough +I acquiesced in this, and the property passed to a cousin of my +father-in-law’s; but since I have come to live in England I have been +informed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, and that there +is every probability that the courts would have declared the marriage +perfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordance +with the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now so +rich that it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin is +dead, his son is in possession, so let him keep it. + +Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years +after my darling’s death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook +an expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of +the well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted +my horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strange +prescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the music +of the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals that used to +be to the left of the road by the river had vanished. I rode towards +their site; the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the paths were +dumb with grass. Presently I reached the place. There, overgrown with +grass, were the burnt ashes of the kraals, and there among the ashes, +gleaming in the moonlight, lay the white bones of men. Now it was clear +to me. The settlement had been fallen on by some powerful foe, and its +inhabitants put to the assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come +true; Babyan Kraals were peopled by memories alone. + +I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. +They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I +entered one of them—it had been our sleeping hut—and lit a candle which +I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and broken +mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. Then I +remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor and +concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. I +went to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within wrapped +in rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife had been +married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered wreath and +flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened it; +it contained a lock of my own hair! + +I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away +and could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the +floor. + +Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving my +horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined +garden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling’s grave grew +a self-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on +to the mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A +great baboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished into +the trees. I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika +doomed to keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous +rage had done to death. + +I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be +written. Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters +fall in melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting +mountain, I turned and sought that spot where first we had told our +love. Now the orange grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of +the trees were dead, choked with creepers, but some still flourished. +There stood the one beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock +that had been our seat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of +_Stella_, the Stella whom I had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her +upturned face was that same spiritual look which I saw upon it in the +hour when we first had kissed. The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, +the breeze wavered in her curling hair, her breast rose and fell, a +gentle smile played about her parted lips. I stood transfixed with awe +and joy, gazing on that lost loveliness which once was mine. I could +not speak, and she spoke no word; she did not even seem to see me. Now +her eyes fell. For a moment they met mine, and their message entered +into me. + +Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous +moonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the +waters, the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the +sorrow and the hope. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN’S WIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 2727-0.txt or 2727-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2727/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Allan’s Wife</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July, 2001 [eBook #2727]<br /> +[Most recently updated: April 20, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN’S WIFE ***</div> + +<h1>Allan’s Wife</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. EARLY DAYS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. THE FIRE-FIGHT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. NORTHWARDS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. THE ZULU IMPI</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. THE END OF THE LAAGER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. STELLA</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. THE BABOON-WOMAN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. THE MARBLE KRAALS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. “LET US GO IN, ALLAN!”</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. GONE!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center"> +DEDICATION +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + My Dear Macumazahn,<br/> + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening of that Allan +who has become as well known to me as any other friend I have. It is therefore +fitting that I should dedicate to you this, his last tale—the story of +his wife, and the history of some further adventures which befell him. They +will remind you of many an African yarn—that with the baboons may recall +an experience of your own which I did not share. And perhaps they will do more +than this. Perhaps they will bring back to you some of the long past romance of +days that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain tells his tale +is now, for the most part, as well known and explored as are the fields of +Norfolk. Where we shot and trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of +civilized man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of the flag +of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the Transvaal plains; the game +has gone; the misty charm of the morning has become the glare of day. All is +changed. The blue gums that we planted in the garden of the +“Palatial” must be large trees by now, and the +“Palatial” itself has passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for +her love after we were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is +dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin.<br/> + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the mystery and promise +of the morning are outworn; the mid-day sun burns overhead, and at times the +way is weary. Few of those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and +murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in a more gentle +fashion; others are hidden from us, we know not where. We might well fear to +return to that land lest we also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart +to-day, the past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we can +remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly undertaken, which now +would strike us as hazardous indeed. Still we can recall the long familiar line +of the Pretoria Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight +patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the Shameful Hill.<br/> + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those eventful years of +youth which we passed together in the African towns and on the African veldt, I +dedicate these pages, subscribing myself now as always,<br/> + Your sincere friend,<br/> + Indanda.<br/> + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>ALLAN’S WIFE</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +EARLY DAYS</h2> + +<p> +It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just before +his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, stating that +he has written of her fully elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his literary +executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the following is one. +The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. Quatermain was not +personally concerned—a Zulu novel, the story of which was told to him by +the hero many years after the tragedy had occurred. But with this we have +nothing to do at present. +</p> + +<p> +I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain’s manuscript begins) that I would +set down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss of my +most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and to some extent +time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it is still keen enough. +On two or three occasions I have even begun the record. Once I gave it up +because the writing of it depressed me beyond bearing, once because I was +suddenly called away upon a journey, and the third time because a Kaffir boy +found my manuscript convenient for lighting the kitchen fire. +</p> + +<p> +But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth attempt. If +I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in after years when I am +dead and gone; before that I should not wish it to be published. It is a wild +tale enough, and suggests some curious reflections. +</p> + +<p> +I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in charge of a +small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten years married to my +dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, of whom I was the +youngest. I remember faintly the place where we lived. It was an ancient long +grey house, facing the road. There was a very large tree of some sort in the +garden. It was hollow, and we children used to play about inside of it, and +knock knots of wood from the rough bark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and +my mother always came and kissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake up and +see her bending over me, a candle in her hand. There was a curious kind of pole +projecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was dreadfully frightened because +my eldest brother made me hang to it by my hands. That is all I remember about +our old home. It has been pulled down long ago, or I would journey there to see +it. +</p> + +<p> +A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates to it, and +on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which were so hideous that +I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was prophetic. One could see the +house by peeping through the bars of the gates. It was a gloomy-looking place, +with a tall yew hedge round it; but in the summer-time some flowers grew about +the sun-dial in the grass plat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire +Carson lived there. One Christmas—it must have been the Christmas before +my father emigrated, or I should not remember it—we children went to a +Christmas-tree festivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, and +footmen wearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the dining-room, which was +panelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. Squire Carson stood in front +of it. He was a tall, dark man, very quiet in his manners, and he wore a bunch +of seals on his waistcoat. We used to think him old, but as a matter of fact he +was then not more than forty. He had been, as I afterwards learned, a great +traveller in his youth, and some six or seven years before this date he married +a lady who was half a Spaniard—a papist, my father called her. I can +remember her well. She was small and very pretty, with a rounded figure, large +black eyes, and glittering teeth. She spoke English with a curious accent. I +suppose that I must have been a funny child to look at, and I know that my hair +stood up on my head then as it does now, for I still have a sketch of myself +that my mother made of me, in which this peculiarity is strongly marked. On +this occasion of the Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. Carson turned to a +tall, foreign-looking gentleman who stood beside her, and, tapping him +affectionately on the shoulder with her gold eye-glasses, said— +</p> + +<p> +“Look, cousin—look at that droll little boy with the big brown +eyes; his hair is like a—what you call him?—scrubbing-brush. Oh, +what a droll little boy!” +</p> + +<p> +The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson’s +hand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her +whisper— +</p> + +<p> +“Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like—like the +thunderstorm.” +</p> + +<p> +Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. +</p> + +<p> +After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was shy, and +watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire’s only child, giving the +children presents off the tree. She was dressed as Father Christmas, with some +soft white stuff round her lovely little face, and she had large dark eyes, +which I thought more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. At last it came +to my turn to receive a present—oddly enough, considered in the light of +future events, it was a large monkey. Stella reached it down from one of the +lower boughs of the tree and handed it to me, saying— +</p> + +<p> +“Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain.” +</p> + +<p> +As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled over +with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught fire—how +I do not know—and the flame ran up her arm towards her throat. She stood +quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with fear; and the ladies who +were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. Then some impulse seized +me—perhaps instinct would be a better word to use, considering my age. I +threw myself upon the child, and, beating at the fire with my hands, mercifully +succeeded in extinguishing it before it really got hold. My wrists were so +badly scorched that they had to be wrapped up in wool for a long time +afterwards, but with the exception of a single burn upon her throat, little +Stella Carson was not much hurt. +</p> + +<p> +This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. What happened +afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I sometimes see little +Stella’s sweet face and the stare of terror in her dark eyes as the fire +ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, for I had, humanly speaking, +saved the life of her who was destined to be my wife. +</p> + +<p> +The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three brothers +all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the poisoning of our +well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead sheep into it. +</p> + +<p> +It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day to the +vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in the study, and I +sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of paper with a pencil, while my +father walked up and down the room talking to himself. Afterwards I knew that +he was praying for the lives of his wife and children. Presently a servant came +to the door and said that some one wanted to see him. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the squire, sir,” said the maid, “and he says he +particularly wishes to see you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire +Carson came in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercely +that I was afraid of him. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain,” he +said, in a hoarse voice, “but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and +I wish to speak to you before I go—indeed, I must speak to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I send Allan away?” said my father, pointing to me. +</p> + +<p> +“No; let him bide. He will not understand.” Nor, indeed, did I at +the time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning grew on +me. +</p> + +<p> +“First tell me,” he went on, “how are they?” and he +pointed upwards with his thumb. +</p> + +<p> +“My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope,” my father answered, +with a groan. “I do not know how it will go with the third. The +Lord’s will be done!” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord’s will be done,” the squire echoed, solemnly. +“And now, Quatermain, listen—my wife’s gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gone!” my father answered. “Who with?” +</p> + +<p> +“With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me +that she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she thought +me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, or most of it, +and gone. I don’t know where. Luckily, she did not care to encumber her +new career with the child; Stella is left to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson,” said my father. +That was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but he +was bigoted. “What are you going to do—follow her?” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed bitterly in answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow her!” he said; “why should I follow her? If I met her +I might kill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have +brought upon my child’s name. No, I never want to look upon her face +again. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go and find +her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, Carson, surely,” said my father, “you do not +mean——” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this +civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, I and my +child, and hide our shame. Where? I don’t know where. Anywhere, so long +as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues——” +</p> + +<p> +“You are mad, Carson,” my father answered. “How will you +live? How can you educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. +Education! Was not she—that woman who was my wife—was not she +highly educated?—the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever +for me, Quatermain—too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be brought up +in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her very name. +Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find me out, henceforth +I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I knew,” and he was gone. +</p> + +<p> +“Mad,” said my father, with a heavy sigh. “His trouble has +turned his brain. But he will think better of it.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in his ear. +My father’s face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table to support +himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! +</p> + +<p> +It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my father +took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which had been my +mother’s bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with flowers in her +hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three little white beds, and on +each of the beds lay one of my brothers. They all looked as though they were +asleep, and they all had flowers in their hands. My father told me to kiss +them, because I should not see them any more, and I did so, though I was very +frightened. I did not know why. Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord hath given,” he said, “and the Lord hath taken +away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” +</p> + +<p> +I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have only a +confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens towards the grey +churchyard! +</p> + +<p> +Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father could no +longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen on him, and made +up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have been poor at the +time—indeed, I believe that a large portion of our income went from my +father on my mother’s death. At any rate we travelled with the steerage +passengers, and the intense discomfort of the journey with the rough ways of +our fellow emigrants still remain upon my mind. At last it came to an end, and +we reached Africa, which I was not to leave again for many, many years. +</p> + +<p> +In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern Africa. +My father went up the country and became a missionary among the Kaffirs, near +to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grew to manhood. There were +a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and gradually a little settlement of +whites gathered round our mission station—a drunken Scotch blacksmith and +wheelwright was about the most interesting character, who, when he was sober, +could quote the Scottish poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently +published, literally by the page. It was from that I contracted a fondness for +the latter amusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared for +so much, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. What +little education I got was from my father, but I never had much leaning towards +books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On the other hand, I was always a +keen observer of the ways of men and nature. By the time that I was twenty I +could speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects perfectly, and I doubt if +there was anybody in South Africa who understood native ways of thought and +action more completely than I did. Also I was really a very good shot and +horseman, and I think—as, indeed, my subsequent career proves to have +been the case—a great deal tougher than the majority of men. Though I was +then, as now, light and small, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any +amount of exposure and privation, and I never met the native who was my master +in feats of endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I am speaking of +my early manhood. +</p> + +<p> +It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such surroundings, but +I was held back from this by my father’s society. He was one of the +gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the most savage Kaffir +loved him, and his influence was a very good one for me. He used to call +himself one of the world’s failures. Would that there were more such +failures. Every morning when his work was done he would take his prayer-book +and, sitting on the little stoep or verandah of our station, would read the +evening psalms to himself. Sometimes there was not light enough for this, but +it made no difference, he knew them all by heart. When he had finished he would +look out across the cultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had their huts. +</p> + +<p> +But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, and the +graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. +</p> + +<p> +It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one evening I +was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire and my mother. He +spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never been out of his mind for a +single day during all these years, and that he rejoiced to think he was drawing +near that land whither she had gone. Then he asked me if I remembered the night +when Squire Carson came into the study at the vicarage, and told him that his +wife had run away, and that he was going to change his name and bury himself in +some remote land. +</p> + +<p> +I answered that I remembered it perfectly. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder where he went to,” said my father, “and if he and +his daughter Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them again. +But life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, give them my +kind love.” +</p> + +<p> +After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the +depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, as I had +done before, and not without success, I determined to watch the kraal and see +if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit of mine of watching at +night that I first got my native name of Macumazahn, which may be roughly +translated as “he who sleeps with one eye open.” So I took my rifle +and rose to go. But he called me to him and kissed me on the forehead, saying, +“God bless you, Allan! I hope that you will think of your old father +sometimes, and that you will lead a good and happy life.” +</p> + +<p> +I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it down to an +attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the years went on. I +went down to the kraal and watched till within an hour of sunrise; then, as no +thieves appeared, returned to the station. As I came near I was astonished to +see a figure sitting in my father’s chair. At first I thought it must be +a drunken Kaffir, then that my father had fallen asleep there. +</p> + +<p> +And so he had,—for he was dead! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +THE FIRE-FIGHT</h2> + +<p> +When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his +place—for the station was the property of the Society—I set to work +to carry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute +because it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, it was +to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the countries now +known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much further North as I could +go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though the emigrant Boers had begun to +occupy positions in these territories, they were still to all practical +purposes unexplored. But I was now alone in the world, and it mattered little +what became of me; so, driven on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, +old as I am, will perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to +undertake the journey. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, reserving +only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceeds I invested in +such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, and in guns and +ammunition. The guns would have moved any modern explorer to merriment; but +such as they were I managed to do a good deal of execution with them. One of +them was a single-barrelled, smooth bore, fitted for percussion caps—a +roer we called it—which threw a three-ounce ball, and was charged with a +handful of coarse black powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with that +roer, although it generally knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only +did under compulsion. The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. +12 shot-gun, but it had flint locks. Also there were some old tower muskets, +which might or might not throw straight at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs +with me, and three good horses, which were supposed to be salted—that is, +proof against the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow named +Indaba-zimbi, which, being translated, means “tongue of iron.” I +suppose he got this name from his strident voice and exhaustless eloquence. +This man was a great character in his way. He had been a noted witch-doctor +among a neighbouring tribe, and came to the station under the following +circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable part in this history, are +perhaps worth recording. +</p> + +<p> +Two years before my father’s death I had occasion to search the country +round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred to me that +I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a Kaffir chief, whose +name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty miles from our station. There I +journeyed, and found the oxen safe at home. The chief entertained me +handsomely, and on the following morning I went to pay my respects to him +before leaving, and was somewhat surprised to find a collection of some +hundreds of men and women sitting round him anxiously watching the sky in which +the thunder-clouds were banking up in a very ominous way. +</p> + +<p> +“You had better wait, white man,” said the chief, “and see +the rain-doctors fight the lightning.” +</p> + +<p> +I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had for some +years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, although he was +not a member of it, having been born in the country now known as Zululand. But +a son of the chief’s, a man of about thirty, had lately set up as a rival +in supernatural powers. This irritated Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a +quarrel ensued between the two witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to +trial by lightning being given and accepted. These were the conditions. The +rivals must await the coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest +would serve their turn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take +their stand within fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of ground +where the big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, and by the +exercise of their occult powers and invocations to the lightning, must strive +to avert death from themselves and bring it on their rival. The terms of this +singular match had been arranged a month previously, but no storm worthy of the +occasion had arisen. Now the local weather-prophets believed it to be brewing. +</p> + +<p> +I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and was told +that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the second time, +however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be jointly consulted by +the tribe upon occasions of importance. +</p> + +<p> +The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my desire to +be gone, and I accepted the chief’s invitation to see it out. Before +mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grew darker and darker, +and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, yet it did not come. By +four o’clock, however, it became obvious that it must burst soon—at +sunset, the old chief said, and in the company of the whole assembly I moved +down to the place of combat. The kraal was built on the top of a hill, and +below it the land sloped gently to the banks of a river about half a mile away. +On the hither side of the bank was the piece of land that was, the natives +said, “loved of the lightning.” Here the magicians took up their +stand, while the spectators grouped themselves on the hillside about two +hundred yards away—which was, I thought, rather too near to be pleasant. +When we had sat there for a while my curiosity overcame me, and I asked leave +of the chief to go down and inspect the arena. He said I might do so at my own +risk. I told him that the fire from above would not hurt white men, and went to +find that the spot was a bed of iron ore, thinly covered with grass, which of +course accounted for its attracting the lightning from the storms as they +travelled along the line of the river. At each end of this iron-stone area were +placed the combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing the east, and his rival the west, +and before each there burned a little fire made of some scented root. Moreover +they were dressed in all the paraphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, +fish-bladders, and I know not what beside, while round their necks hung +circlets of baboons’ teeth and bones from human hands. First I went to +the western end where the chief’s son stood. He was pointing with his +assegai towards the advancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great +excitement. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! +</p> + +<p> +“Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! +</p> + +<p> +“Spit on him with your rain! +</p> + +<p> +“Whirl him away in your breath! +</p> + +<p> +“Make him as nothing—melt the marrow in his bones! +</p> + +<p> +“Run into his heart and burn away the lies! +</p> + +<p> +“Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! +</p> + +<p> +“Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!” +</p> + +<p> +Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad +chest—for he was a very fine man—with some filthy compound of +medicine or <i>mouti</i>. +</p> + +<p> +After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the iron-stone, to +where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting at all, but his +performance was much more impressive. It consisted in staring at the eastern +sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and every now and again beckoning at +it with his finger, then turning round to point with the assegai towards his +rival. For a while I looked at him in silence. He was a curious wizened man, +apparently over fifty years of age, with thin hands that looked as tough as +wire. His nose was much sharper than is usual among these races, and he had a +queer habit of holding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, which, in +addition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a most comical +appearance. Another strange thing about him was that he had a single white lock +of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke to him: +</p> + +<p> +“Indaba-zimbi, my friend,” I said, “you may be a good +witch-doctor, but you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue +sky while your enemy is getting a start with the storm.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may be clever, but don’t think you know everything, white +man,” the old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with +something like a grin. +</p> + +<p> +“They call you Iron-tongue,” I went on; “you had better use +it, or the Storm Devil won’t hear you.” +</p> + +<p> +“The fire from above runs down iron,” he answered, “so I keep +my tongue quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I’ll put him out presently. +Look now, white man.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was small, +though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it did not +particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa for two +thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different points of the compass. +</p> + +<p> +“You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “the big storm +is coming along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours,” and I +pointed to the west. +</p> + +<p> +“Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man,” said Indaba-zimbi, +beckoning away vigorously. “Look now at my cloud-child.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, and in +shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, and its +legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across the heavens. The light of +the setting sun escaping from beneath the lower edge of the western storm shot +across the intervening space in a sheet of splendour, and, lighting upon the +advancing figure of cloud, wrapped its middle in hues of glory too wonderful to +be described; but beneath and above this glowing belt his feet and head were +black as jet. Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light shot from the +head of the cloud, circled it about as though with a crown of living fire, and +vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“Aha,” chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, “my little boy is putting +on his man’s ring,” and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, +which natives assume when they reach a certain age and dignity. “Now, +white man, unless you are a bigger wizard than either of us you had better +clear off, for the fire-fight is about to begin.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought this sound advice. +</p> + +<p> +“Good luck go with you, my black uncle,” I said. “I hope you +don’t feel the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the +last.” +</p> + +<p> +“You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man,” +he answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at that very +moment a flash of lightning, I don’t know from which storm, struck the +ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I took to my heels, +and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi’s dry chuckle of amusement. +</p> + +<p> +I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his indunas, +or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man’s face and saw +that he was intensely anxious for his son’s safety, and by no means +confident of the young man’s powers to resist the magic of Indaba-zimbi. +He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. I affected to take no +notice and to be concentrating my attention on the novel scene before me; but +in those days I had very quick ears, and caught the drift of the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken!” the chief was saying, “if the magic of +Indaba-zimbi prevails against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am +sure, that when he has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself +chief in my place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. <i>Ou!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Black One,” answered the induna, “wizards die as dogs die, +and, once dead, dogs bark no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“And once dead,” said the chief, “wizards work no more +spells,” and he bent and whispered in the induna’s ear, looking at +the assegai in his hand as he whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“Good, my father, good!” said the induna, presently. “It +shall be done to-night, if the lightning does not do it first.” +</p> + +<p> +“A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi,” I said to myself. +“They mean to kill him.” Then I thought no more of the matter for a +while, the scene before me was too tremendous. +</p> + +<p> +The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf of blue +sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed across this gulf, +leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they reminded me of the story of +the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. The storm that was shaped like a +giant and ringed with the glory of the sinking sun made an excellent Jove, and +I am sure that the bolts which leapt from it could not have been surpassed even +in mythological times. Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by +thunder. A deadly stillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on +the hillside, even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows crept along +the bosom of the hills, the river to the right and left was hidden in wreaths +of cloud, but before us and beyond the combatants it shone like a line of +silver beneath the narrowing space of open sky. Now the western tempest was +scrawled all over with lines of intolerable light, while the inky head of the +cloud-giant to the east was continually suffused with a white and deadly glow +that came and went in pulses, as though a blood of flame was being pumped into +it from the heart of the storm. +</p> + +<p> +The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and blacker, then +suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of an icy wind. On sped +the wind; the smooth surface of the river was ruffled by it into little waves, +the tall grass bowed low before it, and in its wake came the hissing sound of +furious rain. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of dazzling flame, +and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of the following thunder. +The light went out of the sky, darkness fell suddenly on the land, but not for +long. Presently the whole landscape grew vivid in the flashes, it appeared and +disappeared, now everything was visible for miles, now even the men at my side +vanished in the blackness. The thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the +trump of doom, whirlwinds tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into +the air, and in a low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. +</p> + +<p> +I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, and looked +beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash followed flash, from time +to time I caught sight of the two wizards. They were slowly advancing towards +one another, each pointing at his foe with the assegai in his hand. I could see +their every movement, and it seemed to me that the chain lightning was striking +the iron-stone all round them. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grew black, +and, except for the rain, silent. +</p> + +<p> +“It is over one way or the other, chief,” I called out into the +darkness. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait, white man, wait!” answered the chief, in a voice thick with +anxiety and fear. +</p> + +<p> +Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up again till +they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten paces apart. A +great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger beneath the shock. +Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first—at any rate when the next flash came +he was standing bolt upright, pointing with his assegai towards his enemy. The +chief’s son was still on his legs, but he was staggering like a drunken +man, and the assegai had fallen from his hand. +</p> + +<p> +Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that had gone +before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the head of +Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief’s son wrapped, as it were, +in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burst over us like a +torrent, and I saw no more. +</p> + +<p> +The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so dense that +we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the safety of the +hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, and venture down to the +iron-stone. Occasionally there still came flashes, but, search as we would, we +could see no trace of either of the wizards. For my part, I believed that they +were both dead. Now the clouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, +and with them went the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go and see,” said the old chief, rising and shaking the +water from his hair. “The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has +conquered.” +</p> + +<p> +I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards with my +clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron-stone had +been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was staring about me, I +suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give a low moan, and saw the +people cluster round him. I went up and looked. There, on the ground, lay the +body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. The hair was burnt off his head, the +copper rings upon his arms were fused, the assegai handle which lay near was +literally shivered into threads, and, when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to +me that every bone of it was broken. +</p> + +<p> +The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. +</p> + +<p> +“Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!” said a man, at length. The +chief turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Great or not, thou dog, he shall die,” he cried, “and so +shalt thou if thou singest his praises so loudly.” +</p> + +<p> +I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared the fate +of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, and at length, +being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to my waggon to change my +clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised to see a strange Kaffir seated +on the driving-box wrapped up in a blanket. +</p> + +<p> +“Hullo! come out of that,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great deliberation +took a pinch of snuff. +</p> + +<p> +“It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?” said +Indaba-zimbi, in his high, cracked voice. “But he never had a chance +against me, poor boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of +presumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes fly, +didn’t I?” +</p> + +<p> +“You old humbug,” I said, “unless you are careful you will +soon learn what comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you +with an assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now you don’t say so,” said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the +waggon with rapidity; “and all because of this wretched upstart. +There’s gratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill +me. Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long,” and +he was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the +chief’s men came up to the waggon. +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on arriving +at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Macumazahn?” he said, holding his head on one side +and nodding his white lock. “I hear you are Christians here, and I want +to try a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wanted to +kill me for exposing an impostor.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +NORTHWARDS</h2> + +<p> +I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this +narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with +Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he takes +some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a humbug, he was a very +clever one. What amount of truth there was in his pretensions to supernatural +powers it is not for me to determine, though I may have my own opinion on the +subject. But there was no mistake as to the extraordinary influence he +exercised over his fellow-natives. Also he quite got round my poor father. At +first the old gentleman declined to have him at the station, for he had a great +horror of these Kaffir wizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi persuaded him +that he was anxious to investigate the truths of Christianity, and challenged +him to a discussion. The argument lasted two years—to the time of my +father’s death, indeed. At the conclusion of each stage Indaba-zimbi +would remark, in the words of the Roman Governor, “Almost, praying white +man, thou persuadest me to become a Christian,” but he never quite became +one—indeed, I do not think he ever meant to. It was to him that my father +addressed his “Letters to a Native Doubter.” This work, which, +unfortunately, remains in manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned +instances. It ought to be published together with a <i>précis</i> of the +doubter’s answers, which were verbal. +</p> + +<p> +So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be going on now, +for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. Meanwhile Indaba-zimbi was +allowed to live on the station on condition that he practised no witchcraft, +which my father firmly believed to be a wile of the devil. He said that he +would not, but for all that there was never an ox lost, or a sudden death, but +he was consulted by those interested. +</p> + +<p> +When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the tribe he had +left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with them since he went +away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was dead. Old Indaba-zimbi +listened to them till they had done, and, as he listened, raked sand into a +little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, pointing to the little heap, +“There is your tribe to-day,” he said. Then he lifted his heel and +stamped the heap flat. “There is your tribe before three moons are gone. +Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: I will have no more to do with you; +but when you are being killed think of my words.” +</p> + +<p> +The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole community +had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. +</p> + +<p> +When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old +Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find him +engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in his blankets. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “I am going to trek +north.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Macumazahn,” he answered, with his head on one side; +“and so am I—I want to see that country. We will go +together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will we!” I said; “wait till you are asked, you old +humbug.” +</p> + +<p> +“You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don’t you will +never come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to where the +storms come from,” and he nodded to the sky, “I feel myself getting +into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones and worked out +about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if you don’t take me +you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who is dearer to you than +life in a strange fashion. So just because you gave me that hint a couple of +years ago, I made up my mind to come with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t talk stuff to me,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own people +six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen? They drove me +away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you will soon be gone too,” +and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. Now I was not more superstitious +than other people, but somehow old Indaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his +extraordinary influence over every class of native, and bethought me that he +might be useful in that way. +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” I said: “I appoint you witch-finder to the +expedition without pay.” +</p> + +<p> +“First serve, then ask for wages,” he answered. “I am glad to +see that you have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most +white men, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes people +fools; they won’t believe what they can’t understand. You +can’t understand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could +understand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time to trek, +but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not two.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than +two.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, nonsense!” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, Macumazahn, live and learn.” And without another word +he walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on to the +front seat. +</p> + +<p> +So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the old +Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns till the tears +ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled slowly northwards. For +the first three weeks nothing very particular befell me. Such Kaffirs as we +came in contact with were friendly, and game literally swarmed. Nobody living +in those parts of South Africa nowadays can have the remotest idea of what the +veldt was like even thirty years ago. +</p> + +<p> +Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the sun rose +and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast field of white mist +suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden glow, through which the tops of +stony koppies stood up like gigantic beacons. From the dense mist would come +strange sounds—snorts, gruntings, bellows, and the thunder of countless +hoofs. Presently this great curtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as +the smoke from a pipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide +rolling country interspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was not +tenantless as it is now, for as far as the eye could reach it would be +literally black with game. Here to the right might be a herd of vilderbeeste +that could not number less than two thousand. Some were grazing, some +gambolled, whisking their white tails into the air, while all round the old +bulls stood upon hillocks sniffing suspiciously at the breeze. There, in front, +a hundred yards away, though to the unpractised eye they looked much closer, +because of the dazzling clearness of the atmosphere, was a great herd of +springbok trekking along in single file. Ah, they have come to the waggon-track +and do not like the look of it. What will they do?—go back? Not a bit of +it. It is nearly thirty feet wide, but that is nothing to a springbok. See, the +first of them bounds into the air like a ball. How beautifully the sunshine +gleams upon his golden hide! He has cleared it, and the others come after him +in numberless succession, all except the fawns, who cannot jump so far, and +have to scamper over the doubtful path with a terrified <i>bah</i>. What is +that yonder, moving above the tops of the mimosa, in the little dell at the +foot of the koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of them; there will be +marrow-bones for supper to-night. Hark! the ground shakes behind us, and over +the brow of the rise rush a vast herd of blesbock. On they come at full gallop, +their long heads held low, they look like so many bearded goats. I thought +so—behind them is a pack of wild dogs, their fur draggled, their tongues +lolling. They are in full cry; the giraffes hear them and are away, rolling +round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. See! +the foremost dogs are close on a buck. He has galloped far and is outworn. One +springs at his flank and misses him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks +wildly round and sees the waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his +despair rushes up to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up +some thirty paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun—no, not +the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with loopers. +</p> + +<p> +Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. No, +don’t touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he shall +have it. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! +</p> + +<p> +Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to see it +again before I die. +</p> + +<p> +The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was with +elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. Just before +we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch of forest-land some twenty +miles broad. The night we entered this forest we camped in a lovely open glade. +A few yards ahead tambouki grass was growing to the height of a man, or rather +it had been; now, with the exception of a few stalks here and there, it was +crushed quite flat. It was already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got +up I walked from the fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough +for me; a great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass not +many hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, for though +I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had never shot one. Moreover, the +sight of elephant spoor to the African hunter is what “colour in the +pan” is to the prospector of gold. It is by the ivory that he lives, and +to shoot it or trade it is his chief aim in life. My resolution was soon taken. +I would camp the waggons for a while in the forest, and start on horseback +after the elephants. +</p> + +<p> +I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The latter +were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plenty of meat and +congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express no opinion. I saw him +retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, and go through some +mysterious performances with bones and clay mixed with ashes, which were +watched with the greatest interest by the other Kaffirs. At length he rose, +and, coming forward, informed me that it was all right, and that I did well to +go and hunt the elephants, as I should get plenty of ivory; but he advised me +to go on foot. I said I should do nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. I am +wiser now; this was the first and last time that I ever attempted to hunt +elephants on horseback. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the rest I left +with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, a good rider and a +skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and the others walked. From dawn +till mid-day we followed the trail of the herd, which was as plain as a high +road. Then we off-saddled to let the horses rest and feed, and about three +o’clock started on again. Another hour or so passed, and still there was +no sign of elephants. Evidently the herd had travelled fast and far, and I +began to think that we should have to give it up, when suddenly I caught sight +of a brown mass moving through the thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a +quarter of a mile away. My heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the +hunter who has not felt like this at the sight of his first elephant? +</p> + +<p> +I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk the +bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we came to the +bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw the elephants had been +feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay all about. I did not take +much notice, however, for all my thoughts were fixed upon the bull I was +stalking, when suddenly my horse gave a violent start that nearly threw me from +the saddle, and there came a mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of +me. I looked: there was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four +yards off. I could just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on +either side. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away. +</p> + +<p> +Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was young +in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I lifted my +“roer” or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my +horse’s head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the +horse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull lurch +forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will quicken the +movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realized the folly of the +shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take no further notice of it. But +he took a different view of the matter. Pulling himself up in a series of +plunges, he spun round and came for me with outstretched ears and uplifted +trunk, screaming terribly. I was quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and +my first thought was of escape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but +he would not move an inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he +simply stood still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a +leaf. +</p> + +<p> +On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to stir the +horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my head. A thought +flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from the saddle. By the side +of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick through as a man’s body. The +tree was lifted a little off the ground by the broken boughs which took its +weight, and with a single movement, so active is one in such necessities, I +flung myself beneath it. As I did so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend +with a mighty thud on the back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was +almost in darkness, for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the +tree under which I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there long. In ten +seconds more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag’s neck, and, +with a mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as far +as I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after. +Presently I saw the red tip of the bull’s trunk stretching itself towards +me. If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I was lost. But in the +position I occupied, that was just what he could not do, although he knelt down +to facilitate his operations. On came the snapping tip like a great +open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, which vanished. Again it was thrust +down, and a scream of rage was bellowed through it within four inches of my +head. Now it seemed to elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it had me by the hair, +which, luckily for myself, was not very long. Then it was my turn to scream, +for next instant half a square inch of hair was dragged from my scalp by the +roots. I was being plucked alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchen boys +pluck a fowl. +</p> + +<p> +The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, changed his +tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and lifted. The tree stirred, +but fortunately the broken branches embedded in the spongy soil, and some +roots, which still held, prevented it from being turned over, though he lifted +it so much that, had it occurred to him, he could now easily have drawn me out +with his trunk. Again he hoisted with all his mighty strength, and I saw that +the tree was coming, and roared aloud for help. Some shots were fired close by +in answer, but if they hit the bull, their only effect was to stir his energies +to more active life. In another few seconds my shelter would be torn away, and +I should be done for. A cold perspiration burst out over me as I realized that +I was lost. Then of a sudden I remembered that I had a pistol in my belt, which +I often used for despatching wounded game. It was loaded and capped. By this +time the tree was lifted so much that I could easily get my hand down to my +middle and draw the pistol from its case. I drew and cocked it. Now the tree +was coming over, and there, within three feet of my head, was the great brown +trunk of the elephant. I placed the muzzle of the pistol within an inch of it +and fired. The result was instantaneous. Down sunk the tree again, giving one +of my legs a considerable squeeze, and next instant I heard a crashing sound. +The elephant had bolted. +</p> + +<p> +By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well tired. I +cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or indeed anything, until +I found myself sitting on the ground drinking some peach brandy from a flask, +and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me nodding his white lock sagely, while he +fired off moral reflections on the narrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in +not having taken his advice to go on foot. That reminded me of my horse—I +got up and went to look at it. It was quite dead, the blow of the +elephant’s trunk had fallen on the saddle, breaking the framework, and +rendering it useless. I reflected that in another two seconds it would have +fallen on <i>me</i>. Then I called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the +elephants had gone. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” he said, pointing down the gully, “and we had better +go after them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good.” +</p> + +<p> +There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feel +particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have had enough +of them. However, it would never do to show the white feather before the boys, +so I assented with much outward readiness, and we started, I on the second +horse, and the others on foot. When we had travelled for the best part of an +hour down the valley, all of a sudden we came upon the whole herd, which +numbered a little more than eighty. Just in front of them the bush was so thick +that they seemed to hesitate about entering it, and the sides of the valley +were so rocky and steep at this point that they could not climb them. +</p> + +<p> +They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was filled with +fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge back up the gully. +But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at the thick bush which went +down before them like corn before a sickle. I do not think that in all my +experiences I ever heard anything to equal the sound they made as they crashed +through and over the shrubs and trees. Before them was a dense forest belt from +a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so +that behind them was nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen trunks, +crushed branches, and here and there a tree, too strong even for them, left +stranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, notwithstanding the nature of the +ground over which they had to travel, they kept their distance ahead of us. +This sort of thing continued for a mile or more, and then I saw that in front +of the elephants the valley opened into a space covered with reeds and +grass—it might have been five or six acres in extent—beyond which +the valley ran on again. +</p> + +<p> +The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, +hesitating—evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as only +Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose martial +ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and dashed into the +treacherous swamp—for such it was, though just then there was no water to +be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, though they clearly found it +heavy going; then suddenly the great bull sank up to his belly in the stiff +peaty soil, and remained fixed. The others, mad with fear, took no heed of his +struggles and trumpetings, but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five +minutes the whole herd of them were hopelessly bogged, and the more they +struggled to escape, the deeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a +cow managed to win back to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to +charge us as we came up. But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, +and rushed back to its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. +</p> + +<p> +Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all over with +the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with their screams of rage +and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and fro. Now and then a monster +would make a great effort and drag his mass from its peaty bed, only to stick +fast again at the next step. It was a most pitiable sight, though one that +gladdened the hearts of my men. Even the best natives have little compassion +for the sufferings of animals. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants carried +our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we shot them by +moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and some of the cows, but +to do so would only have meant leaving them to perish of hunger; it was kinder +to kill them at once. The wounded bull I slew with my own hand, and I cannot +say that I felt much compunction in so doing. He knew me again, and made a +desperate effort to get at me, but I am glad to say that the peat held him +fast. +</p> + +<p> +The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owing to the +support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen: there they +stood as though they were asleep. +</p> + +<p> +I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, formed a +camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of cutting out the +elephants’ tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious reasons was a +disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of some wandering +bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not think we could ever have +managed it. +</p> + +<p> +At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, so we +buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys wanted me to go +back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too much bent on my journey to +do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. Then I came and dug them up; they +were but little harmed. Ultimately I sold the ivory for something over twelve +hundred pounds—not bad pay for one day’s shooting. +</p> + +<p> +This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many hundreds +of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on horseback. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +THE ZULU IMPI</h2> + +<p> +After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the +bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to find the +spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more I trekked along +the line which now divides the Orange Free State from Griqualand West, and the +Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The only difficulties met with were such as are +still common to African travellers—occasional want of water and troubles +about crossing sluits and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot +where Kimberley now stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there +was no water. I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a great +city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and old +Indaba-zimbi’s magic cannot have been worth so much after all, or he +would have told me. +</p> + +<p> +I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before +Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka’s General had swept across it in his progress +towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident enough. Time upon +time I trekked up to what had evidently been the sites of Kaffir kraals. Now +the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled stones, and strewn about among the +rank grass were the bones of hundreds of men, women, and children, all of whom +had kissed the Zulu assegai. I remember that in one of these desolate places I +found the skull of a child in which a ground-lark had built its nest. It was +the twittering of the young birds inside that first called my attention to it. +Shortly after this we met with our second great adventure, a much more serious +and tragic one than the first. +</p> + +<p> +We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbock crossed +the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It galloped about a +hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay down. As we were in want of +meat, not having met with any game for a few days past, I jumped on to my +horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that I would overtake the waggons or meet them +on the further side of a rise about an hour’s trek away, I started after +the wounded buck. As soon as I came within a hundred yards of it, however, it +jumped up and ran away as fast as though it were untouched, only to lie down +again at a distance. I followed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. +This happened three times. On the third occasion it vanished behind a ridge, +and, though by now I was out of both temper and patience, I thought I might as +well ride to the crest and see if I could get a shot at it on the further side. +</p> + +<p> +I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and +saw—a Zulu Impi! +</p> + +<p> +I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They were +halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying down, some +were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with spears and shields in +their hands; there might have been two thousand or more of them in all. While I +was wondering—and that with no little uneasiness—what on earth they +could be doing there, suddenly I heard a wild cry to the right and left of me. +I glanced first one way, then the other. From either side a great Zulu was +bearing down on me, their broad stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in +their left hands. The man to the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the +left was not more than ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out +of their heads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another three +seconds those broad “bangwans” might be buried in my vitals. On +such occasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anything +else—there is no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reins and, +raising my gun, fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bullet struck him +in the middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed through him, and over he +rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle; most happily my horse was +accustomed to standing still when I fired from his back, also he was so +surprised that he did not know which way to shy. The other savage was almost on +me; his outstretched shield reached the muzzle of my gun as I pulled the +trigger of the left barrel. It exploded, the warrior sprung high into the air, +and fell against my horse dead, his spear passing just in front of my face. +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the Zulus had +seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and drove my heels into +his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the rise I pulled a little to the +right in order to intercept the waggons before the Zulus saw them. I had not +gone three hundred yards in this new direction when, to my utter astonishment, +I struck a trail marked with waggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons +there must have been at least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they +had passed within twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I +understood; the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in all +probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. +</p> + +<p> +The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I followed it. +About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and there, about five +furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough laager upon the banks of +the river. There, too, were my own waggons trekking down the slope towards +them. +</p> + +<p> +In another five minutes I was there. The Boers—for Boers they +were—were standing about outside the little laager watching the approach +of my two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw me. The very first +man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom I had known well years +ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his class, but a very restless +person, with a great objection to authority, or, as he expressed it, “a +love of freedom.” He had joined a party of the emigrant Boers some years +before, but, as I learned presently, had quarrelled with its leader, and was +now trekking away into the wilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor +fellow! It was his last trek. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Meinheer Botha?” I said to him in Dutch. +</p> + +<p> +The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch stolidity, +cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon— +</p> + +<p> +“Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the son +of the ‘Predicant.’ How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the +news down in the Cape yonder?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what the news is in the Cape, Hans,” I +answered, solemnly; “but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon +your spoor and within two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just +shot two of their sentries,” and I showed him my empty gun. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzed faces +of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of the women gave a +little scream, and the children crept to their sides. +</p> + +<p> +“Almighty!” cried Hans, “that must be the Umtetwa Regiment +that Dingaan sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because +of the marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north to +join Mosilikatze.” +</p> + +<p> +“Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a +horse and drive in the cattle.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the box of +the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the news. +</p> + +<p> +“Ill tidings, Macumazahn,” he said; “there will be dead Boers +about to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will +wipe out the laager <i>so!</i>” and he passed his hand before his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow,” I said, though I knew +his words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told against +at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?” Indaba-zimbi said, +presently. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run +for it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won’t follow us, they will be +looking after the Boers.” +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t leave the other white men,” I said; “it would +be the act of a coward. If I die, I die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed,” he answered, +taking a pinch of snuff. “Come, let us see about the waggons,” and +we walked towards the laager. +</p> + +<p> +Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha and put it +to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make a run for it. +</p> + +<p> +“How can we do it?” he answered; “two of the women are too +fat to go a mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among +us. Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we must +fight it out with the savages, and God help us!” +</p> + +<p> +“God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t bear to think,” he answered, in a broken voice, +looking at his own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, +named Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. “Oh, Heer Allan, your +father, the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I never +would listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I see my +folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those black devils; if +you live longer than I do, or if you can’t save her, kill her,” and +he clasped my hand. +</p> + +<p> +“It hasn’t come to that yet, Hans,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including my two, +there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the disselboom of +each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of that in front of it. The +wheels also were locked, and the space between the ground and the bed-planks of +the waggons was stuffed with branches of the “wait-a-bit” thorn +that fortunately grew near in considerable quantities. In this way a barrier +was formed of no mean strength as against a foe unprovided with firearms, +places being left for the men to fire from. In a little over an hour everything +was done that could be done, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the +cattle, which had been driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were +anxious to get them into the laager, small as it was, or at least as many of +them as it would hold. I argued strongly against this, pointing out that the +brutes would probably be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, and +trample the defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative plan I +suggested that some of the native servants should drive the herd along the +valley of the river till they reached a friendly tribe or some other place of +safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would be taken, but the nature of +the ground was favourable, and it was possible that they might escape if they +started at once. The proposition was promptly agreed to, and, what is more, it +was settled that one Dutchman and such of the women and children as could +travel should go with them. In half an hour’s time twelve of them started +with the natives, the Boer in charge, and the cattle. Three of my own men went +with the latter, the three others and Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the +laager. +</p> + +<p> +The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to dwell. The +women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on with scared white +faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was thankful of it. There +remained in the laager seventeen white men, four natives, the two Boer fraus +who were too stout to travel, the woman in childbed and her baby, and Hans +Botha’s little daughter Tota, whom he could not make up his mind to part +with. Happily her mother was already dead. And here I may state that ten of the +women and children, together with about half of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu +Impi never saw them, and on the third day of travel they came to the fortified +place of a Griqua chief, who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in +payment. Thence by slow degrees they journeyed down to the Cape Colony, +reaching a civilized region within a little more than a year from the date of +the attack on the laager. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no signs of +the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone on about their +business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the regiment was supposed to +belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I noticed, been plunged in deep thought. +Presently he came to me and volunteered to go out and spy upon their movements. +At first Hans Botha was against this idea, saying that he was a “verdomde +swartzel”—an accursed black creature—and would betray us. I +pointed out that there was nothing to betray. The Zulus must know where the +waggons were, but it was important for us to gain information of their +movements. So it was agreed that Indaba-zimbi should go. I told him this. He +nodded his white lock, said “All right, Macumazahn,” and started. I +noticed with some surprise, however, that before he did so he went to the +waggon and fetched his “mouti,” or medicine, which, together with +his other magical apparatus, he always carried in a skin bag. I asked him why +he did this. He answered that it was to make himself invulnerable against the +spears of the Zulus. I did not in the least believe his explanation, for in my +heart I was sure that he meant to take the opportunity to make a bolt of it, +leaving me to my fate. I did not, however, interfere to prevent this, for I had +an affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hoped that he might escape the +doom which overshadowed us. +</p> + +<p> +So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form I thought +I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little knew that he was +risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one and all, but for me whom +in his queer way he loved. +</p> + +<p> +When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, strengthening the +waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. Then at sunset we ate and +drank as heartily as we could under the circumstances, and when we had done, +Hans Botha, as head of the party, offered up prayer to God for our +preservation. It was a touching sight to see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, +his broad face lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in +homely, simple language to Him who alone could save us from the spears of a +cruel foe. I remember that the last sentence of his prayer was, +“Almighty, if we must be killed, save the women and children and my +little girl Tota from the accursed Zulus, and do not let us be tortured.” +</p> + +<p> +I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for in common +with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be admitted not without +reason. +</p> + +<p> +Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each with a +rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. Occasionally one +of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from the smouldering fire, and +the glow of it would shine for a few moments on his pale, anxious face. +</p> + +<p> +Behind me one of the stout “fraus” lay upon the ground. Even the +terror of our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomed +sleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by the fire, lay +little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, her thumb in her mouth, +and from time to time her father would come to look at her. +</p> + +<p> +So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my intimate +knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they would attack us +at night, though, had they done so, they could have compassed our destruction +with but small loss to themselves. It is not the habit of this people, they +like to fight in the light of day—at dawn for preference. +</p> + +<p> +About eleven o’clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I heard +a low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and all along the +line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked their guns. +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn,” said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, “are +you there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager,” +he said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yah! yah! hold a light,” put in one of the Boers. “I +don’t trust that black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have +some of his countrymen with him.” Accordingly a lantern was produced and +held towards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the +laager and asked him the news. +</p> + +<p> +“This is the news, white men,” he said. “I waited till dark, +and creeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself behind a +stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as Baas Botha yonder +thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three days ago and followed it. +To-night they sleep upon their spears, to-morrow at daybreak they will attack +the laager and kill everybody. They are very bitter against the Boers, because +of the battle at Blood River and the other fights, and that is why they +followed the waggons instead of going straight north after Mosilikatze.” +</p> + +<p> +A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you what it is, Heeren,” I said, “instead of waiting +to be butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon +the Impi while it sleeps.” +</p> + +<p> +This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man could be +found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which makes great +soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and rather than embark upon +them they prefer to take their chance in a laager, however poor that chance may +be. For my own part I firmly believe that had my advice been taken we should +have routed the Zulus. Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would +have produced no small effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not +taken, so it is no use talking about it. +</p> + +<p> +After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore on +towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar circumstances while +they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel death, can know the +torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they went somehow, and at last in +the far east the sky began to lighten, while the cold breath of dawn stirred +the tilts of the waggons and chilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind +me woke with a yawn, then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth +chattered with cold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of +peach brandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a stiff +dram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his affected +jocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. Certainly it depressed +me. +</p> + +<p> +Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist which still +hung densely over the river, and now—ah! there it was. From the other +side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, came a faint +humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a chant—the awful war +chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. They were simple enough: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers?<br/> +Our spears shall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers?<br/> +For we are the sucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers.<br/> +Awake, children of the Umtetwa, awake!<br/> +The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air;<br/> +Awake, children of the Umtetwa—cry aloud, ye ringed men:<br/> +There is the foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers?<br/> +<i>S’gee! S’gee! S’gee!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very day I +often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on paper, but if, +while he waited to be killed, the reader could have heard it as it rolled +through the still air from the throats of nearly three thousand warriors +singing all to time, he would have found it impressive enough. +</p> + +<p> +Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came by +companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were thirty-one +companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed themselves into a +triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. At a distance of a hundred +and fifty yards or just out of the shot of such guns as we had in those days, +they halted and began singing again— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Yonder is the kraal of the white man—a little kraal, my brothers;<br/> +We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers.<br/> +But where are the white man’s cattle—where are his oxen, my brothers?” +</p> + +<p> +This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the song again +and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivory rings about +his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out to us asking where our +cattle were. +</p> + +<p> +Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they might +answer that question themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been sent away. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall go and find the cattle,” he said, “then we shall +come and kill you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if +we wait to kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too far for +us to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch you white +men!” +</p> + +<p> +This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an enemy +first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain amount of +plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it all might mean, the +Zulus began to run past us in companies towards the river. Suddenly a shout +announced that they had found the spoor of the cattle, and the whole Impi of +them started down it at a run till they vanished over a rise about a quarter of +a mile away. +</p> + +<p> +We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I wonder if the devils have really gone,” said Hans Botha to +me. “It is very strange.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will go and see,” said Indaba-zimbi, “if you will come +with me, Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over.” +</p> + +<p> +At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those days and +weary with suspense. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” I said, “we will go.” +</p> + +<p> +So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had his +medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like sportsmen +stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with rocks, among which +grew bushes and tall grass. +</p> + +<p> +“They must have gone down the Donga,” I said to Indaba-zimbi, +“I can’t see one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, from every +tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before I could lift a +gun, I was seized and thrown. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!” cried a voice. “Hold +him, or he will slip away like a snake. Don’t hurt him, but hold him +fast. Let Indaba-zimbi walk by his side.” +</p> + +<p> +I turned on Indaba-zimbi. “You black devil, you have betrayed me!” +I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait and see, Macumazahn,” he answered, coolly. “Now the +fight is going to begin.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +THE END OF THE LAAGER</h2> + +<p> +I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi mean? Why +had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, being seized, was I not +instantly killed? They called me the “White Spirit.” Could it be +that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I had heard of such things +being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and my blood ran cold at the thought. +What an end! To be pounded up, made medicine of, and eaten! +</p> + +<p> +However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole Impi was +pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hidden while their +ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the side of the slope. I was +taken to the crest of the slope and placed in the centre of the reserve line in +the especial charge of a huge Zulu named Bombyane, the same man who had come +forward as a herald. This brute seemed to regard me with an affectionate +curiosity. Now and again he poked me in the ribs with the handle of his +assegai, as though to assure himself that I was solid, and several times he +asked me to be so good as to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed before the +“Amaboona,” as they called the Boers, were “eaten up.” +</p> + +<p> +At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goaded into +anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! +</p> + +<p> +He only laughed aloud. “Oh! White Spirit,” he said, “is it +so? Well, I’ve walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a +rest.” +</p> + +<p> +And he got it shortly, as will be seen. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Zulus began to sing again— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother!<br/> +Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother.<br/> +Now the Maboona are ours—they are already dead, my brother.” +</p> + +<p> +So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the chief of +the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, and instantly +there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who stood near him. Instantly +they ran to the right and left down the first line, saying a word to the +captain of each company as they passed him. Presently they were at the +respective ends of the line, and simultaneously held up their spears. As they +did so, with an awful roar of “Bulala Amaboona”—“Slay +the Boers,” the entire line, numbering nearly a thousand men, bounded +forward like a buck startled from its form, and rushed down upon the little +laager. It was a splendid sight to see them, their assegais glittering in the +sunlight as they rose and fell above their black shields, their war-plumes +bending back upon the wind, and their fierce faces set intently on the foe, +while the solid earth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing feet. I +thought of my poor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What chance had they +against so many? +</p> + +<p> +Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager round on +three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every waggon broke tongues +of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, but the rest cared little. +Forward they sped straight to the laager, striving to force a way in. But the +Boers plied them with volley after volley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the +elephant guns loaded with slugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only +one man even got on to a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him +on the head with an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision from +the two lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go, father!” shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom +I was, to their chief, who had come up. “You have sent out the little +girls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no!” the chief Sususa answered, laughing. “Wait a minute +and the little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight +against Boers!” +</p> + +<p> +The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed forward +again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time to load, and they +met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till the Zulus were packed like +sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with the roers, and the warriors fell +in little heaps. But I saw that the blood of the Umtetwas was up; they did not +mean to be beaten back this time, and the end was near. See! six men had leapt +on to a waggon, slain the man behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were +killed there, but others followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not +shut my ears to the cries of rage and death, and the terrible <i>S’gee! +S’gee!</i> of the savages as they did their work of murder. Once only I +looked up and saw poor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men with +the butt of his rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like tongues of steel, +and when I looked again he was gone. +</p> + +<p> +I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were all dead +now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death would not be so swift. +</p> + +<p> +The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, and +moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful sight it was. +Many of the attacking Zulus were dead—quite fifty I should say, and at +least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of them mortally. The chief Sususa +gave an order, the dead men were picked up and piled in a heap, while those who +were slightly hurt walked off to find some one to tie up their wounds. But the +more serious cases met with a different treatment. The chief or one of his +indunas considered each case, and if it was in any way bad, the man was taken +up and thrown into the river which ran near. None of them offered any +objection, though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He did not stop there +long, however, for they pushed him back and drowned him by force. +</p> + +<p> +The strangest case of all was that of the chief’s own brother. He had +been captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususa came up +to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for failing in the +first onslaught. +</p> + +<p> +The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers had hit +him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, and talked to +him amicably. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, +“you cannot walk again.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, chief,” said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. +</p> + +<p> +“And to-morrow we must walk far,” went on Sususa. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, chief.” +</p> + +<p> +“Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or——” and +he nodded towards the river. +</p> + +<p> +The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in thought. +Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“My ankle pains me, my brother,” he said; “I think I will go +back to Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I +creep about it like a snake.”[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter into the bodies of +large green snakes, which glide about the kraals. To kill these snakes is +sacrilege. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well, my brother,” said the chief. “Rest +softly,” and having shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the +indunas, and turned away. +</p> + +<p> +Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the banks of +the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone round his neck, and +then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole sad scene, and the victim +never even winced. It was impossible not to admire the extraordinary courage of +the man, or to avoid being struck with the cold-blooded cruelty of his brother +the chief. And yet the act was necessary from his point of view. The man must +either die swiftly, or be left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will +encumber itself with wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened +these people that they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do them +justice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. When this +very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it consisted of some nine +thousand men. Now it numbered less than three; all the rest were dead. They, +too, would probably soon be dead. What did it matter? They lived by war to die +in blood. It was their natural end. “Kill till you are killed.” +That is the motto of the Zulu soldier. It has the merit of simplicity. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, having first +thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the heap; all of them were +there, including the two stout fraus, poor things. But I missed one body, that +of Hans Botha’s daughter, little Tota. A wild hope came into my heart +that she might have escaped; but no, it was not possible. I could only pray +that she was already at rest. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in the +congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that he had got +the “little white one.” I looked; he was carrying the child Tota, +gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked up to where we +were, and held the child before the chief. “Is it dead, father?” he +said, with a laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden away, and +fainted with fear. +</p> + +<p> +The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said— +</p> + +<p> +“Find out with your kerrie.” +</p> + +<p> +Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to kill it +with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang at him and struck +him with all my force in the face, little caring if I was speared or not. He +dropped Tota on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Ou!” he said, putting his hand to his nose, “the White +Spirit has a hard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child.” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers cheered and laughed. “Yes! yes!” they said, “let +Bombyane fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with +assegais.” +</p> + +<p> +For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? But I had +promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what did it matter? As +well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left to make a favour of it, +and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbi that I was quite willing to +condescend to kill Bombyane, on condition that if I did so the child’s +life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbi interpreted my words, but I noticed +that he would not look on me as he spoke, but covered his face with his hands +and spoke of me as “the ghost” or the “son of the +spirit.” For some reason that I have never quite understood, the chief +consented to the duel. I fancy it was because he believed me to be more than +mortal, and was anxious to see the last of Bombyane. +</p> + +<p> +“Let them fight,” he said. “Give them assegais and no +shields; the child shall be to him who conquers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes! yes!” cried the soldiers. “Let them fight. Don’t +be afraid, Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he’s a very small one.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run away +from a White Ghost,” answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examined +the blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. +</p> + +<p> +Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us some ten +paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to show no signs of +fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. Humanly speaking, my doom was +on me. The giant warrior before me had used the assegai from a child—I +had no experience of the weapon. Moreover, though I was quick and active, he +must have been at least twice as strong as I am. However, there was no help for +it, so, setting my teeth, I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and +waited. +</p> + +<p> +The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi walked +across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, “Keep cool, +Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right.” +</p> + +<p> +As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought this +good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could “make it all right” I +failed to see. +</p> + +<p> +Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, but the +whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind us was the +blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; round us was rank upon +rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to wait the issue of the duel, and +in the centre stood the grey-haired chief and general, Sususa, in all his war +finery, a cloak of leopard skin upon his shoulders. At his feet lay the +senseless form of little Tota, to my left squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his +white lock and muttering something—probably spells; while in front was my +giant antagonist, his spear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle wind. +Then over all, over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the waggons of the +laager, the piles of dead, the dense masses of the living, the swooning child, +over all shone the bright impartial sun, looking down like the indifferent eye +of Heaven upon the loveliness of nature and the cruelty of man. Down by the +river grew thorn-trees, and from them floated the sweet scent of the mimosa +flower, and came the sound of cooing turtle-doves. I never smell the one or +hear the other without the scene flashing into my mind again, complete in its +every detail. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed straight at +me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw the broad spear +flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it by some providential +impulse—or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything to do with the +matter?—I dropped to my knee, and quick as light stretched out my spear. +He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. I felt a weight on my assegai; +it was wrenched from my hand; his great limbs knocked against me. I glanced +round. Bombyane was staggering along with head thrown back and outstretched +arms from which his spear had fallen. His spear had fallen, but the blade of +mine stood out between his shoulders—I had transfixed him. He stopped, +swung slowly round as though to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank +down—<i>dead</i>. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose—a cry of +“Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the wizard, +kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft.” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before my eyes. +I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a moment it would have +come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their champion overthrown thus +easily. But presently through the tumult I heard the high, cracked voice of +Indaba-zimbi. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand back, you fools!” it cried; “can a spirit then be +killed?” +</p> + +<p> +“Spear him! spear him!” they roared in fury. “Let us see if +he is a spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, +rain-maker, and we shall see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stand back,” cried Indaba-zimbi again, “and I will show you +if he can be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again +before your eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn, trust me,” he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu +tongue, which the Zulus did not understand. “Trust me; kneel on the grass +before me, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one dead; +then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me—it is your only +hope.” +</p> + +<p> +Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the faintest idea +of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, and once more the +warriors drew back. +</p> + +<p> +“Great White Spirit—Spirit of victory,” said Indaba-zimbi, +addressing me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, “hear me and +forgive me. These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because +thou hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. Deign to +kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this spear, then when I +call upon thee, arise unhurt.” +</p> + +<p> +I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not overmuch +faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was in truth about to +make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with fears, and the horrors of +the night and day had so shaken my nerves, that I did not greatly care what +befell me. When I had been kneeling thus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi +spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“People of the Umtetwa, children of T’Chaka,” he said, +“draw back a little way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is +thick with ghosts.” +</p> + +<p> +They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in diameter. +</p> + +<p> +“Look on him who kneels before you,” went on Indaba-zimbi, +“and listen to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of +the rain-maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a +young man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no man. He +is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who gave them +assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were the Impis of +Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because <i>he</i> was there. Why did +the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the thousand? Because <i>he</i> +was there. And so I say to you that, had I not drawn him from the laager by my +magic but three hours ago, you would have been conquered—yes, you would +have been blown away like the dust before the wind; you would have been burnt +up like the dry grass in the winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, +because he had but been there many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a +few—a pinch of men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I +loved you, because your chief Sususa is my half-brother—for had we not +one father?—I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew +the Spirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was yours, when +the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little thing—a white child +to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make the medicine of his magic +of——” +</p> + +<p> +Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought better of +it. +</p> + +<p> +“You said him nay; you said, ‘Let him fight with our bravest man, +let him fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.’ And he deigned to +slay Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, ‘Slay him; he is no +spirit.’ Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him +before your eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this upon +yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the Spirit, he would +have stayed with you, and you should have become unconquerable. Now he will +arise and leave you, and woe be on you if you try to stay him. +</p> + +<p> +“Now all men,” he went on, “look for a space upon this +assegai that I hold up,” and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased +Bombyane high above his head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye +was fixed upon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he +moved it round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still their +gaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the greatest +anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I found at all +pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further acquaintance with it. Nor, +indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not really going to kill me. I could +not understand his proceedings at all, and at the best I did not relish playing +the <i>corpus vile</i> to his magical experiments. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Look! look! look!</i>” he screamed. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt nothing, +but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through me. +</p> + +<p> +“See!” roared the Zulus. “Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the +red assegai stands out behind his back.” +</p> + +<p> +“Roll over, Macumazahn,” Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, “roll +over and pretend to die—quick! quick!” +</p> + +<p> +I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling on to my +side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as artistically as I +could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. +</p> + +<p> +“See!” said the Zulus, “he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look +at the blood upon the assegai!” +</p> + +<p> +“Stand back! stand back!” cried Indaba-zimbi, “or the ghost +will haunt you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. +Look!” and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it +was fixed, and held it aloft. “The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, +watch! <i>it grows white!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it grows white,” they said. “Ou! it grows white.” +</p> + +<p> +“It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came,” said +Indaba-zimbi. “Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath has +gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, awake and +show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!” +</p> + +<p> +I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so fast, Macumazahn,” whispered Indaba-zimbi. +</p> + +<p> +I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let it fall +again. +</p> + +<p> +“He lives! by the head of T’Chaka he lives!” roared the +soldiers, stricken with mortal fear. +</p> + +<p> +Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched my arms, +yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked upon them +unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba-zimbi was almost +fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood upon his brow, his limbs +trembled, and his breast heaved. +</p> + +<p> +As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the whole +regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we were left alone +with the dead, and the swooning child. +</p> + +<p> +“How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?” I asked in amaze. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not ask me, Macumazahn,” he gasped. “You white men are +very clever, but you don’t quite know everything. There are men in the +world who can make people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us +be going while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, they +will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps <i>they</i> will begin +asking questions that I can’t answer.” +</p> + +<p> +And here I may as well state that I never got any further information on this +matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it is for whatever +it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi <i>mesmerized</i> the whole crowd +of onlookers, myself included, making them believe that they saw the assegai in +my heart, and the blood upon the blade. The reader may smile and say, +“Impossible;” but I would ask him how the Indian jugglers do their +tricks unless it is by mesmerism. The spectators <i>seem</i> to see the boy go +under the basket and there pierced with daggers, they <i>seem</i> to see women +in a trance supported in mid-air upon the point of a single sword. In +themselves these things are not possible, they violate the laws of nature, as +those laws are known to us, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so +through the glamour thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi’s will, that Zulu +Impi seemed to see me transfixed with an assegai which never touched me. At +least, that is my theory; if any one has a better, let him adopt it. The +explanation lies between illusion and magic of a most imposing character, and I +prefer to accept the first alternative. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +STELLA</h2> + +<p> +I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi’s hint. About a hundred and fifty +yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden my horse, +together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and bridle. Thither we +went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To our joy we found the horses +safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, of course, they were our only means +of locomotion, for the oxen had been sent away, and even had they been there we +could not have found time to inspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, +undid his knee halter, and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck me, +and I told Indaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could find my +double-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only my elephant +“roer” and a few charges of powder and ball with me. +</p> + +<p> +He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and began to +cry, till she saw my face. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, I have had such a bad dream,” she said, in Dutch: “I +dreamed that the black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?” +</p> + +<p> +I winced at the question. “Your papa has gone on a journey, dear,” +I said, “and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You +don’t mind going with Heer Allan, do you?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. +Presently she remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her +to the river and she drank. “Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?” she +asked, pointing to the smear of Bombyane’s blood-stained fingers. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. +</p> + +<p> +“It is only paint, dear,” I said; “see, we will wash it and +your face.” +</p> + +<p> +As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; he said the +Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some things and brought +them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about twenty pounds weight of +biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double-handfuls of biscuits, two +water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches and sundries. +</p> + +<p> +“And now, Macumazahn,” he said, “we had best be going, for +those Umtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the +rise.” +</p> + +<p> +That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my saddle, +climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. Indaba-zimbi slipped +a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer horses, threw the sack of +sundries on to its back and mounted also, holding the elephant gun in his hand. +We went eight or nine hundred yards in silence till we were quite out of range +of sight from the waggons, which were in a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such +a feeling of thankfulness in my heart as cannot be told in words; for now I +knew that, mounted as we were, those black demons could never catch us. But +where were we to steer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking him if +he thought that we had better try and follow the oxen which we had sent away +with the Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently,” he answered, +“and we have seen enough of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite enough,” I answered, with enthusiasm; “I never want to +see another; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a +little girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?” +</p> + +<p> +“Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus,” +answered Indaba-zimbi; “let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, +Macumazahn; to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter.” +</p> + +<p> +So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the river. From +the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but before sunset I had the +satisfaction of knowing that there must be at least twenty-five miles between +us and those accursed Zulus. Little Tota slept most of the way, the motion of +the horse was easy, and she was worn out. +</p> + +<p> +At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. There was +not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, and Indaba-zimbi +and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done I took off Tota’s +frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we had made, and lit a pipe. I +sat there by the side of the sleeping orphaned child, and from my heart thanked +Providence for saving her life and mine from the slaughter of that day. What a +horrible experience it had been! It seemed like a nightmare to look back upon. +And yet it was sober fact, one among those many tragedies which dotted the +paths of the emigrant Boers with the bones of men, women, and children. These +horrors are almost forgotten now; people living in Natal now, for instance, can +scarcely realize that some forty years ago six hundred white people, many of +them women and children, were thus massacred by the Impis of Dingaan. But it +was so, and the name of the district, <i>Weenen</i>, or the Place of Weeping, +will commemorate them for ever. +</p> + +<p> +Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old Indaba-zimbi had +shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself had lived among the +Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a noted rain-doctor and +witch-finder. But when T’Chaka, Dingaan’s brother, ordered a +general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved his life by his skill +in magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons too long to set out here. When +he heard, therefore, that the regiment was an Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving +their wives and children, had broken away from Zululand to escape the cruelties +of Dingaan; under pretence of spying on them, he took the bold course of going +straight up to the chief, Sususa, and addressing him as his brother, which he +was. The chief knew him at once, and so did the soldiers, for his fame was +still great among them. Then he told them his cock and bull story about my +being a white spirit, whose presence in the laager would render it invincible, +and with the object of saving my life in the slaughter which he knew must +ensue, agreed to charm me out of the laager and deliver me into their keeping. +How the plan worked has already been told; it was a risky one; still, but for +it my troubles would have been done with these many days. +</p> + +<p> +So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so saw old +Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some mysterious performances +with bones which he produced from his bag, and ashes mixed with water. I spoke +to him and asked what he was about. He replied that he was tracing out the +route that we should follow. I felt inclined to answer “bosh!” but +remembering the very remarkable instances which he had given of his prowess in +occult matters I held my tongue, and taking little Tota into my arms, worn out +with toil and danger and emotion, I went to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in sheets of +primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke me by kissing me as +she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me “papa.” It wrung +my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, washed and dressed her as +best I could, and we breakfasted as we had supped, on biltong and biscuit. Tota +asked for milk, but I had none to give her. Then we caught the horses, and I +saddled mine. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “now what path do your bones +point to?” +</p> + +<p> +“Straight north,” he said. “The journey will be hard, but in +about four days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, not a +Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peak behind it +where there are many baboons.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at him. “This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi,” I said. +“Whoever heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how +do you know anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towards +Port Natal.” +</p> + +<p> +“As you like, Macumazahn,” he answered, “but it will take us +three months’ journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the +child will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true +heretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the elephants on +horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with you instead of two, as it +is better to lose one than two?” +</p> + +<p> +“You told me all these things,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will find +great happiness—yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run away from +happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!” +</p> + +<p> +Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I came to the +conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. It struck me as +possible that he might have heard of some white man living like a hermit in the +wilds, but preferring to keep up his prophetic character would not say so. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “let us ride north.” +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned off in a +westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode across rolling uplands, +and about an hour before sunset halted at a little stream which ran down from a +range of hills in front of us. By this time I was heartily tired of the +biltong, so taking my elephant rifle—for I had nothing else—I left +Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started to try if I could shoot something. Oddly +enough we had seen no game all the day, nor did we see any on the subsequent +days. For some mysterious reason they had temporarily left the district. I +crossed the little streamlet in order to enter the belt of thorns which grew +upon the hill-side beyond, for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so I was +rather disturbed to see the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy edge of a +pool. Breathing a hope that they might not still be in the neighbourhood, I +went on into the belt of scattered thorns. For a long while I hunted about +without seeing anything, except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crash +from the other side of a stone without giving me a chance. At length, just as +it grew dusk, I spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger +than a large hare, standing on a stone, about forty yards from me. Under +ordinary circumstances I should never have dreamed of firing at such a thing, +especially with an elephant gun, but we were hungry. So I sat down with my back +against a rock, and aimed steadily at its head. I did this because if I struck +it in the body the three-ounce ball would have knocked it to bits. At last I +pulled the trigger, the gun went off with the report of a small cannon, and the +buck disappeared. I ran to the spot with more anxiety than I should have felt +in an ordinary way over a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there the little +creature lay—the huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering all the +circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot than this, but if +any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit’s head fifty yards away +with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. +</p> + +<p> +I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we skinned +him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good meal for us, +though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly remembered +about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie up the horses quite +close to us, we could not find them, though we knew they were grazing within +fifty yards. This being so we could only make up the fire and take our chance. +Shortly afterwards I went to sleep with little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was +awakened by hearing that peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite +close to the fire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a +noise of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared +in the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring eyes and +wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had been +knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for on his back +was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form came a growling +sound. It was a lion. +</p> + +<p> +The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he had run +in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, and vanished into +the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, then there was +silence, broken now and again by distant growls. As may be imagined, we did not +sleep any more that night, but waited anxiously till the dawn broke, two hours +later. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota still asleep, +crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had vanished. When we had +gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains lying on the veldt, and caught +sight of two great cat-like forms slinking away in the grey light. +</p> + +<p> +To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned to look +for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet full; the horse was +nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and smell of the lions, it had with +a desperate effort also burst the reim with which it had been knee-haltered, +and galloped far away. I sat down, feeling as though I could cry like a woman. +For now we were left alone in these vast solitudes without a horse to carry us, +and with a child who was not old enough to walk for more than a little way at a +time. +</p> + +<p> +Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our camp, +where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself alone. Then we +ate a little food and prepared to start. First we divided such articles as we +must take with us into two equal parts, rejecting everything that we could +possibly do without. Then, by an afterthought, we filled our water-bottles, +though at the time I was rather against doing so, because of the extra weight. +But Indaba-zimbi overruled me in the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I +settled to look after Tota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun to +Indaba-zimbi. At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the help of +occasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the slope of the +hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we reached it, and, +looking at the country beyond, I gave an exclamation of dismay. To say that it +was desert would be saying too much; it was more like the Karroo in the +Cape—a vast sandy waste, studded here and there with low shrubs and +scattered rocks. But it was a great expanse of desolate land, stretching +further than the eye could reach, and bordered far away by a line of purple +hills, in the centre of which a great solitary peak soared high into the air. +</p> + +<p> +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “we can never cross this if we take +six days.” +</p> + +<p> +“As you will, Macumazahn,” he answered; “but I tell you that +there”—and he pointed to the peak—“there the white man +lives. Turn which way you like, but if you turn you will perish.” +</p> + +<p> +I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost hopeless. It +mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost without food, with no +means of transport, and a child to carry. As well perish in the sandy waste as +on the rolling veldt or among the trees of the hill-side. Providence alone +could save us, and we must trust to Providence. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on,” I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already +tired. “All roads lead to rest.” +</p> + +<p> +How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tell how we +stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, and quite without +water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs? We soon found how the +case was, and saved almost all the water in our bottles for the child. To look +back on it is like a nightmare. I can scarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after +day, by turns carrying the child through the heavy sand; night after night +lying down in the scrub, chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there was +from the scanty grass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of game! It was the +third night; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was in a comatose condition. +Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his bottle—perhaps a +wine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and blackened tongues. Then we +gave the rest to the child. It revived her. She awoke from her swoon to sink +into sleep. +</p> + +<p> +See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles or so away +now, and they were green. There must be water there. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out of the +blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on for an hour +through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we had none to give +her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could scarcely speak. +</p> + +<p> +We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then Indaba-zimbi +took her. Though he was so thin the old man’s strength was wonderful. +</p> + +<p> +Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two miles away +now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab tree. Could we reach its +shade? We had done half the distance when Indaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We +were now so weak that neither of us could lift the child on to our backs. He +rose again, and we each took one of her hands and dragged her along the road. +Fifty yards—they seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at +last; compared with the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed +like the dusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a good place +to die in. Then I remember no more. +</p> + +<p> +I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my face and +head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, then shut them +again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, while the rain continued +to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or off my head with thirst and fever. +If I were not off my head how came I to imagine that a lovely dark-eyed girl +was bending over me sprinkling water on my face? A white girl, too, not a +Kaffir woman. However, the dream went on. +</p> + +<p> +“Hendrika,” said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had +ever heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. +“Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag; +get it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! ah!” grunted a harsh voice in answer; “let him die, Miss +Stella. He will bring you bad luck—let him die, I say.” I felt a +movement of air above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and +once again I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that +she was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyes flashed, +and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before her, dressed in +nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by either a man or a woman. +The woman was young, of white blood, very short, with bowed legs and enormous +shoulders. In face she was not bad-looking, but the brow receded, the chin and +ears were prominent—in short, she reminded me of nothing so much as a +very handsome monkey. She might have been the missing link. +</p> + +<p> +The lady was pointing at her with her hand. “How dare you?” she +said. “Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told +you, Babyan?”[*] +</p> + +<p> +[*] Baboon. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! ah!” grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and +shrivel up beneath her anger. “Don’t be angry with me, Miss Stella, +because I can’t bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch +the brandy.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“Not brandy,” I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue +would allow; “give me water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, he lives!” cried the beautiful girl, “and he talks +English. See, sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a +spring, it is on the other side of the tree.” +</p> + +<p> +I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and drank from +it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted anything so +delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into me. But wisely enough +she would not let me have much. “No more! no more!” she said, and +dragged the bottle from me almost by force. +</p> + +<p> +“The child,” I said—“is the child dead?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know yet,” she answered. “We have only just found +you, and I tried to revive you first.” +</p> + +<p> +I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It was +impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkled +Tota’s face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirst was +still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office for Indaba-zimbi. +Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes and tried to cry, but could +not, poor little thing, because her tongue and lips were so swollen. But the +lady got some water into her mouth, and, as in my case, the effect was magical. +We allowed her to drink about a quarter of a pint, and no more, though she +cried bitterly for it. Just then old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He +opened his eyes, glanced round, and took in the situation. +</p> + +<p> +“What did I tell you, Macumazahn?” he gasped, and seizing the +bottle, he took a long pull at it. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and tried to +realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good horses—one +bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady’s saddle on it. By the side +of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, that sat watching us, +and near the dogs lay a dead Oribé buck, which they had evidently been +coursing. +</p> + +<p> +“Hendrika,” said the lady presently, “they must not eat meat +just yet. Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it.” +</p> + +<p> +The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she returned. +“I see some ripe fruit,” she said, “but it is high, quite at +the top.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fetch it,” said the lady. +</p> + +<p> +“Easier said than done,” I thought to myself; but I was much +mistaken. Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and +caught one of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing +that would have filled an acrobat with envy—and she was on it. +</p> + +<p> +“Now there is an end,” I thought again, for the next bough was +beyond her reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, gripping +it with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, caught it and +swung herself into it. +</p> + +<p> +I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. “Do not +wonder, sir,” she said, “Hendrika is not like other people. She +will not fall.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary person with +the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself from bough to +bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last she reached the top, and +began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripe fruit. When she was near +enough she shook the branch violently. There was a crack—a crash—it +broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see her crushed on the ground before me. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be afraid,” said the lady again, laughing gently. +“Look, she is quite safe.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to it, and +was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also watched this +performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonish him over-much. +“Baboon-woman?” he said, as though such people were common, and +then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaning for more water. +Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with extraordinary rapidity, and swinging +by one hand from a bough, dropped about eight feet to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In an +ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I thought it +the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three days spent without food +or water, in the desert, one is not particular. While we were still eating the +fruit, the lady of my vision set her companion to work to partially flay the +oribé which her dogs had killed, and busied herself in making a fire of fallen +boughs. As soon as it burned brightly she took strips of the oribé flesh, +toasted them, and gave them to us on leaves. We ate, and now were allowed a +little more water. After that she took Tota to the spring and washed her, which +she sadly needed, poor child! Next came our turn to wash, and oh, the joy of +it! +</p> + +<p> +I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. There +sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling her to sleep, +and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last the child went off into +a sound natural slumber—an example that I should have been glad to follow +had it not been for my burning curiosity. Then I spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“May I ask what your name is?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Stella,” she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Stella what?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Stella nothing,” she answered, in some pique; “Stella is my +name; it is short and easy to remember at any rate. My father’s name is +Thomas, and we live up there,” and she pointed round the base of the +great peak. I looked at her astonished. “Have you lived there +long?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before that +we came from England—from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place on a big +map. It is called Garsingham.” +</p> + +<p> +Again I thought I must be dreaming. “Do you know, Miss Stella,” I +said, “it is very strange—so strange that it almost seems as though +it could not be true—but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire many +years ago.” +</p> + +<p> +She started up. “Are you an English gentleman?” she said. +“Ah, I have always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen +but one Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a +gentleman—no white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. +We live among black people and baboons—only I have read about English +people—lots of books—poetry and novels. But tell me what is your +name? Macumazahn the black man called you, but you must have a white name, +too.” +</p> + +<p> +“My name is Allan Quatermain,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at me wildly +with her beautiful dark eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“It is wonderful,” she said, “but I have often heard that +name. My father has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved +my life by putting out my dress when it was on fire—see!”—and +she pointed to a faint red mark upon her neck—“here is the scar of +the burn.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember it,” I said. “You were dressed up as Father +Christmas. It was I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing +so.” +</p> + +<p> +Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella slowly +fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white ostrich plumes were +fixed. +</p> + +<p> +“This is God’s doing,” she said at last. “You saved my +life when I was a child; now I have saved yours and the little girl’s. Is +she your own daughter?” she added, quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered; “I will tell you the tale presently.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she said, “you shall tell me as we go home. It is time +to be starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, +Hendrika, bring the horses here!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +THE BABOON-WOMAN</h2> + +<p> +Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Mr. Allan,” said Stella, “you must ride on my horse, +and the old black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will +carry the child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry you +or me.” +</p> + +<p> +Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method of speech +by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, sometimes she +clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did both together, when she became +quite unintelligible. +</p> + +<p> +I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could walk, +which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a mile; but Stella +would not listen, she would not even let me carry my elephant gun, but took it +herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, and Hendrika took up the sleeping +Tota in her long, sinewy arms. +</p> + +<p> +“See that the ‘Baboon-woman’ does not run away into the +mountains with the little white one,” said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, +as he climbed slowly on to the horse. +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grew livid +with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbi as a monkey +springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentleman was too quick for her. +With an exclamation of genuine fright he threw himself from the horse on the +further side, with the somewhat ludicrous result that all in a moment Hendrika +was occupying the seat which he had vacated. Just then Stella realized the +position. +</p> + +<p> +“Come down, you savage, come down!” she said, stamping her foot. +</p> + +<p> +The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally grovelled +on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon, Miss Stella,” she clicked and grunted in villainous +English, “but he called me ‘Babyan-frau’ +(Baboon-woman).” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. +Allan,” Stella said to me. “If he does,” she added, in a +whisper, “Hendrika will certainly kill him.” +</p> + +<p> +I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, deigned +to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war between these two. +</p> + +<p> +Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. A small +strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the peak—perhaps +it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich grass lands, for here a +considerable stream gathered from the hills; but it did not flow across the +barren lands, it passed to the east along the foot of the hills. This stream we +had to cross by a ford. Hendrika walked boldly through it, holding Tota in her +arms. Stella leapt across from stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to +myself that she was the most graceful creature that I had ever seen. After this +the track passed around a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, which was, I +found, known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we could only go at a +foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked for some way in silence, +then she spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, Mr. Allan,” she said, “how it was that I came to +find you dying in the desert?” +</p> + +<p> +So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she listened +intently, now and again asking a question. +</p> + +<p> +“It is all very wonderful,” she said when I had done, “very +wonderful indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the +dogs for a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, and +I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to turn, when we +were about where we are now—yes, that was the very bush—an oribé +got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the gallop, and when we +came to the river, instead of turning to the left as bucks generally do, the +oribé swam the stream and took to the Bad Lands beyond. I followed it, and +within a hundred yards of the big tree the dogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to +turn back at once, but I said that we would rest under the shade of the tree, +for I knew that there was a spring of water near. Well, we went; and there I +saw you all lying like dead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, +said no—and you know the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is indeed,” I said. “Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is +Hendrika?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. +</p> + +<p> +“Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know that +all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. When I was a +girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in the hills and valleys, +and watch the baboons as they played among the rocks. There was one family of +baboons that I watched especially—they used to live in a kloof about a +mile from the house. The old man baboon was very large, and one of the females +had a grey face. But the reason why I watched them so much was because I saw +that they had with them a creature that looked like a girl, for her skin was +quite white, and, what was more, that she was protected from the weather when +it happened to be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round her +throat. The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and would sit with +their arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I watched this particular +white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity quite overmastered me. I noticed +that, though she climbed about the cliffs with the other monkeys, at a certain +hour a little before sundown they used to put her with one or two other much +smaller ones into a little cave, while the family went off somewhere to get +food, to the mealie fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch +this white baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this by +myself, so I took a Hottentot—a very clever man when he was not +drunk—who lived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called Hendrik, +and was very fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen to my plan, +because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I bribed him with a +knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we started, Hendrik carrying a +stout sack made of hide, with a rope running through it so that the mouth could +be drawn tight. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the trees +at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and grunting to +each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the white one and +three other little babies and put them in the cave. Then the old man came out, +looked carefully round, called to his family, and went off with them over the +brow of the kloof. Now very slowly and cautiously we crept up over the rocks +till we came to the mouth of the cave and looked in. All the four little +baboons were fast asleep, with their backs towards us, and their arms round +each other’s necks, the white one being in the middle. Nothing could have +been better for our plans. Hendrik, who by this time had quite entered into the +spirit of the thing, crept along the cave like a snake, and suddenly dropped +the mouth of the hide bag over the head of the white baboon. The poor little +thing woke up and gave a violent jump which caused it to vanish right into the +bag. Then Hendrik pulled the string tight, and together we knotted it so that +it was impossible for our captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby baboons +had rushed from the cave screaming, and when we got outside they were nowhere +to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Come on, Missie,’ said Hendrik; ‘the babyans will +soon be back.’ He had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white +baboon was kicking violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to +hear its shrieks. +</p> + +<p> +“We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as we +could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about three hundred +yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, leaping from +rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the whole family of baboons +headed by the old man. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Run, Missie, run!’ gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the +wind, leaving him far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were +working, crying, ‘The babyans! the babyans!’ Luckily the men had +their sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who +was almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, and it was +not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ran away. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father +sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and has a +barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having untied the +mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, shutting the door +behind him. In another moment the poor little thing was out and dashing round +the stone hut as though it were mad. It sprung at the bars of the window, clung +there, and beat its head against them till the blood came. Then it fell to the +floor, and sat upon it crying like a child, and rocking itself backwards and +forwards. It was so sad to see it that I began to cry too. +</p> + +<p> +“Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I +told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and said +that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the bars of the window +he nearly fell down with astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why!’ he said, ‘this is not a baboon, it is a white +child that the baboons have stolen and brought up!’ +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge for +yourself. You see Hendrika—we named her that after Hendrik, who caught +her—she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the ways of +monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, for instance, and +you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and when she is angry or +jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever as anybody. I think that +she must have been stolen by the baboons when she was quite tiny and nurtured +by them, and that is why she is so like them. +</p> + +<p> +“But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika at +any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat nothing, and I +thought that she would die, for all the while she sat and wailed. On the third +day, however, I went to the bars of the window place, and held out a cup of +milk and some fruit to her. She looked at it for a long while, then crept up +moaning, took the milk from my hand, drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the +fruit. From that time forward she took food readily enough, but only if I would +feed her. +</p> + +<p> +“But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that we +captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which were +evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went out towards the +hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come back again, so the next +day search was made. By a big rock which I can show you, they found his +scattered and broken bones, the fragments of his assegai, and four dead +baboons. They had set upon him and torn him to pieces. +</p> + +<p> +“My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not let +Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was our duty to +reclaim her. And so we did—to a certain extent, at least. After the +murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, and have only +returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to let Hendrika out. By this +time she had grown very fond of me; still, on the first opportunity she ran +away. But in the evening she returned again. She had been seeking the baboons, +and could not find them. Shortly afterwards she began to speak—I taught +her—and from that time she has loved me so that she will not leave me. I +think it would kill her if I went away from her. She watches me all day, and at +night sleeps on the floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was +swept down the river in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. +Look, how she is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!” +</p> + +<p> +I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and staring at +me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman’s strange story, and thinking +that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a sudden turn. +</p> + +<p> +“Look!” said Stella, “there is our home. Is it not +beautiful?” +</p> + +<p> +It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a bay had +been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight hundred or a +thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in depth. At the back of this +indentation the sheer cliff rose to the height of several hundred feet, and +behind it and above it the great Babyan Peak towered up towards the heavens. +The space of ground, embraced thus in the arms of the mountain, as it were, was +laid out, as though by the cunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one +above the other. To the right and left of the topmost terrace were chasms in +the cliff, and down each chasm fell a waterfall, from no great height, indeed, +but of considerable volume. These two streams flowed away on either side of the +enclosed space, one towards the north, and the other, the course of which we +had been following, round the base of the mountain. At each terrace they made a +cascade, so that the traveller approaching had a view of eight waterfalls at +once. Along the edge of the stream to our left were placed Kaffir kraals, built +in orderly groups with verandahs, after the Basutu fashion, and a very large +part of the entire space of land was under cultivation. All of this I noted at +once, as well as the extraordinary richness and depth of the soil, which for +many ages past had been washed down from the mountain heights. Then following +the line of an excellent waggon road, on which we now found ourselves, that +wound up from terrace to terrace, my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the +scene. For in the centre of the topmost platform or terrace, which may have +enclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded by groves of +orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had never seen the like. There were +three groups of them, one in the middle, and one on either side, and a little +to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, the plan of all was the same. In +the centre was an edifice constructed like an ordinary Zulu hut—that is +to say, in the shape of a beehive, only it was five times the size of any hut I +ever saw, and built of blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with +extraordinary knowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and +with so much accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the joints +of the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered passages, leading +to other buildings of an exactly similar character, only smaller, and each +whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about four feet in height. +</p> + +<p> +Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the general +outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even old +Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, deigned to show +wonder. +</p> + +<p> +“Ou!” he said; “this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw +kraals built of white stone?” +</p> + +<p> +Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but said +nothing. +</p> + +<p> +“Did your father build those kraals?” I gasped, at length. +</p> + +<p> +“My father! no, of course not,” she answered. “How would it +have been possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He +found them as you see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who built them, then?” I said again. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the +people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, and +these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they must have stood for +ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show you the quarry where the +marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is the entrance to an ancient +mine, which my father thinks was a silver mine. Perhaps the people who worked +the mine built the marble huts. The world is old, and no doubt plenty of people +have lived in it and been forgotten.”[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described by Mr. Quatermain +have been discovered in the Marico district of the Transvaal, and an +illustration of them is to be found in Mr. Anderson’s “Twenty-five +Years in a Waggon,” vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. Anderson says, “In this +district are the ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it +requires a fuller description to show that these extensive kraals must have +been erected by a white race who understood building in stone and at right +angles, with door-posts, lintels, and sills, and it required more than Kaffir +skill to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, beautifully formed +and most substantially erected; strong enough, if not disturbed, to last a +thousand years.” —Editor. +</p> + +<p> +Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in Africa, and in +such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and worthless, but I do not +think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was no one thing—it was the +combination of the mighty peak looking forth on to the everlasting plains, the +great cliffs, the waterfalls that sparkled in rainbow hues, the rivers girdling +the rich cultivated lands, the gold-specked green of the orange trees, the +flashing domes of the marble huts, and a thousand other things. Then over all +brooded the peace of evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled +heaven with changing hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and cliffs in +cloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of the water like the +smile of a god. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days and nights +in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the beauty of the girl +who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am sure, that of all sweet and +lovely things that I looked on then, she was the sweetest and the loveliest. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be before I find +her once again? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +THE MARBLE KRAALS</h2> + +<p> +At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up outside +the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts—for so I must call +them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been observed by a crowd of +natives, whose race I have never been able to determine accurately; they +belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section of the Bantu peoples rather than to +the Zulu and warlike. Several of these ran up to take the horses, gazing on us +with astonishment, not unmixed with awe. We dismounted—speaking for +myself, not without difficulty—indeed, had it not been for Stella’s +support I should have fallen. +</p> + +<p> +“Now you must come and see my father,” she said. “I wonder +what he will think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my +hut and give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently.” +</p> + +<p> +Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress’s bidding, +and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the marble wall, which may +have enclosed nearly half an “erf,” or three-quarters of an acre of +ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a garden, many European vegetables +and flowers were growing in it, besides others with which I was not acquainted. +Presently we came to the centre hut, and it was then that I noticed the +extraordinary beauty and finish of the marble masonry. In the hut, and facing +the gateway, was a modern door, rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a +beautiful reddish wood that has the appearance of having been sedulously +pricked with a pin. Stella opened it, and we entered. The interior of the hut +was the size of a large and lofty room, the walls being formed of plain +polished marble. It was lighted somewhat dimly, but quite effectively, by +peculiar openings in the roof, from which the rain was excluded by overhanging +eaves. The marble floor was strewn with native mats and skins of animals. +Bookcases filled with books were placed against the walls, there was a table in +the centre, chairs seated with rimpi or strips of hide stood about, and beyond +the table was a couch on which a man was lying reading. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that you, Stella?” said a voice, that even after so many years +seemed familiar to me. “Where have you been, my dear? I began to think +that you had lost yourself again.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody +else.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old +gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much courtesy. +He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a pale face that bore +many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a long white beard. +</p> + +<p> +“Be welcome, sir,” he said. “It is long since we have seen a +white face in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an +Englishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, and he, I +grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice,” and he bowed again +and stretched out his hand. +</p> + +<p> +I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my mind. I +took his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Mr. Carson?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +He started as though he had been stung. +</p> + +<p> +“Who told you that name?” he cried. “It is a dead name. +Stella, is it you? I forbade you to let it pass your lips.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it,” she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” I broke in, “if you will allow me I will show you how +I came to know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study +of a clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leave +England for ever?” +</p> + +<p> +He bowed his head. +</p> + +<p> +“And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing with +a pencil?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children who +lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your old friend, is +dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died in the Cape. But that +is not all the story. After many adventures, I, one Kaffir, and a little girl, +lay senseless and dying in the Bad Lands, where we had wandered for days +without water, and there we should have perished, but your daughter, +Miss——” +</p> + +<p> +“Call her Stella,” he broke in, hastily. “I cannot bear to +hear that name. I have forsworn it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives.” +</p> + +<p> +“By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?” he answered. +“There is little chance in all this; such chances spring from another +will than ours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were +in a hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is yours, +and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; talk no more +now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk.” +</p> + +<p> +To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that evening. A +kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting at a table next to +Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember nothing more. +</p> + +<p> +I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and fashioned +on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering what time it was, a +native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, and, luxury of luxuries, +produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, feeling a very different man, my +strength had come back again to me; I dressed, and following a covered passage +found myself in the centre hut. Here the table was set for breakfast with all +manner of good things, such as I had not seen for many a month, which I +contemplated with healthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and there before +me was a more delightful sight, for standing in one of the doorways which led +to the sleeping huts was Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, and +girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of her robe was +a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied in a single knot +behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, asking how I had slept, +and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under her loving care the child had been +quite transformed. She was neatly dressed in a garment of the same blue stuff +that Stella wore, her fair hair was brushed; indeed, had it not been for the +sun blisters on her face and hands, one would scarcely have believed that this +was the same child whom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour +through the burning, waterless desert. +</p> + +<p> +“We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan,” she said; “my father is +so upset by your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how +thankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of late. He +grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strength were ebbing away +from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have to manage everything about +the farm; he does nothing but read and think.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of milk in +the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look of little love at +me as she did so. +</p> + +<p> +“Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee,” said Stella. +“Don’t you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I +will tell you—we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to +show you. You don’t know what we have managed to do in the time that we +have been here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about look +upon my father as their chief.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “but how do you get all these luxuries of +civilization?” and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives +and forks. +</p> + +<p> +“Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we first +trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. But every few +years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right down to Port Natal. The +waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, and come back with all kinds of +things that have been sent out from England for us. So you see, although we +live in this wild place, we are not altogether cut off. We can send runners to +Natal and back in three months, and the waggons get there and back in a year. +The last lot arrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are very +faithful, and some of them speak Dutch well.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever been with the waggons?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from +Babyan’s Peak,” she answered. “Do you know, Mr. Allan, that +you are, with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a +book. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I have had +one advantage—a good education. My father has taught me everything, and +perhaps I know some things that you don’t. I can read French and German, +for instance. I think that my father’s first idea was to let me run wild +altogether, but he gave it up.” +</p> + +<p> +“And don’t you wish to go into the world?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes,” she said, “when I get lonely. But perhaps my +father is right—perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he +would never return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am +sure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that our name +should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our lives, we must +take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast? Let us go out, and I +will show you our home.” +</p> + +<p> +I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, Mr. +Carson—for after all that was his name, though he would never allow it to +be spoken—had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, and would +accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. +</p> + +<p> +So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbi whom I +found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire that old man. +</p> + +<p> +The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the lower +ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, faced west, +consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the great peak till +nearly eleven o’clock in the morning—a great advantage in that warm +latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was beautifully cultivated, +and one of the most productive that I ever saw. There were three or four +natives working in it, and they all saluted my host as “Baba,” or +father. Then we visited the other two groups of marble huts. One of these was +used for stables and outbuildings, the other as storehouses, the centre hut +having been, however, turned into a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he +earnestly tried to convert the natives, most of whom were refugees who had come +to him for shelter, and he had practised the more elementary rites of the +church for so long that I think he began to believe that he really was a +clergyman. For instance, he always married those of his people who would +consent to a monogamous existence, and baptized their children. +</p> + +<p> +When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble huts, and +admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive like weeds in this +marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the next platform, and saw the +farming operations in full swing. I think that it was the best farm I have ever +seen in Africa. There was ample water for purposes of irrigation, the grass +lands below gave pasturage for hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for +natives, the people were most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was +managed by Mr. Carson on the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the +produce—indeed, in this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with +more? Consequently the tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the +“Children of Thomas,” were able to accumulate considerable wealth. +All their disputes were referred to their “father,” and he also was +judge of offences and crimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and +loss of goods, other and graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, +a fiat which to one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the +decree that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. +</p> + +<p> +Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter’s arm and contemplated the scene +with pride. +</p> + +<p> +“I have done all this, Allan Quatermain,” he said. “When +renouncing civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the +remotest places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing +was to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the +waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden land +and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by degrees +others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we live in profound +peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no more. Heaven has prospered +me so far—may it do so to the end, which for me draws nigh. And now I am +tired and will go back. If you wish to see the old quarry and the mouth of the +ancient mines, Stella will show them to you. No, my love, you need not trouble +to come, I can manage. Look! some of the headmen are waiting to see me.” +</p> + +<p> +So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, and, +walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the marble +kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which they were built +had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a very thick seam of the +whitest and most beautiful marble. I know another like it in Natal. But by whom +it had been worked I cannot say; not by natives, that is certain, though the +builders of these kraals had condescended to borrow the shape of native huts +for their model. By the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw +was a highly finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the +quarry. +</p> + +<p> +After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill till we came +to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a gorge. I believe +them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and narrow, and the moment +we entered it there rose from every side a sound of groaning and barking that +was almost enough to deafen us. I knew what it was at once: the whole place was +filled with baboons, which clambered down the rocks towards us from every +direction, and in a manner that struck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella +turned a little pale and clung to my arm. +</p> + +<p> +“It is very silly of me,” she whispered. “I am not at all +nervous, but ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those +animals. I always think that there is something human about them.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. Tota +began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I and Indaba-zimbi +put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only Hendrika stood looking at +the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her monkey face. When the great apes +were quite near, she suddenly called aloud. Instantly they stopped their +hideous clamour as though at a word of command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I +can only describe it so. That is to say, she began to make a noise such as +baboons do when they converse with each other. I have known Hottentots and +Bushmen who said that they could talk with the baboons and understand their +language, but I confess I never heard it done before or since. +</p> + +<p> +From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, squeals, +clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be conceived, conveying to my +mind a general idea of expostulation. At any rate the baboons listened. One of +them grunted back some answer, and then the whole mob drew off to the rocks. +</p> + +<p> +I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, for +Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dining hut +Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me by the +sleeve, and I stopped outside. +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn,” he said. “Baboon-woman—devil-woman. Be +careful, Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called +Stella the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star will +set!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +“LET US GO IN, ALLAN!”</h2> + +<p> +It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which elapsed +between my arrival at Babyan’s Peak and my marriage with Stella. When I +look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of flowers, and dim as with +the happy dusk of summer eves, while through the sweetness comes the sound of +Stella’s voice, and through the gloom shines the starlight of her eyes. I +think that we loved each other from the first, though for a while we said no +word of love. Day by day I went about the place with her, accompanied by little +Tota and Hendrika only, while she attended to the thousand and one matters +which her father’s ever-growing weakness had laid upon her; or rather, as +time drew on, I attended to the business, and she accompanied me. All day +through we were together. Then after supper, when the night had fallen, we +would walk together in the garden and come at length to hear her father read +aloud sometimes from the works of a poet, sometimes from history. Or, if he did +not feel well, Stella would read, and when this was done, Mr. Carson would +celebrate a short form of prayer, and we would separate till the morning once +more brought our happy hour of meeting. +</p> + +<p> +So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling better. +Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeed there are women +as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had given such depth and +gentleness to her? Was it the long years of communing with Nature that had +endowed her with such peculiar grace, the grace we find in opening flowers and +budding trees? Had she caught that murmuring voice from the sound of the +streams which fall continually about her rocky home? Was it the tenderness of +the evening sky beneath which she loved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her +face, and the light of the evening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? At the +least to me she was the realization of that dream which haunts the sleep of +sin-stained men; so my memory paints her, so I hope to find her when at last +the sleep has rolled away and the fevered dreams are done. +</p> + +<p> +At last there came a day—the most blessed of my life, when we told our +love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. Carson was so +unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met again, and after +supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had grown much attached, to +bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on the couch. +</p> + +<p> +The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the garden to +the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a little breeze which +shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, and bore their +delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, broken only by the +sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to a faint murmur, and now, as +the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudly in our ears. The moon was not yet +visible, but already the dark clouds which floated through the sky above +us—for there had been rain—showed a glow of silver, telling us that +she shone brightly behind the peak. Stella began to talk in her low, gentle +voice, speaking to me of her life in the wilderness, how she had grown to love +it, how her mind had gone on from idea to idea, and how she pictured the great +rushing world that she had never seen as it was reflected to her from the books +which she had read. It was a curious vision of life that she had: things were +out of proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality—a mirage +than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, and especially of +London, had a kind of fascination for her: she could scarcely realize the rush, +the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men and women, strangers to each other, +feverishly seeking for wealth and pleasure beneath a murky sky, and treading +one another down in the fury of their competition. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it all for?” she asked earnestly. “What do they +seek? Having so few years to live, why do they waste them thus?” +</p> + +<p> +I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard necessity that +drove them on, but she could barely understand me. Living as she had done, in +the midst of the teeming plenty of a fruitful earth, she did not seem to be +able to grasp the fact that there were millions who from day to day know not +how to stay their hunger. +</p> + +<p> +“I never want to go there,” she went on; “I should be +bewildered and frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God +put Adam and Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to +live—in peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of +perfect life. I want no other.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought you once told me that you found it lonely,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“So I did,” she answered, innocently, “but that was before +you came. Now I am not lonely any more, and it is perfect—perfect as the +night.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her rays stole +far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, brooding on the +plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, wrapping the fair form of +nature as in a silver bridal veil through which her beauty shone mysteriously. +</p> + +<p> +Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at the scarred +face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beauty of the night was +about her face, the scent of the night was on her hair, the mystery of the +night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked at me, I looked on her, and all +our hearts’ love blossomed within us. We spoke no word—we had no +words to speak, but slowly we drew near, till lips were pressed to lips as we +kissed our eternal troth. +</p> + +<p> +It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, in soft +deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smitten harp. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, now I understand,” she said, “now I know why we are +lonely, and how we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us +in the beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of flowers. It +is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his voice we understand +nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is answered and the gates of our +heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the way that wends through death to +heaven, and is lost in the glory of which our love is but a shadow. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that whatever +overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always have this perfect +memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!” +</p> + +<p> +I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I rose my +eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage of the orange bush +at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze stirred the orange leaves, +the moonlight struck for a moment full upon the white object. +</p> + +<p> +It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had called her, +and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. +</p> + +<p> +I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark in the +rocks behind. +</p> + +<p> +Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I saw +Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. +</p> + +<p> +“Hendrika,” I said, “why were you watching Miss Stella and +myself in the garden?” +</p> + +<p> +She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +“Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to +watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you kissing +her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a star?” +</p> + +<p> +“I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me,” I +answered. “What has that to do with you, Hendrika?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because you love her,” she hissed in answer; “and do I not +love her also, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you +are a man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than women +love women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman loves a man +she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather her +flowers—beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never dare +to go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the garden and give it +to her. What does she do?—she takes the orange bloom, she puts it in her +breast, and lets my flowers die. I call to her—she does not hear +me—she is thinking. You whisper to some one far away, and she hears and +smiles. She used to kiss me sometimes; now she kisses that white brat you +brought, because you brought it. Oh, I see it all—all; I have seen it +from the first; you are stealing her from us, stealing her to yourself, and +those who loved her before you came are forgotten. Be careful, Macumazahn, be +careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, you hate me; you think me half a +monkey; that servant of yours calls me Baboon-woman. Well, I have lived with +baboons, and they are clever—yes, they can play tricks and know things +that you don’t, and I am cleverer than they, for I have learnt the wisdom +of white people also, and I say to you, Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will +fall into a pit,” and with one more look of malice she was gone. +</p> + +<p> +I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature who +seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared her with the +passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her hands. And yet there +was something almost touching in the fierceness of her jealousy. It is +generally supposed that this passion only exists in strength when the object +loved is of another sex from the lover, but I confess that, both in this +instance and in some others which I have met with, this has not been my +experience. I have known men, and especially uncivilized men, who were as +jealous of the affection of their friend or master as any lover could be of +that of his mistress; and who has not seen cases of the same thing where +parents and their children are concerned? But the lower one gets in the scale +of humanity, the more readily this passion thrives; indeed, it may be said to +come to its intensest perfection in brutes. Women are more jealous than men, +small-hearted men are more jealous than those of larger mind and wider +sympathy, and animals are the most jealous of all. Now Hendrika was in some +ways not far removed from animal, which may perhaps account for the ferocity of +her jealousy of her mistress’s affection. +</p> + +<p> +Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. Carson was +resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his hand, and her head +resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had been telling him of what had +come about between us; nor was I sorry, for it is a task that a would-be +son-in-law is generally glad to do by deputy. +</p> + +<p> +“Come here, Allan Quatermain,” he said, almost sternly, and my +heart gave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go +about my business. But I came. +</p> + +<p> +“Stella tells me,” he went on, “that you two have entered +into a marriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that you +say that you love her.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do indeed, sir,” I broke in; “I love her truly; if ever a +woman was loved in this world, I love her.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank Heaven for it,” said the old man. “Listen, my +children. Many years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a +sorrow that, as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I +determined to do what most men would have considered the act of a madman, to go +far away into the wilderness with my only child, there to live remote from +civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this place, and here we have +lived for many years, happily enough, and perhaps not without doing good in our +generation, but still in a way unnatural to our race and status. At first I +thought I would let my daughter grow up in a state of complete ignorance, that +she should be Nature’s child. But as time went on, I saw the folly and +the wickedness of my plan. I had no right to degrade her to the level of the +savages around me, for if the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a bitter fruit, +still it teaches good from evil. So I educated her as well as I was able, till +in the end I knew that in mind, as in body, she was in no way inferior to her +sisters, the children of the civilized world. She grew up and entered into +womanhood, and then it came into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, +that I was separating her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness where +she could find neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, I could not +yet make up my mind to return to active life; I had grown to love this place. I +dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Again and again I put my +resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this year I fell ill. For a +while I waited, hoping that I might get better, but at last I realized that I +should never get better, that the hand of Death was upon me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, no, father, not that!” Stella said, with a cry. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our +separation in the happiness of a new meeting,” and he glanced at me and +smiled. “Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined to +abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that the journey +would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella would, and it would +be better than leaving her here alone with savages in the wilderness. On the +very day that I had made up my mind to take this step Stella found you dying in +the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, and brought you here. She brought you, of all +men in the world, you, whose father had been my dear friend, and who once with +your baby hands had saved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours +from thirst. At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of Providence in +this, and I determined to wait and see what came about between you. At the +worst, if nothing came about, I soon learned that I could trust you to see her +safely to the coast after I was gone. But many days ago I knew how it stood +between you, and now things are determined as I prayed they might be. God bless +you both, my children; may you be happy in your love; may it endure till death +and beyond it. God bless you both!” and he stretched out his hand towards +me. +</p> + +<p> +I took it, and Stella kissed him. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he spoke again— +</p> + +<p> +“It is my intention,” he said, “if you two consent, to marry +you next Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will +be allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated and +entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be perfectly +legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality the first moment +it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is one more thing: when I left +England my fortunes were in a shattered condition; in the course of years they +have recovered themselves, the accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when +the waggons last returned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all +charges, and there is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not +marry on nothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to make +a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you should leave +this place and take the first opportunity of returning to England. I do not ask +you to live there always; it might prove too much for people reared in the +wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask you to make it your permanent +home. Do you consent and promise this?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“And so do I,” said Stella. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” he answered; “and now I am tired out. Again God +bless you both, and good-night.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL</h2> + +<p> +On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First of all I +told him that I was going to marry Stella. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” he said, “I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you +that you would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to +watch the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your +heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?” I answered, +angrily, for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. +</p> + +<p> +“A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I only +speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, loss upon +loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all the things that we +have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and there was wisdom in his +gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it is change, that is all, +Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops of rain that were one water in +the clouds fall side by side. They sink into the ground; presently the sun will +come out, the earth will be dry, the drops will be gone. A fool looks and says +the drops are dead, they will never be one again, they will never again fall +side by side. But I am a rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not +true. The drops will drain by many paths into the river, and will be one water +there. They will go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and there +will again be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When we +fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground that is death, and when we +are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No! no! when we find +we lose, and when we seem to lose, then we shall really find. I am not a +Christian, Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched and seen things that +perhaps Christians do not see. There, I have spoken. Be happy with your star, +and if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, wait till it rises again. It will not be +long; one day you will go to sleep, then your eyes will open on another sky, +and there your star will be shining, Macumazahn.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. But +often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbi and his +beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strange man, this old +rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him than in many learned +atheists—those spiritual destroyers who, in the name of progress and +humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave us wandering in a lonesome, +self-consecrated hell. +</p> + +<p> +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, changing the subject, “I have +something to say,” and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. +</p> + +<p> +He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals as the +narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn,” he said at length, “I have told you that this +is an evil woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in +her veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make you +mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star is +waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you.” +</p> + +<p> +So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of Indaba-zimbi, I +found a deeper meaning in Stella’s simplest word. All the rest of that +day I passed in her company, and the greater part of the two following days. At +last came Saturday night, the eve of our marriage. It rained that night, so we +did not go out, but spent the evening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying +little, but Mr. Carson talked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and +of countries that he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade +us goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut by the +covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what the night was +like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but as the light streamed +out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight of a dusky form gliding away. +The thought of Hendrika flashed into my mind; could she be skulking about +outside there? Now I had said nothing of Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. +Carson or Stella, because I did not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella +was attached to this strange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence +in her unless it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood +hesitating, then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should stop, I +went in and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure the door. For +the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of sleeping in the +covered passage, which was the only other possible way of access. As I came to +bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his blanket, and to all appearances +fast asleep. So it being evident that I had nothing to fear, I promptly +dismissed the matter from my mind, which, as may be imagined, was indeed fully +occupied with other thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great happiness in +store for me, and of the providential course of events that had brought it +within my reach. A few weeks since and I was wandering in the desert a dying +man, bearing a dying child, and with scarcely a possession left in the world +except a store of buried ivory that I never expected to see again. And now I +was about to wed one of the sweetest and loveliest women on the whole +earth—a woman whom I loved more than I could have thought possible, and +who loved me back again. Also, as though that were not good fortune enough, I +was to acquire with her very considerable possessions, quite sufficiently large +to enable us to follow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I lay and +reflected on all this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old +Indaba-zimbi’s melancholy prophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he had +always prophesied truly. What if these should be true also? I turned cold as I +thought of it, and prayed to the Power above to preserve us both to live and +love together. Never was prayer more needed. While its words were still upon my +lips I dropped asleep and dreamed a most dreadful dream. +</p> + +<p> +I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. She was +dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, spiritual beauty +which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a pale flame played about her +features, and the wind that blew did not stir her hair. Nor was this all, for +her white robes were death wrappings, and the altar at which we stood was +formed of the piled-up earth from an open grave that yawned between us. So we +stood waiting for one to wed us, but no one came. Presently from the open grave +sprang the form of Hendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she stabbed at +me, but pierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, fell backwards into +the grave, still looking at me as she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after her into +the grave. I heard her feet strike heavily. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Awake, Macumazahn! awake!</i>” cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. +</p> + +<p> +I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. In the +darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious struggling. +Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which were matches and a rush +taper. I struck a match and held it to the taper. Now in the growing light I +could see two forms rolling one over the other on the floor, and from between +them came the flash of steel. The fat melted and the light burnt up. It was +Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika who were struggling, and, what is more, the +woman was getting the better of the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards +them. Now she was uppermost, now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, +and now the great knife she had in her hand flashed up. +</p> + +<p> +But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked with all +my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save herself, most +fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves upon her. Heavens! the +strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not experienced it could believe it. +She fought and scratched and bit, and at one time nearly mastered the two of +us. As it was she did break loose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and +bounded thence straight up at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and +could not conceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes +which I have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered with +overhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, and, catching +the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw herself through it. But +here her strength, exhausted with the long struggle, failed her. For a moment +she swung, then dropped to the ground and fell senseless. +</p> + +<p> +“Ou!” gasped Indaba-zimbi. “Let us tie the devil up before +she comes to life again.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner of the +room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even she could +scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, and Indaba-zimbi sat +over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to raise an alarm at that +hour of the night. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?” he said. “For +several nights I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made +a plan. To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An hour +after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of light come +into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw the beam of light +vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing over the moon, but I +listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezing himself through a +narrow space. Presently he was through, and hanging by his hands. Then the +light came in again, and in the middle of it I saw the Babyan-frau swinging +from the roof, and about to drop into the hut. She clung by both hands, and in +her mouth was a great knife. She dropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she +dropped, and gripped her round the middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing +the knife, struck at me in the dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you +know the rest. You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very nearly indeed,” I answered, still panting, and arranging the +rags of my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my horrid +dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by the sound of +Hendrika dropping to the floor—in my dream it had been a grave that she +dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in that second of time. +Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is nothing but a dream, and events +that seem far apart really occur simultaneously. +</p> + +<p> +We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came to +herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned buffalo +hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi unceremoniously +sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. +</p> + +<p> +In due course the day broke—my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to +watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the stables, +and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut—that same hut in which +she had been confined when she had been brought a baboon-child from the rocks. +Here we shut her up, and, leaving Indaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to +my sleeping-place and dressed in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could +furnish. But when I looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It +was covered with scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored them +up as best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, which, what +between the events of the past night, and of those pending that day, were not a +little disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and there +Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with orange flowers +on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; then, seeing the condition +of my face, started back. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, +catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. +</p> + +<p> +Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika’s threats and of her fierce +attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my horrid dream. +</p> + +<p> +Stella’s face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her +father became very stern. +</p> + +<p> +“You should have spoken of this before, Allan,” he said. “I +now see that I did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful +creature, who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes that +reared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, father,” said Stella, “don’t have her killed. It +is all dreadful enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very +fond of her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on my +marriage day.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” her father answered, “she shall not be killed, for +though she deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a +brute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence she +came.” +</p> + +<p> +No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast—which was +rather a farce—was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gave him +certain orders. +</p> + +<p> +We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every Sunday +morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The service began +at ten o’clock, but long before that hour all the natives on the place +came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present at the wedding of the +“Star.” It was a pretty sight to see them, the men dressed in all +their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in their hands, and the women and +children bearing green branches of trees, ferns, and flowers. At length, about +half-past nine, Stella rose, pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A +few minutes to ten she reappeared again with her father, dressed in a white +veil, a wreath of orange flowers on her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange +flowers in her hand. To me she seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her came +little Tota in a high state of glee and excitement. She was Stella’s only +bridesmaid. Then we all passed out towards the church hut. The bare space in +front of it was filled with hundreds of natives, who set up a song as we came. +But we went on into the hut, which was crowded with such of the natives as +usually worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, as usual, read the service, though +he was obliged to sit down in order to do so. When it was done—and to me +it seemed interminable—Mr. Carson whispered that he meant to marry us +outside the hut in sight of all the people. So we went out and took our stand +under the shade of a large tree that grew near the hut facing the bare space +where the natives were gathered. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the native +dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife after the +Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he proceeded to read +the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and beautifully he did it. We +said the words, I placed the ring—it was her father’s signet ring, +for we had no other—upon Stella’s finger, and it was done. +</p> + +<p> +Then Mr. Carson spoke. “Allan and Stella,” he said, “I +believe that the ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in +the sight of God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage binding +is, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of the country where +the parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that has been in force +here for fifteen years or more that you have been married in the face of all +the people, and in token of it you will both sign the register that I have kept +of such marriages, among those of my people who have adopted the Christian +Faith. Still, in case there should be any legal flaw I again demand the solemn +promise of you both that on the first opportunity you will cause this marriage +to be re-celebrated in some civilized land. Do you promise?” +</p> + +<p> +“We do,” we answered. +</p> + +<p> +Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my wife signed +hers “Stella” only, but her father bade her write it Stella Carson +for the first and last time in her life. Then several of the indunas, or +headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks in witness. Indaba-zimbi +drew his mark in the shape of a little star, in humorous allusion to +Stella’s native name. That register is before me now as I write. That, +with a lock of my darling’s hair which lies between its leaves, is my +dearest possession. There are all the names and marks as they were written many +years ago beneath the shadow of the tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, +but alas! and alas! where are those who wrote them? +</p> + +<p> +“My people,” said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had +kissed each other before them all—“My people, Macumazahn and the +Star, my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of one +bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my people, you +know this woman,” and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, unseen by us, +had been led out of the prison hut. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, we know her,” said a little ring of headmen, who formed +the primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had squatted +themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. “We know her, she is +the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant of the Star.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know her,” said Mr. Carson, “but you do not know her +altogether. Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about +last night in the hut of Macumazahn.” +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told his moving +tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing up by producing +the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me. +</p> + +<p> +Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his story: +indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. +</p> + +<p> +Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her eyes fixed +upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. +</p> + +<p> +She looked up boldly and answered— +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have robbed +him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which I have lost at +his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had I killed him and left +no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shone on me again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never,” murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white +with wrath. +</p> + +<p> +“My people,” he said, “you hear the words of this woman. You +hear how she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She +says that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man who +is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamed her, we +fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say, my people, what +reward should be given to her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Death,” said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs +downwards, and all the multitude beyond echoed the word “Death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Death,” repeated the head induna, adding, “If you save her, +my father, we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a +devil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain before she +works more evil.” +</p> + +<p> +Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika’s life in +moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman’s nature, her long +service, and the affection that she had always shown towards herself. She said +that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, and she, my wife, who had +nearly been left a widow before she was made a bride, forgave her; let them +forgive her also, let her be sent away, not slain, let not her marriage day be +stained with blood. +</p> + +<p> +Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of killing +Hendrika—indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But the people +were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a devil, and would +have torn her to pieces there and then, could they have had their way. Nor were +matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had already gained a great reputation for +wisdom and magic in the place. Suddenly the old man rose and made quite an +impassioned speech, urging them to kill Hendrika at once or mischief would come +of it. +</p> + +<p> +At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to drag her +off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tears that the sight +of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson’s orders and my own remonstrances, +carried the day. +</p> + +<p> +All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the tumult +ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising that if ever she +showed her face near the kraals again she should be stabbed like a jackal. Then +Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice and in English— +</p> + +<p> +“Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to love I +shall go mad and become a babyan again.” +</p> + +<p> +Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and looked at +the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked past me, and as +she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, being literally +translated, means, “Till another moon,” but which has the same +significance as the French “au revoir.” +</p> + +<p> +It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, and saw +that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran swiftly from me, +and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movement snatched her great knife +from his hand. When she had gone about twenty paces she halted, looked long and +earnestly on Stella, gave one loud cry of anguish, and fled. A few minutes +later we saw her far away, bounding up the face of an almost perpendicular +cliff—a cliff that nobody except herself and the baboons could possibly +climb. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Indaba-zimbi in my ear—“Look, Macumazahn, +there goes the Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, <i>she will come back again</i>. +Ah, why will you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, +Macumazahn?” and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. +</p> + +<p> +For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone for the +present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, and in her +smiles I forgot my fears. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?—there are things too +happy and too sacred to be written of. +</p> + +<p> +At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that perfect joy +which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +GONE!</h2> + +<p> +I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found ourselves. +Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can survive a honeymoon. +Well, I do not know about it, for I only married once, and can but speak from +my limited experience. But certainly our illusion, or rather the great truth of +which it is the shadow, did survive, as to this day it survives in my heart +across all the years of utter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of +gloom. +</p> + +<p> +But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. As our +marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been described, so our +married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long +impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and found him +lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was dying, but this +was not so. On the contrary, within four days he recovered his speech and some +power of movement. But he never recovered his memory, though he still knew +Stella, and sometimes myself. Curiously enough he remembered little Tota best +of all three, though occasionally he thought that she was his own daughter in +her childhood, and would ask her where her mother was. This state of affairs +lasted for some seven months. The old man gradually grew weaker, but he did not +die. Of course his condition quite precluded the idea of our leaving Babyan +Kraals till all was over. This was the more distressing to me because I had a +nervous presentiment that Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and +also because the state of her health rendered it desirable that we should reach +a civilized region as soon as possible. However, it could not be helped. +</p> + +<p> +At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by Mr. +Carson’s bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up and spoke +in a strong, full voice. +</p> + +<p> +“I hear you,” he said. “Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! +you too have suffered,” and he fell back dead. +</p> + +<p> +I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision of whom +had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was overwhelmed with +grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been her sole companion, and +therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between them was much closer than is +usual even in the case of father and daughter. So deeply did she mourn that I +began to fear for the effect upon her health. Nor were we the only ones to +grieve; all the natives on the settlement called Mr. Carson +“father,” and as a father they lamented him. The air resounded with +the wailing of women, and the men went about with bowed heads, saying that +“the sun had set in the heavens, now only the Star (Stella) +remained.” Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. He said that it was best +that the Inkoos should die, for what was life worth when one lay like a +log?—moreover, that it would have been well for all if he had died +sooner. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the waterfall. +It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite of all I could do +to comfort her. +</p> + +<p> +That night as I sat outside the hut smoking—for the weather was hot, and +Stella was lying down inside—old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, and +squatted at my feet. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, Indaba-zimbi?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” I answered. “The Star is not fit to +travel now, we must wait awhile.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must take +her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you say so? why must we go?” +</p> + +<p> +“For this reason, Macumazahn,” and he looked cautiously round and +spoke low. “The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is +full of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not know that they had gone,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he answered, “they went after the marriage, all but +one or two; now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a +whole cliff black with them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that all?” I said, for I saw that he had something behind. +“I am not afraid of a pack of baboons.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with +them.” +</p> + +<p> +Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, and though +at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degrees she to a great +extent had passed out of my mind, which was fully preoccupied with Stella and +my father-in-law’s illness. I started violently. “How do you know +this?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is +dressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though she was a +long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white flesh of her arm when +the skins slipped aside. She has come back, Macumazahn, with all the baboons in +the world, and she has come back to do evil. Now do you understand why you +should trek?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “though I don’t see how she and the +baboons can harm us, I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can +camp the waggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: +say nothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And hearken +again. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all round the huts +and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we will get the waggons +ready, and next day we will trek.” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a little +disturbed—unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. That this +woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] That was not so very +wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to do the same thing, and +she had been nurtured by them. But that she had been able to muster them, and +by the strength of her human will and intelligence muster them in order to +forward her ends of revenge, seemed to me so incredible that after reflection +my fears grew light. Still I determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox +waggon would not be such a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to +roughing it, whatever her state of health. And when all was said and done I did +not like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with countless hosts of baboons. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] For an instance of this, see Anderson’s “Twenty-five Years in a +Waggon,” vol. i. p. 262.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon story, +told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the conclusion that +it was our duty to follow her father’s instructions to the letter, and +leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need not enter, but the end of +it was that she agreed with me, and declared that she could quite well manage +the journey, saying, moreover, that now that her dear father was dead she would +be glad to get away. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morning I was +up early making preparations. The despair of the people when they learned that +we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. I could only console +them by declaring that we were but on a journey, and would return the following +year. +</p> + +<p> +“They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead,” they +declared; “ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. He +had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a mat to lie +on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in his shadow. Then he +had died, and the Star, their father’s daughter, had married me, +Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take their father’s +place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they do when there was no +one to protect them? The tribes were kept from attacking them by fear of the +white man. If we went they would be eaten up,” and so on. Alas! there was +but too much foundation for their fears. +</p> + +<p> +I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said that she was +going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it necessary to caution +her about going out alone, as I did not wish to allude to the subject of +Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged to. I told her, however, that I +would come back to help her as soon as I could get away. Then I went down to +the native kraals to sort out such cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from +those which belonged to the Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It +was a large herd, and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a +little before sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the +job, got on my horse and rode homewards. +</p> + +<p> +Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the central +hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had been packing lay +about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, thence one by one into +all the others, but still saw no sign of her. Then I went out, and calling to a +Kaffir in the garden asked him if he had seen his mistress. +</p> + +<p> +He answered “yes.” He had seen her carrying flowers and walking +towards the graveyard, holding the little white girl—my daughter—as +he called her, by the hand, when the sun stood “there,” and he +pointed to a spot on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a +half before. “The two dogs were with them,” he added. I turned and +ran towards the graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the huts. +Of course there was no reason to be anxious—evidently she had gone to lay +the flowers on her father’s grave. And yet I was anxious. +</p> + +<p> +When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my orders, had +been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed that he was rubbing +his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I asked him if he had seen +his mistress, and he answered that he had not, which under the circumstances +was not wonderful. Without stopping to reproach him, I ordered the man to +follow me, and went on to the graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson’s grave, +lay the drooping flowers which Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh +mould was the spoor of Tota’s veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were +they? +</p> + +<p> +I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but no answer +came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in tracing their spoor. +He followed it for about a hundred yards till he came to a clump of mimosa bush +that was situated between the stream and the ancient marble quarries just over +the waterfall, and at the mouth of the ravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him +give a startled cry. I rushed to the spot, passed through the trees, and saw +this. The little open space in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a +struggle. There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of human +feet—two shod, one naked—Stella’s, Tota’s, and +<i>Hendrika’s</i>. Nor was this all. There, close by, lay the fragments +of the two dogs—they were nothing more—and one baboon, not yet +quite dead, which had been bitten in the throat by the dogs. All round was the +spoor of numberless baboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into +my mind. +</p> + +<p> +My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had not been +killed, for if so their remains would have been found with those of the dogs. +They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under the direction of that +woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to some secret den, there to keep +them till they died—or kill them! +</p> + +<p> +For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. Then I +roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm the people at +the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns and ammunition. He +went like the wind, and I turned to follow the spoor. For a few yards it was +plain enough—Stella had been dragged along. I could see where her heels +had struck the ground; the child had, I presumed, been carried—at least +there were no marks of her feet. At the water’s edge the spoor vanished. +The water was shallow, and they had gone along in it, or at least Hendrika and +her victim had, in order to obliterate the trail. I could see where a +moss-grown stone had been freshly turned over in the water-bed. I ran along the +bank some way up the ravine, in the vain hope of catching a sight of them. +Presently I heard a bark in the cliffs above me; it was answered by another, +and then I saw that scores of baboons were hidden about among the rocks on +either side, and were softly swinging themselves down to bar the path. To go on +unarmed as I was would be useless. I should only be torn to pieces as the dogs +had been. So I turned and fled back towards the huts. As I drew near I could +see that my messenger had roused the settlement, for natives with spears and +kerries in their hands were running up towards the kraals. When I reached the +hut I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious face. +</p> + +<p> +“So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“It has fallen,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep a good heart, Macumazahn,” he said again. “She is not +dead, nor is the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember +this, Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans to harm +her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pray God that we may find her,” I groaned. “The light is +going fast.” +</p> + +<p> +“The moon rises in three hours,” he answered; “we will search +by moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get the +men together, eat, and make things ready. <i>Hamba gachla</i>. Hasten slowly, +Macumazahn.” +</p> + +<p> +As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I packed some +up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind of litter. If we +found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! if we found them! How +slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before the moon rose. But at last it +did rise. +</p> + +<p> +Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only mustered five +guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had belonged to Mr. Carson. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI</h2> + +<p> +We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The natives +looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of violence, and I +heard them swearing to each other, that whether the Star lived or died they +would not rest till they had exterminated every baboon on Babyan’s Peak. +I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, we kept it. +</p> + +<p> +We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as we best +could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks very little. +Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the lonely moonlit valleys, +startling the silence into a thousand echoes with our cries. But no answer came +to them. In vain our eyes searched the sides of precipices formed of +water-riven rocks fantastically piled one upon another; in vain we searched +through endless dells and fern-clad crannies. There was nothing to be found. +How could we expect to find two human beings hidden away in the recesses of +this vast stretch of mountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. +They were lost, and in all human probability lost for ever. +</p> + +<p> +To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore and +weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waiting for the sun +to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had brought with them, and sent +to the kraals for more. +</p> + +<p> +I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my feelings. Let +the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may get some idea of them. +Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring straight before him as though he +were looking into space, and taking note of what went on there. An idea struck +me. This man had some occult power. Several times during our adventures he had +prophesied, and in every case his prophecies had proved true. He it was who, +when we escaped from the Zulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because there +we should find the place of a white man who lived under the shadow of a great +peak that was full of baboons. Perhaps he could help in this extremity—at +any rate it was worth trying. +</p> + +<p> +“Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “you say that you can send your +spirit through the doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I +know that you can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and +will save her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn,” he answered. +“I do things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what +I do like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use my +wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without being +asked—no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I love, +for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I had a part, +for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this matter I have no part, +and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless you thought well to call upon my +Spirit. However, it would have been no good to ask me before, for I have only +just found the herb I want,” and he produced a handful of the leaves of a +plant that was unfamiliar to me. It had prickly leaves, shaped very much like +those of the common English nettle. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Macumazahn,” he went on, “bid the men leave us alone, +and then follow me presently to the little glade down there by the +water.” +</p> + +<p> +I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a small fire +under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. +</p> + +<p> +“Sit there, Macumazahn,” he said, pointing to a stone near the +fire, “and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you +move or call out we shall learn nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, the old +fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of the pool, dipped +himself in the water. Then he came back shivering with the cold, and, leaning +over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plant I have mentioned into his +mouth and began to chew them, muttering as he chewed. Most of the remaining +leaves he threw on to the fire. A dense smoke rose from them, but he held his +head in this smoke and drew it down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting +every sign of suffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, he gasped +loudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, seemed as though they +were going to start from his head. Presently he fell over on his side, and lay +senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and my first impulse was to run to his +assistance, but fortunately I remembered his caution, and sat quiet. +</p> + +<p> +Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had all the +utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin to stiffen, +exactly as though <i>rigor mortis</i> had set in. Then, to my astonishment, I +perceived them once more relax, and this time there appeared upon his chest the +stain of decomposition. It spread and spread; in three minutes the man, to all +appearance, was a livid corpse. +</p> + +<p> +I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further natural +process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was going to fall to dust +before my eyes. As I watched I observed that the discoloration was beginning to +fade. First it vanished from the extremities, then from the larger limbs, and +lastly from the trunk. Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the +second stage of stiffness or <i>rigor</i>, and the first stage of after-death +collapse. When all these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly +woke up. +</p> + +<p> +I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth open. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Macumazahn,” he said, putting his head on one side like a +bird, and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, “it is all right; +I have seen her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Seen who?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, but +unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons obey her, +and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, so I whispered in +her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you would soon rescue her, and +that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased to have Hendrika near her.” +</p> + +<p> +“You whispered in her ear?” I said. “How could you whisper in +her ear?” +</p> + +<p> +“Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your eyes? +You don’t know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had to die to +pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all the healthy +strength and life from my body in order to gather power to speak with the Star. +It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I had let things go a little +further they must have stopped so, and there would have been an end of +Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so much that you think you know +everything. But you don’t! You are always staring at the clouds and +can’t see the things that lie at your feet. You hardly believe me now, do +you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. Have you anything on you that the Star +has touched or worn?” +</p> + +<p> +I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my +pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, he lit the +lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which he caught in his +left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with the juice of one of the +leaves of the plant I have spoken of. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt me, then +my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and my brain was +perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground with my feet. +Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us was a pool of +beautifully clear water. +</p> + +<p> +“Look into the pool, Macumazahn,” said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice +sounded hollow and far away in my ears. +</p> + +<p> +I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. I saw a +cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave rested Stella. Her +dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfully pale and weary, and her +eyelids were red as though with weeping. But she slept, and I could almost +think that I saw her lips shape my name in her sleep. Close to her, her head +upon Stella’s breast, was little Tota; she had a skin thrown over her to +keep out the night cold. The child was awake, and appeared to be moaning with +fear. By the fire, and in such a position that the light fell full upon her +face, and engaged in cooking something in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat the +Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon skins, and her face had been +rubbed with some dark stain, which was, however, wearing off it. In the +intervals of her cooking she would turn on Stella her wild eyes, in which +glared visible madness, with an expression of tenderness that amounted to +worship. Then she would stare at the child and gnash her teeth as though with +hate. Clearly she was jealous of it. Round the entrance arch of the cave peeped +and peered the heads of many baboons. Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of +them; apparently she did not speak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake +Stella. The brute hopped forward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot +which was lying by her. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as the +vision slowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboon +returning with the pot full of water. +</p> + +<p> +Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath me was +the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“You have seen things,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“I have,” I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. +What was there to say?[*] “Do you know the path to the cave?” I +added. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir magic the reader is +referred to a work named “Among the Zulus,” by David +Leslie.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +He nodded his head. “I did not follow it all just now, because it +winds,” he said. “But I know it. We shall want the ropes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let us be starting; the men have eaten.” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make ready, +adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all right, if +Indaba-zimbi had “smelt her out,” they should soon find the Star. +So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much improved that I +was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we walked. +</p> + +<p> +We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a mile; +then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another kloof, of +which there were countless numbers in the base of the great hill. +</p> + +<p> +On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was never at a +loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills with the certainty +of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about three hours’ march, we +came to a big silent valley on the northern slope of the great peak. On one +side of this valley was a series of stony koppies, on the other rose a sheer +wall of rock. We marched along the wall for a distance of some two miles. Then +suddenly Indaba-zimbi halted. +</p> + +<p> +“There is the place,” he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. +This opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. It +cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was partially +hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface of the cliff. Keen +as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have noticed it, for there were many +such cracks and crannies in the rocky face of the great mountain. +</p> + +<p> +We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I noticed was +that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been worn by the +continual passage of baboons; the second, that something white was hanging on a +bush near the top of the ascent. +</p> + +<p> +It was a pocket-handkerchief. +</p> + +<p> +Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I began the +ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, for the rock +shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still possible to an active +man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. But the last twelve or +fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing a rope over the trunk of a +stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of the opening. This we accomplished +with some trouble, and the rest was easy. A foot or two above my head the +handkerchief fluttered in the wind. Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was +my wife’s. As I did so I noticed the face of a baboon peering at me over +the edge of the cleft, the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute +gave a bark and vanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my +feet against the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew that we +had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the others. I gained +the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, ending in a gulley, which +led to a wide open space of some sort. I looked through the passage and saw +that the gulley was black with baboons. On they came by the hundred. I unslung +my elephant gun from my shoulders and waited, calling to the men below to come +up with all possible speed. The brutes streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards +me, barking, grunting, and showing their huge teeth. I waited till they were +within fifteen yards. Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded with +slugs, right into the thick of them. In that narrow place the report echoed +like a cannon shot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the volley of +piercing human-sounding groans and screams that followed. The charge of heavy +slugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of which at least a dozen lay +dead or dying in the passage. For a moment they hesitated, then they came on +again with a hideous clamour. Fortunately by this time Indaba-zimbi, who also +had a gun, was standing by my side, otherwise I should have been torn to pieces +before I could re-load. He fired both barrels into them, and again checked the +rush. But they came on again, and notwithstanding the appearance of two other +natives with guns, which they let off with more or less success, we should have +been overwhelmed by the great and ferocious apes had I not by this time +succeeded in re-loading the elephant gun. When they were right on us, I fired, +with even more deadly effect than before, for at that distance every slug told +on their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage were now something +inconceivable. One might have thought that we were doing battle with a host of +demons; indeed in that light—for the overhanging arch of rock made it +very dark—the gnashing snouts and sombre glowing eyes of the apes looked +like those of devils as they are represented by monkish fancy. But the last +shot was too much for them; they withdrew, dragging some of their wounded with +them, and thus gave us time to get our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all +were there, and we advanced down the passage, which presently opened into a +rocky gulley with shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at the bottom of +it; it was about a hundred yards long, and the slopes on either side were +topped by precipitous cliffs. I looked at these slopes; they literally swarmed +with baboons, grunting, barking, screaming, and beating their breasts with +their long arms, in fury. I looked up the water-way; along it, accompanied by a +mob, or, as it were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, her long hair flying, +madness written on her face, and in her arms was the senseless form of little +Tota. +</p> + +<p> +She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. To me +the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearly understood it, +for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulder leaped past me and +struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from the roof of the arch on to a +man’s head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi lifted his gun to shoot Hendrika; +I knocked it up, so that the shot went over her, crying that he would kill the +child. Then I shouted to the men to open out and form a line from side to side +of the shelving gulley. Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they obeyed +me, and keeping in the water-way myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the +other guns, I gave the word to charge. +</p> + +<p> +Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most +fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the slopes, and +as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who rushed to and fro +holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, the apes bounded at them in +fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, and many more fell beneath our +gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor did we go scathless. Occasionally a man +would slip, or be pulled over in the grip of a baboon. Then the others would +fling themselves upon him like dogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost +five men in this way, and I myself received a bite through the fleshy part of +the left arm, but fortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before I +was pulled down. +</p> + +<p> +At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to seize +them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more of fight, but +only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away from the assegais of the +Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces in their paws, and, moaning +piteously, waited to be slain. +</p> + +<p> +Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her arms, she +rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I lifted my gun, +but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad thing, half ape, half +woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed full on Indaba-zimbi, knocking +him down. But she did not stay to do any more. Wailing terribly, she rushed +down the gulley and through the arch, followed by a few of the surviving +baboons, and vanished from our sight. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Move the stone,” cried Stella’s voice, “the cave is +shut with a stone.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Hendrika,” Stella cried, “what does this mean? What are you +doing with Tota and those brutes?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER</h2> + +<p> +Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that night in the +baboons’ home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella would not sleep in +the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I made her up a kind of bed +under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley was one of the hottest places I +ever was in, I thought that this would not matter; but when at sunrise on the +following morning I saw a veil of miasmatic mist hanging over the surface of +the ground, I changed my opinion. However, neither Stella nor Tota seemed the +worse, so as soon as was practical we started homewards. I had already on the +previous day sent some of the men back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and +when we reached the cliff we found them waiting for us beneath. With the help +of the ladder the descent was easy. Stella simply got out of her rough litter +at the top of the cliff, for we found it necessary to carry her, climbed down +the ladder, and got into it again at the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of Hendrika, +and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here with—“and +lived happily ever after.” But alas! it is not so. How am I to write it? +</p> + +<p> +My dearest wife’s vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that the +danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that her state was +such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of leaving Babyan Kraals at +present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of mind, and the terror which she had +endured during that dreadful night, combined with her delicate state of health, +had completely broken her down. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with +an attack of fever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that +accursed valley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfully +weak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. +</p> + +<p> +I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my future, +never of <i>our</i> future. It is impossible for me to tell how sweet she was; +how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I wish to tell it, it is +too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if ever a woman drew near to +perfection while yet living on the earth, Stella Quatermain did so. +</p> + +<p> +The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived to kiss and +bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had little skill, and +might not hold her back from death. All through one weary night I watched her +with a breaking heart. +</p> + +<p> +The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak behind +were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. Stella awoke from +her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to open the door of the hut. I +did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the splendour of the morning sky. She +looked on me and smiled as an angel might smile. Then with a last effort she +lifted her hand, and, pointing to the radiant heavens, whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>There, Allan, there!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wander to the +end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; it cannot be written. +In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! +</p> + +<p> +Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we can never +go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my father before me, +and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there is but one word of +comfort. “The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away.” Let +us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble heart, “Blessed be +the name of the Lord.” +</p> + +<p> +I buried her by her father’s side, and the weeping of the people who had +loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could weep no more. +</p> + +<p> +On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed myself, +and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, and by its rays I +shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near silently, and as I came I +thought that I heard a sound of moaning on the further side of the wall. I +looked over it. Crouched by Stella’s grave, and tearing at its sods with +her hands, as though she would unearth that which lay within, was +<i>Hendrika</i>. Her face was wild and haggard, her form was so emaciated that +when the pelts she wore slipped aside, the shoulder-blades seemed to project +almost through her skin. Suddenly she looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful +maniac laugh, she put her hand to her girdle and drew her great knife from it. +I thought that she was about to attack me, and prepared to defend myself as I +best could, for I was unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. Lifting the +knife on high, for a moment she held it glittering in the moonlight, then +plunged it into her own breast, and fell headlong to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently she +opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn,” she said, speaking in English and in a thick +difficult voice like one who half forgot and half +remembered—“Macumazahn, I remember now. I have been mad. Is she +really dead, Macumazahn?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “she is dead, and you killed her.” +</p> + +<p> +“I killed her!” the dying woman faltered, “and I loved her. +Yes, yes, I know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and +now once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her—because I +loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not dead yet, +Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. It was +jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and now she never can +forgive me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ask forgiveness from above,” I said, for Hendrika had been a +Christian, and the torment of her remorse touched me. +</p> + +<p> +“I ask no forgiveness,” she said. “May God torture me for +ever, because I killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to +find me and forgives me! I only want her forgiveness.” And wailing in an +anguish of the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be +forgotten, Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. +</p> + +<p> +I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had +happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed to give +it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the natives, hearing +of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to the vultures with every +mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of Hendrika. +</p> + +<p> +A week after Hendrika’s death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was hateful +to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi and told him +that I was going. He answered that it was well. “The place has served +your turn,” he said; “here you have won that joy which it was fated +you should win, and have suffered those things that it was fated you should +suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy and the suffering, like +the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, and will rest at last in the +same heaven, the heaven from which they came. Now go, Macumazahn.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him if he was coming with me. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” he answered, “our paths lie apart henceforth, +Macumazahn. We met together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now +each one goes his own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my +years are few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhaps +we may meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we have each of +us a friend the less.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heavy words,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“True words,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving Indaba-zimbi +in charge of the place, and making him a present of such cattle and goods as I +did not want. +</p> + +<p> +Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almost +recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwards named, +was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting a respectable native +woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight with the baboons, to +accompany me as his nurse. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away from +Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the Bad Lands, and +my first night’s outspan was beneath that very tree where Stella, my lost +wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. +</p> + +<p> +I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not died in the +desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from year to year I have +continued to feel while I wander through the lonely wilderness of life, that I +had been preserved to an end. I had won my darling’s love, and for a +little while we had been happy together. Our happiness was too perfect to +endure. She is lost to me now, but she is lost to be found again. +</p> + +<p> +Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Macumazahn,” he said, nodding his white lock at me. +“Good-bye for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make +me that. But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved each +other shall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in my way, +Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All my prophecies to +you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall come true also. I tell you +that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and shall not find me. I tell you that +you shall journey to a further land than Babyan Kraals and shall find me. +Farewell!” and he took a pinch of snuff, turned, and went. +</p> + +<p> +Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many +adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived safely +at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both Tota and my baby +boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well chronicle the destiny of +Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. Then she was adopted by a lady, +the wife of an English colonel, who was stationed at the Cape. She was taken by +her adopted parents to England, where she grew up a very charming and pretty +girl, and ultimately married a clergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her again, +though we often wrote to each other. +</p> + +<p> +Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gathered to the +land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! all this took place +so long ago, when I was young who now am old. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson’s +property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I wrote to +England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer to whom the matter +was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not having been celebrated by an +ordained priest, was not legal according to English law, and therefore Harry +could not inherit. Foolishly enough I acquiesced in this, and the property +passed to a cousin of my father-in-law’s; but since I have come to live +in England I have been informed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, +and that there is every probability that the courts would have declared the +marriage perfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordance +with the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now so rich that +it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin is dead, his son is in +possession, so let him keep it. +</p> + +<p> +Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years after my +darling’s death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook an +expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of the +well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted my horse, +and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strange prescience of +evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the music of the waterfalls, +the place silent as death. The kraals that used to be to the left of the road +by the river had vanished. I rode towards their site; the mealie fields were +choked with weeds, the paths were dumb with grass. Presently I reached the +place. There, overgrown with grass, were the burnt ashes of the kraals, and +there among the ashes, gleaming in the moonlight, lay the white bones of men. +Now it was clear to me. The settlement had been fallen on by some powerful foe, +and its inhabitants put to the assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come +true; Babyan Kraals were peopled by memories alone. +</p> + +<p> +I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. They +would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I entered one of +them—it had been our sleeping hut—and lit a candle which I had with +me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and broken mouldering fragments +of the familiar furniture lay about. Then I remembered that there was a secret +place hollowed in the floor and concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide +her little treasures. I went to the stone and dragged it up. There was +something within wrapped in rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress +my wife had been married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered +wreath and flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened +it; it contained a lock of my own hair! +</p> + +<p> +I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away and could +not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the floor. +</p> + +<p> +Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving my horse +tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined garden. There it +was a mass of weeds, but over my darling’s grave grew a self-sown orange +bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on to the mound beneath. As I +drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A great baboon leapt from the centre +of the graveyard and vanished into the trees. I could almost believe that it +was the wraith of Hendrika doomed to keep an eternal watch over the bones of +the woman her jealous rage had done to death. +</p> + +<p> +I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be written. Then, +leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters fall in melancholy +music beneath the shadow of the everlasting mountain, I turned and sought that +spot where first we had told our love. Now the orange grove was nothing but a +tangled thicket; many of the trees were dead, choked with creepers, but some +still flourished. There stood the one beneath which we had lingered, there was +the rock that had been our seat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of +<i>Stella</i>, the Stella whom I had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her +upturned face was that same spiritual look which I saw upon it in the hour when +we first had kissed. The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, the breeze wavered +in her curling hair, her breast rose and fell, a gentle smile played about her +parted lips. I stood transfixed with awe and joy, gazing on that lost +loveliness which once was mine. I could not speak, and she spoke no word; she +did not even seem to see me. Now her eyes fell. For a moment they met mine, and +their message entered into me. +</p> + +<p> +Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous moonlight +falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the waters, the shadow of +the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the sorrow and the hope. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN’S WIFE ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 2727-h.htm or 2727-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2727/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b9b9e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2727 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2727) diff --git a/old/2727-8.txt b/old/2727-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef99673 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2727-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5356 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Allan's Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Allan's Wife + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2727] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN'S WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +ALLAN'S WIFE + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + + My Dear Macumazahn, + + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening + of that Allen who has become as well known to me as any + other friend I have. It is therefore fitting that I should + dedicate to you this, his last tale--the story of his wife, + and the history of some further adventures which befell him. + They will remind you of many an African yarn--that with the + baboons may recall an experience of your own which I did not + share. And perhaps they will do more than this. Perhaps they + will bring back to you some of the long past romance of days + that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain + tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known and + explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and + trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized + man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of + the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the + Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the + morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The + blue gums that we planted in the garden of the "Palatial" + must be large trees by now, and the "Palatial" itself has + passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for her love after we + were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is + dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin. + + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the + mystery and promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day + sun burns overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of + those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and + murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in + a more gentle fashion; others are hidden from us, we know + not where. We might well fear to return to that land lest we + also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart to-day, the + past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we + can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly + undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. + Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria + Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight + patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the + Shameful Hill. + + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those + eventful years of youth which we passed together in the + African towns and on the African veldt, I dedicate these + pages, subscribing myself now as always, + + Your sincere friend, + + Indanda. + + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. + + + + +ALLAN'S WIFE + + + +CHAPTER I + +EARLY DAYS + +It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just +before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, +stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. + +When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his +literary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the +following is one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. +Quatermain was not personally concerned--a Zulu novel, the story of +which was told to him by the hero many years after the tragedy had +occurred. But with this we have nothing to do at present. + + +I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain's manuscript begins) that I would +set down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss of +my most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and to +some extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it +is still keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun the +record. Once I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me beyond +bearing, once because I was suddenly called away upon a journey, and +the third time because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript convenient for +lighting the kitchen fire. + +But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth +attempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in after +years when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it to +be published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curious +reflections. + +I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in charge +of a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten years +married to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, +of whom I was the youngest. I remember faintly the place where we lived. +It was an ancient long grey house, facing the road. There was a very +large tree of some sort in the garden. It was hollow, and we children +used to play about inside of it, and knock knots of wood from the rough +bark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and my mother always came and +kissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake up and see her bending +over me, a candle in her hand. There was a curious kind of pole +projecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was dreadfully frightened +because my eldest brother made me hang to it by my hands. That is all +I remember about our old home. It has been pulled down long ago, or I +would journey there to see it. + +A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates to +it, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which +were so hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was +prophetic. One could see the house by peeping through the bars of the +gates. It was a gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it; +but in the summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the grass +plat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived there. One +Christmas--it must have been the Christmas before my father emigrated, +or I should not remember it--we children went to a Christmas-tree +festivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, and footmen +wearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the dining-room, which was +panelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. Squire Carson stood in +front of it. He was a tall, dark man, very quiet in his manners, and he +wore a bunch of seals on his waistcoat. We used to think him old, but +as a matter of fact he was then not more than forty. He had been, as +I afterwards learned, a great traveller in his youth, and some six +or seven years before this date he married a lady who was half a +Spaniard--a papist, my father called her. I can remember her well. She +was small and very pretty, with a rounded figure, large black eyes, and +glittering teeth. She spoke English with a curious accent. I suppose +that I must have been a funny child to look at, and I know that my hair +stood up on my head then as it does now, for I still have a sketch of +myself that my mother made of me, in which this peculiarity is strongly +marked. On this occasion of the Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. +Carson turned to a tall, foreign-looking gentleman who stood beside +her, and, tapping him affectionately on the shoulder with her gold +eye-glasses, said-- + +"Look, cousin--look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes; +his hair is like a--what you call him?--scrubbing-brush. Oh, what a +droll little boy!" + +The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson's +hand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her +whisper-- + +"Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like--like the +thunderstorm." + +Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. + +After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was +shy, and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire's only child, +giving the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as Father +Christmas, with some soft white stuff round her lovely little face, and +she had large dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than anything +I had ever seen. At last it came to my turn to receive a present--oddly +enough, considered in the light of future events, it was a large monkey. +Stella reached it down from one of the lower boughs of the tree and +handed it to me, saying-- + +"Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain." + +As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled +over with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught +fire--how I do not know--and the flame ran up her arm towards her +throat. She stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with +fear; and the ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. +Then some impulse seized me--perhaps instinct would be a better word to +use, considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, and, beating at +the fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in extinguishing it before +it really got hold. My wrists were so badly scorched that they had to be +wrapped up in wool for a long time afterwards, but with the exception of +a single burn upon her throat, little Stella Carson was not much hurt. + +This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. +What happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I +sometimes see little Stella's sweet face and the stare of terror in her +dark eyes as the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, +for I had, humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was destined to +be my wife. + +The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three +brothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the +poisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead sheep +into it. + +It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day +to the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in +the study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of paper +with a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room talking to +himself. Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the lives of his wife +and children. Presently a servant came to the door and said that some +one wanted to see him. + +"It is the squire, sir," said the maid, "and he says he particularly +wishes to see you." + +"Very well," answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carson +came in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercely +that I was afraid of him. + +"Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain," he said, +in a hoarse voice, "but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and I +wish to speak to you before I go--indeed, I must speak to you." + +"Shall I send Allan away?" said my father, pointing to me. + +"No; let him bide. He will not understand." Nor, indeed, did I at the +time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning grew +on me. + +"First tell me," he went on, "how are they?" and he pointed upwards with +his thumb. + +"My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope," my father answered, with +a groan. "I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord's will +be done!" + +"The Lord's will be done," the squire echoed, solemnly. "And now, +Quatermain, listen--my wife's gone." + +"Gone!" my father answered. "Who with?" + +"With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me +that she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she +thought me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, +or most of it, and gone. I don't know where. Luckily, she did not care +to encumber her new career with the child; Stella is left to me." + +"That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson," said my father. That +was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but he +was bigoted. "What are you going to do--follow her?" + +He laughed bitterly in answer. + +"Follow her!" he said; "why should I follow her? If I met her I might +kill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have +brought upon my child's name. No, I never want to look upon her face +again. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go +and find her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life." + +"Surely, Carson, surely," said my father, "you do not mean----" + +"No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this +civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, I +and my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don't know where. Anywhere, +so long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues----" + +"You are mad, Carson," my father answered. "How will you live? How can +you educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down." + +"I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. +Education! Was not she--that woman who was my wife--was not she highly +educated?--the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever for +me, Quatermain--too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be brought +up in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her very +name. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find me +out, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I knew," +and he was gone. + +"Mad," said my father, with a heavy sigh. "His trouble has turned his +brain. But he will think better of it." + +At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in his +ear. My father's face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table to +support himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! + +It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my +father took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which +had been my mother's bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with +flowers in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three +little white beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. They +all looked as though they were asleep, and they all had flowers in their +hands. My father told me to kiss them, because I should not see them any +more, and I did so, though I was very frightened. I did not know why. +Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. + +"The Lord hath given," he said, "and the Lord hath taken away; blessed +be the name of the Lord." + +I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have only +a confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens towards +the grey churchyard! + +Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father +could no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen +on him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have +been poor at the time--indeed, I believe that a large portion of +our income went from my father on my mother's death. At any rate we +travelled with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort of +the journey with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remain +upon my mind. At last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which I +was not to leave again for many, many years. + +In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern +Africa. My father went up the country and became a missionary among the +Kaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grew +to manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and +gradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission +station--a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the most +interesting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottish +poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, literally +by the page. It was from that I contracted a fondness for the latter +amusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared for so +much, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. What +little education I got was from my father, but I never had much leaning +towards books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On the other hand, +I was always a keen observer of the ways of men and nature. By the time +that I was twenty I could speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects +perfectly, and I doubt if there was anybody in South Africa who +understood native ways of thought and action more completely than I +did. Also I was really a very good shot and horseman, and I think--as, +indeed, my subsequent career proves to have been the case--a great deal +tougher than the majority of men. Though I was then, as now, light and +small, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any amount of exposure +and privation, and I never met the native who was my master in feats +of endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I am speaking of my +early manhood. + +It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such +surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father's society. He +was one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the +most savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good one +for me. He used to call himself one of the world's failures. Would that +there were more such failures. Every morning when his work was done he +would take his prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or verandah +of our station, would read the evening psalms to himself. Sometimes +there was not light enough for this, but it made no difference, he knew +them all by heart. When he had finished he would look out across the +cultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had their huts. + +But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, +and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. + +It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one +evening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire and +my mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never been +out of his mind for a single day during all these years, and that he +rejoiced to think he was drawing near that land whither she had gone. +Then he asked me if I remembered the night when Squire Carson came into +the study at the vicarage, and told him that his wife had run away, and +that he was going to change his name and bury himself in some remote +land. + +I answered that I remembered it perfectly. + +"I wonder where he went to," said my father, "and if he and his daughter +Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them again. But +life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, give them +my kind love." + +After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the +depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, +as I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch the +kraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit of +mine of watching at night that I first got my native name of Macumazahn, +which may be roughly translated as "he who sleeps with one eye open." So +I took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him and kissed me on +the forehead, saying, "God bless you, Allan! I hope that you will think +of your old father sometimes, and that you will lead a good and happy +life." + +I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it +down to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the +years went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an hour +of sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the station. As I +came near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my father's chair. +At first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then that my father had +fallen asleep there. + +And so he had,--for he was dead! + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRE-FIGHT + +When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his +place--for the station was the property of the Society--I set to work to +carry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute +because it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, +it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the +countries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much +further North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though +the emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these territories, +they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But I was now +alone in the world, and it mattered little what became of me; so, driven +on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old as I am, will +perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to undertake the +journey. + +Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, +reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceeds +I invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, +and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any modern +explorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a good deal +of execution with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, smooth +bore, fitted for percussion caps--a roer we called it--which threw a +three-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black powder. +Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, although it generally +knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only did under compulsion. +The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, +but it had flint locks. Also there were some old tower muskets, which +might or might not throw straight at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs +with me, and three good horses, which were supposed to be salted--that +is, proof against the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow +named Indaba-zimbi, which, being translated, means "tongue of iron." +I suppose he got this name from his strident voice and exhaustless +eloquence. This man was a great character in his way. He had been a +noted witch-doctor among a neighbouring tribe, and came to the station +under the following circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable +part in this history, are perhaps worth recording. + +Two years before my father's death I had occasion to search the country +round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred +to me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a +Kaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty miles +from our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at home. +The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the following morning I went +to pay my respects to him before leaving, and was somewhat surprised to +find a collection of some hundreds of men and women sitting round him +anxiously watching the sky in which the thunder-clouds were banking up +in a very ominous way. + +"You had better wait, white man," said the chief, "and see the +rain-doctors fight the lightning." + +I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had +for some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, +although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country now +known as Zululand. But a son of the chief's, a man of about thirty, +had lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritated +Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between the two +witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by lightning being +given and accepted. These were the conditions. The rivals must await the +coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve their +turn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take their stand +within fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of ground where +the big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, and by the +exercise of their occult powers and invocations to the lightning, must +strive to avert death from themselves and bring it on their rival. The +terms of this singular match had been arranged a month previously, +but no storm worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the local +weather-prophets believed it to be brewing. + +I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and was +told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the +second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be +jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. + +The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my +desire to be gone, and I accepted the chief's invitation to see it +out. Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grew +darker and darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, +yet it did not come. By four o'clock, however, it became obvious that +it must burst soon--at sunset, the old chief said, and in the company +of the whole assembly I moved down to the place of combat. The kraal was +built on the top of a hill, and below it the land sloped gently to the +banks of a river about half a mile away. On the hither side of the +bank was the piece of land that was, the natives said, "loved of the +lightning." Here the magicians took up their stand, while the spectators +grouped themselves on the hillside about two hundred yards away--which +was, I thought, rather too near to be pleasant. When we had sat there +for a while my curiosity overcame me, and I asked leave of the chief to +go down and inspect the arena. He said I might do so at my own risk. I +told him that the fire from above would not hurt white men, and went +to find that the spot was a bed of iron ore, thinly covered with grass, +which of course accounted for its attracting the lightning from the +storms as they travelled along the line of the river. At each end of +this iron-stone area were placed the combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing the +east, and his rival the west, and before each there burned a little +fire made of some scented root. Moreover they were dressed in all the +paraphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, fish-bladders, and I know not +what beside, while round their necks hung circlets of baboons' teeth +and bones from human hands. First I went to the western end where +the chief's son stood. He was pointing with his assegai towards the +advancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great excitement. + +"Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! + +"Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! + +"Spit on him with your rain! + +"Whirl him away in your breath! + +"Make him as nothing--melt the marrow in his bones! + +"Run into his heart and burn away the lies! + +"Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! + +"Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!" + +Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad +chest--for he was a very fine man--with some filthy compound of medicine +or _mouti_. + +After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the +iron-stone, to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting +at all, but his performance was much more impressive. It consisted in +staring at the eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and +every now and again beckoning at it with his finger, then turning round +to point with the assegai towards his rival. For a while I looked at him +in silence. He was a curious wizened man, apparently over fifty years +of age, with thin hands that looked as tough as wire. His nose was much +sharper than is usual among these races, and he had a queer habit of +holding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, which, in +addition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a most comical +appearance. Another strange thing about him was that he had a single +white lock of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke to him: + +"Indaba-zimbi, my friend," I said, "you may be a good witch-doctor, but +you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky while +your enemy is getting a start with the storm." + +"You may be clever, but don't think you know everything, white man," the +old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something like a +grin. + +"They call you Iron-tongue," I went on; "you had better use it, or the +Storm Devil won't hear you." + +"The fire from above runs down iron," he answered, "so I keep my tongue +quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I'll put him out presently. Look +now, white man." + +I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was +small, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. + +This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it +did not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa +for two thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different points +of the compass. + +"You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "the big storm is coming +along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours," and I pointed to +the west. + +"Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man," said Indaba-zimbi, +beckoning away vigorously. "Look now at my cloud-child." + +I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, and +in shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, +and its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across the +heavens. The light of the setting sun escaping from beneath the lower +edge of the western storm shot across the intervening space in a sheet +of splendour, and, lighting upon the advancing figure of cloud, wrapped +its middle in hues of glory too wonderful to be described; but beneath +and above this glowing belt his feet and head were black as jet. +Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light shot from the head of +the cloud, circled it about as though with a crown of living fire, and +vanished. + +"Aha," chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, "my little boy is putting on his man's +ring," and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives assume +when they reach a certain age and dignity. "Now, white man, unless you +are a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear off, for the +fire-fight is about to begin." + +I thought this sound advice. + +"Good luck go with you, my black uncle," I said. "I hope you don't feel +the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last." + +"You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man," he +answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at that +very moment a flash of lightning, I don't know from which storm, struck +the ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I took +to my heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi's dry chuckle of +amusement. + +I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his +indunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man's +face and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son's safety, and +by no means confident of the young man's powers to resist the magic of +Indaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. +I affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention on +the novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, and +caught the drift of the conversation. + +"Hearken!" the chief was saying, "if the magic of Indaba-zimbi prevails +against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, that when +he has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself chief in +my place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. _Ou!_" + +"Black One," answered the induna, "wizards die as dogs die, and, once +dead, dogs bark no more." + +"And once dead," said the chiefs, "wizards work no more spells," and he +bent and whispered in the induna's ear, looking at the assegai in his +hand as he whispered. + +"Good, my father, good!" said the induna, presently. "It shall be done +to-night, if the lightning does not do it first." + +"A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi," I said to myself. "They mean to +kill him." Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scene +before me was too tremendous. + +The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf of +blue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed across +this gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they reminded +me of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. The storm +that was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of the sinking +sun made an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts which leapt +from it could not have been surpassed even in mythological times. +Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by thunder. A deadly +stillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on the hillside, +even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows crept along the +bosom of the hills, the river to the right and left was hidden in +wreaths of cloud, but before us and beyond the combatants it shone +like a line of silver beneath the narrowing space of open sky. Now the +western tempest was scrawled all over with lines of intolerable light, +while the inky head of the cloud-giant to the east was continually +suffused with a white and deadly glow that came and went in pulses, as +though a blood of flame was being pumped into it from the heart of the +storm. + +The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and blacker, +then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of an icy +wind. On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was ruffled by +it into little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, and in its +wake came the hissing sound of furious rain. + +Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of dazzling +flame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of the +following thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell suddenly +on the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape grew vivid +in the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything was visible +for miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the blackness. The +thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of doom, whirlwinds +tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into the air, and in a +low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. + +I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, +and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash followed +flash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. They were +slowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his foe with the +assegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, and it seemed to +me that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone all round them. + +Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grew +black, and, except for the rain, silent. + +"It is over one way or the other, chief," I called out into the +darkness. + +"Wait, white man, wait!" answered the chief, in a voice thick with +anxiety and fear. + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up +again till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten +paces apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger beneath +the shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first--at any rate when the +next flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with his assegai +towards his enemy. The chief's son was still on his legs, but he was +staggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen from his hand. + +Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that +had gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the +head of Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief's son wrapped, +as it were, in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burst +over us like a torrent, and I saw no more. + +The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so +dense that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the +safety of the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, +and venture down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still came +flashes, but, search as we would, we could see no trace of either of +the wizards. For my part, I believed that they were both dead. Now the +clouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, and with them +went the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. + +"Let us go and see," said the old chief, rising and shaking the water +from his hair. "The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has +conquered." + +I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards +with my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. + +We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron-stone +had been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was staring about +me, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give a low moan, +and saw the people cluster round him. I went up and looked. There, on +the ground, lay the body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. The hair +was burnt off his head, the copper rings upon his arms were fused, the +assegai handle which lay near was literally shivered into threads, and, +when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to me that every bone of it was +broken. + +The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. + +"Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!" said a man, at length. The chief +turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. + +"Great or not, thou dog, he shall die," he cried, "and so shalt thou if +thou singest his praises so loudly." + +I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared +the fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, +and at length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to my +waggon to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised to +see a strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a blanket. + +"Hullo! come out of that," I said. + +The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great +deliberation took a pinch of snuff. + +"It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?" said Indaba-zimbi, +in his high, cracked voice. "But he never had a chance against me, +poor boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of +presumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes +fly, didn't I?" + +"You old humbug," I said, "unless you are careful you will soon learn +what comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you with +an assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that." + +"Now you don't say so," said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggon +with rapidity; "and all because of this wretched upstart. There's +gratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. +Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long," and +he was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the +chief's men came up to the waggon. + +On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on +arriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. + +"How do you do, Macumazahn?" he said, holding his head on one side and +nodding his white lock. "I hear you are Christians here, and I want to +try a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wanted +to kill me for exposing an impostor." + + + +CHAPTER III + +NORTHWARDS + +I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this +narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with +Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he +takes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a +humbug, he was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in his +pretensions to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, though +I may have my own opinion on the subject. But there was no mistake as to +the extraordinary influence he exercised over his fellow-natives. Also +he quite got round my poor father. At first the old gentleman declined +to have him at the station, for he had a great horror of these Kaffir +wizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi persuaded him that he was +anxious to investigate the truths of Christianity, and challenged him to +a discussion. The argument lasted two years--to the time of my father's +death, indeed. At the conclusion of each stage Indaba-zimbi would +remark, in the words of the Roman Governor, "Almost, praying white man, +thou persuadest me to become a Christian," but he never quite became +one--indeed, I do not think he ever meant to. It was to him that my +father addressed his "Letters to a Native Doubter." This work, which, +unfortunately, remains in manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned +instances. It ought to be published together with a _prcis_ of the +doubter's answers, which were verbal. + +So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be going +on now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. Meanwhile +Indaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition that he +practised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be a wile of +the devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there was never +an ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those interested. + +When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the tribe +he had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with them +since he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was +dead. Old Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as he +listened, raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, +pointing to the little heap, "There is your tribe to-day," he said. +Then he lifted his heel and stamped the heap flat. "There is your tribe +before three moons are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: I +will have no more to do with you; but when you are being killed think of +my words." + +The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole +community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. + +When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old +Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find +him engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in his +blankets. + +"Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "I am going to trek north." + +"Yes, Macumazahn," he answered, with his head on one side; "and so am +I--I want to see that country. We will go together." + +"Will we!" I said; "wait till you are asked, you old humbug." + +"You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don't you will +never come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to +where the storms come from," and he nodded to the sky, "I feel myself +getting into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones +and worked out about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if you +don't take me you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who is +dearer to you than life in a strange fashion. So just because you gave +me that hint a couple of years ago, I made up my mind to come with you." + +"Don't talk stuff to me," I said. + +"Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own +people six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen? +They drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you will +soon be gone too," and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. Now +I was not more superstitious than other people, but somehow old +Indaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary influence over +every class of native, and bethought me that he might be useful in that +way. + +"All right," I said: "I appoint you witch-finder to the expedition +without pay." + +"First serve, then ask for wages," he answered. "I am glad to see that +you have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most white +men, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes +people fools; they won't believe what they can't understand. You can't +understand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could +understand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time to +trek, but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not two." + +"Why?" I said. + +"Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than +two." + +"Oh, nonsense!" I said. + +"All right, Macumazahn, live and learn." And without another word he +walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on to +the front seat. + +So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the +old Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns +till the tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled +slowly northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particular +befell me. Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, and +game literally swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africa +nowadays can have the remotest idea of what the veldt was like even +thirty years ago. + +Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the +sun rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast field +of white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden glow, +through which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic beacons. +From the dense mist would come strange sounds--snorts, gruntings, +bellows, and the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this great +curtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke from a +pipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide rolling country +interspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was not tenantless as +it is now, for as far as the eye could reach it would be literally black +with game. Here to the right might be a herd of vilderbeeste that could +not number less than two thousand. Some were grazing, some gambolled, +whisking their white tails into the air, while all round the old bulls +stood upon hillocks sniffing suspiciously at the breeze. There, in +front, a hundred yards away, though to the unpractised eye they looked +much closer, because of the dazzling clearness of the atmosphere, was +a great herd of springbok trekking along in single file. Ah, they have +come to the waggon-track and do not like the look of it. What will they +do?--go back? Not a bit of it. It is nearly thirty feet wide, but that +is nothing to a springbok. See, the first of them bounds into the air +like a ball. How beautifully the sunshine gleams upon his golden +hide! He has cleared it, and the others come after him in numberless +succession, all except the fawns, who cannot jump so far, and have to +scamper over the doubtful path with a terrified _bah_. What is that +yonder, moving above the tops of the mimosa, in the little dell at the +foot of the koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of them; there will be +marrow-bones for supper to-night. Hark! the ground shakes behind us, and +over the brow of the rise rush a vast herd of blesbock. On they come at +full gallop, their long heads held low, they look like so many bearded +goats. I thought so--behind them is a pack of wild dogs, their fur +draggled, their tongues lolling. They are in full cry; the giraffes hear +them and are away, rolling round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. +No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are close on a buck. +He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his flank and misses +him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly round and sees the +waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his despair rushes up +to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up some thirty +paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun--no, not the rifle, +the shot-gun loaded with loopers. + +Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. +No, don't touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he +shall have it. + +Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! + +Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to see +it again before I die. + +The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was +with elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. +Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch of +forest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered this forest +we camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead tambouki grass was +growing to the height of a man, or rather it had been; now, with the +exception of a few stalks here and there, it was crushed quite flat. It +was already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got up I walked from +the fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough for me; +a great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass not +many hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, +for though I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had never shot +one. Moreover, the sight of elephant spoor to the African hunter is what +"colour in the pan" is to the prospector of gold. It is by the ivory +that he lives, and to shoot it or trade it is his chief aim in life. My +resolution was soon taken. I would camp the waggons for a while in the +forest, and start on horseback after the elephants. + +I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The +latter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plenty +of meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express no +opinion. I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, +and go through some mysterious performances with bones and clay mixed +with ashes, which were watched with the greatest interest by the other +Kaffirs. At length he rose, and, coming forward, informed me that it was +all right, and that I did well to go and hunt the elephants, as I should +get plenty of ivory; but he advised me to go on foot. I said I should +do nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. I am wiser now; this was +the first and last time that I ever attempted to hunt elephants on +horseback. + +Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the rest +I left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, a +good rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and the +others walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of the herd, +which was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to let the horses +rest and feed, and about three o'clock started on again. Another hour or +so passed, and still there was no sign of elephants. Evidently the herd +had travelled fast and far, and I began to think that we should have to +give it up, when suddenly I caught sight of a brown mass moving through +the thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a quarter of a mile away. +My heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the hunter who has not +felt like this at the sight of his first elephant? + +I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk +the bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we +came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw the +elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay +all about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughts +were fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gave +a violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came a +mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me. I looked: there +was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four yards off. I +could just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on either +side. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away. + +Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was +young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I +lifted my "roer" or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my +horse's head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the +horse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull +lurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will +quicken the movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realized +the folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take +no further notice of it. But he took a different view of the matter. +Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round and came for +me with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming terribly. I was +quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first thought was of +escape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but he would not move +an inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he simply stood +still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a leaf. + +On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to +stir the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my +head. A thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from +the saddle. By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick through +as a man's body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground by the +broken boughs which took its weight, and with a single movement, so +active is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath it. As I did +so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on the +back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, +for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the tree under +which I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there long. In ten seconds +more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag's neck, and, with a +mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as far +as I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after. +Presently I saw the red tip of the bull's trunk stretching itself +towards me. If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I was +lost. But in the position I occupied, that was just what he could not +do, although he knelt down to facilitate his operations. On came the +snapping tip like a great open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, +which vanished. Again it was thrust down, and a scream of rage was +bellowed through it within four inches of my head. Now it seemed to +elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it had me by the hair, which, luckily +for myself, was not very long. Then it was my turn to scream, for next +instant half a square inch of hair was dragged from my scalp by the +roots. I was being plucked alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchen +boys pluck a fowl. + +The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, changed +his tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and lifted. The +tree stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded in the spongy +soil, and some roots, which still held, prevented it from being turned +over, though he lifted it so much that, had it occurred to him, he could +now easily have drawn me out with his trunk. Again he hoisted with all +his mighty strength, and I saw that the tree was coming, and roared +aloud for help. Some shots were fired close by in answer, but if they +hit the bull, their only effect was to stir his energies to more active +life. In another few seconds my shelter would be torn away, and I should +be done for. A cold perspiration burst out over me as I realized that I +was lost. Then of a sudden I remembered that I had a pistol in my belt, +which I often used for despatching wounded game. It was loaded and +capped. By this time the tree was lifted so much that I could easily get +my hand down to my middle and draw the pistol from its case. I drew and +cocked it. Now the tree was coming over, and there, within three feet of +my head, was the great brown trunk of the elephant. I placed the +muzzle of the pistol within an inch of it and fired. The result was +instantaneous. Down sunk the tree again, giving one of my legs a +considerable squeeze, and next instant I heard a crashing sound. The +elephant had bolted. + +By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well +tired. I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or indeed +anything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking some peach +brandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me nodding +his white lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on the +narrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his advice +to go on foot. That reminded me of my horse--I got up and went to look +at it. It was quite dead, the blow of the elephant's trunk had fallen +on the saddle, breaking the framework, and rendering it useless. I +reflected that in another two seconds it would have fallen on _me_. Then +I called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the elephants had gone. + +"There!" he said, pointing down the gully, "and we had better go after +them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good." + +There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feel +particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have had +enough of them. However, it would never do to show the white feather +before the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, and we +started, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we had +travelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a sudden +we came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than eighty. +Just in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed to hesitate +about entering it, and the sides of the valley were so rocky and steep +at this point that they could not climb them. + +They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was filled +with fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge back up +the gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at the thick +bush which went down before them like corn before a sickle. I do not +think that in all my experiences I ever heard anything to equal the +sound they made as they crashed through and over the shrubs and trees. +Before them was a dense forest belt from a hundred to a hundred and +fifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so that behind them +was nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen trunks, crushed +branches, and here and there a tree, too strong even for them, left +stranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, notwithstanding the nature +of the ground over which they had to travel, they kept their distance +ahead of us. This sort of thing continued for a mile or more, and then +I saw that in front of the elephants the valley opened into a space +covered with reeds and grass--it might have been five or six acres in +extent--beyond which the valley ran on again. + +The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, +hesitating--evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as only +Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose +martial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and +dashed into the treacherous swamp--for such it was, though just then +there was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, +though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the great bull +sank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained fixed. The +others, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and trumpetings, +but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the whole herd of +them were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled to escape, the +deeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a cow managed to win +back to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to charge us as we +came up. But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, and rushed +back to its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. + +Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all +over with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with their +screams of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and fro. +Now and then a monster would make a great effort and drag his mass from +its peaty bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It was a most +pitiable sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my men. Even the +best natives have little compassion for the sufferings of animals. + +Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants +carried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we +shot them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and +some of the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them to +perish of hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull I +slew with my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction in +so doing. He knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at me, +but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast. + +The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owing +to the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen: +there they stood as though they were asleep. + +I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, formed +a camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of cutting +out the elephants' tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious reasons +was a disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of some +wandering bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not think +we could ever have managed it. + +At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, +so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys +wanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too much +bent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. Then +I came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. Ultimately I sold +the ivory for something over twelve hundred pounds--not bad pay for one +day's shooting. + +This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many +hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on +horseback. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ZULU IMPI + +After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the +bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to +find the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more +I trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free State +from Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The +only difficulties met with were such as are still common to African +travellers--occasional want of water and troubles about crossing sluits +and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where Kimberley now +stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there was no water. +I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a great +city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and old +Indaba-zimbi's magic cannot have been worth so much after all, or he +would have told me. + +I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before +Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka's General had swept across it in his +progress towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident +enough. Time upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the sites +of Kaffir kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled stones, +and strewn about among the rank grass were the bones of hundreds of men, +women, and children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu assegai. I remember +that in one of these desolate places I found the skull of a child in +which a ground-lark had built its nest. It was the twittering of the +young birds inside that first called my attention to it. Shortly after +this we met with our second great adventure, a much more serious and +tragic one than the first. + +We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbock +crossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It galloped +about a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay down. As we +were in want of meat, not having met with any game for a few days past, +I jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that I would overtake +the waggons or meet them on the further side of a rise about an hour's +trek away, I started after the wounded buck. As soon as I came within +a hundred yards of it, however, it jumped up and ran away as fast +as though it were untouched, only to lie down again at a distance. I +followed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. This happened three +times. On the third occasion it vanished behind a ridge, and, though +by now I was out of both temper and patience, I thought I might as well +ride to the crest and see if I could get a shot at it on the further +side. + +I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and +saw--a Zulu Impi! + +I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They +were halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying +down, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with spears +and shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand or +more of them in all. While I was wondering--and that with no little +uneasiness--what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard a +wild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then the +other. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their broad +stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. The man +to the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was not more +than ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out of their +heads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another three +seconds those broad "bangwans" might be buried in my vitals. On such +occasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anything +else--there is no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reins +and, raising my gun, fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bullet +struck him in the middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed through +him, and over he rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle; +most happily my horse was accustomed to standing still when I fired from +his back, also he was so surprised that he did not know which way to +shy. The other savage was almost on me; his outstretched shield reached +the muzzle of my gun as I pulled the trigger of the left barrel. It +exploded, the warrior sprung high into the air, and fell against my +horse dead, his spear passing just in front of my face. + +Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the Zulus +had seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and drove +my heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the rise I +pulled a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons before +the Zulus saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this new +direction when, to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked with +waggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have been +at least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had passed +within twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I understood; +the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in all +probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. + +The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I +followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and +there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough +laager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own waggons +trekking down the slope towards them. + +In another five minutes I was there. The Boers--for Boers they +were--were standing about outside the little laager watching the +approach of my two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw +me. The very first man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom +I had known well years ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his +class, but a very restless person, with a great objection to authority, +or, as he expressed it, "a love of freedom." He had joined a party of +the emigrant Boers some years before, but, as I learned presently, +had quarrelled with its leader, and was now trekking away into the +wilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor fellow! It was his +last trek. + +"How do you do, Meinheer Botha?" I said to him in Dutch. + +The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch +stolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon-- + +"Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the +son of the 'Predicant.' How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the +news down in the Cape yonder?" + +"I don't know what the news is in the Cape, Hans," I answered, solemnly; +"but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your spoor and +within two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just shot two +of their sentries," and I showed him my empty gun. + +For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzed +faces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of the +women gave a little scream, and the children crept to their sides. + +"Almighty!" cried Hans, "that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that Dingaan +sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because of the +marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north to +join Mosilikatze." + +"Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a +horse and drive in the cattle." + +At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the +box of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the +news. + +"Ill tidings, Macumazahn," he said; "there will be dead Boers about +to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will +wipe out the laager _so!_" and he passed his hand before his mouth. + +"Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow," I said, though I knew +his words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told +against at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? + +"Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?" Indaba-zimbi said, +presently. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run +for it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won't follow us, they will be +looking after the Boers." + +"I won't leave the other white men," I said; "it would be the act of a +coward. If I die, I die." + +"Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed," he answered, taking +a pinch of snuff. "Come, let us see about the waggons," and we walked +towards the laager. + +Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha and +put it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make a +run for it. + +"How can we do it?" he answered; "two of the women are too fat to go +a mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. +Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we +must fight it out with the savages, and God help us!" + +"God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!" + +"I can't bear to think," he answered, in a broken voice, looking at his +own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, named +Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. "Oh, Heer Allan, your father, +the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I never +would listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I see +my folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those black +devils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can't save her, kill +her," and he clasped my hand. + +"It hasn't come to that yet, Hans," I said. + +Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including +my two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the +disselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of that +in front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space between the +ground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branches +of the "wait-a-bit" thorn that fortunately grew near in considerable +quantities. In this way a barrier was formed of no mean strength as +against a foe unprovided with firearms, places being left for the men +to fire from. In a little over an hour everything was done that could be +done, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the cattle, which had +been driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were anxious to get +them into the laager, small as it was, or at least as many of them as it +would hold. I argued strongly against this, pointing out that the brutes +would probably be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, and +trample the defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative plan +I suggested that some of the native servants should drive the herd along +the valley of the river till they reached a friendly tribe or some other +place of safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would be taken, +but the nature of the ground was favourable, and it was possible that +they might escape if they started at once. The proposition was promptly +agreed to, and, what is more, it was settled that one Dutchman and such +of the women and children as could travel should go with them. In half +an hour's time twelve of them started with the natives, the Boer in +charge, and the cattle. Three of my own men went with the latter, the +three others and Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the laager. + +The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to +dwell. The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on with +scared white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was thankful +of it. There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four natives, +the two Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in childbed +and her baby, and Hans Bother's little daughter Tota, whom he could not +make up his mind to part with. Happily her mother was already dead. And +here I may state that ten of the women and children, together with about +half of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never saw them, and on the +third day of travel they came to the fortified place of a Griqua chief, +who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in payment. Thence +by slow degrees they journeyed down to the Cape Colony, reaching a +civilized region within a little more than a year from the date of the +attack on the laager. + +The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no +signs of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone +on about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the +regiment was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I noticed, +been plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and volunteered +to go out and spy upon their movements. At first Hans Botha was against +this idea, saying that he was a "verdomde swartzel"--an accursed black +creature--and would betray us. I pointed out that there was nothing to +betray. The Zulus must know where the waggons were, but it was important +for us to gain information of their movements. So it was agreed that +Indaba-zimbi should go. I told him this. He nodded his white lock, said +"All right, Macumazahn," and started. I noticed with some surprise, +however, that before he did so he went to the waggon and fetched his +"mouti," or medicine, which, together with his other magical apparatus, +he always carried in a skin bag. I asked him why he did this. He +answered that it was to make himself invulnerable against the spears +of the Zulus. I did not in the least believe his explanation, for in my +heart I was sure that he meant to take the opportunity to make a bolt +of it, leaving me to my fate. I did not, however, interfere to prevent +this, for I had an affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hoped +that he might escape the doom which overshadowed us. + +So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form I +thought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little knew +that he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one and +all, but for me whom in his queer way he loved. + +When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, +strengthening the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. +Then at sunset we ate and drank as heartily as we could under the +circumstances, and when we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the party, +offered up prayer to God for our preservation. It was a touching sight +to see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, his broad face lit up by the +last rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in homely, simple language +to Him who alone could save us from the spears of a cruel foe. I +remember that the last sentence of his prayer was, "Almighty, if we must +be killed, save the women and children and my little girl Tota from the +accursed Zulus, and do not let us be tortured." + +I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for in +common with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be admitted +not without reason. + +Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each +with a rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. +Occasionally one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from the +smouldering fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments on +his pale, anxious face. + +Behind me one of the stout "fraus" lay upon the ground. Even the terror +of our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomed +sleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by the +fire, lay little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, her +thumb in her mouth, and from time to time her father would come to look +at her. + +So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my intimate +knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they would +attack us at night, though, had they done so, they could have compassed +our destruction with but small loss to themselves. It is not the habit +of this people, they like to fight in the light of day--at dawn for +preference. + +About eleven o'clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I heard +a low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and all +along the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked their +guns. + +"Macumazahn," said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, "are you there?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager," he +said. + +"Yah! yah! hold a light," put in one of the Boers. "I don't trust +that black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some of +his countrymen with him." Accordingly a lantern was produced and held +towards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the +laager and asked him the news. + +"This is the news, white men," he said. "I waited till dark, and +creeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself behind +a stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as Baas +Botha yonder thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three days +ago and followed it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, to-morrow at +daybreak they will attack the laager and kill everybody. They are very +bitter against the Boers, because of the battle at Blood River and the +other fights, and that is why they followed the waggons instead of going +straight north after Mosilikatze." + +A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. + +"I tell you what it is, Heeren," I said, "instead of waiting to be +butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon +the Impi while it sleeps." + +This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man +could be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which +makes great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and +rather than embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in a +laager, however poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmly +believe that had my advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. +Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would have produced no +small effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, so +it is no use talking about it. + +After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore +on towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar +circumstances while they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel +death, can know the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they +went somehow, and at last in the far east the sky began to lighten, +while the cold breath of dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons and +chilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, +then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth chattered with +cold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of peach +brandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a stiff +dram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his affected +jocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. Certainly it +depressed me. + +Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist which +still hung densely over the river, and now--ah! there it was. From the +other side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, came +a faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a chant--the +awful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. They were +simple enough: + +"We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? Our spears +shall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? For we are the +sucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. Awake, children +of the Umtetwa, awake! The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air; +Awake, children of the Umtetwa--cry aloud, ye ringed men: There is +the foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? _S'gee! S'gee! +S'gee!_" + +Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very day +I often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on paper, +but if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have heard it +as it rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly three +thousand warriors singing all to time, he would have found it impressive +enough. + +Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came +by companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were +thirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed +themselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. +At a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot of +such guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing again-- + + "Yonder is the kraal of the white man--a little kraal, my + brothers; + We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. + But where are the white man's cattle--where are his oxen, my + brothers?" + +This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the song +again and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivory +rings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out to +us asking where our cattle were. + +Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they +might answer that question themselves. + +Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been +sent away. + +"We shall go and find the cattle," he said, "then we shall come and kill +you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if we wait +to kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too far for +us to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch you white +men!" + +This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an +enemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain +amount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it +all might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards the +river. Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of the +cattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till they +vanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. + +We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. + +"Now I wonder if the devils have really gone," said Hans Botha to me. +"It is very strange." + +"I will go and see," said Indaba-zimbi, "if you will come with me, +Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over." + +At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those +days and weary with suspense. + +"Very well," I said, "we will go." + +So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had +his medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like +sportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with +rocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. + +"They must have gone down the Donga," I said to Indaba-zimbi, "I can't +see one of them." + +As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, from +every tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before I +could lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. + +"Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!" cried a voice. "Hold him, or +he will slip away like a snake. Don't hurt him, but hold him fast. Let +Indaba-zimbi walk by his side." + +I turned on Indaba-zimbi. "You black devil, you have betrayed me!" I +cried. + +"Wait and see, Macumazahn," he answered, coolly. "Now the fight is going +to begin." + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE END OF THE LAAGER + +I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi +mean? Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, being +seized, was I not instantly killed? They called me the "White Spirit." +Could it be that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I had +heard of such things being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and my +blood ran cold at the thought. What an end! To be pounded up, made +medicine of, and eaten! + +However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole +Impi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hidden +while their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the side +of the slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and placed in the +centre of the reserve line in the especial charge of a huge Zulu named +Bombyane, the same man who had come forward as a herald. This brute +seemed to regard me with an affectionate curiosity. Now and again he +poked me in the ribs with the handle of his assegai, as though to assure +himself that I was solid, and several times he asked me to be so good +as to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed before the "Amaboona," as +they called the Boers, were "eaten up." + +At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goaded +into anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! + +He only laughed aloud. "Oh! White Spirit," he said, "is it so? Well, +I've walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest." + +And he got it shortly, as will be seen. + +Now the Zulus began to sing again-- + + "We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! + Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. + Now the Maboona are ours--they are already dead, my brother." + +So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the +chief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, +and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who stood +near him. Instantly they ran to the right and left down the first +line, saying a word to the captain of each company as they passed +him. Presently they were at the respective ends of the line, and +simultaneously held up their spears. As they did so, with an awful +roar of "Bulala Amaboona"--"Slay the Boers," the entire line, numbering +nearly a thousand men, bounded forward like a buck startled from its +form, and rushed down upon the little laager. It was a splendid sight +to see them, their assegais glittering in the sunlight as they rose and +fell above their black shields, their war-plumes bending back upon the +wind, and their fierce faces set intently on the foe, while the solid +earth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing feet. I thought of my +poor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What chance had they against so +many? + +Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager +round on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every +waggon broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, +but the rest cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, +striving to force a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley after +volley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded with +slugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only one man even got on +to a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the head +with an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision from the +two lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. + +"Let us go, father!" shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom I +was, to their chief, who had come up. "You have sent out the little +girls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way." + +"No, no!" the chief Sususa answered, laughing. "Wait a minute and the +little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight +against Boers!" + +The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed +forward again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time to +load, and they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till the +Zulus were packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with the +roers, and the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that the blood +of the Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back this time, +and the end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a waggon, slain the +man behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were killed there, but +others followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not shut my ears +to the cries of rage and death, and the terrible _S'gee! S'gee!_ of the +savages as they did their work of murder. Once only I looked up and saw +poor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men with the butt of +his rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like tongues of steel, and +when I looked again he was gone. + +I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were +all dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death with +not be so swift. + +The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, +and moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful +sight it was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead--quite fifty I +should say, and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of them +mortally. The chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were picked up +and piled in a heap, while those who were slightly hurt walked off to +find some one to tie up their wounds. But the more serious cases met +with a different treatment. The chief or one of his indunas considered +each case, and if it was in any way bad, the man was taken up and thrown +into the river which ran near. None of them offered any objection, +though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He did not stop there long, +however, for they pushed him back and drowned him by force. + +The strangest case of all was that of the chief's own brother. He had +been captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususa +came up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for +failing in the first onslaught. + +The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers +had hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, +and talked to him amicably. + +"Well," he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, "you cannot +walk again." + +"No, chief," said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. + +"And to-morrow we must walk far," went on Sususa. + +"Yes, chief." + +"Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or----" and he nodded +towards the river. + +The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in +thought. Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. + +"My ankle pains me, my brother," he said; "I think I will go back to +Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I +creep about it like a snake."[*] + + [*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter + into the bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the + kraals. To kill these snakes is sacrilege. + +"It is well, my brother," said the chief. "Rest softly," and having +shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and +turned away. + +Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the +banks of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone +round his neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole sad +scene, and the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to admire +the extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck with +the cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the act was +necessary from his point of view. The man must either die swiftly, or +be left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will encumber itself +with wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened these +people that they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do them +justice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. +When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it +consisted of some nine thousand men. Now it numbered less than three; +all the rest were dead. They, too, would probably soon be dead. What did +it matter? They lived by war to die in blood. It was their natural end. +"Kill till you are killed." That is the motto of the Zulu soldier. It +has the merit of simplicity. + +Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, +having first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the +heap; all of them were there, including the two stout fraus, poor +things. But I missed one body, that of Hans Botha's daughter, little +Tota. A wild hope came into my heart that she might have escaped; but +no, it was not possible. I could only pray that she was already at rest. + +Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in +the congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that +he had got the "little white one." I looked; he was carrying the child +Tota, gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked +up to where we were, and held the child before the chief. "Is it dead, +father?" he said, with a laugh. + +Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden +away, and fainted with fear. + +The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said-- + +"Find out with your kerrie." + +Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to +kill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang at +him and struck him with all my force in the face, little caring if I was +speared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. + +"Ou!" he said, putting his hand to his nose, "the White Spirit has a +hard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child." + +The soldiers cheered and laughed. "Yes! yes!" they said, "let Bombyane +fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais." + +For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? +But I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what did +it matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left to +make a favour of it, and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbi +that I was quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, on condition +that if I did so the child's life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbi +interpreted my words, but I noticed that he would not look on me as +he spoke, but covered his face with his hands and spoke of me as "the +ghost" or the "son of the spirit." For some reason that I have never +quite understood, the chief consented to the duel. I fancy it was +because he believed me to be more than mortal, and was anxious to see +the last of Bombyane. + +"Let them fight," he said. "Give them assegais and no shields; the child +shall be to him who conquers." + +"Yes! yes!" cried the soldiers. "Let them fight. Don't be afraid, +Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he's a very small one." + +"I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run away +from a White Ghost," answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examined +the blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. + +Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us +some ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to +show no signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. Humanly +speaking, my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had used the +assegai from a child--I had no experience of the weapon. Moreover, +though I was quick and active, he must have been at least twice as +strong as I am. However, there was no help for it, so, setting my teeth, +I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and waited. + +The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi +walked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, "Keep cool, +Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right." + +As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought +this good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could "make it all right" I +failed to see. + +Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, +but the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind us +was the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; round +us was rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to wait +the issue of the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired chief and +general, Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard skin upon his +shoulders. At his feet lay the senseless form of little Tota, to my +left squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and muttering +something--probably spells; while in front was my giant antagonist, his +spear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle wind. Then over all, +over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the waggons of the laager, +the piles of dead, the dense masses of the living, the swooning +child, over all shone the bright impartial sun, looking down like the +indifferent eye of Heaven upon the loveliness of nature and the cruelty +of man. Down by the river grew thorn-trees, and from them floated +the sweet scent of the mimosa flower, and came the sound of cooing +turtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear the other without the scene +flashing into my mind again, complete in its every detail. + +Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed +straight at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw +the broad spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it by +some providential impulse--or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything to +do with the matter?--I dropped to my knee, and quick as light stretched +out my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. I felt +a weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his great limbs +knocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was staggering along with +head thrown back and outstretched arms from which his spear had fallen. +His spear had fallen, but the blade of mine stood out between his +shoulders--I had transfixed him. He stopped, swung slowly round as +though to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank down--_dead_. + +For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose--a cry of +"Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the wizard, +kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft." + +Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before my +eyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a moment +it would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their champion +overthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I heard the +high, cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +"Stand back, you fools!" it cried; "can a spirit then be killed?" + +"Spear him! spear him!" they roared in fury. "Let us see if he is a +spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, +rain-maker, and we shall see." + +"Stand back," cried Indaba-zimbi again, "and I will show you if he +can be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again +before your eyes." + +"Macumazahn, trust me," he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, +which the Zulus did not understand. "Trust me; kneel on the grass before +me, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one dead; +then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me--it is your only +hope." + +Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the +faintest idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, +and once more the warriors drew back. + +"Great White Spirit--Spirit of victory," said Indaba-zimbi, addressing +me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, "hear me and forgive me. +These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because thou +hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. Deign to +kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this spear, then +when I call upon thee, arise unhurt." + +I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not +overmuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was +in truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with +fears, and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, +that I did not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneeling +thus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. + +"People of the Umtetwa, children of T'Chaka," he said, "draw back a +little way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick with +ghosts." + +They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in +diameter. + +"Look on him who kneels before you," went on Indaba-zimbi, "and +listen to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of the +rain-maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a +young man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no +man. He is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who +gave them assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were +the Impis of Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because _he_ +was there. Why did the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the +thousand? Because _he_ was there. And so I say to you that, had I not +drawn him from the laager by my magic but three hours ago, you would +have been conquered--yes, you would have been blown away like the dust +before the wind; you would have been burnt up like the dry grass in +the winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, because he had but been +there many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a few--a pinch +of men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I loved you, +because your chief Sususa is my half-brother--for had we not one +father?--I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew the +Spirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was yours, +when the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little thing--a +white child to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make the medicine +of his magic of----" + +Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought +better of it. + +"You said him nay; you said, 'Let him fight with our bravest man, let +him fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.' And he deigned to slay +Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, 'Slay him; he is no spirit.' +Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him before +your eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this upon +yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the Spirit, +he would have stayed with you, and you should have become unconquerable. +Now he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if you try to stay +him. + +"Now all men," he went on, "look for a space upon this assegai that I +hold up," and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high above +his head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was fixed +upon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he moved +it round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still their +gaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the greatest +anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I found at +all pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further acquaintance with +it. Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not really going to +kill me. I could not understand his proceedings at all, and at the best +I did not relish playing the _corpus vile_ to his magical experiments. + +"_Look! look! look!_" he screamed. + +Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt +nothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through me. + +"See!" roared the Zulus. "Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red assegai +stands out behind his back." + +"Roll over, Macumazahn," Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, "roll over and +pretend to die--quick! quick!" + +I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling +on to my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as +artistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. + +"See!" said the Zulus, "he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at the +blood upon the assegai!" + +"Stand back! stand back!" cried Indaba-zimbi, "or the ghost will haunt +you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. Look!" +and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it was +fixed, and held it aloft. "The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, +watch! _it grows white!_" + +"Yes, it grows white," they said. "Ou! it grows white." + +"It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came," said +Indaba-zimbi. "Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath has +gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, awake +and show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!" + +I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. + +"Not so fast, Macumazahn," whispered Indaba-zimbi. + +I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let +it fall again. + +"He lives! by the head of T'Chaka he lives!" roared the soldiers, +stricken with mortal fear. + +Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched +my arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked +upon them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba-zimbi +was almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood upon +his brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. + +As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the +whole regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we +were left alone with the dead, and the swooning child. + +"How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?" I asked in amaze. + +"Do not ask me, Macumazahn," he gasped. "You white men are very clever, +but you don't quite know everything. There are men in the world who can +make people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us be +going while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, +they will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps _they_ will +begin asking questions that I can't answer." + +And here I may as well state that I never got any further information on +this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it is +for whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi _mesmerized_ +the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making them believe that +they saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon the blade. The +reader may smile and say, "Impossible;" but I would ask him how +the Indian jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. The +spectators _seem_ to see the boy go under the basket and there pierced +with daggers, they _seem_ to see women in a trance supported in mid-air +upon the point of a single sword. In themselves these things are not +possible, they violate the laws of nature, as those laws are known to +us, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so through the glamour +thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see me +transfixed with an assegai which never touched me. At least, that is my +theory; if any one has a better, let him adopt it. The explanation lies +between illusion and magic of a most imposing character, and I prefer to +accept the first alternative. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +STELLA + +I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi's hint. About a hundred and fifty +yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden +my horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and +bridle. Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To our +joy we found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, of +course, they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen had been +sent away, and even had they been there we could not have found time to +inspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid his knee halter, +and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck me, and I told +Indaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could find my +double-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only my +elephant "roer" and a few charges of powder and ball with me. + +He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and +began to cry, till she saw my face. + +"Ah, I have had such a bad dream," she said, in Dutch: "I dreamed that +the black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?" + +I winced at the question. "Your papa has gone on a journey, dear," I +said, "and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You +don't mind going with Heer Allan, do you?" + +"No," she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presently +she remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her to +the river and she drank. "Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?" she asked, +pointing to the smear of Bombyane's blood-stained fingers. + +At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. + +"It is only paint, dear," I said; "see, we will wash it and your face." + +As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; +he said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some +things and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about +twenty pounds weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double-handfuls +of biscuits, two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches and +sundries. + +"And now, Macumazahn," he said, "we had best be going, for those +Umtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise." + +That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my saddle, +climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. Indaba-zimbi +slipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer horses, threw +of the sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, holding the +elephant gun in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred yards in silence +till we were quite out of range of sight from the waggons, which were +in a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such a feeling of thankfulness in +my heart as cannot be told in words; for now I knew that, mounted as +we were, those black demons could never catch us. But where were we to +steer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking him if he thought +that we had better try and follow the oxen which we had sent away with +the Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He shook his head. + +"The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently," he answered, "and we +have seen enough of them." + +"Quite enough," I answered, with enthusiasm; "I never want to see +another; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a +little girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?" + +"Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus," answered +Indaba-zimbi; "let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, Macumazahn; +to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter." + +So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the +river. From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but before +sunset I had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at least +twenty-five miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little Tota slept +most of the way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she was worn out. + +At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. +There was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, +and Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done I +took off Tota's frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we had +made, and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the sleeping orphaned +child, and from my heart thanked Providence for saving her life and mine +from the slaughter of that day. What a horrible experience it had been! +It seemed like a nightmare to look back upon. And yet it was sober fact, +one among those many tragedies which dotted the paths of the emigrant +Boers with the bones of men, women, and children. These horrors are +almost forgotten now; people living in Natal now, for instance, can +scarcely realize that some forty years ago six hundred white people, +many of them women and children, were thus massacred by the Impis of +Dingaan. But it was so, and the name of the district, _Weenen_, or the +Place of Weeping, will commemorate them for ever. + +Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old +Indaba-zimbi had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself +had lived among the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a +noted rain-doctor and witch-finder. But when T'Chaka, Dingaan's brother, +ordered a general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved his +life by his skill in magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons too +long to set out here. When he heard, therefore, that the regiment was +an Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving their wives and children, had broken +away from Zululand to escape the cruelties of Dingaan; under pretence +of spying on them, he took the bold course of going straight up to the +chief, Sususa, and addressing him as his brother, which he was. The +chief knew him at once, and so did the soldiers, for his fame was still +great among them. Then he told them his cock and bull story about my +being a white spirit, whose presence in the laager would render it +invincible, and with the object of saving my life in the slaughter which +he knew must ensue, agreed to charm me out of the laager and deliver me +into their keeping. How the plan worked has already been told; it was a +risky one; still, but for it my troubles would have been done with these +many days. + +So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so saw +old Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some mysterious +performances with bones which he produced from his bag, and ashes mixed +with water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He replied that +he was tracing out the route that we should follow. I felt inclined to +answer "bosh!" but remembering the very remarkable instances which he +had given of his prowess in occult matters I held my tongue, and taking +little Tota into my arms, worn out with toil and danger and emotion, I +went to sleep. + +I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in sheets +of primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke me by +kissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me "papa." +It wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, washed +and dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had supped, +on biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to give her. +Then we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. + +"Well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "now what path do your bones point to?" + +"Straight north," he said. "The journey will be hard, but in about four +days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, not +a Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peak +behind it where there are many baboons." + +I looked at him. "This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi," I said. "Whoever +heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how do you +know anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towards +Port Natal." + +"As you like, Macumazahn," he answered, "but it will take us three +months' journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the +child will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true +heretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the +elephants on horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with you +instead of two, as it is better to lose one than two?" + +"You told me all these things," I answered. + +"And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will +find great happiness--yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run away +from happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!" + +Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I came +to the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. It +struck me as possible that he might have heard of some white man living +like a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his prophetic +character would not say so. + +"Very well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "let us ride north." + +Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned +off in a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode across +rolling uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a little +stream which ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By this time +I was heartily tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant rifle--for I +had nothing else--I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started to try if I +could shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no game all the day, nor +did we see any on the subsequent days. For some mysterious reason they +had temporarily left the district. I crossed the little streamlet in +order to enter the belt of thorns which grew upon the hill-side beyond, +for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so I was rather disturbed to +see the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy edge of a pool. Breathing +a hope that they might not still be in the neighbourhood, I went on into +the belt of scattered thorns. For a long while I hunted about without +seeing anything, except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crash +from the other side of a stone without giving me a chance. At length, +just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, +scarcely bigger than a large hare, standing on a stone, about forty +yards from me. Under ordinary circumstances I should never have dreamed +of firing at such a thing, especially with an elephant gun, but we were +hungry. So I sat down with my back against a rock, and aimed steadily at +its head. I did this because if I struck it in the body the three-ounce +ball would have knocked it to bits. At last I pulled the trigger, +the gun went off with the report of a small cannon, and the buck +disappeared. I ran to the spot with more anxiety than I should have felt +in an ordinary way over a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there the +little creature lay--the huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering all +the circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot than +this, but if any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit's head +fifty yards away with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. + +I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we +skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good +meal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. + +There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly +remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie +up the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knew +they were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only make +up the fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to sleep +with little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing that +peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to the +fire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a noise +of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared +in the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring +eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had +been knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for on +his back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form came +a growling sound. It was a lion. + +The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he +had run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, and +vanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, +then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. As may +be imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited anxiously +till the dawn broke, two hours later. + +As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota +still asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had +vanished. When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains +lying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms +slinking away in the grey light. + +To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned +to look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet full; +the horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and smell of +the lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim with which +it had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat down, feeling +as though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left alone in these +vast solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a child who was not +old enough to walk for more than a little way at a time. + +Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our +camp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself +alone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we divided +such articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, rejecting +everything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an afterthought, +we filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was rather against +doing so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi overruled me +in the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled to look after +Tota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun to Indaba-zimbi. +At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the help of +occasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the slope of +the hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we reached it, +and, looking at the country beyond, I gave an exclamation of dismay. To +say that it was desert would be saying too much; it was more like the +Karroo in the Cape--a vast sandy waste, studded here and there with low +shrubs and scattered rocks. But it was a great expanse of desolate land, +stretching further than the eye could reach, and bordered far away by +a line of purple hills, in the centre of which a great solitary peak +soared high into the air. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "we can never cross this if we take six days." + +"As you will, Macumazahn," he answered; "but I tell you that there"--and +he pointed to the peak--"there the white man lives. Turn which way you +like, but if you turn you will perish." + +I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost +hopeless. It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost +without food, with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As well +perish in the sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the trees +of the hill-side. Providence alone could save us, and we must trust to +Providence. + +"Come on," I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already +tired. "All roads lead to rest." + +How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tell +how we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, and +quite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs? +We soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the water in our +bottles for the child. To look back on it is like a nightmare. I can +scarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns carrying the +child through the heavy sand; night after night lying down in the scrub, +chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there was from the scanty +grass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of game! It was the third +night; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was in a comatose condition. +Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his bottle--perhaps a +wine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and blackened tongues. Then +we gave the rest to the child. It revived her. She awoke from her swoon +to sink into sleep. + +See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles or +so away now, and they were green. There must be water there. + +"Come," I said. + +Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out of +the blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on for +an hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we +had none to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could +scarcely speak. + +We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then +Indaba-zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man's strength was +wonderful. + +Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two +miles away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab +tree. Could we reach its shade? We had done half the distance when +Indaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither of +us could lift the child on to our backs. He rose again, and we each +took one of her hands and dragged her along the road. Fifty yards--they +seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at last; compared +with the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed like the +dusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a good place +to die in. Then I remember no more. + + + +I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my face +and head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, then shut +them again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, while the rain +continued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or off my head with +thirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came I to imagine that a +lovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me sprinkling water on my face? A +white girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. However, the dream went on. + +"Hendrika," said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had ever +heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. +"Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag; +get it." + +"Ah! ah!" grunted a harsh voice in answer; "let him die, Miss Stella. He +will bring you bad luck--let him die, I say." I felt a movement of air +above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once again +I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that she +was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyes +flashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before her, +dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by either +a man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, very short, with +bowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was not bad-looking, +but the brow receded, the chin and ears were prominent--in short, she +reminded me of nothing so much as a very handsome monkey. She might have +been the missing link. + +The lady was pointing at her with her hand. "How dare you?" she said. +"Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told you, +Babyan?"[*] + +[*] Baboon. + +"Ah! ah!" grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel up +beneath her anger. "Don't be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I can't +bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the brandy." + +Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. + +"Not brandy," I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue would +allow; "give me water." + +"Ah, he lives!" cried the beautiful girl, "and he talks English. See, +sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a spring, +it is on the other side of the tree." + +I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and +drank from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted +anything so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into +me. But wisely enough she would not let me have much. "No more! no +more!" she said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. + +"The child," I said--"is the child dead?" + +"I do not know yet," she answered. "We have only just found you, and I +tried to revive you first." + +I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It +was impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkled +Tota's face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirst +was still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office for +Indaba-zimbi. Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes and +tried to cry, but could not, poor little thing, because her tongue and +lips were so swollen. But the lady got some water into her mouth, and, +as in my case, the effect was magical. We allowed her to drink about a +quarter of a pint, and no more, though she cried bitterly for it. Just +then old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He opened his eyes, glanced +round, and took in the situation. + +"What did I tell you, Macumazahn?" he gasped, and seizing the bottle, he +took a long pull at it. + +Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and +tried to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good +horses--one bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady's saddle on +it. By the side of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, +that sat watching us, and near the dogs lay a dead Orib buck, which +they had evidently been coursing. + +"Hendrika," said the lady presently, "they must not eat meat just yet. +Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it." + +The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she returned. +"I see some ripe fruit," she said, "but it is high, quite at the top." + +"Fetch it," said the lady. + +"Easier said than done," I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. +Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caught +one of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing +that would have filled an acrobat with envy--and she was on it. + +"Now there is an end," I thought again, for the next bough was beyond +her reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, gripping +it with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, caught it +and swung herself into it. + +I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. "Do not +wonder, sir," she said, "Hendrika is not like other people. She will not +fall." + +I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary person +with the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself from +bough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last she +reached the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripe +fruit. When she was near enough she shook the branch violently. There +was a crack--a crash--it broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see her +crushed on the ground before me. + +"Don't be afraid," said the lady again, laughing gently. "Look, she is +quite safe." + +I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to +it, and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also +watched this performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonish +him over-much. "Baboon-woman?" he said, as though such people were +common, and then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaning +for more water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with extraordinary +rapidity, and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped about eight +feet to the ground. + +In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In +an ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I +thought it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three days +spent without food or water, in the desert, one is not particular. While +we were still eating the fruit, the lady of my vision set her companion +to work to partially flay the orib which her dogs had killed, and +busied herself in making a fire of fallen boughs. As soon as it burned +brightly she took strips of the orib flesh, toasted them, and gave them +to us on leaves. We ate, and now were allowed a little more water. After +that she took Tota to the spring and washed her, which she sadly needed, +poor child! Next came our turn to wash, and oh, the joy of it! + +I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. +There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling her +to sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last the +child went off into a sound natural slumber--an example that I should +have been glad to follow had it not been for my burning curiosity. Then +I spoke. + +"May I ask what your name is?" I said. + +"Stella," she answered. + +"Stella what?" I said. + +"Stella nothing," she answered, in some pique; "Stella is my name; it is +short and easy to remember at any rate. My father's name is Thomas, and +we live up there," and she pointed round the base of the great peak. I +looked at her astonished. "Have you lived there long?" I asked. + +"Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before +that we came from England--from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place on +a big map. It is called Garsingham." + +Again I thought I must be dreaming. "Do you know, Miss Stella," I said, +"it is very strange--so strange that it almost seems as though it could +not be true--but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire many years +ago." + +She started up. "Are you an English gentleman?" she said. "Ah, I have +always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but one +Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman--no +white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live among +black people and baboons--only I have read about English people--lots of +books--poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? Macumazahn the +black man called you, but you must have a white name, too." + +"My name is Allan Quatermain," I said. + +Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at me +wildly with her beautiful dark eyes. + +"It is wonderful," she said, "but I have often heard that name. My +father has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved +my life by putting out my dress when it was on fire--see!"--and she +pointed to a faint red mark upon her neck--"here is the scar of the +burn." + +"I remember it," I said. "You were dressed up as Father Christmas. It +was I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so." + +Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella +slowly fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white +ostrich plumes were fixed. + +"This is God's doing," she said at last. "You saved my life when I was +a child; now I have saved yours and the little girl's. Is she your own +daughter?" she added, quickly. + +"No," I answered; "I will tell you the tale presently." + +"Yes," she said, "you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to be +starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, +Hendrika, bring the horses here!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BABOON-WOMAN + +Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. + +"Now, Mr. Allan," said Stella, "you must ride on my horse, and the old +black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carry +the child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry you +or me." + +Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method +of speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, +sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did both +together, when she became quite unintelligible. + +I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could +walk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a mile; +but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my elephant +gun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, and +Hendrika took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. + +"See that the 'Baboon-woman' does not run away into the mountains with +the little white one," said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he climbed +slowly on to the horse. + +Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grew +livid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbi +as a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentleman +was too quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine fright he threw +himself from the horse on the further side, with the somewhat ludicrous +result that all in a moment Hendrika was occupying the seat which he had +vacated. Just then Stella realized the position. + +"Come down, you savage, come down!" she said, stamping her foot. + +The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally +grovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. + +"Pardon, Miss Stella," she clicked and grunted in villainous English, +"but he called me 'Babyan-frau' (Baboon-woman)." + +"Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. +Allan," Stella said to me. "If he does," she added, in a whisper, +"Hendrika will certainly kill him." + +I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, +deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war between +these two. + +Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. +A small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the +peak--perhaps it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich +grass lands, for here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; but +it did not flow across the barren lands, it passed to the east along +the foot of the hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. Hendrika +walked boldly through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella leapt across +from stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself that she was the +most graceful creature that I had ever seen. After this the track passed +around a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, which was, I found, +known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we could only go at +a foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked for some way in +silence, then she spoke. + +"Tell me, Mr. Allan," she said, "how it was that I came to find you +dying in the desert?" + +So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she +listened intently, now and again asking a question. + +"It is all very wonderful," she said when I had done, "very wonderful +indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogs +for a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, +and I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to +turn, when we were about where we are now--yes, that was the very +bush--an orib got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the +gallop, and when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left as +bucks generally do, the orib swam the stream and took to the Bad Lands +beyond. I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big tree the +dogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I said that +we would rest under the shade of the tree, for I knew that there was a +spring of water near. Well, we went; and there I saw you all lying like +dead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, said no--and you +know the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful." + +"It is indeed," I said. "Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?" + +She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. + +"Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know that +all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. When I +was a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in the hills +and valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the rocks. There +was one family of baboons that I watched especially--they used to live +in a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man baboon was very +large, and one of the females had a grey face. But the reason why +I watched them so much was because I saw that they had with them a +creature that looked like a girl, for her skin was quite white, and, +what was more, that she was protected from the weather when it happened +to be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round her throat. +The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and would sit with +their arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I watched this +particular white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity quite +overmastered me. I noticed that, though she climbed about the cliffs +with the other monkeys, at a certain hour a little before sundown they +used to put her with one or two other much smaller ones into a little +cave, while the family went off somewhere to get food, to the mealie +fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch this white +baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this by myself, +so I took a Hottentot--a very clever man when he was not drunk--who +lived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called Hendrik, and was +very fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen to my plan, +because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I bribed him +with a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we started, Hendrik +carrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope running through it so +that the mouth could be drawn tight. + +"Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the trees +at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and grunting +to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the white +one and three other little babies and put them in the cave. Then the old +man came out, looked carefully round, called to his family, and went off +with them over the brow of the kloof. Now very slowly and cautiously we +crept up over the rocks till we came to the mouth of the cave and looked +in. All the four little baboons were fast asleep, with their backs +towards us, and their arms round each other's necks, the white one being +in the middle. Nothing could have been better for our plans. Hendrik, +who by this time had quite entered into the spirit of the thing, crept +along the cave like a snake, and suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide +bag over the head of the white baboon. The poor little thing woke up and +gave a violent jump which caused it to vanish right into the bag. Then +Hendrik pulled the string tight, and together we knotted it so that +it was impossible for our captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby +baboons had rushed from the cave screaming, and when we got outside they +were nowhere to be seen. + +"'Come on, Missie,' said Hendrik; 'the babyans will soon be back.' He +had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking +violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear its +shrieks. + +"We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as +we could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about three +hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, +leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the whole +family of baboons headed by the old man. + +"'Run, Missie, run!' gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving +him far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were +working, crying, 'The babyans! the babyans!' Luckily the men had their +sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who +was almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, +and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ran +away. + +"Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father +sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and +has a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having +untied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, +shutting the door behind him. In another moment the poor little thing +was out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It sprung +at the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head against them +till the blood came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat upon it crying +like a child, and rocking itself backwards and forwards. It was so sad +to see it that I began to cry too. + +"Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I +told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and +said that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the bars +of the window he nearly fell down with astonishment. + +"'Why!' he said, 'this is not a baboon, it is a white child that the +baboons have stolen and brought up!' + +"Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge for +yourself. You see Hendrika--we named her that after Hendrik, who caught +her--she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the ways +of monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, for +instance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and when +she is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever as +anybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the baboons when +she was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why she is so like +them. + +"But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika +at any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat +nothing, and I thought that she would die, for all the while she sat +and wailed. On the third day, however, I went to the bars of the window +place, and held out a cup of milk and some fruit to her. She looked at +it for a long while, then crept up moaning, took the milk from my hand, +drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the fruit. From that time forward +she took food readily enough, but only if I would feed her. + +"But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that +we captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which +were evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went out +towards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come back +again, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can show +you, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of his +assegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him to +pieces. + +"My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not let +Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was our +duty to reclaim her. And so we did--to a certain extent, at least. After +the murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, +and have only returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to let +Hendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of me; still, on the +first opportunity she ran away. But in the evening she returned again. +She had been seeking the baboons, and could not find them. Shortly +afterwards she began to speak--I taught her--and from that time she has +loved me so that she will not leave me. I think it would kill her if I +went away from her. She watches me all day, and at night sleeps on the +floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was swept down the +river in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. Look, how +she is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!" + +I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and +staring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her eyes. + +While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman's strange story, and thinking +that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a sudden +turn. + +"Look!" said Stella, "there is our home. Is it not beautiful?" + +It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a +bay had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight +hundred or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in depth. +At the back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the height of +several hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great Babyan Peak +towered up towards the heavens. The space of ground, embraced thus in +the arms of the mountain, as it were, was laid out, as though by the +cunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one above the other. To +the right and left of the topmost terrace were chasms in the cliff, and +down each chasm fell a waterfall, from no great height, indeed, but of +considerable volume. These two streams flowed away on either side of +the enclosed space, one towards the north, and the other, the course +of which we had been following, round the base of the mountain. At each +terrace they made a cascade, so that the traveller approaching had a +view of eight waterfalls at once. Along the edge of the stream to our +left were placed Kaffir kraals, built in orderly groups with verandahs, +after the Basutu fashion, and a very large part of the entire space of +land was under cultivation. All of this I noted at once, as well as the +extraordinary richness and depth of the soil, which for many ages past +had been washed down from the mountain heights. Then following the line +of an excellent waggon road, on which we now found ourselves, that wound +up from terrace to terrace, my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the +scene. For in the centre of the topmost platform or terrace, which may +have enclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded by +groves of orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had never seen the +like. There were three groups of them, one in the middle, and one on +either side, and a little to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, +the plan of all was the same. In the centre was an edifice constructed +like an ordinary Zulu hut--that is to say, in the shape of a beehive, +only it was five times the size of any hut I ever saw, and built +of blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinary +knowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and with so +much accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the joints +of the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered passages, +leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, only +smaller, and each whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about four +feet in height. + +Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the +general outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even +old Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, deigned +to show wonder. + +"Ou!" he said; "this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built of +white stone?" + +Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but +said nothing. + +"Did your father build those kraals?" I gasped, at length. + +"My father! no, of course not," she answered. "How would it have been +possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He found +them as you see." + +"Who built them, then?" I said again. + +"I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the +people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, +and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they must +have stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show you +the quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is the +entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks was a silver mine. +Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the marble huts. The +world is old, and no doubt plenty of people have lived in it and been +forgotten."[*] + + [*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described + by Mr. Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico + district of the Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to + be found in Mr. Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a Waggon," + vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. Anderson says, "In this district are the + ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it + requires a fuller description to show that these extensive + kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood + building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, + lintels, and sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill + to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, + beautifully formed and most substantially erected; strong + enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years." + --Editor. + +Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in Africa, +and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and worthless, +but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was no one +thing--it was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth on to the +everlasting plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that sparkled +in rainbow hues, the rivers girdling the rich cultivated lands, the +gold-specked green of the orange trees, the flashing domes of the marble +huts, and a thousand other things. Then over all brooded the peace of +evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled heaven with +changing hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and cliffs in +cloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of the water +like the smile of a god. + +Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days +and nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the +beauty of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am +sure, that of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she was +the sweetest and the loveliest. + +Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be before +I find her once again? + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MARBLE KRAALS + +At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up +outside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts--for so +I must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been +observed by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able to +determine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section +of the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several of +these ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. We dismounted--speaking for myself, not without +difficulty--indeed, had it not been for Stella's support I should have +fallen. + +"Now you must come and see my father," she said. "I wonder what he will +think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my hut +and give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently." + +Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress's +bidding, and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the marble +wall, which may have enclosed nearly half an "erf," or three-quarters of +an acre of ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a garden, many +European vegetables and flowers were growing in it, besides others with +which I was not acquainted. Presently we came to the centre hut, and +it was then that I noticed the extraordinary beauty and finish of the +marble masonry. In the hut, and facing the gateway, was a modern door, +rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a beautiful reddish wood that +has the appearance of having been sedulously pricked with a pin. Stella +opened it, and we entered. The interior of the hut was the size of a +large and lofty room, the walls being formed of plain polished marble. +It was lighted somewhat dimly, but quite effectively, by peculiar +openings in the roof, from which the rain was excluded by overhanging +eaves. The marble floor was strewn with native mats and skins of +animals. Bookcases filled with books were placed against the walls, +there was a table in the centre, chairs seated with rimpi or strips of +hide stood about, and beyond the table was a couch on which a man was +lying reading. + +"Is that you, Stella?" said a voice, that even after so many years +seemed familiar to me. "Where have you been, my dear? I began to think +that you had lost yourself again." + +"No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody +else." + +At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old +gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much +courtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a pale +face that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a long +white beard. + +"Be welcome, sir," he said. "It is long since we have seen a white +face in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an +Englishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, and +he, I grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice," and he bowed +again and stretched out his hand. + +I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my +mind. I took his hand. + +"How do you do, Mr. Carson?" I said. + +He started as though he had been stung. + +"Who told you that name?" he cried. "It is a dead name. Stella, is it +you? I forbade you to let it pass your lips." + +"I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it," she answered. + +"Sir," I broke in, "if you will allow me I will show you how I came to +know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study of +a clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leave +England for ever?" + +He bowed his head. + +"And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing +with a pencil?" + +"I do," he said. + +"Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children +who lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your old +friend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died in +the Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, one +Kaffir, and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad Lands, +where we had wandered for days without water, and there we should have +perished, but your daughter, Miss----" + +"Call her Stella," he broke in, hastily. "I cannot bear to hear that +name. I have forsworn it." + +"Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives." + +"By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?" he answered. "There is +little chance in all this; such chances spring from another will than +ours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in a +hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is yours, +and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; talk no +more now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk." + +To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that +evening. A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting +at a table next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember +nothing more. + +I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and +fashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering +what time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, +and, luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, +feeling a very different man, my strength had come back again to me; I +dressed, and following a covered passage found myself in the centre hut. +Here the table was set for breakfast with all manner of good things, +such as I had not seen for many a month, which I contemplated with +healthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and there before me was a +more delightful sight, for standing in one of the doorways which led to +the sleeping huts was Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. + +She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, +and girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of +her robe was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied +in a single knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, +asking how I had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under her +loving care the child had been quite transformed. She was neatly dressed +in a garment of the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair hair was +brushed; indeed, had it not been for the sun blisters on her face and +hands, one would scarcely have believed that this was the same child +whom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour through the +burning, waterless desert. + +"We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan," she said; "my father is so upset +by your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how +thankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of +late. He grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strength +were ebbing away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have to +manage everything about the farm; he does nothing but read and think." + +Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of +milk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look of +little love at me as she did so. + +"Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee," said Stella. "Don't +you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will tell +you--we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to show +you. You don't know what we have managed to do in the time that we have +been here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about look +upon my father as their chief." + +"Yes," I said, "but how do you get all these luxuries of civilization?" +and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives and forks. + +"Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we first +trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. But +every few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right down +to Port Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, and +come back with all kinds of things that been sent out from England +for us. So you see, although we live in this wild place, we are not +altogether cut off. We can send runners to Natal and back in three +months, and the waggons get there and back in a year. The last lot +arrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are very +faithful, and some of them speak Dutch well." + +"Have you ever been with the waggons?" I asked. + +"Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from +Babyan's Peak," she answered. "Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, +with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a +book. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I have +had one advantage--a good education. My father has taught me everything, +and perhaps I know some things that you don't. I can read French and +German, for instance. I think that my father's first idea was to let me +run wild altogether, but he gave it up." + +"And don't you wish to go into the world?" I asked. + +"Sometimes," she said, "when I get lonely. But perhaps my father is +right--perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he would +never return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am +sure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that +our name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our +lives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast? +Let us go out, and I will show you our home." + +I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, +Mr. Carson--for after all that was his name, though he would never allow +it to be spoken--had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, and +would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. + +So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbi +whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire that +old man. + +The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the +lower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, +faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the +great peak till nearly eleven o'clock in the morning--a great advantage +in that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was +beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw. +There were three or four natives working in it, and they all saluted +my host as "Baba," or father. Then we visited the other two groups of +marble huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, the +other as storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned into +a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to convert +the natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for shelter, +and he had practised the more elementary rites of the church for so long +that I think he began to believe that he really was a clergyman. For +instance, he always married those of his people who would consent to a +monogamous existence, and baptized their children. + +When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble +huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive +like weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the next +platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think that it +was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample water +for purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage for +hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people were +most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. Carson on +the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the produce--indeed, in +this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with more? Consequently +the tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the "Children of +Thomas," were able to accumulate considerable wealth. All their disputes +were referred to their "father," and he also was judge of offences and +crimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods, +other and graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiat +which to one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the +decree that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. + +Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter's arm and contemplated the scene +with pride. + +"I have done all this, Allan Quatermain," he said. "When renouncing +civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotest +places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing +was to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the +waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden +land and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by +degrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we +live in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no +more. Heaven has prospered me so far--may it do so to the end, which for +me draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to see +the old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show them +to you. No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. Look! +some of the headmen are waiting to see me." + +So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, +and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the +marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which they +were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a very +thick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know another +like it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; not +by natives, that is certain, though the builders of these kraals had +condescended to borrow the shape of native huts for their model. By +the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw was a highly +finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the quarry. + +After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill +till we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a +gorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and +narrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a sound +of groaning and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I knew what +it was at once: the whole place was filled with baboons, which clambered +down the rocks towards us from every direction, and in a manner that +struck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a little pale and +clung to my arm. + +"It is very silly of me," she whispered. "I am not at all nervous, but +ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those animals. +I always think that there is something human about them." + +Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. +Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I +and Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only +Hendrika stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her +monkey face. When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly called +aloud. Instantly they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a word +of command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it so. +That is to say, she began to make a noise such as baboons do when they +converse with each other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who said +that they could talk with the baboons and understand their language, but +I confess I never heard it done before or since. + +From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, +squeals, clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be conceived, +conveying to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At any rate the +baboons listened. One of them grunted back some answer, and then the +whole mob drew off to the rocks. + +I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, for +Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dining +hut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me by +the sleeve, and I stopped outside. + +"Macumazahn," he said. "Baboon-woman--devil-woman. Be careful, +Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called Stella +the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star will +set!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"LET US GO IN, ALLAN!" + +It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which elapsed +between my arrival at Babyan's Peak and my marriage with Stella. When I +look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of flowers, and dim +as with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through the sweetness comes +the sound of Stella's voice, and through the gloom shines the starlight +of her eyes. I think that we loved each other from the first, though for +a while we said no word of love. Day by day I went about the place with +her, accompanied by little Tota and Hendrika only, while she attended +to the thousand and one matters which her father's ever-growing weakness +had laid upon her; or rather, as time drew on, I attended to the +business, and she accompanied me. All day through we were together. Then +after supper, when the night had fallen, we would walk together in the +garden and come at length to hear her father read aloud sometimes from +the works of a poet, sometimes from history. Or, if he did not feel +well, Stella would read, and when this was done, Mr. Carson would +celebrate a short form of prayer, and we would separate till the morning +once more brought our happy hour of meeting. + +So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling +better. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeed +there are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had given +such depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of communing +with Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, the grace we +find in opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught that murmuring +voice from the sound of the streams which fall continually about her +rocky home? was it the tenderness of the evening sky beneath which she +loved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her face, and the light of the +evening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? At the least to me she was +the realization of that dream which haunts the sleep of sin-stained men; +so my memory paints her, so I hope to find her when at last the sleep +has rolled away and the fevered dreams are done. + +At last there came a day--the most blessed of my life, when we told our +love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. Carson +was so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met again, +and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had grown +much attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on the +couch. + +The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the +garden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a little +breeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, +and bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, +broken only by the sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to a +faint murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudly +in our ears. The moon was not yet visible, but already the dark clouds +which floated through the sky above us--for there had been rain--showed +a glow of silver, telling us that she shone brightly behind the peak. +Stella began to talk in her low, gentle voice, speaking to me of her +life in the wilderness, how she had grown to love it, how her mind had +gone on from idea to idea, and how she pictured the great rushing world +that she had never seen as it was reflected to her from the books which +she had read. It was a curious vision of life that she had: things were +out of proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality--a +mirage than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, and +especially of London, had a kind of fascination for her: she could +scarcely realize the rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men +and women, strangers to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth and +pleasure beneath a murky sky, and treading one another down in the fury +of their competition. + +"What is it all for?" she asked earnestly. "What do they seek? Having so +few years to live, why do they waste them thus?" + +I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard +necessity that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. Living +as she had done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a fruitful earth, +she did not seem to be able to grasp the fact that there were millions +who from day to day know not how to stay their hunger. + +"I never want to go there," she went on; "I should be bewildered and +frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adam +and Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live--in +peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of +perfect life. I want no other." + +"I thought you once told me that you found it lonely," I said. + +"So I did," she answered, innocently, "but that was before you came. Now +I am not lonely any more, and it is perfect--perfect as the night." + +Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her +rays stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, +brooding on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, +wrapping the fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil through +which her beauty shone mysteriously. + +Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at the +scarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beauty +of the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on her hair, +the mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked at me, I +looked on her, and all our hearts' love blossomed within us. We spoke no +word--we had no words to speak, but slowly we drew near, till lips were +pressed to lips as we kissed our eternal troth. + +It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, +in soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smitten +harp. + +"Ah, now I understand," she said, "now I know why we are lonely, and how +we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in the +beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of flowers. +It is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his voice we +understand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is answered and +the gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the way that wends +through death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of which our love is +but a shadow. + +"Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that +whatever overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always have +this perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!" + +I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I +rose my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage +of the orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze +stirred the orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full upon +the white object. + +It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had +called her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. + +I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark +in the rocks behind. + +Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I +saw Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. + +"Hendrika," I said, "why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in the +garden?" + +She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. + +"Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to +watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you +kissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a +star?" + +"I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me," I answered. +"What has that to do with you, Hendrika?" + +"Because you love her," she hissed in answer; "and do I not love her +also, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you are +a man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than women +love women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman loves +a man she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather her +flowers--beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never dare +to go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the garden and +give it to her. What does she do?--she takes the orange bloom, she puts +it in her breast, and lets my flowers die. I call to her--she does not +hear me--she is thinking. You whisper to some one far away, and she +hears and smiles. She used to kiss me sometimes; now she kisses that +white brat you brought, because you brought it. Oh, I see it all--all; I +have seen it from the first; you are stealing her from us, stealing her +to yourself, and those who loved her before you came are forgotten. Be +careful, Macumazahn, be careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, you +hate me; you think me half a monkey; that servant of yours calls me +Baboon-woman. Well, I have lived with baboons, and they are clever--yes, +they can play tricks and know things that you don't, and I am cleverer +than they, for I have learnt the wisdom of white people also, and I say +to you, Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will fall into a pit," and with +one more look of malice she was gone. + +I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature +who seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared +her with the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her +hands. And yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness of +her jealousy. It is generally supposed that this passion only exists in +strength when the object loved is of another sex from the lover, but I +confess that, both in this instance and in some others which I have met +with, this has not been my experience. I have known men, and especially +uncivilized men, who were as jealous of the affection of their friend +or master as any lover could be of that of his mistress; and who has +not seen cases of the same thing where parents and their children are +concerned? But the lower one gets in the scale of humanity, the more +readily this passion thrives; indeed, it may be said to come to its +intensest perfection in brutes. Women are more jealous than men, +small-hearted men are more jealous than those of larger mind and wider +sympathy, and animals are the most jealous of all. Now Hendrika was in +some ways not far removed from animal, which may perhaps account for the +ferocity of her jealousy of her mistress's affection. + +Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. +Carson was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his +hand, and her head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had +been telling him of what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, +for it is a task that a would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do by +deputy. + +"Come here, Allan Quatermain," he said, almost sternly, and my heart +gave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go +about my business. But I came. + +"Stella tells me," he went on, "that you two have entered into a +marriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that you +say that you love her." + +"I do indeed, sir," I broke in; "I love her truly; if ever a woman was +loved in this world, I love her." + +"I thank Heaven for it," said the old man. "Listen, my children. Many +years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow that, +as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I determined +to do what most men would have considered the act of a madman, to go far +away into the wilderness with my only child, there to live remote from +civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this place, and here we +have lived for many years, happily enough, and perhaps not without doing +good in our generation, but still in a way unnatural to our race and +status. At first I thought I would let my daughter grow up in a state of +complete ignorance, that she should be Nature's child. But as time went +on, I saw the folly and the wickedness of my plan. I had no right to +degrade her to the level of the savages around me, for if the fruit +of the tree of knowledge is a bitter fruit, still it teaches good from +evil. So I educated her as well as I was able, till in the end I knew +that in mind, as in body, she was in no way inferior to her sisters, the +children of the civilized world. She grew up and entered into womanhood, +and then it came into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, that +I was separating her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness where +she could find neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, I +could not yet make up my mind to return to active life; I had grown to +love this place. I dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Again +and again I put my resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this +year I fell ill. For a while I waited, hoping that I might get better, +but at last I realized that I should never get better, that the hand of +Death was upon me." + +"Ah, no, father, not that!" Stella said, with a cry. + +"Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our +separation in the happiness of a new meeting," and he glanced at me +and smiled. "Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined to +abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that +the journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella +would, and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savages +in the wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to take +this step Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, and +brought you here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, whose +father had been my dear friend, and who once with your baby hands had +saved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours from thirst. +At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of Providence in this, and +I determined to wait and see what came about between you. At the worst, +if nothing came about, I soon learned that I could trust you to see her +safely to the coast after I was gone. But many days ago I knew how it +stood between you, and now things are determined as I prayed they might +be. God bless you both, my children; may you be happy in your love; +may it endure till death and beyond it. God bless you both!" and he +stretched out his hand towards me. + +I took it, and Stella kissed him. + +Presently he spoke again-- + +"It is my intention," he said, "if you two consent, to marry you next +Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will be +allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated +and entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be +perfectly legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality +the first moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is +one more thing: when I left England my fortunes were in a shattered +condition; in the course of years they have recovered themselves, +the accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when the waggons last +returned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all charges, and +there is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not marry on +nothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to make +a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you should +leave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to England. +I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too much for +people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask you +to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise this?" + +"I do," I answered. + +"And so do I," said Stella. + +"Very well," he answered; "and now I am tired out. Again God bless you +both, and good-night." + + + +CHAPTER X + +HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + +On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First +of all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. + +"Oh!" he said, "I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you +would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watch +the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your +heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set." + +"Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?" I answered, angrily, +for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. + +"A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I +only speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, +loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all +the things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and +there was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it is +change, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops of +rain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink into +the ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth will be dry, the +drops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, they will +never be one again, they will never again fall side by side. But I am a +rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The drops will +drain by many paths into the river, and will be one water there. They +will go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and there will +again be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When +we fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground that is death, +and when we are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No! +no! when we find we lose, and when we seem to lose, then we shall really +find. I am not a Christian, Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched +and seen things that perhaps Christians do not see. There, I have +spoken. Be happy with your star, and if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, wait +till it rises again. It will not be long; one day you will go to sleep, +then your eyes will open on another sky, and there your star will be +shining, Macumazahn." + +I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. +But often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbi +and his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strange +man, this old rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him than +in many learned atheists--those spiritual destroyers who, in the name +of progress and humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave us +wandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated hell. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, changing the subject, "I have something to say," +and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. + +He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals as +the narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. + +"Macumazahn," he said at length, "I have told you that this is an evil +woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in +her veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make you +mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star is +waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you." + +So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of +Indaba-zimbi, I found a deeper meaning in Stella's simplest word. All +the rest of that day I passed in her company, and the greater part of +the two following days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of our +marriage. It rained that night, so we did not go out, but spent the +evening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carson +talked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and of countries +that he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade us +goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut by +the covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what the +night was like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but as +the light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight of +a dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika flashed into my mind; +could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had said nothing of +Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, because I did +not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was attached to this +strange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence in her unless +it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood hesitating, +then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should stop, I went +in and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure the door. For +the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of sleeping in the +covered passage, which was the only other possible way of access. As I +came to bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his blanket, and to all +appearances fast asleep. So it being evident that I had nothing to fear, +I promptly dismissed the matter from my mind, which, as may be imagined, +was indeed fully occupied with other thoughts. + +I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great happiness +in store for me, and of the providential course of events that had +brought it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was wandering in +the desert a dying man, bearing a dying child, and with scarcely a +possession left in the world except a store of buried ivory that I never +expected to see again. And now I was about to wed one of the sweetest +and loveliest women on the whole earth--a woman whom I loved more than +I could have thought possible, and who loved me back again. Also, as +though that were not good fortune enough, I was to acquire with her +very considerable possessions, quite sufficiently large to enable us to +follow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I lay and reflected on +all this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old Indaba-zimbi's melancholy +prophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he had always prophesied truly. +What if these should be true also? I turned cold as I thought of it, and +prayed to the Power above to preserve us both to live and love together. +Never was prayer more needed. While its words were still upon my lips I +dropped asleep and dreamed a most dreadful dream. + +I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. +She was dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, +spiritual beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a pale +flame played about her features, and the wind that blew did not stir her +hair. Nor was this all, for her white robes were death wrappings, and +the altar at which we stood was formed of the piled-up earth from an +open grave that yawned between us. So we stood waiting for one to wed +us, but no one came. Presently from the open grave sprang the form of +Hendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she stabbed at me, but +pierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, fell backwards into the +grave, still looking at me as she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after her +into the grave. I heard her feet strike heavily. + +"_Awake, Macumazahn! awake!_" cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. +In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious +struggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which were +matches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the taper. Now +in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over the other on +the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. The fat melted +and the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika who +were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was getting the better of +the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards them. Now she was uppermost, +now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, and now the great +knife she had in her hand flashed up. + +But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked +with all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save +herself, most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves +upon her. Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not +experienced it could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, +and at one time nearly mastered the two of us. As it was she did break +loose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straight +up at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and could not +conceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes which +I have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered with +overhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, and, +catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw herself +through it. But here her strength, exhausted with the long struggle, +failed her. For a moment she swung, then dropped to the ground and fell +senseless. + +"Ou!" gasped Indaba-zimbi. "Let us tie the devil up before she comes to +life again." + +I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner +of the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even +she could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, and +Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to +raise an alarm at that hour of the night. + +"Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?" he said. "For several nights +I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made a plan. +To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An hour +after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of light +come into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw the beam +of light vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing over the +moon, but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezing +himself through a narrow space. Presently he was through, and hanging by +his hands. Then the light came in again, and in the middle of it I saw +the Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop into the +hut. She clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great knife. She +dropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped her +round the middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struck +at me in the dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you know the +rest. You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn." + +"Very nearly indeed," I answered, still panting, and arranging the rags +of my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my horrid +dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by the +sound of Hendrika dropping to the floor--in my dream it had been a grave +that she dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in that +second of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is nothing +but a dream, and events that seem far apart really occur simultaneously. + +We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came +to herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned +buffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi +unceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. + +In due course the day broke--my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to +watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the +stables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut--that +same hut in which she had been confined when she had been brought +a baboon-child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leaving +Indaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place and +dressed in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. But +when I looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It was +covered with scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored +them up as best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, +which, what between the events of the past night, and of those pending +that day, were not a little disturbed. + +When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and +there Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with +orange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; then, +seeing the condition of my face, started back. + +"Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?" she asked. + +As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, +catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. + +Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika's threats and of her +fierce attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my +horrid dream. + +Stella's face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her +father became very stern. + +"You should have spoken of this before, Allan," he said. "I now see that +I did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful creature, +who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes that +reared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day." + +"Oh, father," said Stella, "don't have her killed. It is all dreadful +enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond of +her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on my +marriage day." + +"No," her father answered, "she shall not be killed, for though she +deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a +brute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence +she came." + +No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast--which +was rather a farce--was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gave +him certain orders. + +We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every +Sunday morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The +service began at ten o'clock, but long before that hour all the natives +on the place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present at +the wedding of the "Star." It was a pretty sight to see them, the men +dressed in all their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in their +hands, and the women and children bearing green branches of trees, +ferns, and flowers. At length, about half-past nine, Stella rose, +pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A few minutes to ten she +reappeared again with her father, dressed in a white veil, a wreath of +orange flowers on her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange flowers +in her hand. To me she seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her came +little Tota in a high state of glee and excitement. She was Stella's +only bridesmaid. Then we all passed out towards the church hut. The bare +space in front of it was filled with hundreds of natives, who set up +a song as we came. But we went on into the hut, which was crowded with +such of the natives as usually worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, as +usual, read the service, though he was obliged to sit down in order to +do so. When it was done--and to me it seemed interminable--Mr. Carson +whispered that he meant to marry us outside the hut in sight of all the +people. So we went out and took our stand under the shade of a large +tree that grew near the hut facing the bare space where the natives were +gathered. + +Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the +native dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife +after the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he +proceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and +beautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring--it was her +father's signet ring, for we had no other--upon Stella's finger, and it +was done. + +Then Mr. Carson spoke. "Allan and Stella," he said, "I believe that the +ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the sight +of God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage binding +is, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of the country +where the parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that has +been in force here for fifteen years or more that you have been married +in the face of all the people, and in token of it you will both sign the +register that I have kept of such marriages, among those of my people +who have adopted the Christian Faith. Still, in case there should be +any legal flaw I again demand the solemn promise of you both that on the +first opportunity you will cause this marriage to be re-celebrated in +some civilized land. Do you promise?" + +"We do," we answered. + +Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my +wife signed hers "Stella" only, but her father bade her write it Stella +Carson for the first and last time in her life. Then several of the +indunas, or headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks in +witness. Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, in +humorous allusion to Stella's native name. That register is before +me now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling's hair which lies +between its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names +and marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of the +tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where are +those who wrote them? + +"My people," said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had +kissed each other before them all--"My people, Macumazahn and the Star, +my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of +one bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my +people, you know this woman," and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, +unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut. + +"Yes, yes, we know her," said a little ring of headmen, who formed +the primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had +squatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. "We know +her, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant of +the Star." + +"You know her," said Mr. Carson, "but you do not know her altogether. +Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last +night in the hut of Macumazahn." + +Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told his +moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing up +by producing the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me. + +Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his +story: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. + +Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her +eyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. + +She looked up boldly and answered-- + +"Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have +robbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which I +have lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had I +killed him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shone +on me again." + +"Never," murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with +wrath. + +"My people," he said, "you hear the words of this woman. You hear how +she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She says +that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man who +is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamed +her, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say, +my people, what reward should be given to her?" + +"Death," said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, +and all the multitude beyond echoed the word "Death." + +"Death," repeated the head induna, adding, "If you save her, my +father, we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a +devil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain +before she works more evil." + +Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika's life +in moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman's nature, her +long service, and the affection that she had always shown towards +herself. She said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, +and she, my wife, who had nearly been left a widow before she was made a +bride, forgave her; let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, not +slain, let not her marriage day be stained with blood. + +Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of +killing Hendrika--indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But the +people were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a devil, +and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they have had +their way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had already +gained a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. Suddenly +the old man rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging them to +kill Hendrika at once or mischief would come of it. + +At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to +drag her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tears +that the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson's orders and my own +remonstrances, carried the day. + +All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the +tumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising +that if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should be +stabbed like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice and +in English-- + +"Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to love +I shall go mad and become a babyan again." + +Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and +looked at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked +past me, and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, +being literally translated, means, "Till another moon," but which has +the same significance as the French "au revoir." + +It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, +and saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran +swiftly from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movement +snatched her great knife from his hand. When she had gone about twenty +paces she halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, gave one loud cry +of anguish, and fled. A few minutes later we saw her far away, bounding +up the face of an almost perpendicular cliff--a cliff that nobody except +herself and the baboons could possibly climb. + +"Look," said Indaba-zimbi in my ear--"Look, Macumazahn, there goes the +Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, _she will come back again_. Ah, why +will you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, +Macumazahn?" and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. + +For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone for +the present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, +and in her smiles I forgot my fears. + +For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?--there are things +too happy and too sacred to be written of. + +At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that perfect +joy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GONE! + +I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found +ourselves. Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can +survive a honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only married +once, and can but speak from my limited experience. But certainly our +illusion, or rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, did +survive, as to this day it survives in my heart across all the years of +utter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of gloom. + +But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. +As our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been +described, so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. + +Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long +impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and found +him lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was dying, +but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he recovered his +speech and some power of movement. But he never recovered his memory, +though he still knew Stella, and sometimes myself. Curiously enough he +remembered little Tota best of all three, though occasionally he thought +that she was his own daughter in her childhood, and would ask her where +her mother was. This state of affairs lasted for some seven months. +The old man gradually grew weaker, but he did not die. Of course his +condition quite precluded the idea of our leaving Babyan Kraals till all +was over. This was the more distressing to me because I had a nervous +presentiment that Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and also +because the state of her health rendered it desirable that we should +reach a civilized region as soon as possible. However, it could not be +helped. + +At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by +Mr. Carson's bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up and +spoke in a strong, full voice. + +"I hear you," he said. "Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you too +have suffered," and he fell back dead. + +I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision +of whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was +overwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been her +sole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between them +was much closer than is usual even in the case of father and daughter. +So deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect upon her +health. Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives on the +settlement called Mr. Carson "father," and as a father they lamented +him. The air resounded with the wailing of women, and the men went about +with bowed heads, saying that "the sun had set in the heavens, now only +the Star (Stella) remained." Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. He said +that it was best that the Inkoos should die, for what was life worth +when one lay like a log?--moreover, that it would have been well for all +if he had died sooner. + +On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the +waterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite +of all I could do to comfort her. + +That night as I sat outside the hut smoking--for the weather was hot, +and Stella was lying down inside--old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, and +squatted at my feet. + +"What is it, Indaba-zimbi?" I said. + +"This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?" + +"I don't know," I answered. "The Star is not fit to travel now, we must +wait awhile." + +"No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must take +her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well." + +"Why do you say so? why must we go?" + +"For this reason, Macumazahn," and he looked cautiously round and spoke +low. "The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is full +of them." + +"I did not know that they had gone," I said. + +"Yes," he answered, "they went after the marriage, all but one or two; +now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a whole +cliff back with them." + +"Is that all?" I said, for I saw that he had something behind. "I am not +afraid of a pack of baboons." + +"No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with +them." + +Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, and +though at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degrees +she to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was fully +preoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law's illness. I started +violently. "How do you know this?" I asked. + +"I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is +dressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though she +was a long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white flesh +of her arm when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, Macumazahn, +with all the baboons in the world, and she has come back to do evil. Now +do you understand why you should trek?" + +"Yes," I said, "though I don't see how she and the baboons can harm +us, I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp the +waggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: say +nothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And hearken +again. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all round the +huts and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we will get +the waggons ready, and next day we will trek." + +He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a +little disturbed--unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. That +this woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] That was +not so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to do +the same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that she had +been able to muster them, and by the strength of her human will and +intelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of revenge, seemed +to me so incredible that after reflection my fears grew light. Still I +determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox waggon would not be +such a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to roughing it, +whatever her state of health. And when all was said and done I did +not like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with countless hosts of +baboons. + + [*] For an instance of this, see Anderson's "Twenty-five + Years in a Waggon," vol. i. p. 262.--Editor. + +So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon +story, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the +conclusion that it was our duty to follow her father's instructions to +the letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need +not enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declared +that she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that now +that her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. + +Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morning +I was up early making preparations. The despair of the people when they +learned that we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. I +could only console them by declaring that we were but on a journey, and +would return the following year. + +"They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead," they +declared; "ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. He +had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a mat +to lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in his +shadow. Then he had died, and the Star, their father's daughter, had +married me, Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take their +father's place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they do when +there was no one to protect them? The tribes were kept from attacking +them by fear of the white man. If we went they would be eaten up," and +so on. Alas! there was but too much foundation for their fears. + +I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said +that she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it +necessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to +allude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged +to. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon as +I could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out such +cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to the +Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, +and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little before +sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got +on my horse and rode homewards. + +Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the +central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had +been packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, +thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her. +Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if he +had seen his mistress. + +He answered "yes." He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towards +the graveyard, holding the little white girl--my daughter--as he called +her, by the hand, when the sun stood "there," and he pointed to a spot +on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half before. +"The two dogs were with them," he added. I turned and ran towards the +graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the huts. Of course +there was no reason to be anxious--evidently she had gone to lay the +flowers on her father's grave. And yet I was anxious. + +When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my +orders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed +that he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I +asked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not, +which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping +to reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the +graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson's grave, lay the drooping flowers which +Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the spoor of +Tota's veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they? + +I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but no +answer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in tracing +their spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he came to +a clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream and the +ancient marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the mouth of the +ravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled cry. I rushed +to the spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The little open +space in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a struggle. +There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of human +feet--two shod, one naked--Stella's, Tota's, and _Hendrika's_. Nor was +this all. There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs--they were +nothing more--and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had been +bitten in the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of numberless +baboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into my mind. + +My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had +not been killed, for if so their remains would have been found with +those of the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under +the direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to +some secret den, there to keep them till they died--or kill them! + +For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. Then +I roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm the +people at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns and +ammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the spoor. For +a few yards it was plain enough--Stella had been dragged along. I could +see where her heels had struck the ground; the child had, I presumed, +been carried--at least there were no marks of her feet. At the water's +edge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, and they had gone along +in it, or at least Hendrika and her victim had, in order to obliterate +the trail. I could see where a moss-grown stone had been freshly turned +over in the water-bed. I ran along the bank some way up the ravine, in +the vain hope of catching a sight of them. Presently I heard a bark in +the cliffs above me; it was answered by another, and then I saw that +scores of baboons were hidden about among the rocks on either side, and +were softly swinging themselves down to bar the path. To go on unarmed +as I was would be useless. I should only be torn to pieces as the dogs +had been. So I turned and fled back towards the huts. As I drew near I +could see that my messenger had roused the settlement, for natives with +spears and kerries in their hands were running up towards the kraals. +When I reached the hut I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious +face. + +"So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn," he said. + +"It has fallen," I answered. + +"Keep a good heart, Macumazahn," he said again. "She is not dead, nor is +the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember this, +Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans to harm +her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all." + +"Pray God that we may find her," I groaned. "The light is going fast." + +"The moon rises in three hours," he answered; "we will search by +moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get +the men together, eat, and make things ready. _Hamba gachla_. Hasten +slowly, Macumazahn." + +As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I +packed some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind +of litter. If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! if +we found them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before the +moon rose. But at last it did rise. + +Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only +mustered five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had +belonged to Mr. Carson. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + +We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The +natives looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of +violence, and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether the +Star lived or died they would not rest till they had exterminated every +baboon on Babyan's Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, we +kept it. + +We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as we +best could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks very +little. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the lonely +moonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes with our +cries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched the sides +of precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically piled one +upon another; in vain we searched through endless dells and fern-clad +crannies. There was nothing to be found. How could we expect to find +two human beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast stretch of +mountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. They were +lost, and in all human probability lost for ever. + +To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore +and weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waiting +for the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had brought +with them, and sent to the kraals for more. + +I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my feelings. +Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may get some +idea of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring straight +before him as though he were looking into space, and taking note of +what went on there. An idea struck me. This man had some occult power. +Several times during our adventures he had prophesied, and in every case +his prophecies had proved true. He it was who, when we escaped from the +Zulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because there we should find the +place of a white man who lived under the shadow of a great peak that was +full of baboons. Perhaps he could help in this extremity--at any rate it +was worth trying. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "you say that you can send your spirit through +the doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know that +you can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and will +save her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here." + +"I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn," he answered. "I do +things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I do +like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use my +wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without being +asked--no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I love, +for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I had a +part, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this matter I +have no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless you thought +well to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have been no good to ask +me before, for I have only just found the herb I want," and he produced +a handful of the leaves of a plant that was unfamiliar to me. It had +prickly leaves, shaped very much like those of the common English +nettle. + +"Now, Macumazahn," he went on, "bid the men leave us alone, and then +follow me presently to the little glade down there by the water." + +I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a small +fire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. + +"Sit there, Macumazahn," he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, +"and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you move +or call out we shall learn nothing." + +I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, +the old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of +the pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering with +the cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plant +I have mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, muttering as he +chewed. Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to the fire. A dense +smoke rose from them, but he held his head in this smoke and drew +it down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting every sign of +suffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, he gasped +loudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, seemed as though +they were going to start from his head. Presently he fell over on his +side, and lay senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and my first impulse +was to run to his assistance, but fortunately I remembered his caution, +and sat quiet. + +Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had +all the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin +to stiffen, exactly as though _rigor mortis_ had set in. Then, to my +astonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time there +appeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread and +spread; in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid corpse. + +I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further +natural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was +going to fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed that +the discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from the +extremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. +Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage of +stiffness or _rigor_, and the first stage of after-death collapse. When +all these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly woke +up. + +I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth +open. + +"Well, Macumazahn," he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, +and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, "it is all right; I +have seen her." + +"Seen who?" I said. + +"The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, but +unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons obey +her, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, so I +whispered in her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you would +soon rescue her, and that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased to have +Hendrika near her." + +"You whispered in her ear?" I said. "How could you whisper in her ear?" + +"Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your +eyes? You don't know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had to +die to pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all the +healthy strength and life from my body in order to gather power to speak +with the Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I had let +things go a little further they must have stopped so, and there would +have been an end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so much +that you think you know everything. But you don't! You are always +staring at the clouds and can't see the things that lie at your feet. +You hardly believe me now, do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. +Have you anything on you that the Star has touched or worn?" + +I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my +pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, he +lit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which he +caught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with the +juice of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. + +"Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes," he said. + +I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt +me, then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and +my brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground with +my feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us was a +pool of beautifully clear water. + +"Look into the pool, Macumazahn," said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice +sounded hollow and far away in my ears. + +I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. +I saw a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave +rested Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfully +pale and weary, and her eyelids were red as though with weeping. But she +slept, and I could almost think that I saw her lips shape my name in her +sleep. Close to her, her head upon Stella's breast, was little Tota; +she had a skin thrown over her to keep out the night cold. The child was +awake, and appeared to be moaning with fear. By the fire, and in such a +position that the light fell full upon her face, and engaged in cooking +something in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat the Baboon-woman, +Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon skins, and her face had been +rubbed with some dark stain, which was, however, wearing off it. In +the intervals of her cooking she would turn on Stella her wild eyes, +in which glared visible madness, with an expression of tenderness that +amounted to worship. Then she would stare at the child and gnash her +teeth as though with hate. Clearly she was jealous of it. Round the +entrance arch of the cave peeped and peered the heads of many baboons. +Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of them; apparently she did not +speak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake Stella. The brute hopped +forward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot which was lying by +her. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as the vision +slowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboon +returning with the pot full of water. + +Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath +me was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. + +"You have seen things," he said. + +"I have," I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What was +there to say?[*] "Do you know the path to the cave?" I added. + + [*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir + magic the reader is referred to a work named "Among the + Zulus," by David Leslie.--Editor. + +He nodded his head. "I did not follow it all just now, because it +winds," he said. "But I know it. We shall want the ropes." + +"Then let us be starting; the men have eaten." + +He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make +ready, adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all +right, if Indaba-zimbi had "smelt her out," they should soon find the +Star. So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much +improved that I was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we walked. + +We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a +mile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another +kloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the great +hill. + +On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was +never at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills +with the certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about +three hours' march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern slope +of the great peak. On one side of this valley was a series of stony +koppies, on the other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched along +the wall for a distance of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba-zimbi +halted. + +"There is the place," he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. This +opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. +It cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was +partially hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface +of the cliff. Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have +noticed it, for there were many such cracks and crannies in the rocky +face of the great mountain. + +We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I +noticed was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been +worn by the continual passage of baboons; the second, that something +white was hanging on a bush near the top of the ascent. + +It was a pocket-handkerchief. + +Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I +began the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, +for the rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still +possible to an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. +But the last twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing a +rope over the trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of the +opening. This we accomplished with some trouble, and the rest was easy. +A foot or two above my head the handkerchief fluttered in the wind. +Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was my wife's. As I did so I +noticed the face of a baboon peering at me over the edge of the cleft, +the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute gave a bark and +vanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my feet +against the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew that +we had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the others. I +gained the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, ending in +a gulley, which led to a wide open space of some sort. I looked through +the passage and saw that the gulley was black with baboons. On they came +by the hundred. I unslung my elephant gun from my shoulders and waited, +calling to the men below to come up with all possible speed. The brutes +streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards me, barking, grunting, and +showing their huge teeth. I waited till they were within fifteen yards. +Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded with slugs, right into +the thick of them. In that narrow place the report echoed like a cannon +shot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the volley of piercing +human-sounding groans and screams that followed. The charge of heavy +slugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of which at least a +dozen lay dead or dying in the passage. For a moment they hesitated, +then they came on again with a hideous clamour. Fortunately by this time +Indaba-zimbi, who also had a gun, was standing by my side, otherwise I +should have been torn to pieces before I could re-load. He fired both +barrels into them, and again checked the rush. But they came on again, +and notwithstanding the appearance of two other natives with guns, which +they let off with more or less success, we should have been overwhelmed +by the great and ferocious apes had I not by this time succeeded in +re-loading the elephant gun. When they were right on us, I fired, with +even more deadly effect than before, for at that distance every slug +told on their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage were +now something inconceivable. One might have thought that we were doing +battle with a host of demons; indeed in that light--for the overhanging +arch of rock made it very dark--the gnashing snouts and sombre glowing +eyes of the apes looked like those of devils as they are represented by +monkish fancy. But the last shot was too much for them; they withdrew, +dragging some of their wounded with them, and thus gave us time to get +our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all were there, and we advanced +down the passage, which presently opened into a rocky gulley with +shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at the bottom of it; it was +about a hundred yards long, and the slopes on either side were topped +by precipitous cliffs. I looked at these slopes; they literally swarmed +with baboons, grunting, barking, screaming, and beating their breasts +with their long arms, in fury. I looked up the water-way; along it, +accompanied by a mob, or, as it were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, +her long hair flying, madness written on her face, and in her arms was +the senseless form of little Tota. + +She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. +To me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearly +understood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulder +leaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from the +roof of the arch on to a man's head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi lifted +his gun to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the shot went over +her, crying that he would kill the child. Then I shouted to the men +to open out and form a line from side to side of the shelving gulley. +Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they obeyed me, and keeping +in the water-way myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the other guns, +I gave the word to charge. + +Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most +fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the +slopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who +rushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, the +apes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, and +many more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor did +we go scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over in the +grip of a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon him like +dogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in this way, and +I myself received a bite through the fleshy part of the left arm, but +fortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before I was pulled +down. + +At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to +seize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more +of fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away from +the assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces in +their paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. + +Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her arms, +she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I lifted +my gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad thing, +half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed full on +Indaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay to do any more. +Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and through the arch, +followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and vanished from our sight. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +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 knock 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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + +Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that night +in the baboons' home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella would not +sleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I made her up a +kind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley was one of the +hottest places I ever was in, I thought that this would not matter; but +when at sunrise on the following morning I saw a veil of miasmatic mist +hanging over the surface of the ground, I changed my opinion. However, +neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, so as soon as was practical +we started homewards. I had already on the previous day sent some of the +men back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and when we reached the cliff +we found them waiting for us beneath. With the help of the ladder the +descent was easy. Stella simply got out of her rough litter at the top +of the cliff, for we found it necessary to carry her, climbed down the +ladder, and got into it again at the bottom. + +Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of +Hendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here +with--"and lived happily ever after." But alas! it is not so. How am I +to write it? + +My dearest wife's vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that +the danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that +her state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of +leaving Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of +mind, and the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, +combined with her delicate state of health, had completely broken her +down. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack of +fever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that accursed +valley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfully +weak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. + +I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my +future, never of _our_ future. It is impossible for me to tell how sweet +she was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I wish +to tell it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if ever +a woman drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, Stella +Quatermain did so. + +The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived +to kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had +little skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through one +weary night I watched her with a breaking heart. + +The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak +behind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. Stella +awoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to open the +door of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the splendour +of the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an angel might +smile. Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, pointing to the +radiant heavens, whispered: + +"_There, Allan, there!_" + +It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wander +to the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; it +cannot be written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! + +Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we can +never go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my father +before me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there is +but one word of comfort. "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken +away." Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble heart, +"Blessed be the name of the Lord." + + + +I buried her by her father's side, and the weeping of the people who had +loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could weep no +more. + +On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed +myself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, +and by its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near +silently, and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on the +further side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella's grave, +and tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would unearth that +which lay within, was _Hendrika_. Her face was wild and haggard, her +form was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore slipped aside, the +shoulder-blades seemed to project almost through her skin. Suddenly she +looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful maniac laugh, she put her hand +to her girdle and drew her great knife from it. I thought that she was +about to attack me, and prepared to defend myself as I best could, for I +was unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. Lifting the knife on high, +for a moment she held it glittering in the moonlight, then plunged it +into her own breast, and fell headlong to the ground. + +I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently +she opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. + +"Macumazahn," she said, speaking in English and in an thick difficult +voice like one who half forgot and half remembered--"Macumazahn, I +remember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?" + +"Yes," I said, "she is dead, and you killed her." + +"I killed her!" the dying woman faltered, "and I loved her. Yes, yes, I +know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and now +once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her--because I +loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not dead +yet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. +It was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and now +she never can forgive me." + +"Ask forgiveness from above," I said, for Hendrika had been a Christian, +and the torment of her remorse touched me. + +"I ask no forgiveness," she said. "May God torture me for ever, because +I killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to find me +and forgives me! I only want her forgiveness." And wailing in an anguish +of the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be forgotten, +Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. + +I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had +happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed +to give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the +natives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to the +vultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of Hendrika. + + + +A week after Hendrika's death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was +hateful to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi +and told him that I was going. He answered that it was well. "The place +has served your turn," he said; "here you have won that joy which it was +fated you should win, and have suffered those things that it was fated +you should suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy and the +suffering, like the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, and will +rest at last in the same heaven, the heaven from which they came. Now +go, Macumazahn." + +I asked him if he was coming with me. + +"No," he answered, "our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We met +together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes +his own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my years +are few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhaps +we may meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we have +each of us a friend the less." + +"Heavy words," I said. + +"True words," he answered. + +Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving +Indaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of such +cattle and goods as I did not want. + +Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almost +recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwards +named, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting a +respectable native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight +with the baboons, to accompany me as his nurse. + +Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away +from Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the +Bad Lands, and my first night's outspan was beneath that very tree where +Stella, my lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. + +I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not died +in the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from year +to year I have continued to feel while I wander through the lonely +wilderness of life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had won my +darling's love, and for a little while we had been happy together. Our +happiness was too perfect to endure. She is lost to me now, but she is +lost to be found again. + +Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. + +"Good-bye, Macumazahn," he said, nodding his white lock at me. "Good-bye +for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make me that. +But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved each other +shall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in my way, +Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All my +prophecies to you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall come +true also. I tell you that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and shall +not find me. I tell you that you shall journey to a further land than +Babyan Kraals and shall find me. Farewell!" and he took a pinch of +snuff, turned, and went. + + + +Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many +adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived +safely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both Tota +and my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well chronicle +the destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. Then she +was adopted by a lady, the wife of an English colonel, who was stationed +at the Cape. She was taken by her adopted parents to England, where +she grew up a very charming and pretty girl, and ultimately married a +clergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her again, though we often wrote +to each other. + +Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gathered +to the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! all +this took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. + +Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson's +property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I +wrote to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer +to whom the matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not +having been celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according to +English law, and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly enough +I acquiesced in this, and the property passed to a cousin of my +father-in-law's; but since I have come to live in England I have been +informed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, and that there +is every probability that the courts would have declared the marriage +perfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordance +with the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now so +rich that it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin is +dead, his son is in possession, so let him keep it. + +Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years +after my darling's death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook +an expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of +the well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted +my horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strange +prescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the music +of the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals that used to be +to the left of the road by the river had vanished. I rode towards their +site; the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the paths were dumb with +grass. Presently I reached the place. There, overgrown with grass, were +the burnt ashes of the kraals, and there among the ashes, gleaming in +the moonlight, lay the white bones of men. Now it was clear to me. The +settlement had been fallen on by some powerful foe, and its inhabitants +put to the assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come true; Babyan +Kraals were peopled by memories alone. + +I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. +They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I +entered one of them--it had been our sleeping hut--and lit a candle +which I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and +broken mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. Then +I remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor and +concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. I +went to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within wrapped +in rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife had been +married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered wreath and +flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened it; +it contained a lock of my own hair! + +I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away +and could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the +floor. + +Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving +my horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined +garden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling's grave grew a +self-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on to +the mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A great +baboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished into the +trees. I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika doomed +to keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous rage +had done to death. + +I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be +written. Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters +fall in melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting mountain, +I turned and sought that spot where first we had told our love. Now the +orange grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of the trees were +dead, choked with creepers, but some still flourished. There stood the +one beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock that had been our +seat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of _Stella_, the Stella whom +I had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her upturned face was that same +spiritual look which I saw upon it in the hour when we first had kissed. +The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, the breeze wavered in her curling +hair, her breast rose and fell, a gentle smile played about her +parted lips. I stood transfixed with awe and joy, gazing on that lost +loveliness which once was mine. I could not speak, and she spoke no +word; she did not even seem to see me. Now her eyes fell. For a moment +they met mine, and their message entered into me. + +Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous +moonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the +waters, the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the +sorrow and the hope. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Allan's Wife, by H. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/2727-8.zip b/old/2727-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7b04a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2727-8.zip diff --git a/old/2727-h.htm.2021-01-27 b/old/2727-h.htm.2021-01-27 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da365b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2727-h.htm.2021-01-27 @@ -0,0 +1,6169 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Allan's Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Allan's Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Allan's Wife + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2727] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN'S WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + ALLAN’S WIFE + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> DEDICATION </a><br /> <br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> <big><b>ALLAN’S WIFE</b></big> </a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + DEDICATION + + My Dear Macumazahn, + + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening + of that Allen who has become as well known to me as any + other friend I have. It is therefore fitting that I should + dedicate to you this, his last tale—the story of his wife, + and the history of some further adventures which befell him. + They will remind you of many an African yarn—that with the + baboons may recall an experience of your own which I did not + share. And perhaps they will do more than this. Perhaps they + will bring back to you some of the long past romance of days + that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain + tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known and + explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and + trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized + man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of + the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the + Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the + morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The + blue gums that we planted in the garden of the “Palatial” + must be large trees by now, and the “Palatial” itself has + passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for her love after we + were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is + dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin. + + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the + mystery and promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day + sun burns overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of + those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and + murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in + a more gentle fashion; others are hidden from us, we know + not where. We might well fear to return to that land lest we + also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart to-day, the + past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we + can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly + undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. + Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria + Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight + patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the + Shameful Hill. + + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those + eventful years of youth which we passed together in the + African towns and on the African veldt, I dedicate these + pages, subscribing myself now as always, + + Your sincere friend, + + Indanda. + + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + ALLAN’S WIFE + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + EARLY DAYS + </h3> + <p> + It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just + before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, + stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his literary + executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the following is + one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. Quatermain was not + personally concerned—a Zulu novel, the story of which was told to + him by the hero many years after the tragedy had occurred. But with this + we have nothing to do at present. + </p> + <p> + I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain’s manuscript begins) that I would set + down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss of my + most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and to some + extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it is still + keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun the record. Once + I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me beyond bearing, once + because I was suddenly called away upon a journey, and the third time + because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript convenient for lighting the + kitchen fire. + </p> + <p> + But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth + attempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in after + years when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it to be + published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curious + reflections. + </p> + <p> + I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in charge of + a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten years married + to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, of whom I + was the youngest. I remember faintly the place where we lived. It was an + ancient long grey house, facing the road. There was a very large tree of + some sort in the garden. It was hollow, and we children used to play about + inside of it, and knock knots of wood from the rough bark. We all slept in + a kind of attic, and my mother always came and kissed us when we were in + bed. I used to wake up and see her bending over me, a candle in her hand. + There was a curious kind of pole projecting from the wall over my bed. + Once I was dreadfully frightened because my eldest brother made me hang to + it by my hands. That is all I remember about our old home. It has been + pulled down long ago, or I would journey there to see it. + </p> + <p> + A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates to + it, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which were so + hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was prophetic. + One could see the house by peeping through the bars of the gates. It was a + gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it; but in the + summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the grass plat. This + house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived there. One Christmas—it + must have been the Christmas before my father emigrated, or I should not + remember it—we children went to a Christmas-tree festivity at the + Hall. There was a great party there, and footmen wearing red waistcoats + stood at the door. In the dining-room, which was panelled with black oak, + was the Christmas-tree. Squire Carson stood in front of it. He was a tall, + dark man, very quiet in his manners, and he wore a bunch of seals on his + waistcoat. We used to think him old, but as a matter of fact he was then + not more than forty. He had been, as I afterwards learned, a great + traveller in his youth, and some six or seven years before this date he + married a lady who was half a Spaniard—a papist, my father called + her. I can remember her well. She was small and very pretty, with a + rounded figure, large black eyes, and glittering teeth. She spoke English + with a curious accent. I suppose that I must have been a funny child to + look at, and I know that my hair stood up on my head then as it does now, + for I still have a sketch of myself that my mother made of me, in which + this peculiarity is strongly marked. On this occasion of the + Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. Carson turned to a tall, + foreign-looking gentleman who stood beside her, and, tapping him + affectionately on the shoulder with her gold eye-glasses, said— + </p> + <p> + “Look, cousin—look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes; + his hair is like a—what you call him?—scrubbing-brush. Oh, + what a droll little boy!” + </p> + <p> + The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson’s hand + in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her whisper— + </p> + <p> + “Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like—like the + thunderstorm.” + </p> + <p> + Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. + </p> + <p> + After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was shy, + and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire’s only child, giving + the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as Father Christmas, + with some soft white stuff round her lovely little face, and she had large + dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. + At last it came to my turn to receive a present—oddly enough, + considered in the light of future events, it was a large monkey. Stella + reached it down from one of the lower boughs of the tree and handed it to + me, saying— + </p> + <p> + “Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain.” + </p> + <p> + As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled + over with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught fire—how + I do not know—and the flame ran up her arm towards her throat. She + stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with fear; and the + ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. Then some + impulse seized me—perhaps instinct would be a better word to use, + considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, and, beating at the + fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in extinguishing it before it + really got hold. My wrists were so badly scorched that they had to be + wrapped up in wool for a long time afterwards, but with the exception of a + single burn upon her throat, little Stella Carson was not much hurt. + </p> + <p> + This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. What + happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I sometimes + see little Stella’s sweet face and the stare of terror in her dark eyes as + the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, for I had, + humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was destined to be my wife. + </p> + <p> + The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three + brothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the + poisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead sheep + into it. + </p> + <p> + It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day to + the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in the + study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of paper with + a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room talking to himself. + Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the lives of his wife and + children. Presently a servant came to the door and said that some one + wanted to see him. + </p> + <p> + “It is the squire, sir,” said the maid, “and he says he particularly + wishes to see you.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carson came + in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercely that I + was afraid of him. + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain,” he said, in + a hoarse voice, “but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and I wish to + speak to you before I go—indeed, I must speak to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Shall I send Allan away?” said my father, pointing to me. + </p> + <p> + “No; let him bide. He will not understand.” Nor, indeed, did I at the + time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning grew + on me. + </p> + <p> + “First tell me,” he went on, “how are they?” and he pointed upwards with + his thumb. + </p> + <p> + “My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope,” my father answered, with a + groan. “I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord’s will be + done!” + </p> + <p> + “The Lord’s will be done,” the squire echoed, solemnly. “And now, + Quatermain, listen—my wife’s gone.” + </p> + <p> + “Gone!” my father answered. “Who with?” + </p> + <p> + “With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me that + she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she thought + me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, or most of + it, and gone. I don’t know where. Luckily, she did not care to encumber + her new career with the child; Stella is left to me.” + </p> + <p> + “That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson,” said my father. That + was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but he + was bigoted. “What are you going to do—follow her?” + </p> + <p> + He laughed bitterly in answer. + </p> + <p> + “Follow her!” he said; “why should I follow her? If I met her I might kill + her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have brought + upon my child’s name. No, I never want to look upon her face again. I + trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go and find her + fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely, Carson, surely,” said my father, “you do not mean——” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this + civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, I + and my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don’t know where. Anywhere, so + long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues——” + </p> + <p> + “You are mad, Carson,” my father answered. “How will you live? How can you + educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down.” + </p> + <p> + “I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. + Education! Was not she—that woman who was my wife—was not she + highly educated?—the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too + clever for me, Quatermain—too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall + be brought up in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget + her very name. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find + me out, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I + knew,” and he was gone. + </p> + <p> + “Mad,” said my father, with a heavy sigh. “His trouble has turned his + brain. But he will think better of it.” + </p> + <p> + At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in his + ear. My father’s face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table to + support himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! + </p> + <p> + It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my + father took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which had + been my mother’s bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with flowers + in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three little white + beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. They all looked as + though they were asleep, and they all had flowers in their hands. My + father told me to kiss them, because I should not see them any more, and I + did so, though I was very frightened. I did not know why. Then he took me + in his arms and kissed me. + </p> + <p> + “The Lord hath given,” he said, “and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be + the name of the Lord.” + </p> + <p> + I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have only a + confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens towards the + grey churchyard! + </p> + <p> + Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father + could no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen on + him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have been + poor at the time—indeed, I believe that a large portion of our + income went from my father on my mother’s death. At any rate we travelled + with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort of the journey + with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remain upon my mind. At + last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which I was not to leave + again for many, many years. + </p> + <p> + In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern + Africa. My father went up the country and became a missionary among the + Kaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grew to + manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and gradually + a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission station—a + drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the most interesting + character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottish poet Burns and + the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, literally by the page. It + was from that I contracted a fondness for the latter amusing writings, + which has never left me. Burns I never cared for so much, probably because + of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. What little education I got was + from my father, but I never had much leaning towards books, nor he much + time to teach them to me. On the other hand, I was always a keen observer + of the ways of men and nature. By the time that I was twenty I could speak + Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects perfectly, and I doubt if there + was anybody in South Africa who understood native ways of thought and + action more completely than I did. Also I was really a very good shot and + horseman, and I think—as, indeed, my subsequent career proves to + have been the case—a great deal tougher than the majority of men. + Though I was then, as now, light and small, nothing seemed to tire me. I + could bear any amount of exposure and privation, and I never met the + native who was my master in feats of endurance. Of course, all that is + different now, I am speaking of my early manhood. + </p> + <p> + It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such + surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father’s society. He was + one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the most + savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good one for me. He + used to call himself one of the world’s failures. Would that there were + more such failures. Every morning when his work was done he would take his + prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or verandah of our station, + would read the evening psalms to himself. Sometimes there was not light + enough for this, but it made no difference, he knew them all by heart. + When he had finished he would look out across the cultivated lands where + the mission Kaffirs had their huts. + </p> + <p> + But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, + and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. + </p> + <p> + It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one + evening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire and my + mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never been out of + his mind for a single day during all these years, and that he rejoiced to + think he was drawing near that land whither she had gone. Then he asked me + if I remembered the night when Squire Carson came into the study at the + vicarage, and told him that his wife had run away, and that he was going + to change his name and bury himself in some remote land. + </p> + <p> + I answered that I remembered it perfectly. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder where he went to,” said my father, “and if he and his daughter + Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them again. But + life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, give them my + kind love.” + </p> + <p> + After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the + depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, as + I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch the + kraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit of + mine of watching at night that I first got my native name of Macumazahn, + which may be roughly translated as “he who sleeps with one eye open.” So I + took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him and kissed me on the + forehead, saying, “God bless you, Allan! I hope that you will think of + your old father sometimes, and that you will lead a good and happy life.” + </p> + <p> + I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it down + to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the years + went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an hour of + sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the station. As I came + near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my father’s chair. At + first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then that my father had + fallen asleep there. + </p> + <p> + And so he had,—for he was dead! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIRE-FIGHT + </h3> + <p> + When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his place—for + the station was the property of the Society—I set to work to carry + out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute because + it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, it was to + undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the countries now + known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much further North as I + could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though the emigrant Boers had + begun to occupy positions in these territories, they were still to all + practical purposes unexplored. But I was now alone in the world, and it + mattered little what became of me; so, driven on by the overmastering love + of adventure, which, old as I am, will perhaps still be the cause of my + death, I determined to undertake the journey. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, + reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceeds I + invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, and + in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any modern explorer to + merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a good deal of execution + with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, smooth bore, fitted for + percussion caps—a roer we called it—which threw a three-ounce + ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black powder. Many is the + elephant that I killed with that roer, although it generally knocked me + backwards when I fired it, which I only did under compulsion. The best of + the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, but it had flint + locks. Also there were some old tower muskets, which might or might not + throw straight at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs with me, and three + good horses, which were supposed to be salted—that is, proof against + the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow named Indaba-zimbi, + which, being translated, means “tongue of iron.” I suppose he got this + name from his strident voice and exhaustless eloquence. This man was a + great character in his way. He had been a noted witch-doctor among a + neighbouring tribe, and came to the station under the following + circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable part in this history, are + perhaps worth recording. + </p> + <p> + Two years before my father’s death I had occasion to search the country + round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred to me + that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a Kaffir + chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty miles from our + station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at home. The chief + entertained me handsomely, and on the following morning I went to pay my + respects to him before leaving, and was somewhat surprised to find a + collection of some hundreds of men and women sitting round him anxiously + watching the sky in which the thunder-clouds were banking up in a very + ominous way. + </p> + <p> + “You had better wait, white man,” said the chief, “and see the + rain-doctors fight the lightning.” + </p> + <p> + I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had for + some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, although + he was not a member of it, having been born in the country now known as + Zululand. But a son of the chief’s, a man of about thirty, had lately set + up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritated Indaba-zimbi beyond + measure, and a quarrel ensued between the two witch-doctors that resulted + in a challenge to trial by lightning being given and accepted. These were + the conditions. The rivals must await the coming of a serious + thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve their turn. Then, carrying + assegais in their hands, they must take their stand within fifty paces of + each other upon a certain patch of ground where the big thunderbolts were + observed to strike continually, and by the exercise of their occult powers + and invocations to the lightning, must strive to avert death from + themselves and bring it on their rival. The terms of this singular match + had been arranged a month previously, but no storm worthy of the occasion + had arisen. Now the local weather-prophets believed it to be brewing. + </p> + <p> + I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and was + told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the + second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be + jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. + </p> + <p> + The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my desire + to be gone, and I accepted the chief’s invitation to see it out. Before + mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grew darker and + darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, yet it did not + come. By four o’clock, however, it became obvious that it must burst soon—at + sunset, the old chief said, and in the company of the whole assembly I + moved down to the place of combat. The kraal was built on the top of a + hill, and below it the land sloped gently to the banks of a river about + half a mile away. On the hither side of the bank was the piece of land + that was, the natives said, “loved of the lightning.” Here the magicians + took up their stand, while the spectators grouped themselves on the + hillside about two hundred yards away—which was, I thought, rather + too near to be pleasant. When we had sat there for a while my curiosity + overcame me, and I asked leave of the chief to go down and inspect the + arena. He said I might do so at my own risk. I told him that the fire from + above would not hurt white men, and went to find that the spot was a bed + of iron ore, thinly covered with grass, which of course accounted for its + attracting the lightning from the storms as they travelled along the line + of the river. At each end of this iron-stone area were placed the + combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing the east, and his rival the west, and + before each there burned a little fire made of some scented root. Moreover + they were dressed in all the paraphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, + fish-bladders, and I know not what beside, while round their necks hung + circlets of baboons’ teeth and bones from human hands. First I went to the + western end where the chief’s son stood. He was pointing with his assegai + towards the advancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great + excitement. + </p> + <p> + “Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! + </p> + <p> + “Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! + </p> + <p> + “Spit on him with your rain! + </p> + <p> + “Whirl him away in your breath! + </p> + <p> + “Make him as nothing—melt the marrow in his bones! + </p> + <p> + “Run into his heart and burn away the lies! + </p> + <p> + “Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! + </p> + <p> + “Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!” + </p> + <p> + Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad chest—for + he was a very fine man—with some filthy compound of medicine or <i>mouti</i>. + </p> + <p> + After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the iron-stone, + to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting at all, but his + performance was much more impressive. It consisted in staring at the + eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and every now and again + beckoning at it with his finger, then turning round to point with the + assegai towards his rival. For a while I looked at him in silence. He was + a curious wizened man, apparently over fifty years of age, with thin hands + that looked as tough as wire. His nose was much sharper than is usual + among these races, and he had a queer habit of holding his head sideways + like a bird when he spoke, which, in addition to the humour that lurked in + his eye, gave him a most comical appearance. Another strange thing about + him was that he had a single white lock of hair among his black wool. At + last I spoke to him: + </p> + <p> + “Indaba-zimbi, my friend,” I said, “you may be a good witch-doctor, but + you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky while + your enemy is getting a start with the storm.” + </p> + <p> + “You may be clever, but don’t think you know everything, white man,” the + old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something like a + grin. + </p> + <p> + “They call you Iron-tongue,” I went on; “you had better use it, or the + Storm Devil won’t hear you.” + </p> + <p> + “The fire from above runs down iron,” he answered, “so I keep my tongue + quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I’ll put him out presently. Look now, + white man.” + </p> + <p> + I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was + small, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. + </p> + <p> + This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it did + not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa for two + thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different points of the + compass. + </p> + <p> + “You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “the big storm is coming + along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours,” and I pointed to the + west. + </p> + <p> + “Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man,” said Indaba-zimbi, beckoning + away vigorously. “Look now at my cloud-child.” + </p> + <p> + I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, and in + shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, and + its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across the heavens. The + light of the setting sun escaping from beneath the lower edge of the + western storm shot across the intervening space in a sheet of splendour, + and, lighting upon the advancing figure of cloud, wrapped its middle in + hues of glory too wonderful to be described; but beneath and above this + glowing belt his feet and head were black as jet. Presently, as I watched, + an awful flash of light shot from the head of the cloud, circled it about + as though with a crown of living fire, and vanished. + </p> + <p> + “Aha,” chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, “my little boy is putting on his man’s + ring,” and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives assume + when they reach a certain age and dignity. “Now, white man, unless you are + a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear off, for the + fire-fight is about to begin.” + </p> + <p> + I thought this sound advice. + </p> + <p> + “Good luck go with you, my black uncle,” I said. “I hope you don’t feel + the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last.” + </p> + <p> + “You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man,” he + answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at that + very moment a flash of lightning, I don’t know from which storm, struck + the ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I took to my + heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi’s dry chuckle of amusement. + </p> + <p> + I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his + indunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man’s face + and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son’s safety, and by no + means confident of the young man’s powers to resist the magic of + Indaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. I + affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention on the + novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, and caught + the drift of the conversation. + </p> + <p> + “Hearken!” the chief was saying, “if the magic of Indaba-zimbi prevails + against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, that when he + has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself chief in my + place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. <i>Ou!</i>” + </p> + <p> + “Black One,” answered the induna, “wizards die as dogs die, and, once + dead, dogs bark no more.” + </p> + <p> + “And once dead,” said the chiefs, “wizards work no more spells,” and he + bent and whispered in the induna’s ear, looking at the assegai in his hand + as he whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Good, my father, good!” said the induna, presently. “It shall be done + to-night, if the lightning does not do it first.” + </p> + <p> + “A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi,” I said to myself. “They mean to + kill him.” Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scene + before me was too tremendous. + </p> + <p> + The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf of + blue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed across + this gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they reminded me + of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. The storm that + was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of the sinking sun made + an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts which leapt from it could + not have been surpassed even in mythological times. Oddly enough, as yet + the flashes were not followed by thunder. A deadly stillness lay upon the + place, the cattle stood silently on the hillside, even the natives were + awed to silence. Dark shadows crept along the bosom of the hills, the + river to the right and left was hidden in wreaths of cloud, but before us + and beyond the combatants it shone like a line of silver beneath the + narrowing space of open sky. Now the western tempest was scrawled all over + with lines of intolerable light, while the inky head of the cloud-giant to + the east was continually suffused with a white and deadly glow that came + and went in pulses, as though a blood of flame was being pumped into it + from the heart of the storm. + </p> + <p> + The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and blacker, + then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of an icy wind. + On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was ruffled by it into + little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, and in its wake came the + hissing sound of furious rain. + </p> + <p> + Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of dazzling + flame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of the + following thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell suddenly + on the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape grew vivid in + the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything was visible for + miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the blackness. The thunder + rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of doom, whirlwinds tore + round, lifting dust and even stones high into the air, and in a low, + continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. + </p> + <p> + I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, and + looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash followed + flash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. They were + slowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his foe with the + assegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, and it seemed to me + that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone all round them. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grew + black, and, except for the rain, silent. + </p> + <p> + “It is over one way or the other, chief,” I called out into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + “Wait, white man, wait!” answered the chief, in a voice thick with anxiety + and fear. + </p> + <p> + Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up again + till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten paces + apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger beneath the + shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first—at any rate when the + next flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with his assegai + towards his enemy. The chief’s son was still on his legs, but he was + staggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen from his hand. + </p> + <p> + Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that had + gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the head of + Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief’s son wrapped, as it were, + in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burst over us like a + torrent, and I saw no more. + </p> + <p> + The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so dense + that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the safety of + the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, and venture + down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still came flashes, but, search + as we would, we could see no trace of either of the wizards. For my part, + I believed that they were both dead. Now the clouds slowly rolled away + down the course of the river, and with them went the rain; and now the + stars shone in their wake. + </p> + <p> + “Let us go and see,” said the old chief, rising and shaking the water from + his hair. “The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has conquered.” + </p> + <p> + I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards + with my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. + </p> + <p> + We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron-stone + had been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was staring about + me, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give a low moan, and + saw the people cluster round him. I went up and looked. There, on the + ground, lay the body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. The hair was + burnt off his head, the copper rings upon his arms were fused, the assegai + handle which lay near was literally shivered into threads, and, when I + took hold of his arm, it seemed to me that every bone of it was broken. + </p> + <p> + The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. + </p> + <p> + “Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!” said a man, at length. The chief + turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Great or not, thou dog, he shall die,” he cried, “and so shalt thou if + thou singest his praises so loudly.” + </p> + <p> + I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared the + fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, and at + length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to my waggon + to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised to see a + strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a blanket. + </p> + <p> + “Hullo! come out of that,” I said. + </p> + <p> + The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great + deliberation took a pinch of snuff. + </p> + <p> + “It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?” said Indaba-zimbi, in + his high, cracked voice. “But he never had a chance against me, poor boy. + He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of presumption in + the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes fly, didn’t I?” + </p> + <p> + “You old humbug,” I said, “unless you are careful you will soon learn what + comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you with an + assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that.” + </p> + <p> + “Now you don’t say so,” said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggon with + rapidity; “and all because of this wretched upstart. There’s gratitude for + you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. Well, thank you + for the hint. We shall meet again before long,” and he was gone like a + shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the chief’s men came up to + the waggon. + </p> + <p> + On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on + arriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. + </p> + <p> + “How do you do, Macumazahn?” he said, holding his head on one side and + nodding his white lock. “I hear you are Christians here, and I want to try + a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wanted to + kill me for exposing an impostor.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + NORTHWARDS + </h3> + <p> + I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this + narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with + Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he + takes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a humbug, he + was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in his pretensions + to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, though I may have my + own opinion on the subject. But there was no mistake as to the + extraordinary influence he exercised over his fellow-natives. Also he + quite got round my poor father. At first the old gentleman declined to + have him at the station, for he had a great horror of these Kaffir wizards + or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi persuaded him that he was anxious to + investigate the truths of Christianity, and challenged him to a + discussion. The argument lasted two years—to the time of my father’s + death, indeed. At the conclusion of each stage Indaba-zimbi would remark, + in the words of the Roman Governor, “Almost, praying white man, thou + persuadest me to become a Christian,” but he never quite became one—indeed, + I do not think he ever meant to. It was to him that my father addressed + his “Letters to a Native Doubter.” This work, which, unfortunately, + remains in manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned instances. It + ought to be published together with a <i>précis</i> of the doubter’s + answers, which were verbal. + </p> + <p> + So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be going on + now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. Meanwhile + Indaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition that he + practised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be a wile of + the devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there was never an + ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those interested. + </p> + <p> + When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the tribe + he had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with them + since he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was dead. Old + Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as he listened, + raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, pointing to + the little heap, “There is your tribe to-day,” he said. Then he lifted his + heel and stamped the heap flat. “There is your tribe before three moons + are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: I will have no more to + do with you; but when you are being killed think of my words.” + </p> + <p> + The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole + community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. + </p> + <p> + When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old + Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find him + engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in his + blankets. + </p> + <p> + “Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “I am going to trek north.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Macumazahn,” he answered, with his head on one side; “and so am I—I + want to see that country. We will go together.” + </p> + <p> + “Will we!” I said; “wait till you are asked, you old humbug.” + </p> + <p> + “You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don’t you will never + come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to where the + storms come from,” and he nodded to the sky, “I feel myself getting into + bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones and worked out + about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if you don’t take me you + will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who is dearer to you than + life in a strange fashion. So just because you gave me that hint a couple + of years ago, I made up my mind to come with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t talk stuff to me,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own people + six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen? They + drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you will soon be + gone too,” and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. Now I was not + more superstitious than other people, but somehow old Indaba-zimbi + impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary influence over every class of + native, and bethought me that he might be useful in that way. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” I said: “I appoint you witch-finder to the expedition without + pay.” + </p> + <p> + “First serve, then ask for wages,” he answered. “I am glad to see that you + have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most white men, + Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes people fools; + they won’t believe what they can’t understand. You can’t understand my + prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could understand that I was + his master with the lightning. Well, it is time to trek, but if I were + you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not two.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than + two.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, nonsense!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “All right, Macumazahn, live and learn.” And without another word he + walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on to + the front seat. + </p> + <p> + So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the old + Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns till the + tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled slowly + northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particular befell me. + Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, and game literally + swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africa nowadays can have + the remotest idea of what the veldt was like even thirty years ago. + </p> + <p> + Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the sun + rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast field of + white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden glow, through + which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic beacons. From the + dense mist would come strange sounds—snorts, gruntings, bellows, and + the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this great curtain would grow + thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke from a pipe melts into the air, + and for miles on miles the wide rolling country interspersed with bush + opened to the view. But it was not tenantless as it is now, for as far as + the eye could reach it would be literally black with game. Here to the + right might be a herd of vilderbeeste that could not number less than two + thousand. Some were grazing, some gambolled, whisking their white tails + into the air, while all round the old bulls stood upon hillocks sniffing + suspiciously at the breeze. There, in front, a hundred yards away, though + to the unpractised eye they looked much closer, because of the dazzling + clearness of the atmosphere, was a great herd of springbok trekking along + in single file. Ah, they have come to the waggon-track and do not like the + look of it. What will they do?—go back? Not a bit of it. It is + nearly thirty feet wide, but that is nothing to a springbok. See, the + first of them bounds into the air like a ball. How beautifully the + sunshine gleams upon his golden hide! He has cleared it, and the others + come after him in numberless succession, all except the fawns, who cannot + jump so far, and have to scamper over the doubtful path with a terrified + <i>bah</i>. What is that yonder, moving above the tops of the mimosa, in + the little dell at the foot of the koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of + them; there will be marrow-bones for supper to-night. Hark! the ground + shakes behind us, and over the brow of the rise rush a vast herd of + blesbock. On they come at full gallop, their long heads held low, they + look like so many bearded goats. I thought so—behind them is a pack + of wild dogs, their fur draggled, their tongues lolling. They are in full + cry; the giraffes hear them and are away, rolling round the koppie like a + ship in a heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are + close on a buck. He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his + flank and misses him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly round + and sees the waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his despair + rushes up to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up some + thirty paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun—no, not + the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with loopers. + </p> + <p> + Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. No, + don’t touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he shall have + it. + </p> + <p> + Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! + </p> + <p> + Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to see + it again before I die. + </p> + <p> + The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was + with elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. + Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch of + forest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered this forest we + camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead tambouki grass was + growing to the height of a man, or rather it had been; now, with the + exception of a few stalks here and there, it was crushed quite flat. It + was already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got up I walked from + the fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough for me; a + great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass not many + hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, for though + I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had never shot one. Moreover, + the sight of elephant spoor to the African hunter is what “colour in the + pan” is to the prospector of gold. It is by the ivory that he lives, and + to shoot it or trade it is his chief aim in life. My resolution was soon + taken. I would camp the waggons for a while in the forest, and start on + horseback after the elephants. + </p> + <p> + I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The + latter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plenty of + meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express no opinion. + I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, and go + through some mysterious performances with bones and clay mixed with ashes, + which were watched with the greatest interest by the other Kaffirs. At + length he rose, and, coming forward, informed me that it was all right, + and that I did well to go and hunt the elephants, as I should get plenty + of ivory; but he advised me to go on foot. I said I should do nothing of + the sort, but meant to ride. I am wiser now; this was the first and last + time that I ever attempted to hunt elephants on horseback. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the rest I + left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, a good + rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and the others + walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of the herd, which + was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to let the horses rest + and feed, and about three o’clock started on again. Another hour or so + passed, and still there was no sign of elephants. Evidently the herd had + travelled fast and far, and I began to think that we should have to give + it up, when suddenly I caught sight of a brown mass moving through the + thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a quarter of a mile away. My + heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the hunter who has not felt + like this at the sight of his first elephant? + </p> + <p> + I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk + the bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we + came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw the + elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay all + about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughts were fixed + upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gave a violent start + that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came a mighty rush and + upheaval of something in front of me. I looked: there was the hinder part + of a second bull elephant not four yards off. I could just catch sight of + its outstretched ears projecting on either side. I had disturbed it + sleeping, and it was running away. + </p> + <p> + Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was + young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I + lifted my “roer” or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my + horse’s head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the horse. + I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull lurch forward, + for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will quicken the + movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realized the folly of the + shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take no further notice of it. + But he took a different view of the matter. Pulling himself up in a series + of plunges, he spun round and came for me with outstretched ears and + uplifted trunk, screaming terribly. I was quite defenceless, for my gun + was empty, and my first thought was of escape. I dug my heels into the + sides of my horse, but he would not move an inch. The poor animal was + paralyzed with terror, and he simply stood still, his fore-legs + outstretched, and quivering all over like a leaf. + </p> + <p> + On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to stir + the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my head. A + thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from the saddle. + By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick through as a man’s + body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground by the broken boughs + which took its weight, and with a single movement, so active is one in + such necessities, I flung myself beneath it. As I did so, I heard the + trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on the back of my poor + horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, for the horse, whose + back was broken, fell over across the tree under which I lay ensconced. + But he did not stop there long. In ten seconds more the bull had wound his + trunk about my dead nag’s neck, and, with a mighty effort, hurled him + clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as far as I could towards the + roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after. Presently I saw the red + tip of the bull’s trunk stretching itself towards me. If he could manage + to hook it round any part of me I was lost. But in the position I + occupied, that was just what he could not do, although he knelt down to + facilitate his operations. On came the snapping tip like a great + open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, which vanished. Again it was + thrust down, and a scream of rage was bellowed through it within four + inches of my head. Now it seemed to elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it + had me by the hair, which, luckily for myself, was not very long. Then it + was my turn to scream, for next instant half a square inch of hair was + dragged from my scalp by the roots. I was being plucked alive, as I have + seen cruel Kaffir kitchen boys pluck a fowl. + </p> + <p> + The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, changed + his tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and lifted. The tree + stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded in the spongy soil, + and some roots, which still held, prevented it from being turned over, + though he lifted it so much that, had it occurred to him, he could now + easily have drawn me out with his trunk. Again he hoisted with all his + mighty strength, and I saw that the tree was coming, and roared aloud for + help. Some shots were fired close by in answer, but if they hit the bull, + their only effect was to stir his energies to more active life. In another + few seconds my shelter would be torn away, and I should be done for. A + cold perspiration burst out over me as I realized that I was lost. Then of + a sudden I remembered that I had a pistol in my belt, which I often used + for despatching wounded game. It was loaded and capped. By this time the + tree was lifted so much that I could easily get my hand down to my middle + and draw the pistol from its case. I drew and cocked it. Now the tree was + coming over, and there, within three feet of my head, was the great brown + trunk of the elephant. I placed the muzzle of the pistol within an inch of + it and fired. The result was instantaneous. Down sunk the tree again, + giving one of my legs a considerable squeeze, and next instant I heard a + crashing sound. The elephant had bolted. + </p> + <p> + By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well tired. + I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or indeed + anything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking some peach + brandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me nodding his white + lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on the narrowness of my + escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his advice to go on foot. That + reminded me of my horse—I got up and went to look at it. It was + quite dead, the blow of the elephant’s trunk had fallen on the saddle, + breaking the framework, and rendering it useless. I reflected that in + another two seconds it would have fallen on <i>me</i>. Then I called to + Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the elephants had gone. + </p> + <p> + “There!” he said, pointing down the gully, “and we had better go after + them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good.” + </p> + <p> + There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feel + particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have had + enough of them. However, it would never do to show the white feather + before the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, and we + started, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we had + travelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a sudden we + came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than eighty. Just + in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed to hesitate about + entering it, and the sides of the valley were so rocky and steep at this + point that they could not climb them. + </p> + <p> + They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was filled + with fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge back up the + gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at the thick bush + which went down before them like corn before a sickle. I do not think that + in all my experiences I ever heard anything to equal the sound they made + as they crashed through and over the shrubs and trees. Before them was a + dense forest belt from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in width. As + they rushed on, it fell, so that behind them was nothing but a level + roadway strewed with fallen trunks, crushed branches, and here and there a + tree, too strong even for them, left stranded amid the wreck. On they + went, and, notwithstanding the nature of the ground over which they had to + travel, they kept their distance ahead of us. This sort of thing continued + for a mile or more, and then I saw that in front of the elephants the + valley opened into a space covered with reeds and grass—it might + have been five or six acres in extent—beyond which the valley ran on + again. + </p> + <p> + The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, + hesitating—evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as + only Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose + martial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and + dashed into the treacherous swamp—for such it was, though just then + there was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, + though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the great bull + sank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained fixed. The + others, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and trumpetings, but + plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the whole herd of them + were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled to escape, the deeper + they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a cow managed to win back to + firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to charge us as we came up. + But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, and rushed back to + its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. + </p> + <p> + Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all over + with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with their screams + of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and fro. Now and + then a monster would make a great effort and drag his mass from its peaty + bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It was a most pitiable + sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my men. Even the best + natives have little compassion for the sufferings of animals. + </p> + <p> + Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants + carried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we shot + them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and some of + the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them to perish of + hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull I slew with + my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction in so doing. He + knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at me, but I am glad to + say that the peat held him fast. + </p> + <p> + The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owing to + the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen: there + they stood as though they were asleep. + </p> + <p> + I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, formed a + camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of cutting out + the elephants’ tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious reasons was a + disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of some wandering + bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not think we could ever + have managed it. + </p> + <p> + At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, so + we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys wanted + me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too much bent on + my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. Then I came + and dug them up; they were but little harmed. Ultimately I sold the ivory + for something over twelve hundred pounds—not bad pay for one day’s + shooting. + </p> + <p> + This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many + hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on + horseback. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + THE ZULU IMPI + </h3> + <p> + After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the + bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to find + the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more I trekked + along the line which now divides the Orange Free State from Griqualand + West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The only difficulties met with + were such as are still common to African travellers—occasional want + of water and troubles about crossing sluits and rivers. I remember that I + outspanned on the spot where Kimberley now stands, and had to press on + again in a hurry because there was no water. I little dreamed then that I + should live to see Kimberley a great city producing millions of pounds + worth of diamonds annually, and old Indaba-zimbi’s magic cannot have been + worth so much after all, or he would have told me. + </p> + <p> + I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before + Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka’s General had swept across it in his progress + towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident enough. Time + upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the sites of Kaffir + kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled stones, and strewn + about among the rank grass were the bones of hundreds of men, women, and + children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu assegai. I remember that in one + of these desolate places I found the skull of a child in which a + ground-lark had built its nest. It was the twittering of the young birds + inside that first called my attention to it. Shortly after this we met + with our second great adventure, a much more serious and tragic one than + the first. + </p> + <p> + We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbock + crossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It galloped + about a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay down. As we were + in want of meat, not having met with any game for a few days past, I + jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that I would overtake the + waggons or meet them on the further side of a rise about an hour’s trek + away, I started after the wounded buck. As soon as I came within a hundred + yards of it, however, it jumped up and ran away as fast as though it were + untouched, only to lie down again at a distance. I followed, thinking that + strength would soon fail it. This happened three times. On the third + occasion it vanished behind a ridge, and, though by now I was out of both + temper and patience, I thought I might as well ride to the crest and see + if I could get a shot at it on the further side. + </p> + <p> + I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and saw—a + Zulu Impi! + </p> + <p> + I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They + were halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying + down, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with spears + and shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand or more of + them in all. While I was wondering—and that with no little + uneasiness—what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard + a wild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then the + other. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their broad + stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. The man to + the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was not more than + ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out of their heads, + and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another three seconds + those broad “bangwans” might be buried in my vitals. On such occasions we + act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anything else—there is + no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reins and, raising my gun, + fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bullet struck him in the + middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed through him, and over he + rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle; most happily my horse + was accustomed to standing still when I fired from his back, also he was + so surprised that he did not know which way to shy. The other savage was + almost on me; his outstretched shield reached the muzzle of my gun as I + pulled the trigger of the left barrel. It exploded, the warrior sprung + high into the air, and fell against my horse dead, his spear passing just + in front of my face. + </p> + <p> + Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the Zulus + had seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and drove my + heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the rise I pulled + a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons before the Zulus + saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this new direction when, + to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked with waggon-wheels and + the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have been at least eight, and + several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had passed within twelve hours; I + could tell that by the spoor. Then I understood; the Impi was following + the track of the waggons, which, in all probability, belonged to a party + of emigrant Boers. + </p> + <p> + The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I + followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and + there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough + laager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own waggons + trekking down the slope towards them. + </p> + <p> + In another five minutes I was there. The Boers—for Boers they were—were + standing about outside the little laager watching the approach of my two + waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw me. The very first man + my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom I had known well years + ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his class, but a very + restless person, with a great objection to authority, or, as he expressed + it, “a love of freedom.” He had joined a party of the emigrant Boers some + years before, but, as I learned presently, had quarrelled with its leader, + and was now trekking away into the wilderness to found a little colony of + his own. Poor fellow! It was his last trek. + </p> + <p> + “How do you do, Meinheer Botha?” I said to him in Dutch. + </p> + <p> + The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch + stolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon— + </p> + <p> + “Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the son + of the ‘Predicant.’ How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the news + down in the Cape yonder?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know what the news is in the Cape, Hans,” I answered, solemnly; + “but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your spoor and within + two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just shot two of their + sentries,” and I showed him my empty gun. + </p> + <p> + For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzed + faces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of the + women gave a little scream, and the children crept to their sides. + </p> + <p> + “Almighty!” cried Hans, “that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that Dingaan + sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because of the + marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north to + join Mosilikatze.” + </p> + <p> + “Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a + horse and drive in the cattle.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the box + of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the news. + </p> + <p> + “Ill tidings, Macumazahn,” he said; “there will be dead Boers about + to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will wipe + out the laager <i>so!</i>” and he passed his hand before his mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow,” I said, though I knew his + words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told against + at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?” Indaba-zimbi said, + presently. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run for + it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won’t follow us, they will be looking + after the Boers.” + </p> + <p> + “I won’t leave the other white men,” I said; “it would be the act of a + coward. If I die, I die.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed,” he answered, taking a + pinch of snuff. “Come, let us see about the waggons,” and we walked + towards the laager. + </p> + <p> + Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha and + put it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make a run + for it. + </p> + <p> + “How can we do it?” he answered; “two of the women are too fat to go a + mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. + Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we must + fight it out with the savages, and God help us!” + </p> + <p> + “God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!” + </p> + <p> + “I can’t bear to think,” he answered, in a broken voice, looking at his + own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, named + Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. “Oh, Heer Allan, your father, the + Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I never would + listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I see my + folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those black + devils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can’t save her, kill her,” + and he clasped my hand. + </p> + <p> + “It hasn’t come to that yet, Hans,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including my + two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the + disselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of that in + front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space between the ground + and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branches of the + “wait-a-bit” thorn that fortunately grew near in considerable quantities. + In this way a barrier was formed of no mean strength as against a foe + unprovided with firearms, places being left for the men to fire from. In a + little over an hour everything was done that could be done, and a + discussion arose as to the disposal of the cattle, which had been driven + up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were anxious to get them into the + laager, small as it was, or at least as many of them as it would hold. I + argued strongly against this, pointing out that the brutes would probably + be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, and trample the + defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative plan I suggested + that some of the native servants should drive the herd along the valley of + the river till they reached a friendly tribe or some other place of + safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would be taken, but the + nature of the ground was favourable, and it was possible that they might + escape if they started at once. The proposition was promptly agreed to, + and, what is more, it was settled that one Dutchman and such of the women + and children as could travel should go with them. In half an hour’s time + twelve of them started with the natives, the Boer in charge, and the + cattle. Three of my own men went with the latter, the three others and + Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the laager. + </p> + <p> + The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to dwell. + The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on with scared + white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was thankful of it. + There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four natives, the two + Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in childbed and her + baby, and Hans Bother’s little daughter Tota, whom he could not make up + his mind to part with. Happily her mother was already dead. And here I may + state that ten of the women and children, together with about half of the + cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never saw them, and on the third day of + travel they came to the fortified place of a Griqua chief, who sheltered + them on receiving half the cattle in payment. Thence by slow degrees they + journeyed down to the Cape Colony, reaching a civilized region within a + little more than a year from the date of the attack on the laager. + </p> + <p> + The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no + signs of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone on + about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the regiment + was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I noticed, been + plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and volunteered to go out + and spy upon their movements. At first Hans Botha was against this idea, + saying that he was a “verdomde swartzel”—an accursed black creature—and + would betray us. I pointed out that there was nothing to betray. The Zulus + must know where the waggons were, but it was important for us to gain + information of their movements. So it was agreed that Indaba-zimbi should + go. I told him this. He nodded his white lock, said “All right, + Macumazahn,” and started. I noticed with some surprise, however, that + before he did so he went to the waggon and fetched his “mouti,” or + medicine, which, together with his other magical apparatus, he always + carried in a skin bag. I asked him why he did this. He answered that it + was to make himself invulnerable against the spears of the Zulus. I did + not in the least believe his explanation, for in my heart I was sure that + he meant to take the opportunity to make a bolt of it, leaving me to my + fate. I did not, however, interfere to prevent this, for I had an + affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hoped that he might escape the + doom which overshadowed us. + </p> + <p> + So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form I + thought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little knew + that he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one and all, + but for me whom in his queer way he loved. + </p> + <p> + When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, strengthening + the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. Then at sunset + we ate and drank as heartily as we could under the circumstances, and when + we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the party, offered up prayer to God + for our preservation. It was a touching sight to see the burly Dutchman, + his hat off, his broad face lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, + praying aloud in homely, simple language to Him who alone could save us + from the spears of a cruel foe. I remember that the last sentence of his + prayer was, “Almighty, if we must be killed, save the women and children + and my little girl Tota from the accursed Zulus, and do not let us be + tortured.” + </p> + <p> + I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for in + common with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be admitted + not without reason. + </p> + <p> + Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each with a + rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. Occasionally + one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from the smouldering + fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments on his pale, + anxious face. + </p> + <p> + Behind me one of the stout “fraus” lay upon the ground. Even the terror of + our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomed sleep, + and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by the fire, lay + little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, her thumb in her + mouth, and from time to time her father would come to look at her. + </p> + <p> + So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my intimate + knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they would + attack us at night, though, had they done so, they could have compassed + our destruction with but small loss to themselves. It is not the habit of + this people, they like to fight in the light of day—at dawn for + preference. + </p> + <p> + About eleven o’clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I heard a + low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and all along + the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked their guns. + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn,” said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, “are you there?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager,” he + said. + </p> + <p> + “Yah! yah! hold a light,” put in one of the Boers. “I don’t trust that + black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some of his + countrymen with him.” Accordingly a lantern was produced and held towards + the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the laager and + asked him the news. + </p> + <p> + “This is the news, white men,” he said. “I waited till dark, and creeping + up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself behind a stone + and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as Baas Botha yonder + thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three days ago and followed + it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, to-morrow at daybreak they will + attack the laager and kill everybody. They are very bitter against the + Boers, because of the battle at Blood River and the other fights, and that + is why they followed the waggons instead of going straight north after + Mosilikatze.” + </p> + <p> + A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what it is, Heeren,” I said, “instead of waiting to be + butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon the + Impi while it sleeps.” + </p> + <p> + This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man + could be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which makes + great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and rather than + embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in a laager, however + poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmly believe that had my + advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. Seventeen desperate + white men, armed with guns, would have produced no small effect upon a + camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, so it is no use talking + about it. + </p> + <p> + After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore on + towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar circumstances + while they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel death, can know + the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they went somehow, and at + last in the far east the sky began to lighten, while the cold breath of + dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons and chilled me to the bone. The fat + Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, then, remembering all, moaned + aloud, while her teeth chattered with cold and fear. Hans Botha went to + his waggon and got a bottle of peach brandy, from which he poured into a + tin pannikin, giving us each a stiff dram, and making attempts to be + cheerful as he did so. But his affected jocularity only seemed to depress + his comrades the more. Certainly it depressed me. + </p> + <p> + Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist which + still hung densely over the river, and now—ah! there it was. From + the other side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, came + a faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a chant—the + awful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. They were + simple enough: + </p> + <p> + “We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? Our spears shall + blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? For we are the sucklings of + Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. Awake, children of the Umtetwa, + awake! The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air; Awake, children of + the Umtetwa—cry aloud, ye ringed men: There is the foe, we shall + slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? <i>S’gee! S’gee! S’gee!</i>” + </p> + <p> + Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very day I + often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on paper, but + if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have heard it as it + rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly three thousand + warriors singing all to time, he would have found it impressive enough. + </p> + <p> + Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came by + companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were + thirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed + themselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. At + a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot of such + guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing again— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Yonder is the kraal of the white man—a little kraal, my + brothers; + We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. + But where are the white man’s cattle—where are his oxen, my + brothers?” + </pre> + <p> + This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the song + again and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivory + rings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out to us + asking where our cattle were. + </p> + <p> + Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they + might answer that question themselves. + </p> + <p> + Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been sent + away. + </p> + <p> + “We shall go and find the cattle,” he said, “then we shall come and kill + you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if we wait to + kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too far for us to + follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch you white men!” + </p> + <p> + This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an + enemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain + amount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it all + might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards the river. + Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of the cattle, + and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till they vanished + over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. + </p> + <p> + We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. + </p> + <p> + “Now I wonder if the devils have really gone,” said Hans Botha to me. “It + is very strange.” + </p> + <p> + “I will go and see,” said Indaba-zimbi, “if you will come with me, + Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over.” + </p> + <p> + At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those days + and weary with suspense. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” I said, “we will go.” + </p> + <p> + So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had his + medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like + sportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with + rocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. + </p> + <p> + “They must have gone down the Donga,” I said to Indaba-zimbi, “I can’t see + one of them.” + </p> + <p> + As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, from + every tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before I + could lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. + </p> + <p> + “Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!” cried a voice. “Hold him, or he + will slip away like a snake. Don’t hurt him, but hold him fast. Let + Indaba-zimbi walk by his side.” + </p> + <p> + I turned on Indaba-zimbi. “You black devil, you have betrayed me!” I + cried. + </p> + <p> + “Wait and see, Macumazahn,” he answered, coolly. “Now the fight is going + to begin.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + THE END OF THE LAAGER + </h3> + <p> + I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi mean? + Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, being seized, + was I not instantly killed? They called me the “White Spirit.” Could it be + that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I had heard of such + things being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and my blood ran cold at + the thought. What an end! To be pounded up, made medicine of, and eaten! + </p> + <p> + However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole Impi + was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hidden while + their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the side of the + slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and placed in the centre of + the reserve line in the especial charge of a huge Zulu named Bombyane, the + same man who had come forward as a herald. This brute seemed to regard me + with an affectionate curiosity. Now and again he poked me in the ribs with + the handle of his assegai, as though to assure himself that I was solid, + and several times he asked me to be so good as to prophesy how many Zulus + would be killed before the “Amaboona,” as they called the Boers, were + “eaten up.” + </p> + <p> + At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goaded + into anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! + </p> + <p> + He only laughed aloud. “Oh! White Spirit,” he said, “is it so? Well, I’ve + walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest.” + </p> + <p> + And he got it shortly, as will be seen. + </p> + <p> + Now the Zulus began to sing again— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! + Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. + Now the Maboona are ours—they are already dead, my brother.” + </pre> + <p> + So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the + chief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, + and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who stood + near him. Instantly they ran to the right and left down the first line, + saying a word to the captain of each company as they passed him. Presently + they were at the respective ends of the line, and simultaneously held up + their spears. As they did so, with an awful roar of “Bulala Amaboona”—“Slay + the Boers,” the entire line, numbering nearly a thousand men, bounded + forward like a buck startled from its form, and rushed down upon the + little laager. It was a splendid sight to see them, their assegais + glittering in the sunlight as they rose and fell above their black + shields, their war-plumes bending back upon the wind, and their fierce + faces set intently on the foe, while the solid earth shook beneath the + thunder of their rushing feet. I thought of my poor friends the Dutchmen, + and trembled. What chance had they against so many? + </p> + <p> + Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager + round on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every waggon + broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, but the rest + cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, striving to force + a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley after volley, and, packed + as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded with slugs and small shot did + frightful execution. Only one man even got on to a waggon, and as he did + so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the head with an axe. He fell down, + and slowly, amid howls of derision from the two lines on the hill-side, + the Zulus drew back. + </p> + <p> + “Let us go, father!” shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom I was, + to their chief, who had come up. “You have sent out the little girls to + fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no!” the chief Sususa answered, laughing. “Wait a minute and the + little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight + against Boers!” + </p> + <p> + The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed forward + again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time to load, and + they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till the Zulus were + packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with the roers, and + the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that the blood of the + Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back this time, and the + end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a waggon, slain the man behind + it, and sprung into the laager. They were killed there, but others + followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not shut my ears to the + cries of rage and death, and the terrible <i>S’gee! S’gee!</i> of the + savages as they did their work of murder. Once only I looked up and saw + poor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men with the butt of his + rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like tongues of steel, and when I + looked again he was gone. + </p> + <p> + I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were all + dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death with not be + so swift. + </p> + <p> + The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, and + moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful sight it + was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead—quite fifty I should say, + and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of them mortally. The + chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were picked up and piled in a + heap, while those who were slightly hurt walked off to find some one to + tie up their wounds. But the more serious cases met with a different + treatment. The chief or one of his indunas considered each case, and if it + was in any way bad, the man was taken up and thrown into the river which + ran near. None of them offered any objection, though one poor fellow swam + to shore again. He did not stop there long, however, for they pushed him + back and drowned him by force. + </p> + <p> + The strangest case of all was that of the chief’s own brother. He had been + captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususa came up + to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for failing in + the first onslaught. + </p> + <p> + The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers + had hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, and + talked to him amicably. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, “you cannot walk + again.” + </p> + <p> + “No, chief,” said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. + </p> + <p> + “And to-morrow we must walk far,” went on Sususa. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, chief.” + </p> + <p> + “Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or——” and he + nodded towards the river. + </p> + <p> + The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in thought. + Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. + </p> + <p> + “My ankle pains me, my brother,” he said; “I think I will go back to + Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I creep + about it like a snake.”[*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter + into the bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the + kraals. To kill these snakes is sacrilege. +</pre> + <p> + “It is well, my brother,” said the chief. “Rest softly,” and having shaken + hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and turned away. + </p> + <p> + Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the banks + of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone round his + neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole sad scene, and + the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to admire the + extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck with the + cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the act was + necessary from his point of view. The man must either die swiftly, or be + left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will encumber itself with + wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened these people that + they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do them justice, as willing + to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. When this very Impi had + been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it consisted of some nine thousand + men. Now it numbered less than three; all the rest were dead. They, too, + would probably soon be dead. What did it matter? They lived by war to die + in blood. It was their natural end. “Kill till you are killed.” That is + the motto of the Zulu soldier. It has the merit of simplicity. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, having + first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the heap; all of + them were there, including the two stout fraus, poor things. But I missed + one body, that of Hans Botha’s daughter, little Tota. A wild hope came + into my heart that she might have escaped; but no, it was not possible. I + could only pray that she was already at rest. + </p> + <p> + Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in the + congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that he had + got the “little white one.” I looked; he was carrying the child Tota, + gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked up to where + we were, and held the child before the chief. “Is it dead, father?” he + said, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden + away, and fainted with fear. + </p> + <p> + The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said— + </p> + <p> + “Find out with your kerrie.” + </p> + <p> + Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to + kill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang at + him and struck him with all my force in the face, little caring if I was + speared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. + </p> + <p> + “Ou!” he said, putting his hand to his nose, “the White Spirit has a hard + fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child.” + </p> + <p> + The soldiers cheered and laughed. “Yes! yes!” they said, “let Bombyane + fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais.” + </p> + <p> + For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? But + I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what did it + matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left to make a + favour of it, and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbi that I was + quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, on condition that if I did + so the child’s life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbi interpreted my + words, but I noticed that he would not look on me as he spoke, but covered + his face with his hands and spoke of me as “the ghost” or the “son of the + spirit.” For some reason that I have never quite understood, the chief + consented to the duel. I fancy it was because he believed me to be more + than mortal, and was anxious to see the last of Bombyane. + </p> + <p> + “Let them fight,” he said. “Give them assegais and no shields; the child + shall be to him who conquers.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! yes!” cried the soldiers. “Let them fight. Don’t be afraid, + Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he’s a very small one.” + </p> + <p> + “I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run away + from a White Ghost,” answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examined the + blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. + </p> + <p> + Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us some + ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to show no + signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. Humanly speaking, + my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had used the assegai from a + child—I had no experience of the weapon. Moreover, though I was + quick and active, he must have been at least twice as strong as I am. + However, there was no help for it, so, setting my teeth, I grasped the + great spear, breathed a prayer, and waited. + </p> + <p> + The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi + walked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, “Keep cool, + Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right.” + </p> + <p> + As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought + this good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could “make it all right” I + failed to see. + </p> + <p> + Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, but + the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind us was + the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; round us was + rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to wait the issue of + the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired chief and general, + Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard skin upon his shoulders. + At his feet lay the senseless form of little Tota, to my left squatted + Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and muttering something—probably + spells; while in front was my giant antagonist, his spear aloft and his + plumes wavering in the gentle wind. Then over all, over grassy slope, + river, and koppie, over the waggons of the laager, the piles of dead, the + dense masses of the living, the swooning child, over all shone the bright + impartial sun, looking down like the indifferent eye of Heaven upon the + loveliness of nature and the cruelty of man. Down by the river grew + thorn-trees, and from them floated the sweet scent of the mimosa flower, + and came the sound of cooing turtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear + the other without the scene flashing into my mind again, complete in its + every detail. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed straight + at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw the broad + spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it by some + providential impulse—or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything to + do with the matter?—I dropped to my knee, and quick as light + stretched out my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. I + felt a weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his great limbs + knocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was staggering along with + head thrown back and outstretched arms from which his spear had fallen. + His spear had fallen, but the blade of mine stood out between his + shoulders—I had transfixed him. He stopped, swung slowly round as + though to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank down—<i>dead</i>. + </p> + <p> + For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose—a cry of + “Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the wizard, + kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft.” + </p> + <p> + Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before my + eyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a moment it + would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their champion + overthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I heard the high, + cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. + </p> + <p> + “Stand back, you fools!” it cried; “can a spirit then be killed?” + </p> + <p> + “Spear him! spear him!” they roared in fury. “Let us see if he is a + spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, + rain-maker, and we shall see.” + </p> + <p> + “Stand back,” cried Indaba-zimbi again, “and I will show you if he can be + killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again before + your eyes.” + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn, trust me,” he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, which + the Zulus did not understand. “Trust me; kneel on the grass before me, and + when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one dead; then, when + you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me—it is your only hope.” + </p> + <p> + Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the faintest + idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, and once + more the warriors drew back. + </p> + <p> + “Great White Spirit—Spirit of victory,” said Indaba-zimbi, + addressing me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, “hear me and + forgive me. These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal + because thou hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against + thee. Deign to kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this + spear, then when I call upon thee, arise unhurt.” + </p> + <p> + I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not + overmuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was in + truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with fears, + and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, that I did + not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneeling thus for about + half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. + </p> + <p> + “People of the Umtetwa, children of T’Chaka,” he said, “draw back a little + way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick with ghosts.” + </p> + <p> + They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in + diameter. + </p> + <p> + “Look on him who kneels before you,” went on Indaba-zimbi, “and listen to + my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of the rain-maker, + Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a young man, does + he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no man. He is the + Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who gave them assegais + that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were the Impis of Dingaan + rolled back at the Blood River? Because <i>he</i> was there. Why did the + Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the thousand? Because <i>he</i> + was there. And so I say to you that, had I not drawn him from the laager + by my magic but three hours ago, you would have been conquered—yes, + you would have been blown away like the dust before the wind; you would + have been burnt up like the dry grass in the winter when the fire is awake + among it. Ay, because he had but been there many of your bravest were + slain in overcoming a few—a pinch of men who could be counted on the + fingers. But because I loved you, because your chief Sususa is my + half-brother—for had we not one father?—I came to you, I + warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew the Spirit forth. But you were + not satisfied when the victory was yours, when the Spirit, of all you had + taken asked but one little thing—a white child to take away and + sacrifice to himself, to make the medicine of his magic of——” + </p> + <p> + Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought better + of it. + </p> + <p> + “You said him nay; you said, ‘Let him fight with our bravest man, let him + fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.’ And he deigned to slay + Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, ‘Slay him; he is no spirit.’ + Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him before your + eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this upon + yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the Spirit, he + would have stayed with you, and you should have become unconquerable. Now + he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if you try to stay him. + </p> + <p> + “Now all men,” he went on, “look for a space upon this assegai that I hold + up,” and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high above his + head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was fixed upon the + broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he moved it round + and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still their gaze + followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the greatest + anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I found at + all pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further acquaintance with it. + Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not really going to kill me. + I could not understand his proceedings at all, and at the best I did not + relish playing the <i>corpus vile</i> to his magical experiments. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Look! look! look!</i>” he screamed. + </p> + <p> + Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt + nothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through me. + </p> + <p> + “See!” roared the Zulus. “Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red assegai + stands out behind his back.” + </p> + <p> + “Roll over, Macumazahn,” Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, “roll over and + pretend to die—quick! quick!” + </p> + <p> + I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling on to + my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as + artistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. + </p> + <p> + “See!” said the Zulus, “he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at the blood + upon the assegai!” + </p> + <p> + “Stand back! stand back!” cried Indaba-zimbi, “or the ghost will haunt + you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. Look!” + and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it was + fixed, and held it aloft. “The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, watch! + <i>it grows white!</i>” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it grows white,” they said. “Ou! it grows white.” + </p> + <p> + “It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came,” said + Indaba-zimbi. “Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath has + gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, awake + and show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!” + </p> + <p> + I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. + </p> + <p> + “Not so fast, Macumazahn,” whispered Indaba-zimbi. + </p> + <p> + I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let it + fall again. + </p> + <p> + “He lives! by the head of T’Chaka he lives!” roared the soldiers, stricken + with mortal fear. + </p> + <p> + Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched my + arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked upon + them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba-zimbi was + almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood upon his + brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. + </p> + <p> + As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the whole + regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we were left + alone with the dead, and the swooning child. + </p> + <p> + “How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?” I asked in amaze. + </p> + <p> + “Do not ask me, Macumazahn,” he gasped. “You white men are very clever, + but you don’t quite know everything. There are men in the world who can + make people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us be going + while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, they + will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps <i>they</i> will + begin asking questions that I can’t answer.” + </p> + <p> + And here I may as well state that I never got any further information on + this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it is + for whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi <i>mesmerized</i> + the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making them believe that + they saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon the blade. The reader + may smile and say, “Impossible;” but I would ask him how the Indian + jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. The spectators <i>seem</i> + to see the boy go under the basket and there pierced with daggers, they <i>seem</i> + to see women in a trance supported in mid-air upon the point of a single + sword. In themselves these things are not possible, they violate the laws + of nature, as those laws are known to us, and therefore must surely be + illusion. And so through the glamour thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi’s + will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see me transfixed with an assegai which + never touched me. At least, that is my theory; if any one has a better, + let him adopt it. The explanation lies between illusion and magic of a + most imposing character, and I prefer to accept the first alternative. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + STELLA + </h3> + <p> + I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi’s hint. About a hundred and fifty + yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden my + horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and bridle. + Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To our joy we + found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, of course, + they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen had been sent away, + and even had they been there we could not have found time to inspan them. + I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid his knee halter, and saddled up. + As I was doing so a thought struck me, and I told Indaba-zimbi to run to + the laager and see if he could find my double-barrelled gun and some + powder and shot, for I had only my elephant “roer” and a few charges of + powder and ball with me. + </p> + <p> + He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and began + to cry, till she saw my face. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I have had such a bad dream,” she said, in Dutch: “I dreamed that the + black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?” + </p> + <p> + I winced at the question. “Your papa has gone on a journey, dear,” I said, + “and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You don’t mind + going with Heer Allan, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presently she + remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her to the + river and she drank. “Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?” she asked, pointing + to the smear of Bombyane’s blood-stained fingers. + </p> + <p> + At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. + </p> + <p> + “It is only paint, dear,” I said; “see, we will wash it and your face.” + </p> + <p> + As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; he + said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some things + and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about twenty pounds + weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double-handfuls of biscuits, + two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches and sundries. + </p> + <p> + “And now, Macumazahn,” he said, “we had best be going, for those Umtetwas + are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise.” + </p> + <p> + That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my saddle, + climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. Indaba-zimbi + slipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer horses, threw of the + sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, holding the elephant gun + in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred yards in silence till we were + quite out of range of sight from the waggons, which were in a hollow. Then + I pulled up, with such a feeling of thankfulness in my heart as cannot be + told in words; for now I knew that, mounted as we were, those black demons + could never catch us. But where were we to steer for? I put the question + to Indaba-zimbi, asking him if he thought that we had better try and + follow the oxen which we had sent away with the Kaffirs and women on the + preceding night. He shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently,” he answered, “and we have + seen enough of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Quite enough,” I answered, with enthusiasm; “I never want to see another; + but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a little girl + in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?” + </p> + <p> + “Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus,” answered + Indaba-zimbi; “let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, Macumazahn; + to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter.” + </p> + <p> + So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the river. + From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but before sunset I + had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at least twenty-five + miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little Tota slept most of the + way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she was worn out. + </p> + <p> + At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. There + was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, and + Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done I took + off Tota’s frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we had made, + and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the sleeping orphaned child, + and from my heart thanked Providence for saving her life and mine from the + slaughter of that day. What a horrible experience it had been! It seemed + like a nightmare to look back upon. And yet it was sober fact, one among + those many tragedies which dotted the paths of the emigrant Boers with the + bones of men, women, and children. These horrors are almost forgotten now; + people living in Natal now, for instance, can scarcely realize that some + forty years ago six hundred white people, many of them women and children, + were thus massacred by the Impis of Dingaan. But it was so, and the name + of the district, <i>Weenen</i>, or the Place of Weeping, will commemorate + them for ever. + </p> + <p> + Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old Indaba-zimbi + had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself had lived among + the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a noted rain-doctor and + witch-finder. But when T’Chaka, Dingaan’s brother, ordered a general + massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved his life by his skill in + magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons too long to set out here. + When he heard, therefore, that the regiment was an Umtetwa regiment, + which, leaving their wives and children, had broken away from Zululand to + escape the cruelties of Dingaan; under pretence of spying on them, he took + the bold course of going straight up to the chief, Sususa, and addressing + him as his brother, which he was. The chief knew him at once, and so did + the soldiers, for his fame was still great among them. Then he told them + his cock and bull story about my being a white spirit, whose presence in + the laager would render it invincible, and with the object of saving my + life in the slaughter which he knew must ensue, agreed to charm me out of + the laager and deliver me into their keeping. How the plan worked has + already been told; it was a risky one; still, but for it my troubles would + have been done with these many days. + </p> + <p> + So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so saw + old Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some mysterious + performances with bones which he produced from his bag, and ashes mixed + with water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He replied that he + was tracing out the route that we should follow. I felt inclined to answer + “bosh!” but remembering the very remarkable instances which he had given + of his prowess in occult matters I held my tongue, and taking little Tota + into my arms, worn out with toil and danger and emotion, I went to sleep. + </p> + <p> + I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in sheets + of primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke me by + kissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me “papa.” It + wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, washed and + dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had supped, on + biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to give her. Then + we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “now what path do your bones point to?” + </p> + <p> + “Straight north,” he said. “The journey will be hard, but in about four + days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, not a Boer. + His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peak behind it + where there are many baboons.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at him. “This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi,” I said. “Whoever + heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how do you + know anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towards + Port Natal.” + </p> + <p> + “As you like, Macumazahn,” he answered, “but it will take us three months’ + journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the child will die + on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true heretofore, or have + they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the elephants on horseback? Did I + not tell you to take one waggon with you instead of two, as it is better + to lose one than two?” + </p> + <p> + “You told me all these things,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will find + great happiness—yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run away + from happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!” + </p> + <p> + Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I came to + the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. It + struck me as possible that he might have heard of some white man living + like a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his prophetic + character would not say so. + </p> + <p> + “Very well, Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “let us ride north.” + </p> + <p> + Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned off in + a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode across rolling + uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a little stream which + ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By this time I was heartily + tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant rifle—for I had nothing + else—I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started to try if I could + shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no game all the day, nor did we + see any on the subsequent days. For some mysterious reason they had + temporarily left the district. I crossed the little streamlet in order to + enter the belt of thorns which grew upon the hill-side beyond, for there I + hoped to find buck. As I did so I was rather disturbed to see the spoor of + two lions in the soft sandy edge of a pool. Breathing a hope that they + might not still be in the neighbourhood, I went on into the belt of + scattered thorns. For a long while I hunted about without seeing anything, + except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crash from the other side + of a stone without giving me a chance. At length, just as it grew dusk, I + spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger than a + large hare, standing on a stone, about forty yards from me. Under ordinary + circumstances I should never have dreamed of firing at such a thing, + especially with an elephant gun, but we were hungry. So I sat down with my + back against a rock, and aimed steadily at its head. I did this because if + I struck it in the body the three-ounce ball would have knocked it to + bits. At last I pulled the trigger, the gun went off with the report of a + small cannon, and the buck disappeared. I ran to the spot with more + anxiety than I should have felt in an ordinary way over a koodoo or an + eland. To my delight there the little creature lay—the huge bullet + had decapitated it. Considering all the circumstances I do not think I + have often made a better shot than this, but if any one doubts, let him + try his hand at a rabbit’s head fifty yards away with an elephant gun and + a three-ounce ball. + </p> + <p> + I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we + skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good meal + for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. + </p> + <p> + There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly + remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie up + the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knew they + were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only make up the + fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to sleep with little + Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing that peculiarly + painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to the fire, which was + still burning brightly. Next second there came a noise of galloping hoofs, + and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared in the ring of + firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring eyes and + wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had been + knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for on his + back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form came a + growling sound. It was a lion. + </p> + <p> + The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he had + run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, and + vanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, + then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. As may be + imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited anxiously till + the dawn broke, two hours later. + </p> + <p> + As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota still + asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had vanished. + When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains lying on the + veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms slinking away in the + grey light. + </p> + <p> + To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned to + look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet full; the + horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and smell of the + lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim with which it + had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat down, feeling as + though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left alone in these vast + solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a child who was not old + enough to walk for more than a little way at a time. + </p> + <p> + Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our + camp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself + alone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we divided + such articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, rejecting + everything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an afterthought, we + filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was rather against doing + so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi overruled me in the + matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled to look after Tota for + the first march, and to give the elephant gun to Indaba-zimbi. At length + all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the help of occasional lifts + over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the slope of the hill-side + where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we reached it, and, looking at + the country beyond, I gave an exclamation of dismay. To say that it was + desert would be saying too much; it was more like the Karroo in the Cape—a + vast sandy waste, studded here and there with low shrubs and scattered + rocks. But it was a great expanse of desolate land, stretching further + than the eye could reach, and bordered far away by a line of purple hills, + in the centre of which a great solitary peak soared high into the air. + </p> + <p> + “Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “we can never cross this if we take six days.” + </p> + <p> + “As you will, Macumazahn,” he answered; “but I tell you that there”—and + he pointed to the peak—“there the white man lives. Turn which way + you like, but if you turn you will perish.” + </p> + <p> + I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost hopeless. + It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost without food, + with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As well perish in the + sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the trees of the hill-side. + Providence alone could save us, and we must trust to Providence. + </p> + <p> + “Come on,” I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already tired. + “All roads lead to rest.” + </p> + <p> + How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tell + how we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, and + quite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs? We + soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the water in our bottles + for the child. To look back on it is like a nightmare. I can scarcely bear + to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns carrying the child through the + heavy sand; night after night lying down in the scrub, chewing the leaves, + and licking such dew as there was from the scanty grass! Not a spring, not + a pool, not a head of game! It was the third night; we were nearly mad + with thirst. Tota was in a comatose condition. Indaba-zimbi still had a + little water in his bottle—perhaps a wine-glassful. With it we + moistened our lips and blackened tongues. Then we gave the rest to the + child. It revived her. She awoke from her swoon to sink into sleep. + </p> + <p> + See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles or so + away now, and they were green. There must be water there. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out of + the blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on for an + hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we had none + to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could scarcely + speak. + </p> + <p> + We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then + Indaba-zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man’s strength was + wonderful. + </p> + <p> + Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two miles + away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab tree. Could we + reach its shade? We had done half the distance when Indaba-zimbi fell from + exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither of us could lift the child on + to our backs. He rose again, and we each took one of her hands and dragged + her along the road. Fifty yards—they seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, + the tree was reached at last; compared with the heat outside, the shade of + its dense foliage seemed like the dusk and cool of a vault. I remember + thinking that it was a good place to die in. Then I remember no more. + </p> + <p> + I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my face + and head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, then shut + them again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, while the rain + continued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or off my head with + thirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came I to imagine that a + lovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me sprinkling water on my face? A + white girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. However, the dream went on. + </p> + <p> + “Hendrika,” said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had ever + heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. + “Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag; + get it.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! ah!” grunted a harsh voice in answer; “let him die, Miss Stella. He + will bring you bad luck—let him die, I say.” I felt a movement of + air above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once + again I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that + she was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyes + flashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before her, + dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by either a + man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, very short, with + bowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was not bad-looking, but + the brow receded, the chin and ears were prominent—in short, she + reminded me of nothing so much as a very handsome monkey. She might have + been the missing link. + </p> + <p> + The lady was pointing at her with her hand. “How dare you?” she said. “Are + you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told you, + Babyan?”[*] + </p> + <p> + [*] Baboon. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! ah!” grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel up + beneath her anger. “Don’t be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I can’t + bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the brandy.” + </p> + <p> + Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. + </p> + <p> + “Not brandy,” I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue would + allow; “give me water.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, he lives!” cried the beautiful girl, “and he talks English. See, sir, + here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a spring, it is + on the other side of the tree.” + </p> + <p> + I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and drank + from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted anything + so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into me. But + wisely enough she would not let me have much. “No more! no more!” she + said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. + </p> + <p> + “The child,” I said—“is the child dead?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know yet,” she answered. “We have only just found you, and I + tried to revive you first.” + </p> + <p> + I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It was + impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkled Tota’s + face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirst was still + awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office for Indaba-zimbi. + Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes and tried to cry, but + could not, poor little thing, because her tongue and lips were so swollen. + But the lady got some water into her mouth, and, as in my case, the effect + was magical. We allowed her to drink about a quarter of a pint, and no + more, though she cried bitterly for it. Just then old Indaba-zimbi came to + with a groan. He opened his eyes, glanced round, and took in the + situation. + </p> + <p> + “What did I tell you, Macumazahn?” he gasped, and seizing the bottle, he + took a long pull at it. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and tried + to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good horses—one + bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady’s saddle on it. By the side + of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, that sat watching + us, and near the dogs lay a dead Oribé buck, which they had evidently been + coursing. + </p> + <p> + “Hendrika,” said the lady presently, “they must not eat meat just yet. Go + look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it.” + </p> + <p> + The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she returned. + “I see some ripe fruit,” she said, “but it is high, quite at the top.” + </p> + <p> + “Fetch it,” said the lady. + </p> + <p> + “Easier said than done,” I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. + Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caught one + of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing that + would have filled an acrobat with envy—and she was on it. + </p> + <p> + “Now there is an end,” I thought again, for the next bough was beyond her + reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, gripping it + with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, caught it and + swung herself into it. + </p> + <p> + I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. “Do not wonder, + sir,” she said, “Hendrika is not like other people. She will not fall.” + </p> + <p> + I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary person + with the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself from + bough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last she reached + the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripe fruit. When + she was near enough she shook the branch violently. There was a crack—a + crash—it broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see her crushed on the + ground before me. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be afraid,” said the lady again, laughing gently. “Look, she is + quite safe.” + </p> + <p> + I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to it, + and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also watched + this performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonish him + over-much. “Baboon-woman?” he said, as though such people were common, and + then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaning for more + water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with extraordinary rapidity, + and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped about eight feet to the + ground. + </p> + <p> + In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In an + ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I thought + it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three days spent + without food or water, in the desert, one is not particular. While we were + still eating the fruit, the lady of my vision set her companion to work to + partially flay the oribé which her dogs had killed, and busied herself in + making a fire of fallen boughs. As soon as it burned brightly she took + strips of the oribé flesh, toasted them, and gave them to us on leaves. We + ate, and now were allowed a little more water. After that she took Tota to + the spring and washed her, which she sadly needed, poor child! Next came + our turn to wash, and oh, the joy of it! + </p> + <p> + I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. + There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling her + to sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last the + child went off into a sound natural slumber—an example that I should + have been glad to follow had it not been for my burning curiosity. Then I + spoke. + </p> + <p> + “May I ask what your name is?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Stella,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “Stella what?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Stella nothing,” she answered, in some pique; “Stella is my name; it is + short and easy to remember at any rate. My father’s name is Thomas, and we + live up there,” and she pointed round the base of the great peak. I looked + at her astonished. “Have you lived there long?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before that + we came from England—from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place on a + big map. It is called Garsingham.” + </p> + <p> + Again I thought I must be dreaming. “Do you know, Miss Stella,” I said, + “it is very strange—so strange that it almost seems as though it + could not be true—but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire + many years ago.” + </p> + <p> + She started up. “Are you an English gentleman?” she said. “Ah, I have + always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but one + Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman—no + white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live among + black people and baboons—only I have read about English people—lots + of books—poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? + Macumazahn the black man called you, but you must have a white name, too.” + </p> + <p> + “My name is Allan Quatermain,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at me + wildly with her beautiful dark eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It is wonderful,” she said, “but I have often heard that name. My father + has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved my life by + putting out my dress when it was on fire—see!”—and she pointed + to a faint red mark upon her neck—“here is the scar of the burn.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember it,” I said. “You were dressed up as Father Christmas. It was + I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so.” + </p> + <p> + Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella slowly + fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white ostrich plumes + were fixed. + </p> + <p> + “This is God’s doing,” she said at last. “You saved my life when I was a + child; now I have saved yours and the little girl’s. Is she your own + daughter?” she added, quickly. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I answered; “I will tell you the tale presently.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said, “you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to be + starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, + Hendrika, bring the horses here!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <h3> + THE BABOON-WOMAN + </h3> + <p> + Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Mr. Allan,” said Stella, “you must ride on my horse, and the old + black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carry the + child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry you or + me.” + </p> + <p> + Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method of + speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, + sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did both together, + when she became quite unintelligible. + </p> + <p> + I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could + walk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a mile; + but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my elephant + gun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, and Hendrika + took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. + </p> + <p> + “See that the ‘Baboon-woman’ does not run away into the mountains with the + little white one,” said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he climbed slowly + on to the horse. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grew + livid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbi as + a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentleman was too + quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine fright he threw himself from + the horse on the further side, with the somewhat ludicrous result that all + in a moment Hendrika was occupying the seat which he had vacated. Just + then Stella realized the position. + </p> + <p> + “Come down, you savage, come down!” she said, stamping her foot. + </p> + <p> + The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally + grovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. + </p> + <p> + “Pardon, Miss Stella,” she clicked and grunted in villainous English, “but + he called me ‘Babyan-frau’ (Baboon-woman).” + </p> + <p> + “Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. + Allan,” Stella said to me. “If he does,” she added, in a whisper, + “Hendrika will certainly kill him.” + </p> + <p> + I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, + deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war between + these two. + </p> + <p> + Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. A + small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the peak—perhaps + it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich grass lands, for + here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; but it did not flow + across the barren lands, it passed to the east along the foot of the + hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. Hendrika walked boldly + through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella leapt across from stone to + stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself that she was the most graceful + creature that I had ever seen. After this the track passed around a + pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, which was, I found, known as + Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we could only go at a foot pace, so + our progress was slow. Stella walked for some way in silence, then she + spoke. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Mr. Allan,” she said, “how it was that I came to find you dying + in the desert?” + </p> + <p> + So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she + listened intently, now and again asking a question. + </p> + <p> + “It is all very wonderful,” she said when I had done, “very wonderful + indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogs for + a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, and I + do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to turn, when + we were about where we are now—yes, that was the very bush—an + oribé got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the gallop, and + when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left as bucks + generally do, the oribé swam the stream and took to the Bad Lands beyond. + I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big tree the dogs killed + it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I said that we would rest + under the shade of the tree, for I knew that there was a spring of water + near. Well, we went; and there I saw you all lying like dead; but + Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, said no—and you know the + rest. Yes, it is very wonderful.” + </p> + <p> + “It is indeed,” I said. “Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?” + </p> + <p> + She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. + </p> + <p> + “Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know that + all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. When I was + a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in the hills and + valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the rocks. There was + one family of baboons that I watched especially—they used to live in + a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man baboon was very large, + and one of the females had a grey face. But the reason why I watched them + so much was because I saw that they had with them a creature that looked + like a girl, for her skin was quite white, and, what was more, that she + was protected from the weather when it happened to be cold by a fur belt + of some sort, which was tied round her throat. The old baboons seemed to + be especially fond of her, and would sit with their arms round her neck. + For nearly a whole summer I watched this particular white-skinned baboon + till at last my curiosity quite overmastered me. I noticed that, though + she climbed about the cliffs with the other monkeys, at a certain hour a + little before sundown they used to put her with one or two other much + smaller ones into a little cave, while the family went off somewhere to + get food, to the mealie fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would + catch this white baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do + this by myself, so I took a Hottentot—a very clever man when he was + not drunk—who lived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called + Hendrik, and was very fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen + to my plan, because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I + bribed him with a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we + started, Hendrik carrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope running + through it so that the mouth could be drawn tight. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the trees + at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and grunting + to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the white + one and three other little babies and put them in the cave. Then the old + man came out, looked carefully round, called to his family, and went off + with them over the brow of the kloof. Now very slowly and cautiously we + crept up over the rocks till we came to the mouth of the cave and looked + in. All the four little baboons were fast asleep, with their backs towards + us, and their arms round each other’s necks, the white one being in the + middle. Nothing could have been better for our plans. Hendrik, who by this + time had quite entered into the spirit of the thing, crept along the cave + like a snake, and suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide bag over the head + of the white baboon. The poor little thing woke up and gave a violent jump + which caused it to vanish right into the bag. Then Hendrik pulled the + string tight, and together we knotted it so that it was impossible for our + captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby baboons had rushed from the + cave screaming, and when we got outside they were nowhere to be seen. + </p> + <p> + “‘Come on, Missie,’ said Hendrik; ‘the babyans will soon be back.’ He had + shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking + violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear its + shrieks. + </p> + <p> + “We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as we + could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about three + hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, + leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the whole + family of baboons headed by the old man. + </p> + <p> + “‘Run, Missie, run!’ gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving him + far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were working, + crying, ‘The babyans! the babyans!’ Luckily the men had their sticks and + spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who was almost + overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, and it was not + till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ran away. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father + sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and has + a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having untied + the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, shutting the + door behind him. In another moment the poor little thing was out and + dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It sprung at the bars + of the window, clung there, and beat its head against them till the blood + came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat upon it crying like a child, and + rocking itself backwards and forwards. It was so sad to see it that I + began to cry too. + </p> + <p> + “Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I told + him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and said + that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the bars of the + window he nearly fell down with astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “‘Why!’ he said, ‘this is not a baboon, it is a white child that the + baboons have stolen and brought up!’ + </p> + <p> + “Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge for + yourself. You see Hendrika—we named her that after Hendrik, who + caught her—she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the + ways of monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, for + instance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and when + she is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever as + anybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the baboons when she + was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why she is so like them. + </p> + <p> + “But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika at any + cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat nothing, and + I thought that she would die, for all the while she sat and wailed. On the + third day, however, I went to the bars of the window place, and held out a + cup of milk and some fruit to her. She looked at it for a long while, then + crept up moaning, took the milk from my hand, drank it greedily, and + afterwards ate the fruit. From that time forward she took food readily + enough, but only if I would feed her. + </p> + <p> + “But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that we + captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which were + evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went out + towards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come back + again, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can show + you, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of his + assegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him to + pieces. + </p> + <p> + “My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not let + Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was our duty + to reclaim her. And so we did—to a certain extent, at least. After + the murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, and + have only returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to let + Hendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of me; still, on the + first opportunity she ran away. But in the evening she returned again. She + had been seeking the baboons, and could not find them. Shortly afterwards + she began to speak—I taught her—and from that time she has + loved me so that she will not leave me. I think it would kill her if I + went away from her. She watches me all day, and at night sleeps on the + floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was swept down the + river in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. Look, how + she is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!” + </p> + <p> + I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and + staring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her eyes. + </p> + <p> + While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman’s strange story, and thinking + that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a sudden turn. + </p> + <p> + “Look!” said Stella, “there is our home. Is it not beautiful?” + </p> + <p> + It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a bay + had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight hundred + or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in depth. At the + back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the height of several + hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great Babyan Peak towered up + towards the heavens. The space of ground, embraced thus in the arms of the + mountain, as it were, was laid out, as though by the cunning hand of man, + in three terraces that rose one above the other. To the right and left of + the topmost terrace were chasms in the cliff, and down each chasm fell a + waterfall, from no great height, indeed, but of considerable volume. These + two streams flowed away on either side of the enclosed space, one towards + the north, and the other, the course of which we had been following, round + the base of the mountain. At each terrace they made a cascade, so that the + traveller approaching had a view of eight waterfalls at once. Along the + edge of the stream to our left were placed Kaffir kraals, built in orderly + groups with verandahs, after the Basutu fashion, and a very large part of + the entire space of land was under cultivation. All of this I noted at + once, as well as the extraordinary richness and depth of the soil, which + for many ages past had been washed down from the mountain heights. Then + following the line of an excellent waggon road, on which we now found + ourselves, that wound up from terrace to terrace, my eye lit upon the + crowning wonder of the scene. For in the centre of the topmost platform or + terrace, which may have enclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost + surrounded by groves of orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had + never seen the like. There were three groups of them, one in the middle, + and one on either side, and a little to the rear, but, as I afterwards + discovered, the plan of all was the same. In the centre was an edifice + constructed like an ordinary Zulu hut—that is to say, in the shape + of a beehive, only it was five times the size of any hut I ever saw, and + built of blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinary + knowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and with so + much accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the joints of + the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered passages, + leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, only smaller, + and each whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about four feet in + height. + </p> + <p> + Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the + general outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even old + Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, deigned to + show wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Ou!” he said; “this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built of + white stone?” + </p> + <p> + Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but said + nothing. + </p> + <p> + “Did your father build those kraals?” I gasped, at length. + </p> + <p> + “My father! no, of course not,” she answered. “How would it have been + possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He found + them as you see.” + </p> + <p> + “Who built them, then?” I said again. + </p> + <p> + “I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the + people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, + and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they must have + stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show you the + quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is the + entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks was a silver mine. + Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the marble huts. The world is + old, and no doubt plenty of people have lived in it and been + forgotten.”[*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described + by Mr. Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico + district of the Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to + be found in Mr. Anderson’s “Twenty-five Years in a Waggon,” + vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. Anderson says, “In this district are the + ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it + requires a fuller description to show that these extensive + kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood + building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, + lintels, and sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill + to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, + beautifully formed and most substantially erected; strong + enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years.” + —Editor. +</pre> + <p> + Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in Africa, + and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and worthless, + but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was no one thing—it + was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth on to the everlasting + plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that sparkled in rainbow hues, + the rivers girdling the rich cultivated lands, the gold-specked green of + the orange trees, the flashing domes of the marble huts, and a thousand + other things. Then over all brooded the peace of evening, and the infinite + glory of the sunset that filled heaven with changing hues of splendour, + that wrapped the mountain and cliffs in cloaks of purple and of gold, and + lay upon the quiet face of the water like the smile of a god. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days and + nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the beauty + of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am sure, that + of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she was the sweetest + and the loveliest. + </p> + <p> + Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be before I + find her once again? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE MARBLE KRAALS + </h3> + <p> + At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up + outside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts—for so + I must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been + observed by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able to + determine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section of + the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several of these + ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, not unmixed + with awe. We dismounted—speaking for myself, not without difficulty—indeed, + had it not been for Stella’s support I should have fallen. + </p> + <p> + “Now you must come and see my father,” she said. “I wonder what he will + think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my hut and + give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently.” + </p> + <p> + Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress’s bidding, + and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the marble wall, + which may have enclosed nearly half an “erf,” or three-quarters of an acre + of ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a garden, many European + vegetables and flowers were growing in it, besides others with which I was + not acquainted. Presently we came to the centre hut, and it was then that + I noticed the extraordinary beauty and finish of the marble masonry. In + the hut, and facing the gateway, was a modern door, rather rudely + fashioned of Buckenhout, a beautiful reddish wood that has the appearance + of having been sedulously pricked with a pin. Stella opened it, and we + entered. The interior of the hut was the size of a large and lofty room, + the walls being formed of plain polished marble. It was lighted somewhat + dimly, but quite effectively, by peculiar openings in the roof, from which + the rain was excluded by overhanging eaves. The marble floor was strewn + with native mats and skins of animals. Bookcases filled with books were + placed against the walls, there was a table in the centre, chairs seated + with rimpi or strips of hide stood about, and beyond the table was a couch + on which a man was lying reading. + </p> + <p> + “Is that you, Stella?” said a voice, that even after so many years seemed + familiar to me. “Where have you been, my dear? I began to think that you + had lost yourself again.” + </p> + <p> + “No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody + else.” + </p> + <p> + At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old + gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much + courtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a pale + face that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a long + white beard. + </p> + <p> + “Be welcome, sir,” he said. “It is long since we have seen a white face in + these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an Englishman. + There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, and he, I grieve + to say, was an outcast flying from justice,” and he bowed again and + stretched out his hand. + </p> + <p> + I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my mind. + I took his hand. + </p> + <p> + “How do you do, Mr. Carson?” I said. + </p> + <p> + He started as though he had been stung. + </p> + <p> + “Who told you that name?” he cried. “It is a dead name. Stella, is it you? + I forbade you to let it pass your lips.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “Sir,” I broke in, “if you will allow me I will show you how I came to + know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study of a + clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leave + England for ever?” + </p> + <p> + He bowed his head. + </p> + <p> + “And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing with + a pencil?” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children who + lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your old + friend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died in the + Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, one Kaffir, + and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad Lands, where we had + wandered for days without water, and there we should have perished, but + your daughter, Miss——” + </p> + <p> + “Call her Stella,” he broke in, hastily. “I cannot bear to hear that name. + I have forsworn it.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives.” + </p> + <p> + “By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?” he answered. “There is little + chance in all this; such chances spring from another will than ours. + Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in a + hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is yours, + and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; talk no + more now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk.” + </p> + <p> + To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that evening. + A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting at a table + next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember nothing more. + </p> + <p> + I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and + fashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering what + time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, and, + luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, feeling a + very different man, my strength had come back again to me; I dressed, and + following a covered passage found myself in the centre hut. Here the table + was set for breakfast with all manner of good things, such as I had not + seen for many a month, which I contemplated with healthy satisfaction. + Presently I looked up, and there before me was a more delightful sight, + for standing in one of the doorways which led to the sleeping huts was + Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. + </p> + <p> + She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, and + girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of her robe + was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied in a single + knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, asking how I + had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under her loving care the + child had been quite transformed. She was neatly dressed in a garment of + the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair hair was brushed; indeed, + had it not been for the sun blisters on her face and hands, one would + scarcely have believed that this was the same child whom Indaba-zimbi and + I had dragged for hour after hour through the burning, waterless desert. + </p> + <p> + “We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan,” she said; “my father is so upset by + your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how thankful + I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of late. He + grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strength were ebbing + away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have to manage + everything about the farm; he does nothing but read and think.” + </p> + <p> + Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of + milk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look of + little love at me as she did so. + </p> + <p> + “Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee,” said Stella. “Don’t + you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will tell you—we + grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to show you. You + don’t know what we have managed to do in the time that we have been here. + You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about look upon my father + as their chief.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “but how do you get all these luxuries of civilization?” + and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives and forks. + </p> + <p> + “Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we first + trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. But every + few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right down to Port + Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, and come back + with all kinds of things that been sent out from England for us. So you + see, although we live in this wild place, we are not altogether cut off. + We can send runners to Natal and back in three months, and the waggons get + there and back in a year. The last lot arrived quite safe about three + months ago. Our servants are very faithful, and some of them speak Dutch + well.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you ever been with the waggons?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from + Babyan’s Peak,” she answered. “Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, with + one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a book. I + suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I have had one + advantage—a good education. My father has taught me everything, and + perhaps I know some things that you don’t. I can read French and German, + for instance. I think that my father’s first idea was to let me run wild + altogether, but he gave it up.” + </p> + <p> + “And don’t you wish to go into the world?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Sometimes,” she said, “when I get lonely. But perhaps my father is right—perhaps + it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he would never return to + civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am sure I do not know + where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that our name should be + spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our lives, we must take + them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast? Let us go out, and I + will show you our home.” + </p> + <p> + I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, Mr. + Carson—for after all that was his name, though he would never allow + it to be spoken—had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, + and would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. + </p> + <p> + So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbi + whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire that + old man. + </p> + <p> + The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the lower + ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, faced + west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the great + peak till nearly eleven o’clock in the morning—a great advantage in + that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was + beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw. + There were three or four natives working in it, and they all saluted my + host as “Baba,” or father. Then we visited the other two groups of marble + huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, the other as + storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned into a chapel. + Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to convert the + natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for shelter, and + he had practised the more elementary rites of the church for so long that + I think he began to believe that he really was a clergyman. For instance, + he always married those of his people who would consent to a monogamous + existence, and baptized their children. + </p> + <p> + When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble + huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive like + weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the next + platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think that it + was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample water for + purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage for hundreds + of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people were most + industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. Carson on the + co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the produce—indeed, in + this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with more? Consequently the + tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the “Children of Thomas,” + were able to accumulate considerable wealth. All their disputes were + referred to their “father,” and he also was judge of offences and crimes. + Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods, other and + graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiat which to one + of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the decree that + drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. + </p> + <p> + Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter’s arm and contemplated the scene + with pride. + </p> + <p> + “I have done all this, Allan Quatermain,” he said. “When renouncing + civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotest + places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing was to + be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the waterfalls. + I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden land and + planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by degrees + others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we live in + profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no more. Heaven + has prospered me so far—may it do so to the end, which for me draws + nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to see the old + quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show them to you. + No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. Look! some of the + headmen are waiting to see me.” + </p> + <p> + So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, + and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the + marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which they + were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a very thick + seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know another like it in + Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; not by natives, that + is certain, though the builders of these kraals had condescended to borrow + the shape of native huts for their model. By the way, the only relic of + those builders that I ever saw was a highly finished bronze pick-axe which + Stella had found one day in the quarry. + </p> + <p> + After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill till we + came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a gorge. I + believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and narrow, and + the moment we entered it there rose from every side a sound of groaning + and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I knew what it was at + once: the whole place was filled with baboons, which clambered down the + rocks towards us from every direction, and in a manner that struck me as + being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a little pale and clung to my + arm. + </p> + <p> + “It is very silly of me,” she whispered. “I am not at all nervous, but + ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those animals. I + always think that there is something human about them.” + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. + Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I and + Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only Hendrika + stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her monkey face. + When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly called aloud. Instantly + they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a word of command. Then + Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it so. That is to say, she + began to make a noise such as baboons do when they converse with each + other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who said that they could talk + with the baboons and understand their language, but I confess I never + heard it done before or since. + </p> + <p> + From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, squeals, + clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be conceived, conveying + to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At any rate the baboons + listened. One of them grunted back some answer, and then the whole mob + drew off to the rocks. + </p> + <p> + I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, for + Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dining + hut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me by + the sleeve, and I stopped outside. + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn,” he said. “Baboon-woman—devil-woman. Be careful, + Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called Stella + the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star will set!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <h3> + “LET US GO IN, ALLAN!” + </h3> + <p> + It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which elapsed + between my arrival at Babyan’s Peak and my marriage with Stella. When I + look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of flowers, and dim as + with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through the sweetness comes the + sound of Stella’s voice, and through the gloom shines the starlight of her + eyes. I think that we loved each other from the first, though for a while + we said no word of love. Day by day I went about the place with her, + accompanied by little Tota and Hendrika only, while she attended to the + thousand and one matters which her father’s ever-growing weakness had laid + upon her; or rather, as time drew on, I attended to the business, and she + accompanied me. All day through we were together. Then after supper, when + the night had fallen, we would walk together in the garden and come at + length to hear her father read aloud sometimes from the works of a poet, + sometimes from history. Or, if he did not feel well, Stella would read, + and when this was done, Mr. Carson would celebrate a short form of prayer, + and we would separate till the morning once more brought our happy hour of + meeting. + </p> + <p> + So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling + better. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeed + there are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had given + such depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of communing with + Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, the grace we find in + opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught that murmuring voice + from the sound of the streams which fall continually about her rocky home? + was it the tenderness of the evening sky beneath which she loved to walk, + that lay like a shadow on her face, and the light of the evening stars + that shone in her quiet eyes? At the least to me she was the realization + of that dream which haunts the sleep of sin-stained men; so my memory + paints her, so I hope to find her when at last the sleep has rolled away + and the fevered dreams are done. + </p> + <p> + At last there came a day—the most blessed of my life, when we told + our love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. + Carson was so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met + again, and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had + grown much attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on the + couch. + </p> + <p> + The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the + garden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a little + breeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, and + bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, broken + only by the sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to a faint + murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudly in our ears. + The moon was not yet visible, but already the dark clouds which floated + through the sky above us—for there had been rain—showed a glow + of silver, telling us that she shone brightly behind the peak. Stella + began to talk in her low, gentle voice, speaking to me of her life in the + wilderness, how she had grown to love it, how her mind had gone on from + idea to idea, and how she pictured the great rushing world that she had + never seen as it was reflected to her from the books which she had read. + It was a curious vision of life that she had: things were out of + proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality—a mirage + than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, and especially + of London, had a kind of fascination for her: she could scarcely realize + the rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men and women, strangers + to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth and pleasure beneath a murky + sky, and treading one another down in the fury of their competition. + </p> + <p> + “What is it all for?” she asked earnestly. “What do they seek? Having so + few years to live, why do they waste them thus?” + </p> + <p> + I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard necessity + that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. Living as she had + done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a fruitful earth, she did not + seem to be able to grasp the fact that there were millions who from day to + day know not how to stay their hunger. + </p> + <p> + “I never want to go there,” she went on; “I should be bewildered and + frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adam and + Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live—in + peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of perfect + life. I want no other.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you once told me that you found it lonely,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “So I did,” she answered, innocently, “but that was before you came. Now I + am not lonely any more, and it is perfect—perfect as the night.” + </p> + <p> + Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her rays + stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, brooding + on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, wrapping the + fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil through which her beauty + shone mysteriously. + </p> + <p> + Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at the + scarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beauty of + the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on her hair, the + mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked at me, I + looked on her, and all our hearts’ love blossomed within us. We spoke no + word—we had no words to speak, but slowly we drew near, till lips + were pressed to lips as we kissed our eternal troth. + </p> + <p> + It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, in + soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smitten harp. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, now I understand,” she said, “now I know why we are lonely, and how + we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in the + beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of flowers. It + is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his voice we + understand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is answered and the + gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the way that wends + through death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of which our love is but + a shadow. + </p> + <p> + “Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that whatever + overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always have this + perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!” + </p> + <p> + I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I rose + my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage of the + orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze stirred the + orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full upon the white + object. + </p> + <p> + It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had called + her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. + </p> + <p> + I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark in + the rocks behind. + </p> + <p> + Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I saw + Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. + </p> + <p> + “Hendrika,” I said, “why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in the + garden?” + </p> + <p> + She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. + </p> + <p> + “Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to + watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you + kissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a + star?” + </p> + <p> + “I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me,” I answered. + “What has that to do with you, Hendrika?” + </p> + <p> + “Because you love her,” she hissed in answer; “and do I not love her also, + who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you are a man, + and they say in the kraals that men love women better than women love + women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman loves a man + she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather her flowers—beautiful + flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never dare to go to find them; + you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the garden and give it to her. What + does she do?—she takes the orange bloom, she puts it in her breast, + and lets my flowers die. I call to her—she does not hear me—she + is thinking. You whisper to some one far away, and she hears and smiles. + She used to kiss me sometimes; now she kisses that white brat you brought, + because you brought it. Oh, I see it all—all; I have seen it from + the first; you are stealing her from us, stealing her to yourself, and + those who loved her before you came are forgotten. Be careful, Macumazahn, + be careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, you hate me; you think me + half a monkey; that servant of yours calls me Baboon-woman. Well, I have + lived with baboons, and they are clever—yes, they can play tricks + and know things that you don’t, and I am cleverer than they, for I have + learnt the wisdom of white people also, and I say to you, Walk softly, + Macumazahn, or you will fall into a pit,” and with one more look of malice + she was gone. + </p> + <p> + I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature who + seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared her with + the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her hands. And + yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness of her jealousy. + It is generally supposed that this passion only exists in strength when + the object loved is of another sex from the lover, but I confess that, + both in this instance and in some others which I have met with, this has + not been my experience. I have known men, and especially uncivilized men, + who were as jealous of the affection of their friend or master as any + lover could be of that of his mistress; and who has not seen cases of the + same thing where parents and their children are concerned? But the lower + one gets in the scale of humanity, the more readily this passion thrives; + indeed, it may be said to come to its intensest perfection in brutes. + Women are more jealous than men, small-hearted men are more jealous than + those of larger mind and wider sympathy, and animals are the most jealous + of all. Now Hendrika was in some ways not far removed from animal, which + may perhaps account for the ferocity of her jealousy of her mistress’s + affection. + </p> + <p> + Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. Carson + was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his hand, and her + head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had been telling him of + what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, for it is a task that a + would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do by deputy. + </p> + <p> + “Come here, Allan Quatermain,” he said, almost sternly, and my heart gave + a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go about my + business. But I came. + </p> + <p> + “Stella tells me,” he went on, “that you two have entered into a marriage + engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that you say that + you love her.” + </p> + <p> + “I do indeed, sir,” I broke in; “I love her truly; if ever a woman was + loved in this world, I love her.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank Heaven for it,” said the old man. “Listen, my children. Many + years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow that, + as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I determined to + do what most men would have considered the act of a madman, to go far away + into the wilderness with my only child, there to live remote from + civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this place, and here we have + lived for many years, happily enough, and perhaps not without doing good + in our generation, but still in a way unnatural to our race and status. At + first I thought I would let my daughter grow up in a state of complete + ignorance, that she should be Nature’s child. But as time went on, I saw + the folly and the wickedness of my plan. I had no right to degrade her to + the level of the savages around me, for if the fruit of the tree of + knowledge is a bitter fruit, still it teaches good from evil. So I + educated her as well as I was able, till in the end I knew that in mind, + as in body, she was in no way inferior to her sisters, the children of the + civilized world. She grew up and entered into womanhood, and then it came + into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, that I was separating + her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness where she could find + neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, I could not yet make + up my mind to return to active life; I had grown to love this place. I + dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Again and again I put my + resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this year I fell ill. For a + while I waited, hoping that I might get better, but at last I realized + that I should never get better, that the hand of Death was upon me.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, no, father, not that!” Stella said, with a cry. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our + separation in the happiness of a new meeting,” and he glanced at me and + smiled. “Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined to + abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that the + journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella would, + and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savages in the + wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to take this step + Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, and brought you + here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, whose father had been + my dear friend, and who once with your baby hands had saved her life from + fire, that she might live to save yours from thirst. At the time I said + little, but I saw the hand of Providence in this, and I determined to wait + and see what came about between you. At the worst, if nothing came about, + I soon learned that I could trust you to see her safely to the coast after + I was gone. But many days ago I knew how it stood between you, and now + things are determined as I prayed they might be. God bless you both, my + children; may you be happy in your love; may it endure till death and + beyond it. God bless you both!” and he stretched out his hand towards me. + </p> + <p> + I took it, and Stella kissed him. + </p> + <p> + Presently he spoke again— + </p> + <p> + “It is my intention,” he said, “if you two consent, to marry you next + Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will be + allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated and + entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be perfectly + legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality the first + moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is one more thing: + when I left England my fortunes were in a shattered condition; in the + course of years they have recovered themselves, the accumulated rents, as + I heard but recently, when the waggons last returned from Port Natal, have + sufficed to pay off all charges, and there is a considerable balance over. + Consequently you will not marry on nothing, for of course you, Stella, are + my heiress, and I wish to make a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as + my death occurs you should leave this place and take the first opportunity + of returning to England. I do not ask you to live there always; it might + prove too much for people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; + but I do ask you to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and + promise this?” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “And so do I,” said Stella. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” he answered; “and now I am tired out. Again God bless you + both, and good-night.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <h3> + HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + </h3> + <p> + On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First of + all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” he said, “I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you + would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watch + the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your + heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set.” + </p> + <p> + “Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?” I answered, angrily, for + his words sent a thrill of fear through me. + </p> + <p> + “A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I only + speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, loss upon + loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all the things + that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and there was wisdom + in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it is change, that is + all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops of rain that were one + water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink into the ground; + presently the sun will come out, the earth will be dry, the drops will be + gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, they will never be one + again, they will never again fall side by side. But I am a rain-maker, and + I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The drops will drain by many + paths into the river, and will be one water there. They will go up to the + clouds again in the mists of morning, and there will again be as they have + been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When we fall that is our life. + When we sink into the ground that is death, and when we are drawn up again + to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No! no! when we find we lose, and + when we seem to lose, then we shall really find. I am not a Christian, + Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched and seen things that perhaps + Christians do not see. There, I have spoken. Be happy with your star, and + if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, wait till it rises again. It will not be + long; one day you will go to sleep, then your eyes will open on another + sky, and there your star will be shining, Macumazahn.” + </p> + <p> + I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. + But often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbi and + his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strange man, + this old rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him than in many + learned atheists—those spiritual destroyers who, in the name of + progress and humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave us + wandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated hell. + </p> + <p> + “Indaba-zimbi,” I said, changing the subject, “I have something to say,” + and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. + </p> + <p> + He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals as + the narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn,” he said at length, “I have told you that this is an evil + woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in her + veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make you + mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star is + waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you.” + </p> + <p> + So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of Indaba-zimbi, + I found a deeper meaning in Stella’s simplest word. All the rest of that + day I passed in her company, and the greater part of the two following + days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of our marriage. It rained that + night, so we did not go out, but spent the evening in the hut. We sat hand + in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carson talked a good deal, telling us + tales of his youth, and of countries that he had visited. Then he read + aloud from the Bible, and bade us goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went + to bed. I reached my hut by the covered way, and before I undressed opened + the door to see what the night was like. It was very dark, and rain was + still falling, but as the light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that + I caught sight of a dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika + flashed into my mind; could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had + said nothing of Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, + because I did not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was attached + to this strange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence in her + unless it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood + hesitating, then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should + stop, I went in and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure + the door. For the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of + sleeping in the covered passage, which was the only other possible way of + access. As I came to bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his blanket, + and to all appearances fast asleep. So it being evident that I had nothing + to fear, I promptly dismissed the matter from my mind, which, as may be + imagined, was indeed fully occupied with other thoughts. + </p> + <p> + I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great happiness + in store for me, and of the providential course of events that had brought + it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was wandering in the desert a + dying man, bearing a dying child, and with scarcely a possession left in + the world except a store of buried ivory that I never expected to see + again. And now I was about to wed one of the sweetest and loveliest women + on the whole earth—a woman whom I loved more than I could have + thought possible, and who loved me back again. Also, as though that were + not good fortune enough, I was to acquire with her very considerable + possessions, quite sufficiently large to enable us to follow any plan of + life we found agreeable. As I lay and reflected on all this I grew afraid + of my good fortune. Old Indaba-zimbi’s melancholy prophecies came into my + mind. Hitherto he had always prophesied truly. What if these should be + true also? I turned cold as I thought of it, and prayed to the Power above + to preserve us both to live and love together. Never was prayer more + needed. While its words were still upon my lips I dropped asleep and + dreamed a most dreadful dream. + </p> + <p> + I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. She was + dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, spiritual + beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a pale flame played + about her features, and the wind that blew did not stir her hair. Nor was + this all, for her white robes were death wrappings, and the altar at which + we stood was formed of the piled-up earth from an open grave that yawned + between us. So we stood waiting for one to wed us, but no one came. + Presently from the open grave sprang the form of Hendrika. In her hand was + a knife, with which she stabbed at me, but pierced the heart of Stella, + who, without a cry, fell backwards into the grave, still looking at me as + she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after her into the grave. I heard her feet + strike heavily. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Awake, Macumazahn! awake!</i>” cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. + </p> + <p> + I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. In + the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious + struggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which were + matches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the taper. Now + in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over the other on + the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. The fat melted + and the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika who + were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was getting the better of + the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards them. Now she was uppermost, + now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, and now the great knife + she had in her hand flashed up. + </p> + <p> + But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked with + all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save herself, + most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves upon her. + Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not experienced it + could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, and at one time nearly + mastered the two of us. As it was she did break loose. She rushed at the + bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straight up at the roof of the hut. + I never saw such a jump, and could not conceive what she meant to do. In + the roof were the peculiar holes which I have described. They were + designed to admit light, and covered with overhanging eaves. She sprung + straight and true like a monkey, and, catching the edge of the hole with + her hands, strove to draw herself through it. But here her strength, + exhausted with the long struggle, failed her. For a moment she swung, then + dropped to the ground and fell senseless. + </p> + <p> + “Ou!” gasped Indaba-zimbi. “Let us tie the devil up before she comes to + life again.” + </p> + <p> + I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner of + the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even she + could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, and + Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to + raise an alarm at that hour of the night. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?” he said. “For several nights I + have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made a plan. + To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An hour after + you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of light come + into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw the beam of + light vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing over the moon, + but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezing himself + through a narrow space. Presently he was through, and hanging by his + hands. Then the light came in again, and in the middle of it I saw the + Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop into the hut. She + clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great knife. She dropped, and + I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped her round the + middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struck at me in the + dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you know the rest. You were + very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn.” + </p> + <p> + “Very nearly indeed,” I answered, still panting, and arranging the rags of + my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my horrid + dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by the sound + of Hendrika dropping to the floor—in my dream it had been a grave + that she dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in that + second of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is nothing but + a dream, and events that seem far apart really occur simultaneously. + </p> + <p> + We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came to + herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned + buffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi + unceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. + </p> + <p> + In due course the day broke—my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to + watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the + stables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut—that + same hut in which she had been confined when she had been brought a + baboon-child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leaving + Indaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place and dressed + in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. But when I + looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It was covered with + scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored them up as best I + could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, which, what between the + events of the past night, and of those pending that day, were not a little + disturbed. + </p> + <p> + When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and + there Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with + orange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; then, + seeing the condition of my face, started back. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, + catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. + </p> + <p> + Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika’s threats and of her fierce + attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my horrid dream. + </p> + <p> + Stella’s face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her + father became very stern. + </p> + <p> + “You should have spoken of this before, Allan,” he said. “I now see that I + did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful creature, who, + if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes that reared her. + Well, I will make an end of it this very day.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, father,” said Stella, “don’t have her killed. It is all dreadful + enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond of + her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on my + marriage day.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” her father answered, “she shall not be killed, for though she + deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a brute, + and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence she came.” + </p> + <p> + No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast—which + was rather a farce—was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and + gave him certain orders. + </p> + <p> + We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every Sunday + morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The service + began at ten o’clock, but long before that hour all the natives on the + place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present at the + wedding of the “Star.” It was a pretty sight to see them, the men dressed + in all their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in their hands, and + the women and children bearing green branches of trees, ferns, and + flowers. At length, about half-past nine, Stella rose, pressed my hand, + and left me to my reflections. A few minutes to ten she reappeared again + with her father, dressed in a white veil, a wreath of orange flowers on + her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange flowers in her hand. To me she + seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her came little Tota in a high + state of glee and excitement. She was Stella’s only bridesmaid. Then we + all passed out towards the church hut. The bare space in front of it was + filled with hundreds of natives, who set up a song as we came. But we went + on into the hut, which was crowded with such of the natives as usually + worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, as usual, read the service, though he + was obliged to sit down in order to do so. When it was done—and to + me it seemed interminable—Mr. Carson whispered that he meant to + marry us outside the hut in sight of all the people. So we went out and + took our stand under the shade of a large tree that grew near the hut + facing the bare space where the natives were gathered. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the + native dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife + after the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he + proceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and + beautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring—it was + her father’s signet ring, for we had no other—upon Stella’s finger, + and it was done. + </p> + <p> + Then Mr. Carson spoke. “Allan and Stella,” he said, “I believe that the + ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the sight of + God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage binding is, that + it should be celebrated according to the custom of the country where the + parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that has been in force + here for fifteen years or more that you have been married in the face of + all the people, and in token of it you will both sign the register that I + have kept of such marriages, among those of my people who have adopted the + Christian Faith. Still, in case there should be any legal flaw I again + demand the solemn promise of you both that on the first opportunity you + will cause this marriage to be re-celebrated in some civilized land. Do + you promise?” + </p> + <p> + “We do,” we answered. + </p> + <p> + Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my wife + signed hers “Stella” only, but her father bade her write it Stella Carson + for the first and last time in her life. Then several of the indunas, or + headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks in witness. + Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, in humorous + allusion to Stella’s native name. That register is before me now as I + write. That, with a lock of my darling’s hair which lies between its + leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names and marks as + they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of the tree at Babyan + Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where are those who wrote + them? + </p> + <p> + “My people,” said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had kissed + each other before them all—“My people, Macumazahn and the Star, my + daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of one bowl, + to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my people, you + know this woman,” and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, unseen by us, + had been led out of the prison hut. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, we know her,” said a little ring of headmen, who formed the + primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had squatted + themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. “We know her, she is + the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant of the Star.” + </p> + <p> + “You know her,” said Mr. Carson, “but you do not know her altogether. + Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last + night in the hut of Macumazahn.” + </p> + <p> + Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told his + moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing up by + producing the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me. + </p> + <p> + Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his story: + indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. + </p> + <p> + Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her eyes + fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. + </p> + <p> + She looked up boldly and answered— + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have robbed + him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which I have + lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had I killed + him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shone on me + again.” + </p> + <p> + “Never,” murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with + wrath. + </p> + <p> + “My people,” he said, “you hear the words of this woman. You hear how she + pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She says that + she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man who is the + husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamed her, we + fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say, my people, + what reward should be given to her?” + </p> + <p> + “Death,” said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, and + all the multitude beyond echoed the word “Death.” + </p> + <p> + “Death,” repeated the head induna, adding, “If you save her, my father, we + will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a devil-woman; + ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain before she works + more evil.” + </p> + <p> + Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika’s life in + moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman’s nature, her long + service, and the affection that she had always shown towards herself. She + said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, and she, my wife, + who had nearly been left a widow before she was made a bride, forgave her; + let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, not slain, let not her + marriage day be stained with blood. + </p> + <p> + Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of killing + Hendrika—indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But the + people were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a devil, + and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they have had + their way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had already gained + a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. Suddenly the old man + rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging them to kill Hendrika at + once or mischief would come of it. + </p> + <p> + At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to drag + her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tears that + the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson’s orders and my own + remonstrances, carried the day. + </p> + <p> + All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the + tumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising that + if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should be stabbed + like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice and in English— + </p> + <p> + “Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to love I + shall go mad and become a babyan again.” + </p> + <p> + Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and looked + at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked past me, + and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, being + literally translated, means, “Till another moon,” but which has the same + significance as the French “au revoir.” + </p> + <p> + It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, and + saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran swiftly + from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movement snatched + her great knife from his hand. When she had gone about twenty paces she + halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, gave one loud cry of anguish, + and fled. A few minutes later we saw her far away, bounding up the face of + an almost perpendicular cliff—a cliff that nobody except herself and + the baboons could possibly climb. + </p> + <p> + “Look,” said Indaba-zimbi in my ear—“Look, Macumazahn, there goes + the Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, <i>she will come back again</i>. Ah, why + will you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, + Macumazahn?” and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. + </p> + <p> + For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone for + the present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, + and in her smiles I forgot my fears. + </p> + <p> + For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?—there are things + too happy and too sacred to be written of. + </p> + <p> + At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that perfect + joy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + <h3> + GONE! + </h3> + <p> + I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found ourselves. + Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can survive a + honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only married once, and can + but speak from my limited experience. But certainly our illusion, or + rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, did survive, as to this + day it survives in my heart across all the years of utter separation, and + across the unanswering gulf of gloom. + </p> + <p> + But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. As + our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been described, + so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. + </p> + <p> + Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long + impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and found + him lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was dying, + but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he recovered his + speech and some power of movement. But he never recovered his memory, + though he still knew Stella, and sometimes myself. Curiously enough he + remembered little Tota best of all three, though occasionally he thought + that she was his own daughter in her childhood, and would ask her where + her mother was. This state of affairs lasted for some seven months. The + old man gradually grew weaker, but he did not die. Of course his condition + quite precluded the idea of our leaving Babyan Kraals till all was over. + This was the more distressing to me because I had a nervous presentiment + that Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and also because the + state of her health rendered it desirable that we should reach a civilized + region as soon as possible. However, it could not be helped. + </p> + <p> + At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by Mr. + Carson’s bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up and spoke + in a strong, full voice. + </p> + <p> + “I hear you,” he said. “Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you too have + suffered,” and he fell back dead. + </p> + <p> + I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision of + whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was + overwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been her + sole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between them + was much closer than is usual even in the case of father and daughter. So + deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect upon her health. + Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives on the settlement + called Mr. Carson “father,” and as a father they lamented him. The air + resounded with the wailing of women, and the men went about with bowed + heads, saying that “the sun had set in the heavens, now only the Star + (Stella) remained.” Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. He said that it was + best that the Inkoos should die, for what was life worth when one lay like + a log?—moreover, that it would have been well for all if he had died + sooner. + </p> + <p> + On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the + waterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite of + all I could do to comfort her. + </p> + <p> + That night as I sat outside the hut smoking—for the weather was hot, + and Stella was lying down inside—old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, + and squatted at my feet. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Indaba-zimbi?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know,” I answered. “The Star is not fit to travel now, we must + wait awhile.” + </p> + <p> + “No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must take + her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well.” + </p> + <p> + “Why do you say so? why must we go?” + </p> + <p> + “For this reason, Macumazahn,” and he looked cautiously round and spoke + low. “The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is full of + them.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not know that they had gone,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he answered, “they went after the marriage, all but one or two; now + they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a whole cliff + back with them.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all?” I said, for I saw that he had something behind. “I am not + afraid of a pack of baboons.” + </p> + <p> + “No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with them.” + </p> + <p> + Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, and + though at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degrees + she to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was fully + preoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law’s illness. I started + violently. “How do you know this?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is dressed + up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though she was a + long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white flesh of her arm + when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, Macumazahn, with all the + baboons in the world, and she has come back to do evil. Now do you + understand why you should trek?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “though I don’t see how she and the baboons can harm us, I + think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp the waggons + somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: say nothing + of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And hearken again. + Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all round the huts and + gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we will get the waggons + ready, and next day we will trek.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a + little disturbed—unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. + That this woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] That + was not so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to do + the same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that she had been + able to muster them, and by the strength of her human will and + intelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of revenge, seemed + to me so incredible that after reflection my fears grew light. Still I + determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox waggon would not be such + a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to roughing it, + whatever her state of health. And when all was said and done I did not + like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with countless hosts of + baboons. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] For an instance of this, see Anderson’s “Twenty-five + Years in a Waggon,” vol. i. p. 262.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon + story, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the + conclusion that it was our duty to follow her father’s instructions to the + letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need not + enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declared that + she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that now that + her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. + </p> + <p> + Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morning I + was up early making preparations. The despair of the people when they + learned that we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. I + could only console them by declaring that we were but on a journey, and + would return the following year. + </p> + <p> + “They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead,” they + declared; “ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. He + had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a mat to + lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in his shadow. + Then he had died, and the Star, their father’s daughter, had married me, + Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take their father’s place, + and let them live in my shadow. What should they do when there was no one + to protect them? The tribes were kept from attacking them by fear of the + white man. If we went they would be eaten up,” and so on. Alas! there was + but too much foundation for their fears. + </p> + <p> + I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said that she + was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it necessary to + caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to allude to the + subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged to. I told her, + however, that I would come back to help her as soon as I could get away. + Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out such cattle as had + belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to the Kaffirs, for I + proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, and the business took + an incalculable time. At length, a little before sundown, I gave it up, + and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got on my horse and rode + homewards. + </p> + <p> + Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the + central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had been + packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, thence + one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her. Then I went + out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if he had seen his + mistress. + </p> + <p> + He answered “yes.” He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towards + the graveyard, holding the little white girl—my daughter—as he + called her, by the hand, when the sun stood “there,” and he pointed to a + spot on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half + before. “The two dogs were with them,” he added. I turned and ran towards + the graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the huts. Of + course there was no reason to be anxious—evidently she had gone to + lay the flowers on her father’s grave. And yet I was anxious. + </p> + <p> + When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my orders, + had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed that he was + rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I asked him if + he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not, which under the + circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping to reproach him, I + ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the graveyard. There, on Mr. + Carson’s grave, lay the drooping flowers which Stella had been carrying, + and there in the fresh mould was the spoor of Tota’s veldschoon, or hide + slipper. But where were they? + </p> + <p> + I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but no + answer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in tracing + their spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he came to a + clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream and the ancient + marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the mouth of the ravine. + Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled cry. I rushed to the + spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The little open space in the + centre of the glade had been the scene of a struggle. There, in the soft + earth, were the marks of three pairs of human feet—two shod, one + naked—Stella’s, Tota’s, and <i>Hendrika’s</i>. Nor was this all. + There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs—they were nothing + more—and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had been bitten in + the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of numberless baboons. The + full horror of what had happened flashed into my mind. + </p> + <p> + My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had not + been killed, for if so their remains would have been found with those of + the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under the + direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to some + secret den, there to keep them till they died—or kill them! + </p> + <p> + For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. Then I + roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm the people + at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns and + ammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the spoor. For a + few yards it was plain enough—Stella had been dragged along. I could + see where her heels had struck the ground; the child had, I presumed, been + carried—at least there were no marks of her feet. At the water’s + edge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, and they had gone along in + it, or at least Hendrika and her victim had, in order to obliterate the + trail. I could see where a moss-grown stone had been freshly turned over + in the water-bed. I ran along the bank some way up the ravine, in the vain + hope of catching a sight of them. Presently I heard a bark in the cliffs + above me; it was answered by another, and then I saw that scores of + baboons were hidden about among the rocks on either side, and were softly + swinging themselves down to bar the path. To go on unarmed as I was would + be useless. I should only be torn to pieces as the dogs had been. So I + turned and fled back towards the huts. As I drew near I could see that my + messenger had roused the settlement, for natives with spears and kerries + in their hands were running up towards the kraals. When I reached the hut + I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious face. + </p> + <p> + “So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “It has fallen,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “Keep a good heart, Macumazahn,” he said again. “She is not dead, nor is + the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember this, + Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans to harm + her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all.” + </p> + <p> + “Pray God that we may find her,” I groaned. “The light is going fast.” + </p> + <p> + “The moon rises in three hours,” he answered; “we will search by + moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get the + men together, eat, and make things ready. <i>Hamba gachla</i>. Hasten + slowly, Macumazahn.” + </p> + <p> + As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I packed + some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind of litter. + If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! if we found + them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before the moon rose. + But at last it did rise. + </p> + <p> + Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only mustered + five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had belonged to Mr. + Carson. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> + <h3> + THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + </h3> + <p> + We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The natives + looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of violence, + and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether the Star lived or + died they would not rest till they had exterminated every baboon on + Babyan’s Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, we kept it. + </p> + <p> + We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as we + best could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks very + little. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the lonely + moonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes with our + cries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched the sides of + precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically piled one upon + another; in vain we searched through endless dells and fern-clad crannies. + There was nothing to be found. How could we expect to find two human + beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast stretch of mountain + ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. They were lost, and in + all human probability lost for ever. + </p> + <p> + To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore and + weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waiting for + the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had brought with + them, and sent to the kraals for more. + </p> + <p> + I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my feelings. + Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may get some idea + of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring straight before him + as though he were looking into space, and taking note of what went on + there. An idea struck me. This man had some occult power. Several times + during our adventures he had prophesied, and in every case his prophecies + had proved true. He it was who, when we escaped from the Zulu Impi, had + told me to steer north, because there we should find the place of a white + man who lived under the shadow of a great peak that was full of baboons. + Perhaps he could help in this extremity—at any rate it was worth + trying. + </p> + <p> + “Indaba-zimbi,” I said, “you say that you can send your spirit through the + doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know that you + can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and will save + her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here.” + </p> + <p> + “I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn,” he answered. “I do + things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I do + like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use my + wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without being + asked—no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I + love, for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I + had a part, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this matter + I have no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless you thought + well to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have been no good to ask me + before, for I have only just found the herb I want,” and he produced a + handful of the leaves of a plant that was unfamiliar to me. It had prickly + leaves, shaped very much like those of the common English nettle. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Macumazahn,” he went on, “bid the men leave us alone, and then + follow me presently to the little glade down there by the water.” + </p> + <p> + I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a small + fire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. + </p> + <p> + “Sit there, Macumazahn,” he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, “and + do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you move or call + out we shall learn nothing.” + </p> + <p> + I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, the + old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of the + pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering with the + cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plant I have + mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, muttering as he chewed. + Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to the fire. A dense smoke rose + from them, but he held his head in this smoke and drew it down his lungs + till I saw that he was exhibiting every sign of suffocation. The veins in + his throat and chest swelled, he gasped loudly, and his eyes, from which + tears were streaming, seemed as though they were going to start from his + head. Presently he fell over on his side, and lay senseless. I was + terribly alarmed, and my first impulse was to run to his assistance, but + fortunately I remembered his caution, and sat quiet. + </p> + <p> + Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had all + the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin to + stiffen, exactly as though <i>rigor mortis</i> had set in. Then, to my + astonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time there + appeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread and spread; + in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid corpse. + </p> + <p> + I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further + natural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was going to + fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed that the + discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from the + extremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. Then + in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage of stiffness + or <i>rigor</i>, and the first stage of after-death collapse. When all + these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly woke up. + </p> + <p> + I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth open. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Macumazahn,” he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, and + nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, “it is all right; I have seen + her.” + </p> + <p> + “Seen who?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, but + unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons obey + her, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, so I + whispered in her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you would soon + rescue her, and that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased to have + Hendrika near her.” + </p> + <p> + “You whispered in her ear?” I said. “How could you whisper in her ear?” + </p> + <p> + “Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your eyes? + You don’t know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had to die to + pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all the healthy + strength and life from my body in order to gather power to speak with the + Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I had let things go + a little further they must have stopped so, and there would have been an + end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so much that you think + you know everything. But you don’t! You are always staring at the clouds + and can’t see the things that lie at your feet. You hardly believe me now, + do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. Have you anything on you that + the Star has touched or worn?” + </p> + <p> + I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my + pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, he + lit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which he + caught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with the juice + of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes,” he said. + </p> + <p> + I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt me, + then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and my + brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground with my + feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us was a pool + of beautifully clear water. + </p> + <p> + “Look into the pool, Macumazahn,” said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice sounded + hollow and far away in my ears. + </p> + <p> + I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. I saw + a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave rested + Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfully pale and + weary, and her eyelids were red as though with weeping. But she slept, and + I could almost think that I saw her lips shape my name in her sleep. Close + to her, her head upon Stella’s breast, was little Tota; she had a skin + thrown over her to keep out the night cold. The child was awake, and + appeared to be moaning with fear. By the fire, and in such a position that + the light fell full upon her face, and engaged in cooking something in a + rough pot shaped from wood, sat the Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She was + clothed in baboon skins, and her face had been rubbed with some dark + stain, which was, however, wearing off it. In the intervals of her cooking + she would turn on Stella her wild eyes, in which glared visible madness, + with an expression of tenderness that amounted to worship. Then she would + stare at the child and gnash her teeth as though with hate. Clearly she + was jealous of it. Round the entrance arch of the cave peeped and peered + the heads of many baboons. Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of them; + apparently she did not speak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake + Stella. The brute hopped forward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot + which was lying by her. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as + the vision slowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboon + returning with the pot full of water. + </p> + <p> + Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath me + was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “You have seen things,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “I have,” I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What was + there to say?[*] “Do you know the path to the cave?” I added. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir + magic the reader is referred to a work named “Among the + Zulus,” by David Leslie.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + He nodded his head. “I did not follow it all just now, because it winds,” + he said. “But I know it. We shall want the ropes.” + </p> + <p> + “Then let us be starting; the men have eaten.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make ready, + adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all right, if + Indaba-zimbi had “smelt her out,” they should soon find the Star. So we + started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much improved that I was + able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we walked. + </p> + <p> + We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a + mile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another + kloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the great + hill. + </p> + <p> + On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was never + at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills with the + certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about three hours’ + march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern slope of the great + peak. On one side of this valley was a series of stony koppies, on the + other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched along the wall for a distance + of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba-zimbi halted. + </p> + <p> + “There is the place,” he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. This + opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. It + cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was partially + hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface of the cliff. + Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have noticed it, for there + were many such cracks and crannies in the rocky face of the great + mountain. + </p> + <p> + We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I noticed + was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been worn by the + continual passage of baboons; the second, that something white was hanging + on a bush near the top of the ascent. + </p> + <p> + It was a pocket-handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I began + the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, for the + rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still possible to + an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. But the last + twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing a rope over the + trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of the opening. This we + accomplished with some trouble, and the rest was easy. A foot or two above + my head the handkerchief fluttered in the wind. Hanging to the rope, I + grasped it. It was my wife’s. As I did so I noticed the face of a baboon + peering at me over the edge of the cleft, the first baboon we had seen + that morning. The brute gave a bark and vanished. Thrusting the + handkerchief into my breast, I set my feet against the cliff and scrambled + up as hard as I could go. I knew that we had no time to lose, for the + baboon would quickly alarm the others. I gained the cleft. It was a mere + arched passage cut by water, ending in a gulley, which led to a wide open + space of some sort. I looked through the passage and saw that the gulley + was black with baboons. On they came by the hundred. I unslung my elephant + gun from my shoulders and waited, calling to the men below to come up with + all possible speed. The brutes streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards + me, barking, grunting, and showing their huge teeth. I waited till they + were within fifteen yards. Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded + with slugs, right into the thick of them. In that narrow place the report + echoed like a cannon shot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the + volley of piercing human-sounding groans and screams that followed. The + charge of heavy slugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of which + at least a dozen lay dead or dying in the passage. For a moment they + hesitated, then they came on again with a hideous clamour. Fortunately by + this time Indaba-zimbi, who also had a gun, was standing by my side, + otherwise I should have been torn to pieces before I could re-load. He + fired both barrels into them, and again checked the rush. But they came on + again, and notwithstanding the appearance of two other natives with guns, + which they let off with more or less success, we should have been + overwhelmed by the great and ferocious apes had I not by this time + succeeded in re-loading the elephant gun. When they were right on us, I + fired, with even more deadly effect than before, for at that distance + every slug told on their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage + were now something inconceivable. One might have thought that we were + doing battle with a host of demons; indeed in that light—for the + overhanging arch of rock made it very dark—the gnashing snouts and + sombre glowing eyes of the apes looked like those of devils as they are + represented by monkish fancy. But the last shot was too much for them; + they withdrew, dragging some of their wounded with them, and thus gave us + time to get our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all were there, and we + advanced down the passage, which presently opened into a rocky gulley with + shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at the bottom of it; it was + about a hundred yards long, and the slopes on either side were topped by + precipitous cliffs. I looked at these slopes; they literally swarmed with + baboons, grunting, barking, screaming, and beating their breasts with + their long arms, in fury. I looked up the water-way; along it, accompanied + by a mob, or, as it were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, her long hair + flying, madness written on her face, and in her arms was the senseless + form of little Tota. + </p> + <p> + She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. To + me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearly + understood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulder + leaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from the roof + of the arch on to a man’s head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi lifted his gun + to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the shot went over her, crying + that he would kill the child. Then I shouted to the men to open out and + form a line from side to side of the shelving gulley. Furious at the loss + of their two comrades, they obeyed me, and keeping in the water-way + myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the other guns, I gave the word to + charge. + </p> + <p> + Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most + fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the + slopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who + rushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, the + apes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, and many + more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor did we go + scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over in the grip of + a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon him like dogs on a + rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in this way, and I myself + received a bite through the fleshy part of the left arm, but fortunately a + native near me assegaied the animal before I was pulled down. + </p> + <p> + At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to + seize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more of + fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away from the + assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces in their + paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. + </p> + <p> + Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her arms, + she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I lifted + my gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad thing, + half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed full on + Indaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay to do any more. + Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and through the arch, + followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and vanished from our sight. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> + <h3> + WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Move the stone,” cried Stella’s voice, “the cave is shut with a stone.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Hendrika,” Stella cried, “what does this mean? What are you doing with + Tota and those brutes?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 knock 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV + </h2> + <h3> + FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + </h3> + <p> + Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that night + in the baboons’ home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella would not + sleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I made her up a + kind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley was one of the + hottest places I ever was in, I thought that this would not matter; but + when at sunrise on the following morning I saw a veil of miasmatic mist + hanging over the surface of the ground, I changed my opinion. However, + neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, so as soon as was practical we + started homewards. I had already on the previous day sent some of the men + back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and when we reached the cliff we + found them waiting for us beneath. With the help of the ladder the descent + was easy. Stella simply got out of her rough litter at the top of the + cliff, for we found it necessary to carry her, climbed down the ladder, + and got into it again at the bottom. + </p> + <p> + Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of + Hendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here with—“and + lived happily ever after.” But alas! it is not so. How am I to write it? + </p> + <p> + My dearest wife’s vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that the + danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that her + state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of leaving + Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of mind, and + the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, combined with + her delicate state of health, had completely broken her down. To make + matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack of fever, contracted no + doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that accursed valley. In time she + shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfully weak, and quite unfit to + face the trial before her. + </p> + <p> + I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my future, + never of <i>our</i> future. It is impossible for me to tell how sweet she + was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I wish to tell + it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if ever a woman + drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, Stella Quatermain + did so. + </p> + <p> + The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived to + kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had little + skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through one weary night + I watched her with a breaking heart. + </p> + <p> + The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak + behind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. Stella + awoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to open the + door of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the splendour + of the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an angel might smile. + Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, pointing to the radiant + heavens, whispered: + </p> + <p> + “<i>There, Allan, there!</i>” + </p> + <p> + It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wander to + the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; it cannot be + written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! + </p> + <p> + Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we can + never go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my father + before me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there is + but one word of comfort. “The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken + away.” Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble heart, + “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” + </p> + <p> + I buried her by her father’s side, and the weeping of the people who had + loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could weep no + more. + </p> + <p> + On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed + myself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, and by + its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near silently, + and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on the further + side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella’s grave, and + tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would unearth that which + lay within, was <i>Hendrika</i>. Her face was wild and haggard, her form + was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore slipped aside, the + shoulder-blades seemed to project almost through her skin. Suddenly she + looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful maniac laugh, she put her hand + to her girdle and drew her great knife from it. I thought that she was + about to attack me, and prepared to defend myself as I best could, for I + was unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. Lifting the knife on high, + for a moment she held it glittering in the moonlight, then plunged it into + her own breast, and fell headlong to the ground. + </p> + <p> + I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently she + opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. + </p> + <p> + “Macumazahn,” she said, speaking in English and in an thick difficult + voice like one who half forgot and half remembered—“Macumazahn, I + remember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “she is dead, and you killed her.” + </p> + <p> + “I killed her!” the dying woman faltered, “and I loved her. Yes, yes, I + know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and now + once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her—because I + loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not dead + yet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. It + was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and now she + never can forgive me.” + </p> + <p> + “Ask forgiveness from above,” I said, for Hendrika had been a Christian, + and the torment of her remorse touched me. + </p> + <p> + “I ask no forgiveness,” she said. “May God torture me for ever, because I + killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to find me and + forgives me! I only want her forgiveness.” And wailing in an anguish of + the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be forgotten, + Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. + </p> + <p> + I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had + happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed to + give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the + natives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to the + vultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of Hendrika. + </p> + <p> + A week after Hendrika’s death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was hateful + to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi and told + him that I was going. He answered that it was well. “The place has served + your turn,” he said; “here you have won that joy which it was fated you + should win, and have suffered those things that it was fated you should + suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy and the suffering, + like the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, and will rest at last + in the same heaven, the heaven from which they came. Now go, Macumazahn.” + </p> + <p> + I asked him if he was coming with me. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he answered, “our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We met + together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes his + own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my years are + few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhaps we may + meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we have each of + us a friend the less.” + </p> + <p> + “Heavy words,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “True words,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving + Indaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of such + cattle and goods as I did not want. + </p> + <p> + Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almost + recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwards + named, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting a respectable + native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight with the baboons, + to accompany me as his nurse. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away from + Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the Bad Lands, + and my first night’s outspan was beneath that very tree where Stella, my + lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. + </p> + <p> + I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not died in + the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from year to year I + have continued to feel while I wander through the lonely wilderness of + life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had won my darling’s love, + and for a little while we had been happy together. Our happiness was too + perfect to endure. She is lost to me now, but she is lost to be found + again. + </p> + <p> + Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. + </p> + <p> + “Good-bye, Macumazahn,” he said, nodding his white lock at me. “Good-bye + for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make me that. But + he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved each other shall + meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in my way, Macumazahn, + and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All my prophecies to you + have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall come true also. I tell you + that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and shall not find me. I tell you + that you shall journey to a further land than Babyan Kraals and shall find + me. Farewell!” and he took a pinch of snuff, turned, and went. + </p> + <p> + Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many + adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived + safely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both Tota + and my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well chronicle + the destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. Then she was + adopted by a lady, the wife of an English colonel, who was stationed at + the Cape. She was taken by her adopted parents to England, where she grew + up a very charming and pretty girl, and ultimately married a clergyman in + Norfolk. But I never saw her again, though we often wrote to each other. + </p> + <p> + Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gathered to + the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! all this + took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson’s + property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I wrote + to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer to whom the + matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not having been + celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according to English law, + and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly enough I acquiesced in + this, and the property passed to a cousin of my father-in-law’s; but since + I have come to live in England I have been informed that this opinion is + open to great suspicion, and that there is every probability that the + courts would have declared the marriage perfectly binding as having been + solemnly entered into in accordance with the custom of the place where it + was contracted. But I am now so rich that it is not worth while to move in + the matter. The cousin is dead, his son is in possession, so let him keep + it. + </p> + <p> + Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years after + my darling’s death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook an + expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of the + well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted my + horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strange + prescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the music of + the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals that used to be to + the left of the road by the river had vanished. I rode towards their site; + the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the paths were dumb with grass. + Presently I reached the place. There, overgrown with grass, were the burnt + ashes of the kraals, and there among the ashes, gleaming in the moonlight, + lay the white bones of men. Now it was clear to me. The settlement had + been fallen on by some powerful foe, and its inhabitants put to the + assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come true; Babyan Kraals were + peopled by memories alone. + </p> + <p> + I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. + They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I + entered one of them—it had been our sleeping hut—and lit a + candle which I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and + broken mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. Then I + remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor and + concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. I + went to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within wrapped in + rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife had been + married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered wreath and + flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened it; it + contained a lock of my own hair! + </p> + <p> + I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away and + could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the floor. + </p> + <p> + Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving my + horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined + garden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling’s grave grew a + self-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on to + the mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A great + baboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished into the trees. + I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika doomed to keep + an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous rage had done to + death. + </p> + <p> + I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be written. + Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters fall in + melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting mountain, I turned + and sought that spot where first we had told our love. Now the orange + grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of the trees were dead, + choked with creepers, but some still flourished. There stood the one + beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock that had been our seat, + and there on the rock sat the wraith of <i>Stella</i>, the Stella whom I + had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her upturned face was that same + spiritual look which I saw upon it in the hour when we first had kissed. + The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, the breeze wavered in her curling + hair, her breast rose and fell, a gentle smile played about her parted + lips. I stood transfixed with awe and joy, gazing on that lost loveliness + which once was mine. I could not speak, and she spoke no word; she did not + even seem to see me. Now her eyes fell. For a moment they met mine, and + their message entered into me. + </p> + <p> + Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous + moonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the waters, + the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the sorrow and + the hope. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Allan’s Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN’S WIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 2727-h.htm or 2727-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2727/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2727] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN'S WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +ALLAN'S WIFE + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + + My Dear Macumazahn, + + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening + of that Allen who has become as well known to me as any + other friend I have. It is therefore fitting that I should + dedicate to you this, his last tale--the story of his wife, + and the history of some further adventures which befell him. + They will remind you of many an African yarn--that with the + baboons may recall an experience of your own which I did not + share. And perhaps they will do more than this. Perhaps they + will bring back to you some of the long past romance of days + that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain + tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known and + explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and + trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized + man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of + the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the + Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the + morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The + blue gums that we planted in the garden of the "Palatial" + must be large trees by now, and the "Palatial" itself has + passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for her love after we + were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is + dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin. + + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the + mystery and promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day + sun burns overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of + those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and + murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in + a more gentle fashion; others are hidden from us, we know + not where. We might well fear to return to that land lest we + also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart to-day, the + past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we + can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly + undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. + Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria + Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight + patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the + Shameful Hill. + + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those + eventful years of youth which we passed together in the + African towns and on the African veldt, I dedicate these + pages, subscribing myself now as always, + + Your sincere friend, + + Indanda. + + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. + + + + +ALLAN'S WIFE + + + +CHAPTER I + +EARLY DAYS + +It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just +before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, +stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. + +When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his +literary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the +following is one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. +Quatermain was not personally concerned--a Zulu novel, the story of +which was told to him by the hero many years after the tragedy had +occurred. But with this we have nothing to do at present. + + +I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain's manuscript begins) that I would +set down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss of +my most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and to +some extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it +is still keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun the +record. Once I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me beyond +bearing, once because I was suddenly called away upon a journey, and +the third time because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript convenient for +lighting the kitchen fire. + +But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth +attempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in after +years when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it to +be published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curious +reflections. + +I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in charge +of a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten years +married to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four children, +of whom I was the youngest. I remember faintly the place where we lived. +It was an ancient long grey house, facing the road. There was a very +large tree of some sort in the garden. It was hollow, and we children +used to play about inside of it, and knock knots of wood from the rough +bark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and my mother always came and +kissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake up and see her bending +over me, a candle in her hand. There was a curious kind of pole +projecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was dreadfully frightened +because my eldest brother made me hang to it by my hands. That is all +I remember about our old home. It has been pulled down long ago, or I +would journey there to see it. + +A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates to +it, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which +were so hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was +prophetic. One could see the house by peeping through the bars of the +gates. It was a gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it; +but in the summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the grass +plat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived there. One +Christmas--it must have been the Christmas before my father emigrated, +or I should not remember it--we children went to a Christmas-tree +festivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, and footmen +wearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the dining-room, which was +panelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. Squire Carson stood in +front of it. He was a tall, dark man, very quiet in his manners, and he +wore a bunch of seals on his waistcoat. We used to think him old, but +as a matter of fact he was then not more than forty. He had been, as +I afterwards learned, a great traveller in his youth, and some six +or seven years before this date he married a lady who was half a +Spaniard--a papist, my father called her. I can remember her well. She +was small and very pretty, with a rounded figure, large black eyes, and +glittering teeth. She spoke English with a curious accent. I suppose +that I must have been a funny child to look at, and I know that my hair +stood up on my head then as it does now, for I still have a sketch of +myself that my mother made of me, in which this peculiarity is strongly +marked. On this occasion of the Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. +Carson turned to a tall, foreign-looking gentleman who stood beside +her, and, tapping him affectionately on the shoulder with her gold +eye-glasses, said-- + +"Look, cousin--look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes; +his hair is like a--what you call him?--scrubbing-brush. Oh, what a +droll little boy!" + +The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson's +hand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her +whisper-- + +"Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like--like the +thunderstorm." + +Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. + +After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was +shy, and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire's only child, +giving the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as Father +Christmas, with some soft white stuff round her lovely little face, and +she had large dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than anything +I had ever seen. At last it came to my turn to receive a present--oddly +enough, considered in the light of future events, it was a large monkey. +Stella reached it down from one of the lower boughs of the tree and +handed it to me, saying-- + +"Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain." + +As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled +over with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught +fire--how I do not know--and the flame ran up her arm towards her +throat. She stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with +fear; and the ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did nothing. +Then some impulse seized me--perhaps instinct would be a better word to +use, considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, and, beating at +the fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in extinguishing it before +it really got hold. My wrists were so badly scorched that they had to be +wrapped up in wool for a long time afterwards, but with the exception of +a single burn upon her throat, little Stella Carson was not much hurt. + +This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. +What happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I +sometimes see little Stella's sweet face and the stare of terror in her +dark eyes as the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not wonderful, +for I had, humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was destined to +be my wife. + +The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three +brothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the +poisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead sheep +into it. + +It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day +to the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in +the study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of paper +with a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room talking to +himself. Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the lives of his wife +and children. Presently a servant came to the door and said that some +one wanted to see him. + +"It is the squire, sir," said the maid, "and he says he particularly +wishes to see you." + +"Very well," answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carson +came in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so fiercely +that I was afraid of him. + +"Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain," he said, +in a hoarse voice, "but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and I +wish to speak to you before I go--indeed, I must speak to you." + +"Shall I send Allan away?" said my father, pointing to me. + +"No; let him bide. He will not understand." Nor, indeed, did I at the +time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning grew +on me. + +"First tell me," he went on, "how are they?" and he pointed upwards with +his thumb. + +"My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope," my father answered, with +a groan. "I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord's will +be done!" + +"The Lord's will be done," the squire echoed, solemnly. "And now, +Quatermain, listen--my wife's gone." + +"Gone!" my father answered. "Who with?" + +"With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me +that she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she +thought me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, +or most of it, and gone. I don't know where. Luckily, she did not care +to encumber her new career with the child; Stella is left to me." + +"That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson," said my father. That +was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, but he +was bigoted. "What are you going to do--follow her?" + +He laughed bitterly in answer. + +"Follow her!" he said; "why should I follow her? If I met her I might +kill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have +brought upon my child's name. No, I never want to look upon her face +again. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go +and find her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life." + +"Surely, Carson, surely," said my father, "you do not mean----" + +"No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this +civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, I +and my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don't know where. Anywhere, +so long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated tongues----" + +"You are mad, Carson," my father answered. "How will you live? How can +you educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down." + +"I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. +Education! Was not she--that woman who was my wife--was not she highly +educated?--the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever for +me, Quatermain--too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be brought +up in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her very +name. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find me +out, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I knew," +and he was gone. + +"Mad," said my father, with a heavy sigh. "His trouble has turned his +brain. But he will think better of it." + +At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in his +ear. My father's face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table to +support himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! + +It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my +father took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which +had been my mother's bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with +flowers in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three +little white beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. They +all looked as though they were asleep, and they all had flowers in their +hands. My father told me to kiss them, because I should not see them any +more, and I did so, though I was very frightened. I did not know why. +Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. + +"The Lord hath given," he said, "and the Lord hath taken away; blessed +be the name of the Lord." + +I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have only +a confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens towards +the grey churchyard! + +Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father +could no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen +on him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have +been poor at the time--indeed, I believe that a large portion of +our income went from my father on my mother's death. At any rate we +travelled with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort of +the journey with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remain +upon my mind. At last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which I +was not to leave again for many, many years. + +In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern +Africa. My father went up the country and became a missionary among the +Kaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I grew +to manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, and +gradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission +station--a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the most +interesting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the Scottish +poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently published, literally +by the page. It was from that I contracted a fondness for the latter +amusing writings, which has never left me. Burns I never cared for so +much, probably because of the Scottish dialect which repelled me. What +little education I got was from my father, but I never had much leaning +towards books, nor he much time to teach them to me. On the other hand, +I was always a keen observer of the ways of men and nature. By the time +that I was twenty I could speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects +perfectly, and I doubt if there was anybody in South Africa who +understood native ways of thought and action more completely than I +did. Also I was really a very good shot and horseman, and I think--as, +indeed, my subsequent career proves to have been the case--a great deal +tougher than the majority of men. Though I was then, as now, light and +small, nothing seemed to tire me. I could bear any amount of exposure +and privation, and I never met the native who was my master in feats +of endurance. Of course, all that is different now, I am speaking of my +early manhood. + +It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such +surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father's society. He +was one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the +most savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good one +for me. He used to call himself one of the world's failures. Would that +there were more such failures. Every morning when his work was done he +would take his prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or verandah +of our station, would read the evening psalms to himself. Sometimes +there was not light enough for this, but it made no difference, he knew +them all by heart. When he had finished he would look out across the +cultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had their huts. + +But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English church, +and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the wicket gate. + +It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one +evening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire and +my mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never been +out of his mind for a single day during all these years, and that he +rejoiced to think he was drawing near that land whither she had gone. +Then he asked me if I remembered the night when Squire Carson came into +the study at the vicarage, and told him that his wife had run away, and +that he was going to change his name and bury himself in some remote +land. + +I answered that I remembered it perfectly. + +"I wonder where he went to," said my father, "and if he and his daughter +Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them again. But +life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever do, give them +my kind love." + +After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the +depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, +as I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch the +kraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this habit of +mine of watching at night that I first got my native name of Macumazahn, +which may be roughly translated as "he who sleeps with one eye open." So +I took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him and kissed me on +the forehead, saying, "God bless you, Allan! I hope that you will think +of your old father sometimes, and that you will lead a good and happy +life." + +I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it +down to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the +years went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an hour +of sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the station. As I +came near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my father's chair. +At first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then that my father had +fallen asleep there. + +And so he had,--for he was dead! + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRE-FIGHT + +When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his +place--for the station was the property of the Society--I set to work to +carry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute +because it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly, +it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the +countries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much +further North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though +the emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these territories, +they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But I was now +alone in the world, and it mattered little what became of me; so, driven +on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old as I am, will +perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to undertake the +journey. + +Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, +reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The proceeds +I invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading purposes, +and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any modern +explorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a good deal +of execution with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, smooth +bore, fitted for percussion caps--a roer we called it--which threw a +three-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black powder. +Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, although it generally +knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only did under compulsion. +The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double-barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, +but it had flint locks. Also there were some old tower muskets, which +might or might not throw straight at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs +with me, and three good horses, which were supposed to be salted--that +is, proof against the sickness. Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow +named Indaba-zimbi, which, being translated, means "tongue of iron." +I suppose he got this name from his strident voice and exhaustless +eloquence. This man was a great character in his way. He had been a +noted witch-doctor among a neighbouring tribe, and came to the station +under the following circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable +part in this history, are perhaps worth recording. + +Two years before my father's death I had occasion to search the country +round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred +to me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a +Kaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty miles +from our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at home. +The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the following morning I went +to pay my respects to him before leaving, and was somewhat surprised to +find a collection of some hundreds of men and women sitting round him +anxiously watching the sky in which the thunder-clouds were banking up +in a very ominous way. + +"You had better wait, white man," said the chief, "and see the +rain-doctors fight the lightning." + +I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had +for some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, +although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country now +known as Zululand. But a son of the chief's, a man of about thirty, +had lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritated +Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between the two +witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by lightning being +given and accepted. These were the conditions. The rivals must await the +coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve their +turn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take their stand +within fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of ground where +the big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, and by the +exercise of their occult powers and invocations to the lightning, must +strive to avert death from themselves and bring it on their rival. The +terms of this singular match had been arranged a month previously, +but no storm worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the local +weather-prophets believed it to be brewing. + +I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and was +told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the +second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be +jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. + +The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my +desire to be gone, and I accepted the chief's invitation to see it +out. Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens grew +darker and darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the storm, +yet it did not come. By four o'clock, however, it became obvious that +it must burst soon--at sunset, the old chief said, and in the company +of the whole assembly I moved down to the place of combat. The kraal was +built on the top of a hill, and below it the land sloped gently to the +banks of a river about half a mile away. On the hither side of the +bank was the piece of land that was, the natives said, "loved of the +lightning." Here the magicians took up their stand, while the spectators +grouped themselves on the hillside about two hundred yards away--which +was, I thought, rather too near to be pleasant. When we had sat there +for a while my curiosity overcame me, and I asked leave of the chief to +go down and inspect the arena. He said I might do so at my own risk. I +told him that the fire from above would not hurt white men, and went +to find that the spot was a bed of iron ore, thinly covered with grass, +which of course accounted for its attracting the lightning from the +storms as they travelled along the line of the river. At each end of +this iron-stone area were placed the combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing the +east, and his rival the west, and before each there burned a little +fire made of some scented root. Moreover they were dressed in all the +paraphernalia of their craft, snakeskins, fish-bladders, and I know not +what beside, while round their necks hung circlets of baboons' teeth +and bones from human hands. First I went to the western end where +the chief's son stood. He was pointing with his assegai towards the +advancing storm, and invoking it in a voice of great excitement. + +"Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! + +"Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! + +"Spit on him with your rain! + +"Whirl him away in your breath! + +"Make him as nothing--melt the marrow in his bones! + +"Run into his heart and burn away the lies! + +"Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! + +"Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!" + +Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad +chest--for he was a very fine man--with some filthy compound of medicine +or _mouti_. + +After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the +iron-stone, to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting +at all, but his performance was much more impressive. It consisted in +staring at the eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and +every now and again beckoning at it with his finger, then turning round +to point with the assegai towards his rival. For a while I looked at him +in silence. He was a curious wizened man, apparently over fifty years +of age, with thin hands that looked as tough as wire. His nose was much +sharper than is usual among these races, and he had a queer habit of +holding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, which, in +addition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a most comical +appearance. Another strange thing about him was that he had a single +white lock of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke to him: + +"Indaba-zimbi, my friend," I said, "you may be a good witch-doctor, but +you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky while +your enemy is getting a start with the storm." + +"You may be clever, but don't think you know everything, white man," the +old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something like a +grin. + +"They call you Iron-tongue," I went on; "you had better use it, or the +Storm Devil won't hear you." + +"The fire from above runs down iron," he answered, "so I keep my tongue +quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I'll put him out presently. Look +now, white man." + +I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was +small, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. + +This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it +did not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa +for two thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different points +of the compass. + +"You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "the big storm is coming +along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours," and I pointed to +the west. + +"Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man," said Indaba-zimbi, +beckoning away vigorously. "Look now at my cloud-child." + +I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, and +in shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its shoulders, +and its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling across the +heavens. The light of the setting sun escaping from beneath the lower +edge of the western storm shot across the intervening space in a sheet +of splendour, and, lighting upon the advancing figure of cloud, wrapped +its middle in hues of glory too wonderful to be described; but beneath +and above this glowing belt his feet and head were black as jet. +Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light shot from the head of +the cloud, circled it about as though with a crown of living fire, and +vanished. + +"Aha," chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, "my little boy is putting on his man's +ring," and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives assume +when they reach a certain age and dignity. "Now, white man, unless you +are a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear off, for the +fire-fight is about to begin." + +I thought this sound advice. + +"Good luck go with you, my black uncle," I said. "I hope you don't feel +the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last." + +"You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man," he +answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at that +very moment a flash of lightning, I don't know from which storm, struck +the ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I took +to my heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi's dry chuckle of +amusement. + +I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his +indunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man's +face and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son's safety, and +by no means confident of the young man's powers to resist the magic of +Indaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. +I affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention on +the novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, and +caught the drift of the conversation. + +"Hearken!" the chief was saying, "if the magic of Indaba-zimbi prevails +against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, that when +he has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make himself chief in +my place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. _Ou!_" + +"Black One," answered the induna, "wizards die as dogs die, and, once +dead, dogs bark no more." + +"And once dead," said the chiefs, "wizards work no more spells," and he +bent and whispered in the induna's ear, looking at the assegai in his +hand as he whispered. + +"Good, my father, good!" said the induna, presently. "It shall be done +to-night, if the lightning does not do it first." + +"A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi," I said to myself. "They mean to +kill him." Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scene +before me was too tremendous. + +The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf of +blue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed across +this gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they reminded +me of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. The storm +that was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of the sinking +sun made an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts which leapt +from it could not have been surpassed even in mythological times. +Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by thunder. A deadly +stillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on the hillside, +even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows crept along the +bosom of the hills, the river to the right and left was hidden in +wreaths of cloud, but before us and beyond the combatants it shone +like a line of silver beneath the narrowing space of open sky. Now the +western tempest was scrawled all over with lines of intolerable light, +while the inky head of the cloud-giant to the east was continually +suffused with a white and deadly glow that came and went in pulses, as +though a blood of flame was being pumped into it from the heart of the +storm. + +The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and blacker, +then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of an icy +wind. On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was ruffled by +it into little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, and in its +wake came the hissing sound of furious rain. + +Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of dazzling +flame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise of the +following thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell suddenly +on the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape grew vivid +in the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything was visible +for miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the blackness. The +thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of doom, whirlwinds +tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into the air, and in a +low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. + +I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, +and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash followed +flash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. They were +slowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his foe with the +assegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, and it seemed to +me that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone all round them. + +Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything grew +black, and, except for the rain, silent. + +"It is over one way or the other, chief," I called out into the +darkness. + +"Wait, white man, wait!" answered the chief, in a voice thick with +anxiety and fear. + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up +again till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten +paces apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger beneath +the shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first--at any rate when the +next flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with his assegai +towards his enemy. The chief's son was still on his legs, but he was +staggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen from his hand. + +Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that +had gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the +head of Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief's son wrapped, +as it were, in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain burst +over us like a torrent, and I saw no more. + +The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so +dense that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the +safety of the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, +and venture down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still came +flashes, but, search as we would, we could see no trace of either of +the wizards. For my part, I believed that they were both dead. Now the +clouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, and with them +went the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. + +"Let us go and see," said the old chief, rising and shaking the water +from his hair. "The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has +conquered." + +I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards +with my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. + +We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron-stone +had been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was staring about +me, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, give a low moan, +and saw the people cluster round him. I went up and looked. There, on +the ground, lay the body of his son. It was a dreadful sight. The hair +was burnt off his head, the copper rings upon his arms were fused, the +assegai handle which lay near was literally shivered into threads, and, +when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to me that every bone of it was +broken. + +The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. + +"Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!" said a man, at length. The chief +turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. + +"Great or not, thou dog, he shall die," he cried, "and so shalt thou if +thou singest his praises so loudly." + +I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared +the fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, +and at length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to my +waggon to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised to +see a strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a blanket. + +"Hullo! come out of that," I said. + +The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great +deliberation took a pinch of snuff. + +"It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?" said Indaba-zimbi, +in his high, cracked voice. "But he never had a chance against me, +poor boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of +presumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes +fly, didn't I?" + +"You old humbug," I said, "unless you are careful you will soon learn +what comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you with +an assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that." + +"Now you don't say so," said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggon +with rapidity; "and all because of this wretched upstart. There's +gratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. +Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long," and +he was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the +chief's men came up to the waggon. + +On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on +arriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. + +"How do you do, Macumazahn?" he said, holding his head on one side and +nodding his white lock. "I hear you are Christians here, and I want to +try a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people wanted +to kill me for exposing an impostor." + + + +CHAPTER III + +NORTHWARDS + +I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this +narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with +Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he +takes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a +humbug, he was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in his +pretensions to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, though +I may have my own opinion on the subject. But there was no mistake as to +the extraordinary influence he exercised over his fellow-natives. Also +he quite got round my poor father. At first the old gentleman declined +to have him at the station, for he had a great horror of these Kaffir +wizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi persuaded him that he was +anxious to investigate the truths of Christianity, and challenged him to +a discussion. The argument lasted two years--to the time of my father's +death, indeed. At the conclusion of each stage Indaba-zimbi would +remark, in the words of the Roman Governor, "Almost, praying white man, +thou persuadest me to become a Christian," but he never quite became +one--indeed, I do not think he ever meant to. It was to him that my +father addressed his "Letters to a Native Doubter." This work, which, +unfortunately, remains in manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned +instances. It ought to be published together with a _precis_ of the +doubter's answers, which were verbal. + +So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be going +on now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. Meanwhile +Indaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition that he +practised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be a wile of +the devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there was never +an ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those interested. + +When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the tribe +he had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with them +since he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was +dead. Old Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as he +listened, raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, +pointing to the little heap, "There is your tribe to-day," he said. +Then he lifted his heel and stamped the heap flat. "There is your tribe +before three moons are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me away: I +will have no more to do with you; but when you are being killed think of +my words." + +The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole +community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. + +When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old +Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find +him engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in his +blankets. + +"Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "I am going to trek north." + +"Yes, Macumazahn," he answered, with his head on one side; "and so am +I--I want to see that country. We will go together." + +"Will we!" I said; "wait till you are asked, you old humbug." + +"You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don't you will +never come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to +where the storms come from," and he nodded to the sky, "I feel myself +getting into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones +and worked out about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if you +don't take me you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one who is +dearer to you than life in a strange fashion. So just because you gave +me that hint a couple of years ago, I made up my mind to come with you." + +"Don't talk stuff to me," I said. + +"Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own +people six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would happen? +They drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away you will +soon be gone too," and he nodded his white lock at me and smiled. Now +I was not more superstitious than other people, but somehow old +Indaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary influence over +every class of native, and bethought me that he might be useful in that +way. + +"All right," I said: "I appoint you witch-finder to the expedition +without pay." + +"First serve, then ask for wages," he answered. "I am glad to see that +you have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most white +men, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes +people fools; they won't believe what they can't understand. You can't +understand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could +understand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time to +trek, but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not two." + +"Why?" I said. + +"Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than +two." + +"Oh, nonsense!" I said. + +"All right, Macumazahn, live and learn." And without another word he +walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on to +the front seat. + +So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the +old Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns +till the tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled +slowly northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particular +befell me. Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, and +game literally swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africa +nowadays can have the remotest idea of what the veldt was like even +thirty years ago. + +Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the +sun rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast field +of white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden glow, +through which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic beacons. +From the dense mist would come strange sounds--snorts, gruntings, +bellows, and the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this great +curtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke from a +pipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide rolling country +interspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was not tenantless as +it is now, for as far as the eye could reach it would be literally black +with game. Here to the right might be a herd of vilderbeeste that could +not number less than two thousand. Some were grazing, some gambolled, +whisking their white tails into the air, while all round the old bulls +stood upon hillocks sniffing suspiciously at the breeze. There, in +front, a hundred yards away, though to the unpractised eye they looked +much closer, because of the dazzling clearness of the atmosphere, was +a great herd of springbok trekking along in single file. Ah, they have +come to the waggon-track and do not like the look of it. What will they +do?--go back? Not a bit of it. It is nearly thirty feet wide, but that +is nothing to a springbok. See, the first of them bounds into the air +like a ball. How beautifully the sunshine gleams upon his golden +hide! He has cleared it, and the others come after him in numberless +succession, all except the fawns, who cannot jump so far, and have to +scamper over the doubtful path with a terrified _bah_. What is that +yonder, moving above the tops of the mimosa, in the little dell at the +foot of the koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of them; there will be +marrow-bones for supper to-night. Hark! the ground shakes behind us, and +over the brow of the rise rush a vast herd of blesbock. On they come at +full gallop, their long heads held low, they look like so many bearded +goats. I thought so--behind them is a pack of wild dogs, their fur +draggled, their tongues lolling. They are in full cry; the giraffes hear +them and are away, rolling round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. +No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are close on a buck. +He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his flank and misses +him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly round and sees the +waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his despair rushes up +to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up some thirty +paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun--no, not the rifle, +the shot-gun loaded with loopers. + +Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. +No, don't touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he +shall have it. + +Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! + +Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to see +it again before I die. + +The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was +with elephants, which I will relate because of its curious termination. +Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a stretch of +forest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered this forest +we camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead tambouki grass was +growing to the height of a man, or rather it had been; now, with the +exception of a few stalks here and there, it was crushed quite flat. It +was already dusk when we camped; but after the moon got up I walked from +the fire to see how this had happened. One glance was enough for me; +a great herd of elephants had evidently passed over the tall grass not +many hours before. The sight of their spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, +for though I had seen wild elephants, at that time I had never shot +one. Moreover, the sight of elephant spoor to the African hunter is what +"colour in the pan" is to the prospector of gold. It is by the ivory +that he lives, and to shoot it or trade it is his chief aim in life. My +resolution was soon taken. I would camp the waggons for a while in the +forest, and start on horseback after the elephants. + +I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The +latter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means plenty +of meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would express no +opinion. I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit for himself, +and go through some mysterious performances with bones and clay mixed +with ashes, which were watched with the greatest interest by the other +Kaffirs. At length he rose, and, coming forward, informed me that it was +all right, and that I did well to go and hunt the elephants, as I should +get plenty of ivory; but he advised me to go on foot. I said I should +do nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. I am wiser now; this was +the first and last time that I ever attempted to hunt elephants on +horseback. + +Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the rest +I left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my driver, a +good rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi and the +others walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of the herd, +which was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to let the horses +rest and feed, and about three o'clock started on again. Another hour or +so passed, and still there was no sign of elephants. Evidently the herd +had travelled fast and far, and I began to think that we should have to +give it up, when suddenly I caught sight of a brown mass moving through +the thorn-trees on the side of a slope about a quarter of a mile away. +My heart seemed to jump into my mouth. Where is the hunter who has not +felt like this at the sight of his first elephant? + +I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk +the bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we +came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here I saw the +elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay +all about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughts +were fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gave +a violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came a +mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me. I looked: there +was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four yards off. I +could just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on either +side. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away. + +Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was +young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I +lifted my "roer" or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my +horse's head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the +horse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull +lurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will +quicken the movement even of an elephant. By this time I had realized +the folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take +no further notice of it. But he took a different view of the matter. +Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round and came for +me with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming terribly. I was +quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first thought was of +escape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but he would not move +an inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he simply stood +still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a leaf. + +On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to +stir the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my +head. A thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from +the saddle. By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick through +as a man's body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground by the +broken boughs which took its weight, and with a single movement, so +active is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath it. As I did +so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on the +back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, +for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the tree under +which I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there long. In ten seconds +more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag's neck, and, with a +mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I wriggled backwards as far +as I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after. +Presently I saw the red tip of the bull's trunk stretching itself +towards me. If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I was +lost. But in the position I occupied, that was just what he could not +do, although he knelt down to facilitate his operations. On came the +snapping tip like a great open-mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, +which vanished. Again it was thrust down, and a scream of rage was +bellowed through it within four inches of my head. Now it seemed to +elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now it had me by the hair, which, luckily +for myself, was not very long. Then it was my turn to scream, for next +instant half a square inch of hair was dragged from my scalp by the +roots. I was being plucked alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchen +boys pluck a fowl. + +The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, changed +his tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and lifted. The +tree stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded in the spongy +soil, and some roots, which still held, prevented it from being turned +over, though he lifted it so much that, had it occurred to him, he could +now easily have drawn me out with his trunk. Again he hoisted with all +his mighty strength, and I saw that the tree was coming, and roared +aloud for help. Some shots were fired close by in answer, but if they +hit the bull, their only effect was to stir his energies to more active +life. In another few seconds my shelter would be torn away, and I should +be done for. A cold perspiration burst out over me as I realized that I +was lost. Then of a sudden I remembered that I had a pistol in my belt, +which I often used for despatching wounded game. It was loaded and +capped. By this time the tree was lifted so much that I could easily get +my hand down to my middle and draw the pistol from its case. I drew and +cocked it. Now the tree was coming over, and there, within three feet of +my head, was the great brown trunk of the elephant. I placed the +muzzle of the pistol within an inch of it and fired. The result was +instantaneous. Down sunk the tree again, giving one of my legs a +considerable squeeze, and next instant I heard a crashing sound. The +elephant had bolted. + +By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well +tired. I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or indeed +anything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking some peach +brandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me nodding +his white lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on the +narrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his advice +to go on foot. That reminded me of my horse--I got up and went to look +at it. It was quite dead, the blow of the elephant's trunk had fallen +on the saddle, breaking the framework, and rendering it useless. I +reflected that in another two seconds it would have fallen on _me_. Then +I called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the elephants had gone. + +"There!" he said, pointing down the gully, "and we had better go after +them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good." + +There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not feel +particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to have had +enough of them. However, it would never do to show the white feather +before the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, and we +started, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we had +travelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a sudden +we came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than eighty. +Just in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed to hesitate +about entering it, and the sides of the valley were so rocky and steep +at this point that they could not climb them. + +They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was filled +with fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge back up +the gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at the thick +bush which went down before them like corn before a sickle. I do not +think that in all my experiences I ever heard anything to equal the +sound they made as they crashed through and over the shrubs and trees. +Before them was a dense forest belt from a hundred to a hundred and +fifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so that behind them +was nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen trunks, crushed +branches, and here and there a tree, too strong even for them, left +stranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, notwithstanding the nature +of the ground over which they had to travel, they kept their distance +ahead of us. This sort of thing continued for a mile or more, and then +I saw that in front of the elephants the valley opened into a space +covered with reeds and grass--it might have been five or six acres in +extent--beyond which the valley ran on again. + +The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, +hesitating--evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as only +Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose +martial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and +dashed into the treacherous swamp--for such it was, though just then +there was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with them, +though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the great bull +sank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained fixed. The +others, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and trumpetings, +but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the whole herd of +them were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled to escape, the +deeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a cow managed to win +back to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, prepared to charge us as we +came up. But at that moment she heard the scream of her calf, and rushed +back to its assistance, only to be bogged with the others. + +Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all +over with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with their +screams of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to and fro. +Now and then a monster would make a great effort and drag his mass from +its peaty bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It was a most +pitiable sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my men. Even the +best natives have little compassion for the sufferings of animals. + +Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants +carried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we +shot them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and +some of the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them to +perish of hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull I +slew with my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction in +so doing. He knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at me, +but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast. + +The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. Owing +to the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had fallen: +there they stood as though they were asleep. + +I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, formed +a camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of cutting +out the elephants' tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious reasons +was a disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of some +wandering bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not think +we could ever have managed it. + +At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, +so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys +wanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too much +bent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. Then +I came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. Ultimately I sold +the ivory for something over twelve hundred pounds--not bad pay for one +day's shooting. + +This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many +hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on +horseback. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ZULU IMPI + +After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the +bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to +find the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more +I trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free State +from Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The +only difficulties met with were such as are still common to African +travellers--occasional want of water and troubles about crossing sluits +and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where Kimberley now +stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there was no water. +I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a great +city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and old +Indaba-zimbi's magic cannot have been worth so much after all, or he +would have told me. + +I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before +Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka's General had swept across it in his +progress towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident +enough. Time upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the sites +of Kaffir kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled stones, +and strewn about among the rank grass were the bones of hundreds of men, +women, and children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu assegai. I remember +that in one of these desolate places I found the skull of a child in +which a ground-lark had built its nest. It was the twittering of the +young birds inside that first called my attention to it. Shortly after +this we met with our second great adventure, a much more serious and +tragic one than the first. + +We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of blesbock +crossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. It galloped +about a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay down. As we +were in want of meat, not having met with any game for a few days past, +I jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that I would overtake +the waggons or meet them on the further side of a rise about an hour's +trek away, I started after the wounded buck. As soon as I came within +a hundred yards of it, however, it jumped up and ran away as fast +as though it were untouched, only to lie down again at a distance. I +followed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. This happened three +times. On the third occasion it vanished behind a ridge, and, though +by now I was out of both temper and patience, I thought I might as well +ride to the crest and see if I could get a shot at it on the further +side. + +I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and +saw--a Zulu Impi! + +I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They +were halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying +down, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with spears +and shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand or +more of them in all. While I was wondering--and that with no little +uneasiness--what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard a +wild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then the +other. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their broad +stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. The man +to the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was not more +than ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out of their +heads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in another three +seconds those broad "bangwans" might be buried in my vitals. On such +occasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than from anything +else--there is no time for thought. At any rate, I dropped the reins +and, raising my gun, fired point blank at the left-hand man. The bullet +struck him in the middle of his shield, pierced it, and passed through +him, and over he rolled upon the veldt. I swung round in the saddle; +most happily my horse was accustomed to standing still when I fired from +his back, also he was so surprised that he did not know which way to +shy. The other savage was almost on me; his outstretched shield reached +the muzzle of my gun as I pulled the trigger of the left barrel. It +exploded, the warrior sprung high into the air, and fell against my +horse dead, his spear passing just in front of my face. + +Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the Zulus +had seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and drove +my heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the rise I +pulled a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons before +the Zulus saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this new +direction when, to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked with +waggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have been +at least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had passed +within twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I understood; +the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in all +probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. + +The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I +followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and +there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough +laager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own waggons +trekking down the slope towards them. + +In another five minutes I was there. The Boers--for Boers they +were--were standing about outside the little laager watching the +approach of my two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw +me. The very first man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom +I had known well years ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his +class, but a very restless person, with a great objection to authority, +or, as he expressed it, "a love of freedom." He had joined a party of +the emigrant Boers some years before, but, as I learned presently, +had quarrelled with its leader, and was now trekking away into the +wilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor fellow! It was his +last trek. + +"How do you do, Meinheer Botha?" I said to him in Dutch. + +The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch +stolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the waggon-- + +"Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the +son of the 'Predicant.' How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the +news down in the Cape yonder?" + +"I don't know what the news is in the Cape, Hans," I answered, solemnly; +"but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your spoor and +within two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have just shot two +of their sentries," and I showed him my empty gun. + +For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the bronzed +faces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two of the +women gave a little scream, and the children crept to their sides. + +"Almighty!" cried Hans, "that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that Dingaan +sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them because of the +marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and struck north to +join Mosilikatze." + +"Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a +horse and drive in the cattle." + +At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the +box of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the +news. + +"Ill tidings, Macumazahn," he said; "there will be dead Boers about +to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will +wipe out the laager _so!_" and he passed his hand before his mouth. + +"Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow," I said, though I knew +his words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told +against at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? + +"Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?" Indaba-zimbi said, +presently. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run +for it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won't follow us, they will be +looking after the Boers." + +"I won't leave the other white men," I said; "it would be the act of a +coward. If I die, I die." + +"Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed," he answered, taking +a pinch of snuff. "Come, let us see about the waggons," and we walked +towards the laager. + +Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha and +put it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and make a +run for it. + +"How can we do it?" he answered; "two of the women are too fat to go +a mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. +Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we +must fight it out with the savages, and God help us!" + +"God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!" + +"I can't bear to think," he answered, in a broken voice, looking at his +own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, named +Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. "Oh, Heer Allan, your father, +the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I never +would listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; now I see +my folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from those black +devils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can't save her, kill +her," and he clasped my hand. + +"It hasn't come to that yet, Hans," I said. + +Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including +my two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the +disselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of that +in front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space between the +ground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branches +of the "wait-a-bit" thorn that fortunately grew near in considerable +quantities. In this way a barrier was formed of no mean strength as +against a foe unprovided with firearms, places being left for the men +to fire from. In a little over an hour everything was done that could be +done, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the cattle, which had +been driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers were anxious to get +them into the laager, small as it was, or at least as many of them as it +would hold. I argued strongly against this, pointing out that the brutes +would probably be seized with panic as soon as the firing began, and +trample the defenders of the laager under foot. As an alternative plan +I suggested that some of the native servants should drive the herd along +the valley of the river till they reached a friendly tribe or some other +place of safety. Of course, if the Zulus saw them they would be taken, +but the nature of the ground was favourable, and it was possible that +they might escape if they started at once. The proposition was promptly +agreed to, and, what is more, it was settled that one Dutchman and such +of the women and children as could travel should go with them. In half +an hour's time twelve of them started with the natives, the Boer in +charge, and the cattle. Three of my own men went with the latter, the +three others and Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the laager. + +The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to +dwell. The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on with +scared white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was thankful +of it. There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four natives, +the two Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in childbed +and her baby, and Hans Bother's little daughter Tota, whom he could not +make up his mind to part with. Happily her mother was already dead. And +here I may state that ten of the women and children, together with about +half of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never saw them, and on the +third day of travel they came to the fortified place of a Griqua chief, +who sheltered them on receiving half the cattle in payment. Thence +by slow degrees they journeyed down to the Cape Colony, reaching a +civilized region within a little more than a year from the date of the +attack on the laager. + +The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no +signs of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone +on about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the +regiment was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I noticed, +been plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and volunteered +to go out and spy upon their movements. At first Hans Botha was against +this idea, saying that he was a "verdomde swartzel"--an accursed black +creature--and would betray us. I pointed out that there was nothing to +betray. The Zulus must know where the waggons were, but it was important +for us to gain information of their movements. So it was agreed that +Indaba-zimbi should go. I told him this. He nodded his white lock, said +"All right, Macumazahn," and started. I noticed with some surprise, +however, that before he did so he went to the waggon and fetched his +"mouti," or medicine, which, together with his other magical apparatus, +he always carried in a skin bag. I asked him why he did this. He +answered that it was to make himself invulnerable against the spears +of the Zulus. I did not in the least believe his explanation, for in my +heart I was sure that he meant to take the opportunity to make a bolt +of it, leaving me to my fate. I did not, however, interfere to prevent +this, for I had an affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hoped +that he might escape the doom which overshadowed us. + +So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form I +thought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little knew +that he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one and +all, but for me whom in his queer way he loved. + +When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, +strengthening the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and stones. +Then at sunset we ate and drank as heartily as we could under the +circumstances, and when we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the party, +offered up prayer to God for our preservation. It was a touching sight +to see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, his broad face lit up by the +last rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in homely, simple language +to Him who alone could save us from the spears of a cruel foe. I +remember that the last sentence of his prayer was, "Almighty, if we must +be killed, save the women and children and my little girl Tota from the +accursed Zulus, and do not let us be tortured." + +I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for in +common with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be admitted +not without reason. + +Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each +with a rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. +Occasionally one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from the +smouldering fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments on +his pale, anxious face. + +Behind me one of the stout "fraus" lay upon the ground. Even the terror +of our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their accustomed +sleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, just by the +fire, lay little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep also, her +thumb in her mouth, and from time to time her father would come to look +at her. + +So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my intimate +knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that they would +attack us at night, though, had they done so, they could have compassed +our destruction with but small loss to themselves. It is not the habit +of this people, they like to fight in the light of day--at dawn for +preference. + +About eleven o'clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I heard +a low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, and all +along the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers cocked their +guns. + +"Macumazahn," said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, "are you there?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager," he +said. + +"Yah! yah! hold a light," put in one of the Boers. "I don't trust +that black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some of +his countrymen with him." Accordingly a lantern was produced and held +towards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the +laager and asked him the news. + +"This is the news, white men," he said. "I waited till dark, and +creeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself behind +a stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as Baas +Botha yonder thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three days +ago and followed it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, to-morrow at +daybreak they will attack the laager and kill everybody. They are very +bitter against the Boers, because of the battle at Blood River and the +other fights, and that is why they followed the waggons instead of going +straight north after Mosilikatze." + +A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. + +"I tell you what it is, Heeren," I said, "instead of waiting to be +butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon +the Impi while it sleeps." + +This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man +could be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which +makes great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and +rather than embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in a +laager, however poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmly +believe that had my advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. +Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would have produced no +small effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, so +it is no use talking about it. + +After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore +on towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar +circumstances while they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel +death, can know the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they +went somehow, and at last in the far east the sky began to lighten, +while the cold breath of dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons and +chilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, +then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth chattered with +cold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of peach +brandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a stiff +dram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his affected +jocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. Certainly it +depressed me. + +Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist which +still hung densely over the river, and now--ah! there it was. From the +other side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the laager, came +a faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered to a chant--the +awful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the words. They were +simple enough: + +"We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? Our spears +shall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? For we are the +sucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. Awake, children +of the Umtetwa, awake! The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air; +Awake, children of the Umtetwa--cry aloud, ye ringed men: There is +the foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? _S'gee! S'gee! +S'gee!_" + +Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very day +I often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on paper, +but if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have heard it +as it rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly three +thousand warriors singing all to time, he would have found it impressive +enough. + +Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came +by companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were +thirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed +themselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. +At a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot of +such guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing again-- + + "Yonder is the kraal of the white man--a little kraal, my + brothers; + We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. + But where are the white man's cattle--where are his oxen, my + brothers?" + +This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the song +again and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with ivory +rings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called out to +us asking where our cattle were. + +Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they +might answer that question themselves. + +Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been +sent away. + +"We shall go and find the cattle," he said, "then we shall come and kill +you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if we wait +to kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked too far for +us to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily catch you white +men!" + +This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an +enemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain +amount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it +all might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards the +river. Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of the +cattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till they +vanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. + +We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. + +"Now I wonder if the devils have really gone," said Hans Botha to me. +"It is very strange." + +"I will go and see," said Indaba-zimbi, "if you will come with me, +Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over." + +At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those +days and weary with suspense. + +"Very well," I said, "we will go." + +So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had +his medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like +sportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with +rocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. + +"They must have gone down the Donga," I said to Indaba-zimbi, "I can't +see one of them." + +As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, from +every tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, before I +could lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. + +"Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!" cried a voice. "Hold him, or +he will slip away like a snake. Don't hurt him, but hold him fast. Let +Indaba-zimbi walk by his side." + +I turned on Indaba-zimbi. "You black devil, you have betrayed me!" I +cried. + +"Wait and see, Macumazahn," he answered, coolly. "Now the fight is going +to begin." + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE END OF THE LAAGER + +I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi +mean? Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, being +seized, was I not instantly killed? They called me the "White Spirit." +Could it be that they were keeping me to make me into medicine? I had +heard of such things being done by Zulus and kindred tribes, and my +blood ran cold at the thought. What an end! To be pounded up, made +medicine of, and eaten! + +However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole +Impi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had hidden +while their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on the side +of the slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and placed in the +centre of the reserve line in the especial charge of a huge Zulu named +Bombyane, the same man who had come forward as a herald. This brute +seemed to regard me with an affectionate curiosity. Now and again he +poked me in the ribs with the handle of his assegai, as though to assure +himself that I was solid, and several times he asked me to be so good +as to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed before the "Amaboona," as +they called the Boers, were "eaten up." + +At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, goaded +into anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! + +He only laughed aloud. "Oh! White Spirit," he said, "is it so? Well, +I've walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest." + +And he got it shortly, as will be seen. + +Now the Zulus began to sing again-- + + "We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! + Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. + Now the Maboona are ours--they are already dead, my brother." + +So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the +chief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his assegai, +and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some indunas who stood +near him. Instantly they ran to the right and left down the first +line, saying a word to the captain of each company as they passed +him. Presently they were at the respective ends of the line, and +simultaneously held up their spears. As they did so, with an awful +roar of "Bulala Amaboona"--"Slay the Boers," the entire line, numbering +nearly a thousand men, bounded forward like a buck startled from its +form, and rushed down upon the little laager. It was a splendid sight +to see them, their assegais glittering in the sunlight as they rose and +fell above their black shields, their war-plumes bending back upon the +wind, and their fierce faces set intently on the foe, while the solid +earth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing feet. I thought of my +poor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What chance had they against so +many? + +Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager +round on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every +waggon broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, +but the rest cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, +striving to force a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley after +volley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded with +slugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only one man even got on +to a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the head +with an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision from the +two lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. + +"Let us go, father!" shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom I +was, to their chief, who had come up. "You have sent out the little +girls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way." + +"No, no!" the chief Sususa answered, laughing. "Wait a minute and the +little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight +against Boers!" + +The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed +forward again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time to +load, and they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till the +Zulus were packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them with the +roers, and the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that the blood +of the Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back this time, +and the end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a waggon, slain the +man behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were killed there, but +others followed, and then I turned my head. But I could not shut my ears +to the cries of rage and death, and the terrible _S'gee! S'gee!_ of the +savages as they did their work of murder. Once only I looked up and saw +poor Hans Botha standing on a waggon smiting down men with the butt of +his rifle. The assegais shot up towards him like tongues of steel, and +when I looked again he was gone. + +I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were +all dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death with +not be so swift. + +The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, +and moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful +sight it was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead--quite fifty I +should say, and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of them +mortally. The chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were picked up +and piled in a heap, while those who were slightly hurt walked off to +find some one to tie up their wounds. But the more serious cases met +with a different treatment. The chief or one of his indunas considered +each case, and if it was in any way bad, the man was taken up and thrown +into the river which ran near. None of them offered any objection, +though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He did not stop there long, +however, for they pushed him back and drowned him by force. + +The strangest case of all was that of the chief's own brother. He had +been captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. Sususa +came up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him soundly for +failing in the first onslaught. + +The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the Boers +had hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of this, +and talked to him amicably. + +"Well," he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, "you cannot +walk again." + +"No, chief," said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. + +"And to-morrow we must walk far," went on Sususa. + +"Yes, chief." + +"Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or----" and he nodded +towards the river. + +The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in +thought. Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the face. + +"My ankle pains me, my brother," he said; "I think I will go back to +Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I +creep about it like a snake."[*] + + [*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter + into the bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the + kraals. To kill these snakes is sacrilege. + +"It is well, my brother," said the chief. "Rest softly," and having +shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and +turned away. + +Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the +banks of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone +round his neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole sad +scene, and the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to admire +the extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck with +the cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the act was +necessary from his point of view. The man must either die swiftly, or +be left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will encumber itself +with wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so hardened these +people that they looked on death as nothing, and were, to do them +justice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it on others. +When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King Dingaan, it +consisted of some nine thousand men. Now it numbered less than three; +all the rest were dead. They, too, would probably soon be dead. What did +it matter? They lived by war to die in blood. It was their natural end. +"Kill till you are killed." That is the motto of the Zulu soldier. It +has the merit of simplicity. + +Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, +having first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the +heap; all of them were there, including the two stout fraus, poor +things. But I missed one body, that of Hans Botha's daughter, little +Tota. A wild hope came into my heart that she might have escaped; but +no, it was not possible. I could only pray that she was already at rest. + +Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in +the congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that +he had got the "little white one." I looked; he was carrying the child +Tota, gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked +up to where we were, and held the child before the chief. "Is it dead, +father?" he said, with a laugh. + +Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden +away, and fainted with fear. + +The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said-- + +"Find out with your kerrie." + +Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about to +kill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I sprang at +him and struck him with all my force in the face, little caring if I was +speared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. + +"Ou!" he said, putting his hand to his nose, "the White Spirit has a +hard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child." + +The soldiers cheered and laughed. "Yes! yes!" they said, "let Bombyane +fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais." + +For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? +But I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what did +it matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough left to +make a favour of it, and intimated to the chief through Indaba-zimbi +that I was quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, on condition +that if I did so the child's life should be given to me. Indaba-zimbi +interpreted my words, but I noticed that he would not look on me as +he spoke, but covered his face with his hands and spoke of me as "the +ghost" or the "son of the spirit." For some reason that I have never +quite understood, the chief consented to the duel. I fancy it was +because he believed me to be more than mortal, and was anxious to see +the last of Bombyane. + +"Let them fight," he said. "Give them assegais and no shields; the child +shall be to him who conquers." + +"Yes! yes!" cried the soldiers. "Let them fight. Don't be afraid, +Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he's a very small one." + +"I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run away +from a White Ghost," answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he examined +the blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. + +Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us +some ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to +show no signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. Humanly +speaking, my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had used the +assegai from a child--I had no experience of the weapon. Moreover, +though I was quick and active, he must have been at least twice as +strong as I am. However, there was no help for it, so, setting my teeth, +I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and waited. + +The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi +walked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, "Keep cool, +Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right." + +As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought +this good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could "make it all right" I +failed to see. + +Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, +but the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind us +was the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; round +us was rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to wait +the issue of the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired chief and +general, Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard skin upon his +shoulders. At his feet lay the senseless form of little Tota, to my +left squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and muttering +something--probably spells; while in front was my giant antagonist, his +spear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle wind. Then over all, +over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the waggons of the laager, +the piles of dead, the dense masses of the living, the swooning +child, over all shone the bright impartial sun, looking down like the +indifferent eye of Heaven upon the loveliness of nature and the cruelty +of man. Down by the river grew thorn-trees, and from them floated +the sweet scent of the mimosa flower, and came the sound of cooing +turtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear the other without the scene +flashing into my mind again, complete in its every detail. + +Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed +straight at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw +the broad spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it by +some providential impulse--or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi anything to +do with the matter?--I dropped to my knee, and quick as light stretched +out my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my head. I felt +a weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his great limbs +knocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was staggering along with +head thrown back and outstretched arms from which his spear had fallen. +His spear had fallen, but the blade of mine stood out between his +shoulders--I had transfixed him. He stopped, swung slowly round as +though to look at me: then with a sigh the giant sank down--_dead_. + +For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose--a cry of +"Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the wizard, +kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft." + +Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before my +eyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a moment +it would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their champion +overthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I heard the +high, cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +"Stand back, you fools!" it cried; "can a spirit then be killed?" + +"Spear him! spear him!" they roared in fury. "Let us see if he is a +spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, +rain-maker, and we shall see." + +"Stand back," cried Indaba-zimbi again, "and I will show you if he +can be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again +before your eyes." + +"Macumazahn, trust me," he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, +which the Zulus did not understand. "Trust me; kneel on the grass before +me, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one dead; +then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me--it is your only +hope." + +Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the +faintest idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened somewhat, +and once more the warriors drew back. + +"Great White Spirit--Spirit of victory," said Indaba-zimbi, addressing +me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, "hear me and forgive me. +These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because thou +hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. Deign to +kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this spear, then +when I call upon thee, arise unhurt." + +I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not +overmuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was +in truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with +fears, and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, +that I did not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneeling +thus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. + +"People of the Umtetwa, children of T'Chaka," he said, "draw back a +little way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick with +ghosts." + +They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in +diameter. + +"Look on him who kneels before you," went on Indaba-zimbi, "and +listen to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of the +rain-maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a +young man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no +man. He is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who +gave them assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were +the Impis of Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because _he_ +was there. Why did the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the +thousand? Because _he_ was there. And so I say to you that, had I not +drawn him from the laager by my magic but three hours ago, you would +have been conquered--yes, you would have been blown away like the dust +before the wind; you would have been burnt up like the dry grass in +the winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, because he had but been +there many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a few--a pinch +of men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I loved you, +because your chief Sususa is my half-brother--for had we not one +father?--I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew the +Spirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was yours, +when the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little thing--a +white child to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make the medicine +of his magic of----" + +Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought +better of it. + +"You said him nay; you said, 'Let him fight with our bravest man, let +him fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.' And he deigned to slay +Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, 'Slay him; he is no spirit.' +Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him before +your eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought this upon +yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to the Spirit, +he would have stayed with you, and you should have become unconquerable. +Now he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if you try to stay +him. + +"Now all men," he went on, "look for a space upon this assegai that I +hold up," and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high above +his head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was fixed +upon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then he moved +it round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and still their +gaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements with the greatest +anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my person than I found at +all pleasant, and I had no desire to make a further acquaintance with +it. Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba-zimbi was not really going to +kill me. I could not understand his proceedings at all, and at the best +I did not relish playing the _corpus vile_ to his magical experiments. + +"_Look! look! look!_" he screamed. + +Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt +nothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through me. + +"See!" roared the Zulus. "Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red assegai +stands out behind his back." + +"Roll over, Macumazahn," Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, "roll over and +pretend to die--quick! quick!" + +I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling +on to my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as +artistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay still. + +"See!" said the Zulus, "he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at the +blood upon the assegai!" + +"Stand back! stand back!" cried Indaba-zimbi, "or the ghost will haunt +you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. Look!" +and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever it was +fixed, and held it aloft. "The spear is red, is it not? Watch, men, +watch! _it grows white!_" + +"Yes, it grows white," they said. "Ou! it grows white." + +"It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came," said +Indaba-zimbi. "Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath has +gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, awake +and show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!" + +I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. + +"Not so fast, Macumazahn," whispered Indaba-zimbi. + +I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let +it fall again. + +"He lives! by the head of T'Chaka he lives!" roared the soldiers, +stricken with mortal fear. + +Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched +my arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked +upon them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba-zimbi +was almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood upon +his brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. + +As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the +whole regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we +were left alone with the dead, and the swooning child. + +"How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?" I asked in amaze. + +"Do not ask me, Macumazahn," he gasped. "You white men are very clever, +but you don't quite know everything. There are men in the world who can +make people believe they see things which they do not see. Let us be +going while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got over their fright, +they will come back to loot the waggons, and then perhaps _they_ will +begin asking questions that I can't answer." + +And here I may as well state that I never got any further information on +this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here it is +for whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi _mesmerized_ +the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making them believe that +they saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon the blade. The +reader may smile and say, "Impossible;" but I would ask him how +the Indian jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. The +spectators _seem_ to see the boy go under the basket and there pierced +with daggers, they _seem_ to see women in a trance supported in mid-air +upon the point of a single sword. In themselves these things are not +possible, they violate the laws of nature, as those laws are known to +us, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so through the glamour +thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will, that Zulu Impi seemed to see me +transfixed with an assegai which never touched me. At least, that is my +theory; if any one has a better, let him adopt it. The explanation lies +between illusion and magic of a most imposing character, and I prefer to +accept the first alternative. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +STELLA + +I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi's hint. About a hundred and fifty +yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden +my horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and +bridle. Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To our +joy we found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. Now, of +course, they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen had been +sent away, and even had they been there we could not have found time to +inspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid his knee halter, +and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck me, and I told +Indaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could find my +double-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only my +elephant "roer" and a few charges of powder and ball with me. + +He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and +began to cry, till she saw my face. + +"Ah, I have had such a bad dream," she said, in Dutch: "I dreamed that +the black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?" + +I winced at the question. "Your papa has gone on a journey, dear," I +said, "and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You +don't mind going with Heer Allan, do you?" + +"No," she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presently +she remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her to +the river and she drank. "Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?" she asked, +pointing to the smear of Bombyane's blood-stained fingers. + +At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. + +"It is only paint, dear," I said; "see, we will wash it and your face." + +As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; +he said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some +things and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about +twenty pounds weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double-handfuls +of biscuits, two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches and +sundries. + +"And now, Macumazahn," he said, "we had best be going, for those +Umtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise." + +That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my saddle, +climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. Indaba-zimbi +slipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer horses, threw +of the sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, holding the +elephant gun in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred yards in silence +till we were quite out of range of sight from the waggons, which were +in a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such a feeling of thankfulness in +my heart as cannot be told in words; for now I knew that, mounted as +we were, those black demons could never catch us. But where were we to +steer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking him if he thought +that we had better try and follow the oxen which we had sent away with +the Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He shook his head. + +"The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently," he answered, "and we +have seen enough of them." + +"Quite enough," I answered, with enthusiasm; "I never want to see +another; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a +little girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?" + +"Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus," answered +Indaba-zimbi; "let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, Macumazahn; +to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter." + +So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the +river. From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but before +sunset I had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at least +twenty-five miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little Tota slept +most of the way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she was worn out. + +At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. +There was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for Tota, +and Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we had done I +took off Tota's frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the fire we had +made, and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the sleeping orphaned +child, and from my heart thanked Providence for saving her life and mine +from the slaughter of that day. What a horrible experience it had been! +It seemed like a nightmare to look back upon. And yet it was sober fact, +one among those many tragedies which dotted the paths of the emigrant +Boers with the bones of men, women, and children. These horrors are +almost forgotten now; people living in Natal now, for instance, can +scarcely realize that some forty years ago six hundred white people, +many of them women and children, were thus massacred by the Impis of +Dingaan. But it was so, and the name of the district, _Weenen_, or the +Place of Weeping, will commemorate them for ever. + +Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old +Indaba-zimbi had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself +had lived among the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a +noted rain-doctor and witch-finder. But when T'Chaka, Dingaan's brother, +ordered a general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved his +life by his skill in magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons too +long to set out here. When he heard, therefore, that the regiment was +an Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving their wives and children, had broken +away from Zululand to escape the cruelties of Dingaan; under pretence +of spying on them, he took the bold course of going straight up to the +chief, Sususa, and addressing him as his brother, which he was. The +chief knew him at once, and so did the soldiers, for his fame was still +great among them. Then he told them his cock and bull story about my +being a white spirit, whose presence in the laager would render it +invincible, and with the object of saving my life in the slaughter which +he knew must ensue, agreed to charm me out of the laager and deliver me +into their keeping. How the plan worked has already been told; it was a +risky one; still, but for it my troubles would have been done with these +many days. + +So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so saw +old Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some mysterious +performances with bones which he produced from his bag, and ashes mixed +with water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He replied that +he was tracing out the route that we should follow. I felt inclined to +answer "bosh!" but remembering the very remarkable instances which he +had given of his prowess in occult matters I held my tongue, and taking +little Tota into my arms, worn out with toil and danger and emotion, I +went to sleep. + +I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in sheets +of primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke me by +kissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me "papa." +It wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, washed +and dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had supped, +on biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to give her. +Then we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. + +"Well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "now what path do your bones point to?" + +"Straight north," he said. "The journey will be hard, but in about four +days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, not +a Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great peak +behind it where there are many baboons." + +I looked at him. "This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi," I said. "Whoever +heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and how do you +know anything about it? I think that we had better strike east towards +Port Natal." + +"As you like, Macumazahn," he answered, "but it will take us three +months' journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the +child will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true +heretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the +elephants on horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with you +instead of two, as it is better to lose one than two?" + +"You told me all these things," I answered. + +"And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will +find great happiness--yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run away +from happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!" + +Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I came +to the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the truth. It +struck me as possible that he might have heard of some white man living +like a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his prophetic +character would not say so. + +"Very well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "let us ride north." + +Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned +off in a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode across +rolling uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a little +stream which ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By this time +I was heartily tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant rifle--for I +had nothing else--I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and started to try if I +could shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no game all the day, nor +did we see any on the subsequent days. For some mysterious reason they +had temporarily left the district. I crossed the little streamlet in +order to enter the belt of thorns which grew upon the hill-side beyond, +for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so I was rather disturbed to +see the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy edge of a pool. Breathing +a hope that they might not still be in the neighbourhood, I went on into +the belt of scattered thorns. For a long while I hunted about without +seeing anything, except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crash +from the other side of a stone without giving me a chance. At length, +just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, +scarcely bigger than a large hare, standing on a stone, about forty +yards from me. Under ordinary circumstances I should never have dreamed +of firing at such a thing, especially with an elephant gun, but we were +hungry. So I sat down with my back against a rock, and aimed steadily at +its head. I did this because if I struck it in the body the three-ounce +ball would have knocked it to bits. At last I pulled the trigger, +the gun went off with the report of a small cannon, and the buck +disappeared. I ran to the spot with more anxiety than I should have felt +in an ordinary way over a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there the +little creature lay--the huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering all +the circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot than +this, but if any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit's head +fifty yards away with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. + +I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we +skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good +meal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. + +There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly +remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie +up the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knew +they were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only make +up the fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to sleep +with little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing that +peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to the +fire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a noise +of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared +in the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring +eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had +been knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw something else, for on +his back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form came +a growling sound. It was a lion. + +The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he +had run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, and +vanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, +then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. As may +be imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited anxiously +till the dawn broke, two hours later. + +As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota +still asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had +vanished. When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains +lying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms +slinking away in the grey light. + +To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned +to look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet full; +the horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and smell of +the lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim with which +it had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat down, feeling +as though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left alone in these +vast solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a child who was not +old enough to walk for more than a little way at a time. + +Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our +camp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself +alone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we divided +such articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, rejecting +everything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an afterthought, +we filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was rather against +doing so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi overruled me +in the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled to look after +Tota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun to Indaba-zimbi. +At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By the help of +occasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk up the slope of +the hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At length we reached it, +and, looking at the country beyond, I gave an exclamation of dismay. To +say that it was desert would be saying too much; it was more like the +Karroo in the Cape--a vast sandy waste, studded here and there with low +shrubs and scattered rocks. But it was a great expanse of desolate land, +stretching further than the eye could reach, and bordered far away by +a line of purple hills, in the centre of which a great solitary peak +soared high into the air. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "we can never cross this if we take six days." + +"As you will, Macumazahn," he answered; "but I tell you that there"--and +he pointed to the peak--"there the white man lives. Turn which way you +like, but if you turn you will perish." + +I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost +hopeless. It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost +without food, with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As well +perish in the sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the trees +of the hill-side. Providence alone could save us, and we must trust to +Providence. + +"Come on," I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already +tired. "All roads lead to rest." + +How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to tell +how we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without food, and +quite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw no springs? +We soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the water in our +bottles for the child. To look back on it is like a nightmare. I can +scarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns carrying the +child through the heavy sand; night after night lying down in the scrub, +chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there was from the scanty +grass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of game! It was the third +night; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was in a comatose condition. +Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his bottle--perhaps a +wine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and blackened tongues. Then +we gave the rest to the child. It revived her. She awoke from her swoon +to sink into sleep. + +See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles or +so away now, and they were green. There must be water there. + +"Come," I said. + +Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out of +the blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on for +an hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we +had none to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could +scarcely speak. + +We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then +Indaba-zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man's strength was +wonderful. + +Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two +miles away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab +tree. Could we reach its shade? We had done half the distance when +Indaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither of +us could lift the child on to our backs. He rose again, and we each +took one of her hands and dragged her along the road. Fifty yards--they +seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at last; compared +with the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed like the +dusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a good place +to die in. Then I remember no more. + + + +I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my face +and head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, then shut +them again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, while the rain +continued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or off my head with +thirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came I to imagine that a +lovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me sprinkling water on my face? A +white girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. However, the dream went on. + +"Hendrika," said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had ever +heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at night. +"Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my saddle-bag; +get it." + +"Ah! ah!" grunted a harsh voice in answer; "let him die, Miss Stella. He +will bring you bad luck--let him die, I say." I felt a movement of air +above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once again +I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw that she +was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark eyes +flashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood before her, +dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be worn by either +a man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, very short, with +bowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was not bad-looking, +but the brow receded, the chin and ears were prominent--in short, she +reminded me of nothing so much as a very handsome monkey. She might have +been the missing link. + +The lady was pointing at her with her hand. "How dare you?" she said. +"Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told you, +Babyan?"[*] + +[*] Baboon. + +"Ah! ah!" grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel up +beneath her anger. "Don't be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I can't +bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the brandy." + +Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. + +"Not brandy," I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue would +allow; "give me water." + +"Ah, he lives!" cried the beautiful girl, "and he talks English. See, +sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a spring, +it is on the other side of the tree." + +I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and +drank from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted +anything so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into +me. But wisely enough she would not let me have much. "No more! no +more!" she said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. + +"The child," I said--"is the child dead?" + +"I do not know yet," she answered. "We have only just found you, and I +tried to revive you first." + +I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It +was impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady sprinkled +Tota's face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my thirst +was still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office for +Indaba-zimbi. Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes and +tried to cry, but could not, poor little thing, because her tongue and +lips were so swollen. But the lady got some water into her mouth, and, +as in my case, the effect was magical. We allowed her to drink about a +quarter of a pint, and no more, though she cried bitterly for it. Just +then old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He opened his eyes, glanced +round, and took in the situation. + +"What did I tell you, Macumazahn?" he gasped, and seizing the bottle, he +took a long pull at it. + +Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and +tried to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good +horses--one bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady's saddle on +it. By the side of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound breed, +that sat watching us, and near the dogs lay a dead Oribe buck, which +they had evidently been coursing. + +"Hendrika," said the lady presently, "they must not eat meat just yet. +Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it." + +The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she returned. +"I see some ripe fruit," she said, "but it is high, quite at the top." + +"Fetch it," said the lady. + +"Easier said than done," I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. +Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caught +one of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing +that would have filled an acrobat with envy--and she was on it. + +"Now there is an end," I thought again, for the next bough was beyond +her reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, gripping +it with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, caught it +and swung herself into it. + +I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. "Do not +wonder, sir," she said, "Hendrika is not like other people. She will not +fall." + +I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary person +with the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging herself from +bough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At last she +reached the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards the ripe +fruit. When she was near enough she shook the branch violently. There +was a crack--a crash--it broke. I shut my eyes, expecting to see her +crushed on the ground before me. + +"Don't be afraid," said the lady again, laughing gently. "Look, she is +quite safe." + +I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to +it, and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also +watched this performance with interest, but it did not seem to astonish +him over-much. "Baboon-woman?" he said, as though such people were +common, and then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was moaning +for more water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with extraordinary +rapidity, and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped about eight +feet to the ground. + +In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In +an ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I +thought it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three days +spent without food or water, in the desert, one is not particular. While +we were still eating the fruit, the lady of my vision set her companion +to work to partially flay the oribe which her dogs had killed, and +busied herself in making a fire of fallen boughs. As soon as it burned +brightly she took strips of the oribe flesh, toasted them, and gave them +to us on leaves. We ate, and now were allowed a little more water. After +that she took Tota to the spring and washed her, which she sadly needed, +poor child! Next came our turn to wash, and oh, the joy of it! + +I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. +There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling her +to sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last the +child went off into a sound natural slumber--an example that I should +have been glad to follow had it not been for my burning curiosity. Then +I spoke. + +"May I ask what your name is?" I said. + +"Stella," she answered. + +"Stella what?" I said. + +"Stella nothing," she answered, in some pique; "Stella is my name; it is +short and easy to remember at any rate. My father's name is Thomas, and +we live up there," and she pointed round the base of the great peak. I +looked at her astonished. "Have you lived there long?" I asked. + +"Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before +that we came from England--from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place on +a big map. It is called Garsingham." + +Again I thought I must be dreaming. "Do you know, Miss Stella," I said, +"it is very strange--so strange that it almost seems as though it could +not be true--but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire many years +ago." + +She started up. "Are you an English gentleman?" she said. "Ah, I have +always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but one +Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman--no +white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live among +black people and baboons--only I have read about English people--lots of +books--poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? Macumazahn the +black man called you, but you must have a white name, too." + +"My name is Allan Quatermain," I said. + +Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at me +wildly with her beautiful dark eyes. + +"It is wonderful," she said, "but I have often heard that name. My +father has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved +my life by putting out my dress when it was on fire--see!"--and she +pointed to a faint red mark upon her neck--"here is the scar of the +burn." + +"I remember it," I said. "You were dressed up as Father Christmas. It +was I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so." + +Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella +slowly fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white +ostrich plumes were fixed. + +"This is God's doing," she said at last. "You saved my life when I was +a child; now I have saved yours and the little girl's. Is she your own +daughter?" she added, quickly. + +"No," I answered; "I will tell you the tale presently." + +"Yes," she said, "you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to be +starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, +Hendrika, bring the horses here!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BABOON-WOMAN + +Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. + +"Now, Mr. Allan," said Stella, "you must ride on my horse, and the old +black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carry +the child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry you +or me." + +Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method +of speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a monkey, +sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did both +together, when she became quite unintelligible. + +I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could +walk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a mile; +but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my elephant +gun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, and +Hendrika took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. + +"See that the 'Baboon-woman' does not run away into the mountains with +the little white one," said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he climbed +slowly on to the horse. + +Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and grew +livid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at Indaba-zimbi +as a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the old gentleman +was too quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine fright he threw +himself from the horse on the further side, with the somewhat ludicrous +result that all in a moment Hendrika was occupying the seat which he had +vacated. Just then Stella realized the position. + +"Come down, you savage, come down!" she said, stamping her foot. + +The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally +grovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. + +"Pardon, Miss Stella," she clicked and grunted in villainous English, +"but he called me 'Babyan-frau' (Baboon-woman)." + +"Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. +Allan," Stella said to me. "If he does," she added, in a whisper, +"Hendrika will certainly kill him." + +I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, +deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war between +these two. + +Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. +A small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the +peak--perhaps it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich +grass lands, for here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; but +it did not flow across the barren lands, it passed to the east along +the foot of the hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. Hendrika +walked boldly through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella leapt across +from stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself that she was the +most graceful creature that I had ever seen. After this the track passed +around a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, which was, I found, +known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we could only go at +a foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked for some way in +silence, then she spoke. + +"Tell me, Mr. Allan," she said, "how it was that I came to find you +dying in the desert?" + +So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she +listened intently, now and again asking a question. + +"It is all very wonderful," she said when I had done, "very wonderful +indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogs +for a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, +and I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to +turn, when we were about where we are now--yes, that was the very +bush--an oribe got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the +gallop, and when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left as +bucks generally do, the oribe swam the stream and took to the Bad Lands +beyond. I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big tree the +dogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I said that +we would rest under the shade of the tree, for I knew that there was a +spring of water near. Well, we went; and there I saw you all lying like +dead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, said no--and you +know the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful." + +"It is indeed," I said. "Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?" + +She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. + +"Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know that +all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. When I +was a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in the hills +and valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the rocks. There +was one family of baboons that I watched especially--they used to live +in a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man baboon was very +large, and one of the females had a grey face. But the reason why +I watched them so much was because I saw that they had with them a +creature that looked like a girl, for her skin was quite white, and, +what was more, that she was protected from the weather when it happened +to be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round her throat. +The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and would sit with +their arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I watched this +particular white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity quite +overmastered me. I noticed that, though she climbed about the cliffs +with the other monkeys, at a certain hour a little before sundown they +used to put her with one or two other much smaller ones into a little +cave, while the family went off somewhere to get food, to the mealie +fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch this white +baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this by myself, +so I took a Hottentot--a very clever man when he was not drunk--who +lived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called Hendrik, and was +very fond of me; but for a long while he would not listen to my plan, +because he said that the babyans would kill us. At last I bribed him +with a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon we started, Hendrik +carrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope running through it so +that the mouth could be drawn tight. + +"Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the trees +at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and grunting +to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the white +one and three other little babies and put them in the cave. Then the old +man came out, looked carefully round, called to his family, and went off +with them over the brow of the kloof. Now very slowly and cautiously we +crept up over the rocks till we came to the mouth of the cave and looked +in. All the four little baboons were fast asleep, with their backs +towards us, and their arms round each other's necks, the white one being +in the middle. Nothing could have been better for our plans. Hendrik, +who by this time had quite entered into the spirit of the thing, crept +along the cave like a snake, and suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide +bag over the head of the white baboon. The poor little thing woke up and +gave a violent jump which caused it to vanish right into the bag. Then +Hendrik pulled the string tight, and together we knotted it so that +it was impossible for our captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby +baboons had rushed from the cave screaming, and when we got outside they +were nowhere to be seen. + +"'Come on, Missie,' said Hendrik; 'the babyans will soon be back.' He +had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking +violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear its +shrieks. + +"We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as +we could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about three +hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, +leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the whole +family of baboons headed by the old man. + +"'Run, Missie, run!' gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving +him far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were +working, crying, 'The babyans! the babyans!' Luckily the men had their +sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who +was almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, however, +and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ran +away. + +"Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father +sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and +has a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having +untied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, +shutting the door behind him. In another moment the poor little thing +was out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It sprung +at the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head against them +till the blood came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat upon it crying +like a child, and rocking itself backwards and forwards. It was so sad +to see it that I began to cry too. + +"Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I +told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and +said that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the bars +of the window he nearly fell down with astonishment. + +"'Why!' he said, 'this is not a baboon, it is a white child that the +baboons have stolen and brought up!' + +"Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge for +yourself. You see Hendrika--we named her that after Hendrik, who caught +her--she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the ways +of monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, for +instance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and when +she is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as clever as +anybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the baboons when +she was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why she is so like +them. + +"But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika +at any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat +nothing, and I thought that she would die, for all the while she sat +and wailed. On the third day, however, I went to the bars of the window +place, and held out a cup of milk and some fruit to her. She looked at +it for a long while, then crept up moaning, took the milk from my hand, +drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the fruit. From that time forward +she took food readily enough, but only if I would feed her. + +"But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that +we captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which +were evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went out +towards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come back +again, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can show +you, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of his +assegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him to +pieces. + +"My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not let +Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was our +duty to reclaim her. And so we did--to a certain extent, at least. After +the murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the neighbourhood, +and have only returned quite recently, so at length we ventured to let +Hendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of me; still, on the +first opportunity she ran away. But in the evening she returned again. +She had been seeking the baboons, and could not find them. Shortly +afterwards she began to speak--I taught her--and from that time she has +loved me so that she will not leave me. I think it would kill her if I +went away from her. She watches me all day, and at night sleeps on the +floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life when I was swept down the +river in flood; but she is jealous, and hates everybody else. Look, how +she is glaring at you now because I am talking to you!" + +I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and +staring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her eyes. + +While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman's strange story, and thinking +that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a sudden +turn. + +"Look!" said Stella, "there is our home. Is it not beautiful?" + +It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a +bay had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight +hundred or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in depth. +At the back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the height of +several hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great Babyan Peak +towered up towards the heavens. The space of ground, embraced thus in +the arms of the mountain, as it were, was laid out, as though by the +cunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one above the other. To +the right and left of the topmost terrace were chasms in the cliff, and +down each chasm fell a waterfall, from no great height, indeed, but of +considerable volume. These two streams flowed away on either side of +the enclosed space, one towards the north, and the other, the course +of which we had been following, round the base of the mountain. At each +terrace they made a cascade, so that the traveller approaching had a +view of eight waterfalls at once. Along the edge of the stream to our +left were placed Kaffir kraals, built in orderly groups with verandahs, +after the Basutu fashion, and a very large part of the entire space of +land was under cultivation. All of this I noted at once, as well as the +extraordinary richness and depth of the soil, which for many ages past +had been washed down from the mountain heights. Then following the line +of an excellent waggon road, on which we now found ourselves, that wound +up from terrace to terrace, my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the +scene. For in the centre of the topmost platform or terrace, which may +have enclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded by +groves of orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had never seen the +like. There were three groups of them, one in the middle, and one on +either side, and a little to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, +the plan of all was the same. In the centre was an edifice constructed +like an ordinary Zulu hut--that is to say, in the shape of a beehive, +only it was five times the size of any hut I ever saw, and built +of blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinary +knowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and with so +much accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the joints +of the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered passages, +leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, only +smaller, and each whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about four +feet in height. + +Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the +general outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even +old Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, deigned +to show wonder. + +"Ou!" he said; "this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built of +white stone?" + +Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but +said nothing. + +"Did your father build those kraals?" I gasped, at length. + +"My father! no, of course not," she answered. "How would it have been +possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He found +them as you see." + +"Who built them, then?" I said again. + +"I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the +people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, +and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though they must +have stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I can show you +the quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and behind it is the +entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks was a silver mine. +Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the marble huts. The +world is old, and no doubt plenty of people have lived in it and been +forgotten."[*] + + [*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described + by Mr. Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico + district of the Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to + be found in Mr. Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a Waggon," + vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. Anderson says, "In this district are the + ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it + requires a fuller description to show that these extensive + kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood + building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, + lintels, and sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill + to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, + beautifully formed and most substantially erected; strong + enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years." + --Editor. + +Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in Africa, +and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and worthless, +but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was no one +thing--it was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth on to the +everlasting plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that sparkled +in rainbow hues, the rivers girdling the rich cultivated lands, the +gold-specked green of the orange trees, the flashing domes of the marble +huts, and a thousand other things. Then over all brooded the peace of +evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled heaven with +changing hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and cliffs in +cloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of the water +like the smile of a god. + +Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days +and nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the +beauty of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am +sure, that of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she was +the sweetest and the loveliest. + +Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be before +I find her once again? + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MARBLE KRAALS + +At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up +outside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts--for so +I must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been +observed by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able to +determine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section +of the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several of +these ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. We dismounted--speaking for myself, not without +difficulty--indeed, had it not been for Stella's support I should have +fallen. + +"Now you must come and see my father," she said. "I wonder what he will +think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my hut +and give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come presently." + +Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress's +bidding, and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the marble +wall, which may have enclosed nearly half an "erf," or three-quarters of +an acre of ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a garden, many +European vegetables and flowers were growing in it, besides others with +which I was not acquainted. Presently we came to the centre hut, and +it was then that I noticed the extraordinary beauty and finish of the +marble masonry. In the hut, and facing the gateway, was a modern door, +rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a beautiful reddish wood that +has the appearance of having been sedulously pricked with a pin. Stella +opened it, and we entered. The interior of the hut was the size of a +large and lofty room, the walls being formed of plain polished marble. +It was lighted somewhat dimly, but quite effectively, by peculiar +openings in the roof, from which the rain was excluded by overhanging +eaves. The marble floor was strewn with native mats and skins of +animals. Bookcases filled with books were placed against the walls, +there was a table in the centre, chairs seated with rimpi or strips of +hide stood about, and beyond the table was a couch on which a man was +lying reading. + +"Is that you, Stella?" said a voice, that even after so many years +seemed familiar to me. "Where have you been, my dear? I began to think +that you had lost yourself again." + +"No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody +else." + +At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old +gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much +courtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a pale +face that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and a long +white beard. + +"Be welcome, sir," he said. "It is long since we have seen a white +face in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an +Englishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, and +he, I grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice," and he bowed +again and stretched out his hand. + +I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my +mind. I took his hand. + +"How do you do, Mr. Carson?" I said. + +He started as though he had been stung. + +"Who told you that name?" he cried. "It is a dead name. Stella, is it +you? I forbade you to let it pass your lips." + +"I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it," she answered. + +"Sir," I broke in, "if you will allow me I will show you how I came to +know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study of +a clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to leave +England for ever?" + +He bowed his head. + +"And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing +with a pencil?" + +"I do," he said. + +"Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children +who lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your old +friend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died in +the Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, one +Kaffir, and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad Lands, +where we had wandered for days without water, and there we should have +perished, but your daughter, Miss----" + +"Call her Stella," he broke in, hastily. "I cannot bear to hear that +name. I have forsworn it." + +"Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives." + +"By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?" he answered. "There is +little chance in all this; such chances spring from another will than +ours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in a +hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is yours, +and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; talk no +more now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk." + +To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that +evening. A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting +at a table next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember +nothing more. + +I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and +fashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering +what time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his arm, +and, luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I rose, +feeling a very different man, my strength had come back again to me; I +dressed, and following a covered passage found myself in the centre hut. +Here the table was set for breakfast with all manner of good things, +such as I had not seen for many a month, which I contemplated with +healthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and there before me was a +more delightful sight, for standing in one of the doorways which led to +the sleeping huts was Stella, leading little Tota by the hand. + +She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, +and girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of +her robe was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied +in a single knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, +asking how I had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under her +loving care the child had been quite transformed. She was neatly dressed +in a garment of the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair hair was +brushed; indeed, had it not been for the sun blisters on her face and +hands, one would scarcely have believed that this was the same child +whom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour through the +burning, waterless desert. + +"We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan," she said; "my father is so upset +by your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how +thankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of +late. He grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the strength +were ebbing away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, I have to +manage everything about the farm; he does nothing but read and think." + +Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of +milk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look of +little love at me as she did so. + +"Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee," said Stella. "Don't +you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will tell +you--we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to show +you. You don't know what we have managed to do in the time that we have +been here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people about look +upon my father as their chief." + +"Yes," I said, "but how do you get all these luxuries of civilization?" +and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the knives and forks. + +"Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we first +trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. But +every few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right down +to Port Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, and +come back with all kinds of things that been sent out from England +for us. So you see, although we live in this wild place, we are not +altogether cut off. We can send runners to Natal and back in three +months, and the waggons get there and back in a year. The last lot +arrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are very +faithful, and some of them speak Dutch well." + +"Have you ever been with the waggons?" I asked. + +"Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from +Babyan's Peak," she answered. "Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, +with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a +book. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I have +had one advantage--a good education. My father has taught me everything, +and perhaps I know some things that you don't. I can read French and +German, for instance. I think that my father's first idea was to let me +run wild altogether, but he gave it up." + +"And don't you wish to go into the world?" I asked. + +"Sometimes," she said, "when I get lonely. But perhaps my father is +right--perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he would +never return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am +sure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that +our name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our +lives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast? +Let us go out, and I will show you our home." + +I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, +Mr. Carson--for after all that was his name, though he would never allow +it to be spoken--had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, and +would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm. + +So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbi +whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire that +old man. + +The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the +lower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said, +faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the +great peak till nearly eleven o'clock in the morning--a great advantage +in that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was +beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw. +There were three or four natives working in it, and they all saluted +my host as "Baba," or father. Then we visited the other two groups of +marble huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, the +other as storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned into +a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to convert +the natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for shelter, +and he had practised the more elementary rites of the church for so long +that I think he began to believe that he really was a clergyman. For +instance, he always married those of his people who would consent to a +monogamous existence, and baptized their children. + +When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble +huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive +like weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the next +platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think that it +was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample water +for purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage for +hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people were +most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. Carson on +the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the produce--indeed, in +this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with more? Consequently +the tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the "Children of +Thomas," were able to accumulate considerable wealth. All their disputes +were referred to their "father," and he also was judge of offences and +crimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods, +other and graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiat +which to one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the +decree that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. + +Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter's arm and contemplated the scene +with pride. + +"I have done all this, Allan Quatermain," he said. "When renouncing +civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotest +places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing +was to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the +waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden +land and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by +degrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we +live in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no +more. Heaven has prospered me so far--may it do so to the end, which for +me draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to see +the old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show them +to you. No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. Look! +some of the headmen are waiting to see me." + +So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned, +and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the +marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which they +were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a very +thick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know another +like it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; not +by natives, that is certain, though the builders of these kraals had +condescended to borrow the shape of native huts for their model. By +the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw was a highly +finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the quarry. + +After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill +till we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a +gorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and +narrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a sound +of groaning and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I knew what +it was at once: the whole place was filled with baboons, which clambered +down the rocks towards us from every direction, and in a manner that +struck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a little pale and +clung to my arm. + +"It is very silly of me," she whispered. "I am not at all nervous, but +ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those animals. +I always think that there is something human about them." + +Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. +Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I +and Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only +Hendrika stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her +monkey face. When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly called +aloud. Instantly they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a word +of command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it so. +That is to say, she began to make a noise such as baboons do when they +converse with each other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who said +that they could talk with the baboons and understand their language, but +I confess I never heard it done before or since. + +From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, +squeals, clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be conceived, +conveying to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At any rate the +baboons listened. One of them grunted back some answer, and then the +whole mob drew off to the rocks. + +I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, for +Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the dining +hut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi plucked me by +the sleeve, and I stopped outside. + +"Macumazahn," he said. "Baboon-woman--devil-woman. Be careful, +Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called Stella +the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star will +set!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"LET US GO IN, ALLAN!" + +It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which elapsed +between my arrival at Babyan's Peak and my marriage with Stella. When I +look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of flowers, and dim +as with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through the sweetness comes +the sound of Stella's voice, and through the gloom shines the starlight +of her eyes. I think that we loved each other from the first, though for +a while we said no word of love. Day by day I went about the place with +her, accompanied by little Tota and Hendrika only, while she attended +to the thousand and one matters which her father's ever-growing weakness +had laid upon her; or rather, as time drew on, I attended to the +business, and she accompanied me. All day through we were together. Then +after supper, when the night had fallen, we would walk together in the +garden and come at length to hear her father read aloud sometimes from +the works of a poet, sometimes from history. Or, if he did not feel +well, Stella would read, and when this was done, Mr. Carson would +celebrate a short form of prayer, and we would separate till the morning +once more brought our happy hour of meeting. + +So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling +better. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if indeed +there are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that had given +such depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of communing +with Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, the grace we +find in opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught that murmuring +voice from the sound of the streams which fall continually about her +rocky home? was it the tenderness of the evening sky beneath which she +loved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her face, and the light of the +evening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? At the least to me she was +the realization of that dream which haunts the sleep of sin-stained men; +so my memory paints her, so I hope to find her when at last the sleep +has rolled away and the fevered dreams are done. + +At last there came a day--the most blessed of my life, when we told our +love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. Carson +was so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met again, +and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had grown +much attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on the +couch. + +The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the +garden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a little +breeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in showers, +and bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence reigned around, +broken only by the sound of the falling waterfalls that now died to a +faint murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze turned, boomed loudly +in our ears. The moon was not yet visible, but already the dark clouds +which floated through the sky above us--for there had been rain--showed +a glow of silver, telling us that she shone brightly behind the peak. +Stella began to talk in her low, gentle voice, speaking to me of her +life in the wilderness, how she had grown to love it, how her mind had +gone on from idea to idea, and how she pictured the great rushing world +that she had never seen as it was reflected to her from the books which +she had read. It was a curious vision of life that she had: things were +out of proportion to it; it was more like a dream than a reality--a +mirage than the actual face of things. The idea of great cities, and +especially of London, had a kind of fascination for her: she could +scarcely realize the rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men +and women, strangers to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth and +pleasure beneath a murky sky, and treading one another down in the fury +of their competition. + +"What is it all for?" she asked earnestly. "What do they seek? Having so +few years to live, why do they waste them thus?" + +I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard +necessity that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. Living +as she had done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a fruitful earth, +she did not seem to be able to grasp the fact that there were millions +who from day to day know not how to stay their hunger. + +"I never want to go there," she went on; "I should be bewildered and +frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adam +and Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live--in +peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of +perfect life. I want no other." + +"I thought you once told me that you found it lonely," I said. + +"So I did," she answered, innocently, "but that was before you came. Now +I am not lonely any more, and it is perfect--perfect as the night." + +Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her +rays stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, +brooding on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, +wrapping the fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil through +which her beauty shone mysteriously. + +Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at the +scarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The beauty +of the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on her hair, +the mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She looked at me, I +looked on her, and all our hearts' love blossomed within us. We spoke no +word--we had no words to speak, but slowly we drew near, till lips were +pressed to lips as we kissed our eternal troth. + +It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, +in soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a smitten +harp. + +"Ah, now I understand," she said, "now I know why we are lonely, and how +we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in the +beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of flowers. +It is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his voice we +understand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is answered and +the gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the way that wends +through death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of which our love is +but a shadow. + +"Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that +whatever overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always have +this perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!" + +I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I +rose my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage +of the orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze +stirred the orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full upon +the white object. + +It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had +called her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. + +I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark +in the rocks behind. + +Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I +saw Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. + +"Hendrika," I said, "why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in the +garden?" + +She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. + +"Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to +watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you +kissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a +star?" + +"I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me," I answered. +"What has that to do with you, Hendrika?" + +"Because you love her," she hissed in answer; "and do I not love her +also, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you are +a man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than women +love women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a woman loves +a man she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I gather her +flowers--beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you would never dare +to go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom in the garden and +give it to her. What does she do?--she takes the orange bloom, she puts +it in her breast, and lets my flowers die. I call to her--she does not +hear me--she is thinking. You whisper to some one far away, and she +hears and smiles. She used to kiss me sometimes; now she kisses that +white brat you brought, because you brought it. Oh, I see it all--all; I +have seen it from the first; you are stealing her from us, stealing her +to yourself, and those who loved her before you came are forgotten. Be +careful, Macumazahn, be careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, you +hate me; you think me half a monkey; that servant of yours calls me +Baboon-woman. Well, I have lived with baboons, and they are clever--yes, +they can play tricks and know things that you don't, and I am cleverer +than they, for I have learnt the wisdom of white people also, and I say +to you, Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will fall into a pit," and with +one more look of malice she was gone. + +I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature +who seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared +her with the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her +hands. And yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness of +her jealousy. It is generally supposed that this passion only exists in +strength when the object loved is of another sex from the lover, but I +confess that, both in this instance and in some others which I have met +with, this has not been my experience. I have known men, and especially +uncivilized men, who were as jealous of the affection of their friend +or master as any lover could be of that of his mistress; and who has +not seen cases of the same thing where parents and their children are +concerned? But the lower one gets in the scale of humanity, the more +readily this passion thrives; indeed, it may be said to come to its +intensest perfection in brutes. Women are more jealous than men, +small-hearted men are more jealous than those of larger mind and wider +sympathy, and animals are the most jealous of all. Now Hendrika was in +some ways not far removed from animal, which may perhaps account for the +ferocity of her jealousy of her mistress's affection. + +Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. +Carson was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his +hand, and her head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had +been telling him of what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, +for it is a task that a would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do by +deputy. + +"Come here, Allan Quatermain," he said, almost sternly, and my heart +gave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go +about my business. But I came. + +"Stella tells me," he went on, "that you two have entered into a +marriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that you +say that you love her." + +"I do indeed, sir," I broke in; "I love her truly; if ever a woman was +loved in this world, I love her." + +"I thank Heaven for it," said the old man. "Listen, my children. Many +years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow that, +as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I determined +to do what most men would have considered the act of a madman, to go far +away into the wilderness with my only child, there to live remote from +civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this place, and here we +have lived for many years, happily enough, and perhaps not without doing +good in our generation, but still in a way unnatural to our race and +status. At first I thought I would let my daughter grow up in a state of +complete ignorance, that she should be Nature's child. But as time went +on, I saw the folly and the wickedness of my plan. I had no right to +degrade her to the level of the savages around me, for if the fruit +of the tree of knowledge is a bitter fruit, still it teaches good from +evil. So I educated her as well as I was able, till in the end I knew +that in mind, as in body, she was in no way inferior to her sisters, the +children of the civilized world. She grew up and entered into womanhood, +and then it came into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, that +I was separating her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness where +she could find neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, I +could not yet make up my mind to return to active life; I had grown to +love this place. I dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Again +and again I put my resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this +year I fell ill. For a while I waited, hoping that I might get better, +but at last I realized that I should never get better, that the hand of +Death was upon me." + +"Ah, no, father, not that!" Stella said, with a cry. + +"Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our +separation in the happiness of a new meeting," and he glanced at me +and smiled. "Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined to +abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that +the journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella +would, and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savages +in the wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to take +this step Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, and +brought you here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, whose +father had been my dear friend, and who once with your baby hands had +saved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours from thirst. +At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of Providence in this, and +I determined to wait and see what came about between you. At the worst, +if nothing came about, I soon learned that I could trust you to see her +safely to the coast after I was gone. But many days ago I knew how it +stood between you, and now things are determined as I prayed they might +be. God bless you both, my children; may you be happy in your love; +may it endure till death and beyond it. God bless you both!" and he +stretched out his hand towards me. + +I took it, and Stella kissed him. + +Presently he spoke again-- + +"It is my intention," he said, "if you two consent, to marry you next +Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will be +allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated +and entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be +perfectly legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality +the first moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is +one more thing: when I left England my fortunes were in a shattered +condition; in the course of years they have recovered themselves, +the accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when the waggons last +returned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all charges, and +there is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not marry on +nothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to make +a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you should +leave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to England. +I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too much for +people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I do ask you +to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise this?" + +"I do," I answered. + +"And so do I," said Stella. + +"Very well," he answered; "and now I am tired out. Again God bless you +both, and good-night." + + + +CHAPTER X + +HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + +On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First +of all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. + +"Oh!" he said, "I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you +would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to watch +the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on your +heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set." + +"Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?" I answered, angrily, +for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. + +"A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I +only speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, +loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all +the things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and +there was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it is +change, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the drops of +rain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. They sink into +the ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth will be dry, the +drops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops are dead, they will +never be one again, they will never again fall side by side. But I am a +rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It is not true. The drops will +drain by many paths into the river, and will be one water there. They +will go up to the clouds again in the mists of morning, and there will +again be as they have been. We are the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When +we fall that is our life. When we sink into the ground that is death, +and when we are drawn up again to the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No! +no! when we find we lose, and when we seem to lose, then we shall really +find. I am not a Christian, Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched +and seen things that perhaps Christians do not see. There, I have +spoken. Be happy with your star, and if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, wait +till it rises again. It will not be long; one day you will go to sleep, +then your eyes will open on another sky, and there your star will be +shining, Macumazahn." + +I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a thing. +But often and often in the after years I have thought of Indaba-zimbi +and his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He was a strange +man, this old rain-making savage, and there was more wisdom in him than +in many learned atheists--those spiritual destroyers who, in the name +of progress and humanity, would divorce hope from life, and leave us +wandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated hell. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, changing the subject, "I have something to say," +and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. + +He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals as +the narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. + +"Macumazahn," he said at length, "I have told you that this is an evil +woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in +her veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make you +mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the Star is +waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates you." + +So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of +Indaba-zimbi, I found a deeper meaning in Stella's simplest word. All +the rest of that day I passed in her company, and the greater part of +the two following days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of our +marriage. It rained that night, so we did not go out, but spent the +evening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carson +talked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and of countries +that he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade us +goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut by +the covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what the +night was like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but as +the light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight of +a dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika flashed into my mind; +could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had said nothing of +Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, because I did +not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was attached to this +strange person, and I did not wish to shake her confidence in her unless +it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or two I stood hesitating, +then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, there she should stop, I went +in and put up the stout wooden bar that was used to secure the door. For +the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi had made a habit of sleeping in the +covered passage, which was the only other possible way of access. As I +came to bed I had stepped over him rolled up in his blanket, and to all +appearances fast asleep. So it being evident that I had nothing to fear, +I promptly dismissed the matter from my mind, which, as may be imagined, +was indeed fully occupied with other thoughts. + +I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great happiness +in store for me, and of the providential course of events that had +brought it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was wandering in +the desert a dying man, bearing a dying child, and with scarcely a +possession left in the world except a store of buried ivory that I never +expected to see again. And now I was about to wed one of the sweetest +and loveliest women on the whole earth--a woman whom I loved more than +I could have thought possible, and who loved me back again. Also, as +though that were not good fortune enough, I was to acquire with her +very considerable possessions, quite sufficiently large to enable us to +follow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I lay and reflected on +all this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old Indaba-zimbi's melancholy +prophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he had always prophesied truly. +What if these should be true also? I turned cold as I thought of it, and +prayed to the Power above to preserve us both to live and love together. +Never was prayer more needed. While its words were still upon my lips I +dropped asleep and dreamed a most dreadful dream. + +I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. +She was dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, +spiritual beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a pale +flame played about her features, and the wind that blew did not stir her +hair. Nor was this all, for her white robes were death wrappings, and +the altar at which we stood was formed of the piled-up earth from an +open grave that yawned between us. So we stood waiting for one to wed +us, but no one came. Presently from the open grave sprang the form of +Hendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she stabbed at me, but +pierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, fell backwards into the +grave, still looking at me as she fell. Then Hendrika leaped after her +into the grave. I heard her feet strike heavily. + +"_Awake, Macumazahn! awake!_" cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. +In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious +struggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which were +matches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the taper. Now +in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over the other on +the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. The fat melted +and the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika who +were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was getting the better of +the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards them. Now she was uppermost, +now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, and now the great +knife she had in her hand flashed up. + +But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked +with all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save +herself, most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves +upon her. Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not +experienced it could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, +and at one time nearly mastered the two of us. As it was she did break +loose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straight +up at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and could not +conceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes which +I have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered with +overhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, and, +catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw herself +through it. But here her strength, exhausted with the long struggle, +failed her. For a moment she swung, then dropped to the ground and fell +senseless. + +"Ou!" gasped Indaba-zimbi. "Let us tie the devil up before she comes to +life again." + +I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner +of the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even +she could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the passage, and +Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to +raise an alarm at that hour of the night. + +"Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?" he said. "For several nights +I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made a plan. +To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. An hour +after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of light +come into the hut through the hole in the roof. Presently I saw the beam +of light vanish. At first I thought that a cloud was passing over the +moon, but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezing +himself through a narrow space. Presently he was through, and hanging by +his hands. Then the light came in again, and in the middle of it I saw +the Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop into the +hut. She clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great knife. She +dropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped her +round the middle. But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struck +at me in the dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you know the +rest. You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn." + +"Very nearly indeed," I answered, still panting, and arranging the rags +of my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my horrid +dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up by the +sound of Hendrika dropping to the floor--in my dream it had been a grave +that she dropped into. All of it, then, had been experienced in that +second of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps Time itself is nothing +but a dream, and events that seem far apart really occur simultaneously. + +We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came +to herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned +buffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi +unceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it up. + +In due course the day broke--my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to +watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the +stables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut--that +same hut in which she had been confined when she had been brought +a baboon-child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leaving +Indaba-zimbi to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place and +dressed in the best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. But +when I looked at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It was +covered with scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored +them up as best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, +which, what between the events of the past night, and of those pending +that day, were not a little disturbed. + +When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and +there Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with +orange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; then, +seeing the condition of my face, started back. + +"Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?" she asked. + +As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, and, +catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. + +Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika's threats and of her +fierce attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my +horrid dream. + +Stella's face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her +father became very stern. + +"You should have spoken of this before, Allan," he said. "I now see that +I did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful creature, +who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the brutes that +reared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day." + +"Oh, father," said Stella, "don't have her killed. It is all dreadful +enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond of +her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed on my +marriage day." + +"No," her father answered, "she shall not be killed, for though she +deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a +brute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence +she came." + +No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast--which +was rather a farce--was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gave +him certain orders. + +We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every +Sunday morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The +service began at ten o'clock, but long before that hour all the natives +on the place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be present at +the wedding of the "Star." It was a pretty sight to see them, the men +dressed in all their finery, and carrying shields and sticks in their +hands, and the women and children bearing green branches of trees, +ferns, and flowers. At length, about half-past nine, Stella rose, +pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A few minutes to ten she +reappeared again with her father, dressed in a white veil, a wreath of +orange flowers on her dark curling hair, a bouquet of orange flowers +in her hand. To me she seemed like a dream of loveliness. With her came +little Tota in a high state of glee and excitement. She was Stella's +only bridesmaid. Then we all passed out towards the church hut. The bare +space in front of it was filled with hundreds of natives, who set up +a song as we came. But we went on into the hut, which was crowded with +such of the natives as usually worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, as +usual, read the service, though he was obliged to sit down in order to +do so. When it was done--and to me it seemed interminable--Mr. Carson +whispered that he meant to marry us outside the hut in sight of all the +people. So we went out and took our stand under the shade of a large +tree that grew near the hut facing the bare space where the natives were +gathered. + +Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the +native dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife +after the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he +proceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and +beautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring--it was her +father's signet ring, for we had no other--upon Stella's finger, and it +was done. + +Then Mr. Carson spoke. "Allan and Stella," he said, "I believe that the +ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the sight +of God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage binding +is, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of the country +where the parties to it reside. It is according to the custom that has +been in force here for fifteen years or more that you have been married +in the face of all the people, and in token of it you will both sign the +register that I have kept of such marriages, among those of my people +who have adopted the Christian Faith. Still, in case there should be +any legal flaw I again demand the solemn promise of you both that on the +first opportunity you will cause this marriage to be re-celebrated in +some civilized land. Do you promise?" + +"We do," we answered. + +Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my +wife signed hers "Stella" only, but her father bade her write it Stella +Carson for the first and last time in her life. Then several of the +indunas, or headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks in +witness. Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, in +humorous allusion to Stella's native name. That register is before +me now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling's hair which lies +between its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names +and marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of the +tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where are +those who wrote them? + +"My people," said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had +kissed each other before them all--"My people, Macumazahn and the Star, +my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat of +one bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, my +people, you know this woman," and turning he pointed to Hendrika, who, +unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut. + +"Yes, yes, we know her," said a little ring of headmen, who formed +the primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had +squatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. "We know +her, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant of +the Star." + +"You know her," said Mr. Carson, "but you do not know her altogether. +Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last +night in the hut of Macumazahn." + +Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told his +moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, finishing up +by producing the great knife from which his watchfulness had saved me. + +Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his +story: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. + +Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her +eyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. + +She looked up boldly and answered-- + +"Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have +robbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which I +have lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for had I +killed him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him and shone +on me again." + +"Never," murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with +wrath. + +"My people," he said, "you hear the words of this woman. You hear how +she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She says +that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the man who +is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, we tamed +her, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us back. Say, +my people, what reward should be given to her?" + +"Death," said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, +and all the multitude beyond echoed the word "Death." + +"Death," repeated the head induna, adding, "If you save her, my +father, we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a +devil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain +before she works more evil." + +Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika's life +in moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman's nature, her +long service, and the affection that she had always shown towards +herself. She said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, +and she, my wife, who had nearly been left a widow before she was made a +bride, forgave her; let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, not +slain, let not her marriage day be stained with blood. + +Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of +killing Hendrika--indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But the +people were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a devil, +and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they have had +their way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had already +gained a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. Suddenly +the old man rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging them to +kill Hendrika at once or mischief would come of it. + +At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to +drag her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into tears +that the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson's orders and my own +remonstrances, carried the day. + +All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the +tumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising +that if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should be +stabbed like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice and +in English-- + +"Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to love +I shall go mad and become a babyan again." + +Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and +looked at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked +past me, and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, +being literally translated, means, "Till another moon," but which has +the same significance as the French "au revoir." + +It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, +and saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran +swiftly from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden movement +snatched her great knife from his hand. When she had gone about twenty +paces she halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, gave one loud cry +of anguish, and fled. A few minutes later we saw her far away, bounding +up the face of an almost perpendicular cliff--a cliff that nobody except +herself and the baboons could possibly climb. + +"Look," said Indaba-zimbi in my ear--"Look, Macumazahn, there goes the +Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, _she will come back again_. Ah, why +will you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, +Macumazahn?" and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. + +For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone for +the present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my side, +and in her smiles I forgot my fears. + +For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?--there are things +too happy and too sacred to be written of. + +At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that perfect +joy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GONE! + +I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found +ourselves. Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can +survive a honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only married +once, and can but speak from my limited experience. But certainly our +illusion, or rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, did +survive, as to this day it survives in my heart across all the years of +utter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of gloom. + +But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. +As our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been +described, so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. + +Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long +impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and found +him lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he was dying, +but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he recovered his +speech and some power of movement. But he never recovered his memory, +though he still knew Stella, and sometimes myself. Curiously enough he +remembered little Tota best of all three, though occasionally he thought +that she was his own daughter in her childhood, and would ask her where +her mother was. This state of affairs lasted for some seven months. +The old man gradually grew weaker, but he did not die. Of course his +condition quite precluded the idea of our leaving Babyan Kraals till all +was over. This was the more distressing to me because I had a nervous +presentiment that Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and also +because the state of her health rendered it desirable that we should +reach a civilized region as soon as possible. However, it could not be +helped. + +At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by +Mr. Carson's bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up and +spoke in a strong, full voice. + +"I hear you," he said. "Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you too +have suffered," and he fell back dead. + +I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision +of whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was +overwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been her +sole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between them +was much closer than is usual even in the case of father and daughter. +So deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect upon her +health. Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives on the +settlement called Mr. Carson "father," and as a father they lamented +him. The air resounded with the wailing of women, and the men went about +with bowed heads, saying that "the sun had set in the heavens, now only +the Star (Stella) remained." Indaba-zimbi alone did not mourn. He said +that it was best that the Inkoos should die, for what was life worth +when one lay like a log?--moreover, that it would have been well for all +if he had died sooner. + +On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the +waterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite +of all I could do to comfort her. + +That night as I sat outside the hut smoking--for the weather was hot, +and Stella was lying down inside--old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, and +squatted at my feet. + +"What is it, Indaba-zimbi?" I said. + +"This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?" + +"I don't know," I answered. "The Star is not fit to travel now, we must +wait awhile." + +"No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must take +her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well." + +"Why do you say so? why must we go?" + +"For this reason, Macumazahn," and he looked cautiously round and spoke +low. "The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain is full +of them." + +"I did not know that they had gone," I said. + +"Yes," he answered, "they went after the marriage, all but one or two; +now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a whole +cliff back with them." + +"Is that all?" I said, for I saw that he had something behind. "I am not +afraid of a pack of baboons." + +"No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with +them." + +Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, and +though at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by degrees +she to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was fully +preoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law's illness. I started +violently. "How do you know this?" I asked. + +"I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is +dressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though she +was a long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white flesh +of her arm when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, Macumazahn, +with all the baboons in the world, and she has come back to do evil. Now +do you understand why you should trek?" + +"Yes," I said, "though I don't see how she and the baboons can harm +us, I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp the +waggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: say +nothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And hearken +again. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all round the +huts and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we will get +the waggons ready, and next day we will trek." + +He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a +little disturbed--unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. That +this woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] That was +not so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be able to do +the same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that she had +been able to muster them, and by the strength of her human will and +intelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of revenge, seemed +to me so incredible that after reflection my fears grew light. Still I +determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox waggon would not be +such a very terrible thing to a strong woman accustomed to roughing it, +whatever her state of health. And when all was said and done I did +not like this tale of the presence of Hendrika with countless hosts of +baboons. + + [*] For an instance of this, see Anderson's "Twenty-five + Years in a Waggon," vol. i. p. 262.--Editor. + +So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon +story, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the +conclusion that it was our duty to follow her father's instructions to +the letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need +not enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declared +that she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that now +that her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. + +Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following morning +I was up early making preparations. The despair of the people when they +learned that we were going to leave them was something quite pitiable. I +could only console them by declaring that we were but on a journey, and +would return the following year. + +"They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead," they +declared; "ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. He +had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a mat +to lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in his +shadow. Then he had died, and the Star, their father's daughter, had +married me, Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take their +father's place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they do when +there was no one to protect them? The tribes were kept from attacking +them by fear of the white man. If we went they would be eaten up," and +so on. Alas! there was but too much foundation for their fears. + +I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said +that she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it +necessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to +allude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged +to. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon as +I could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out such +cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to the +Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, +and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little before +sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got +on my horse and rode homewards. + +Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the +central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had +been packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut, +thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her. +Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if he +had seen his mistress. + +He answered "yes." He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towards +the graveyard, holding the little white girl--my daughter--as he called +her, by the hand, when the sun stood "there," and he pointed to a spot +on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half before. +"The two dogs were with them," he added. I turned and ran towards the +graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the huts. Of course +there was no reason to be anxious--evidently she had gone to lay the +flowers on her father's grave. And yet I was anxious. + +When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my +orders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed +that he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I +asked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not, +which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping +to reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the +graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson's grave, lay the drooping flowers which +Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the spoor of +Tota's veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they? + +I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but no +answer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in tracing +their spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he came to +a clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream and the +ancient marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the mouth of the +ravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled cry. I rushed +to the spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The little open +space in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a struggle. +There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of human +feet--two shod, one naked--Stella's, Tota's, and _Hendrika's_. Nor was +this all. There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs--they were +nothing more--and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had been +bitten in the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of numberless +baboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into my mind. + +My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had +not been killed, for if so their remains would have been found with +those of the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under +the direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to +some secret den, there to keep them till they died--or kill them! + +For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. Then +I roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm the +people at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me guns and +ammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the spoor. For +a few yards it was plain enough--Stella had been dragged along. I could +see where her heels had struck the ground; the child had, I presumed, +been carried--at least there were no marks of her feet. At the water's +edge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, and they had gone along +in it, or at least Hendrika and her victim had, in order to obliterate +the trail. I could see where a moss-grown stone had been freshly turned +over in the water-bed. I ran along the bank some way up the ravine, in +the vain hope of catching a sight of them. Presently I heard a bark in +the cliffs above me; it was answered by another, and then I saw that +scores of baboons were hidden about among the rocks on either side, and +were softly swinging themselves down to bar the path. To go on unarmed +as I was would be useless. I should only be torn to pieces as the dogs +had been. So I turned and fled back towards the huts. As I drew near I +could see that my messenger had roused the settlement, for natives with +spears and kerries in their hands were running up towards the kraals. +When I reached the hut I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious +face. + +"So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn," he said. + +"It has fallen," I answered. + +"Keep a good heart, Macumazahn," he said again. "She is not dead, nor is +the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember this, +Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans to harm +her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all." + +"Pray God that we may find her," I groaned. "The light is going fast." + +"The moon rises in three hours," he answered; "we will search by +moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get +the men together, eat, and make things ready. _Hamba gachla_. Hasten +slowly, Macumazahn." + +As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I +packed some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind +of litter. If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! if +we found them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before the +moon rose. But at last it did rise. + +Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only +mustered five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had +belonged to Mr. Carson. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + +We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The +natives looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of +violence, and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether the +Star lived or died they would not rest till they had exterminated every +baboon on Babyan's Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be seen, we +kept it. + +We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as we +best could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks very +little. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the lonely +moonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes with our +cries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched the sides +of precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically piled one +upon another; in vain we searched through endless dells and fern-clad +crannies. There was nothing to be found. How could we expect to find +two human beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast stretch of +mountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. They were +lost, and in all human probability lost for ever. + +To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore +and weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down waiting +for the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had brought +with them, and sent to the kraals for more. + +I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my feelings. +Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may get some +idea of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring straight +before him as though he were looking into space, and taking note of +what went on there. An idea struck me. This man had some occult power. +Several times during our adventures he had prophesied, and in every case +his prophecies had proved true. He it was who, when we escaped from the +Zulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because there we should find the +place of a white man who lived under the shadow of a great peak that was +full of baboons. Perhaps he could help in this extremity--at any rate it +was worth trying. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "you say that you can send your spirit through +the doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know that +you can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, and will +save her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here." + +"I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn," he answered. "I do +things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I do +like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to use my +wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without being +asked--no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom I love, +for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other matters I had a +part, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but in this matter I +have no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom unless you thought +well to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have been no good to ask +me before, for I have only just found the herb I want," and he produced +a handful of the leaves of a plant that was unfamiliar to me. It had +prickly leaves, shaped very much like those of the common English +nettle. + +"Now, Macumazahn," he went on, "bid the men leave us alone, and then +follow me presently to the little glade down there by the water." + +I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a small +fire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. + +"Sit there, Macumazahn," he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, +"and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you move +or call out we shall learn nothing." + +I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, +the old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of +the pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering with +the cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the plant +I have mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, muttering as he +chewed. Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to the fire. A dense +smoke rose from them, but he held his head in this smoke and drew +it down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting every sign of +suffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, he gasped +loudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, seemed as though +they were going to start from his head. Presently he fell over on his +side, and lay senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and my first impulse +was to run to his assistance, but fortunately I remembered his caution, +and sat quiet. + +Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had +all the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin +to stiffen, exactly as though _rigor mortis_ had set in. Then, to my +astonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time there +appeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread and +spread; in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid corpse. + +I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further +natural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was +going to fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed that +the discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from the +extremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. +Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage of +stiffness or _rigor_, and the first stage of after-death collapse. When +all these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly woke +up. + +I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth +open. + +"Well, Macumazahn," he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, +and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, "it is all right; I +have seen her." + +"Seen who?" I said. + +"The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, but +unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the baboons obey +her, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from weariness, so I +whispered in her ear and told her not to be frightened, for you would +soon rescue her, and that meanwhile she must seem to be pleased to have +Hendrika near her." + +"You whispered in her ear?" I said. "How could you whisper in her ear?" + +"Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your +eyes? You don't know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had to +die to pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all the +healthy strength and life from my body in order to gather power to speak +with the Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I had let +things go a little further they must have stopped so, and there would +have been an end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you know so much +that you think you know everything. But you don't! You are always +staring at the clouds and can't see the things that lie at your feet. +You hardly believe me now, do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will show you. +Have you anything on you that the Star has touched or worn?" + +I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my +pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, he +lit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which he +caught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with the +juice of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. + +"Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes," he said. + +I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt +me, then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and +my brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground with +my feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath us was a +pool of beautifully clear water. + +"Look into the pool, Macumazahn," said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice +sounded hollow and far away in my ears. + +I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. +I saw a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave +rested Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked dreadfully +pale and weary, and her eyelids were red as though with weeping. But she +slept, and I could almost think that I saw her lips shape my name in her +sleep. Close to her, her head upon Stella's breast, was little Tota; +she had a skin thrown over her to keep out the night cold. The child was +awake, and appeared to be moaning with fear. By the fire, and in such a +position that the light fell full upon her face, and engaged in cooking +something in a rough pot shaped from wood, sat the Baboon-woman, +Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon skins, and her face had been +rubbed with some dark stain, which was, however, wearing off it. In +the intervals of her cooking she would turn on Stella her wild eyes, +in which glared visible madness, with an expression of tenderness that +amounted to worship. Then she would stare at the child and gnash her +teeth as though with hate. Clearly she was jealous of it. Round the +entrance arch of the cave peeped and peered the heads of many baboons. +Presently Hendrika made a sign to one of them; apparently she did not +speak, or rather grunt, in order not to wake Stella. The brute hopped +forward, and she gave it a second rude wooden pot which was lying by +her. It took it and went. The last thing that I saw, as the vision +slowly vanished from the pool, was the dim shadow of the baboon +returning with the pot full of water. + +Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath +me was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. + +"You have seen things," he said. + +"I have," I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What was +there to say?[*] "Do you know the path to the cave?" I added. + + [*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir + magic the reader is referred to a work named "Among the + Zulus," by David Leslie.--Editor. + +He nodded his head. "I did not follow it all just now, because it +winds," he said. "But I know it. We shall want the ropes." + +"Then let us be starting; the men have eaten." + +He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make +ready, adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all +right, if Indaba-zimbi had "smelt her out," they should soon find the +Star. So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much +improved that I was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we walked. + +We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a +mile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another +kloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the great +hill. + +On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was +never at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills +with the certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about +three hours' march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern slope +of the great peak. On one side of this valley was a series of stony +koppies, on the other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched along +the wall for a distance of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba-zimbi +halted. + +"There is the place," he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. This +opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. +It cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was +partially hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface +of the cliff. Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have +noticed it, for there were many such cracks and crannies in the rocky +face of the great mountain. + +We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I +noticed was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been +worn by the continual passage of baboons; the second, that something +white was hanging on a bush near the top of the ascent. + +It was a pocket-handkerchief. + +Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I +began the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, +for the rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still +possible to an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba-zimbi. +But the last twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by throwing a +rope over the trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the bottom of the +opening. This we accomplished with some trouble, and the rest was easy. +A foot or two above my head the handkerchief fluttered in the wind. +Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was my wife's. As I did so I +noticed the face of a baboon peering at me over the edge of the cleft, +the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute gave a bark and +vanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my feet +against the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew that +we had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the others. I +gained the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, ending in +a gulley, which led to a wide open space of some sort. I looked through +the passage and saw that the gulley was black with baboons. On they came +by the hundred. I unslung my elephant gun from my shoulders and waited, +calling to the men below to come up with all possible speed. The brutes +streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards me, barking, grunting, and +showing their huge teeth. I waited till they were within fifteen yards. +Then I fired the elephant gun, which was loaded with slugs, right into +the thick of them. In that narrow place the report echoed like a cannon +shot, but its sound was quickly swallowed in the volley of piercing +human-sounding groans and screams that followed. The charge of heavy +slugs had ploughed through the host of baboons, of which at least a +dozen lay dead or dying in the passage. For a moment they hesitated, +then they came on again with a hideous clamour. Fortunately by this time +Indaba-zimbi, who also had a gun, was standing by my side, otherwise I +should have been torn to pieces before I could re-load. He fired both +barrels into them, and again checked the rush. But they came on again, +and notwithstanding the appearance of two other natives with guns, which +they let off with more or less success, we should have been overwhelmed +by the great and ferocious apes had I not by this time succeeded in +re-loading the elephant gun. When they were right on us, I fired, with +even more deadly effect than before, for at that distance every slug +told on their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage were +now something inconceivable. One might have thought that we were doing +battle with a host of demons; indeed in that light--for the overhanging +arch of rock made it very dark--the gnashing snouts and sombre glowing +eyes of the apes looked like those of devils as they are represented by +monkish fancy. But the last shot was too much for them; they withdrew, +dragging some of their wounded with them, and thus gave us time to get +our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all were there, and we advanced +down the passage, which presently opened into a rocky gulley with +shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way at the bottom of it; it was +about a hundred yards long, and the slopes on either side were topped +by precipitous cliffs. I looked at these slopes; they literally swarmed +with baboons, grunting, barking, screaming, and beating their breasts +with their long arms, in fury. I looked up the water-way; along it, +accompanied by a mob, or, as it were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, +her long hair flying, madness written on her face, and in her arms was +the senseless form of little Tota. + +She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed aloud. +To me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons clearly +understood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One boulder +leaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell from the +roof of the arch on to a man's head and killed him. Indaba-zimbi lifted +his gun to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the shot went over +her, crying that he would kill the child. Then I shouted to the men +to open out and form a line from side to side of the shelving gulley. +Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they obeyed me, and keeping +in the water-way myself, together with Indaba-zimbi and the other guns, +I gave the word to charge. + +Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most +fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the +slopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who +rushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, the +apes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, and +many more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor did +we go scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over in the +grip of a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon him like +dogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in this way, and +I myself received a bite through the fleshy part of the left arm, but +fortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before I was pulled +down. + +At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to +seize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more +of fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away from +the assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces in +their paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. + +Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her arms, +she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. I lifted +my gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a mad thing, +half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she landed full on +Indaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay to do any more. +Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and through the arch, +followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and vanished from our sight. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +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 knock 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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + +Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that night +in the baboons' home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella would not +sleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I made her up a +kind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound valley was one of the +hottest places I ever was in, I thought that this would not matter; but +when at sunrise on the following morning I saw a veil of miasmatic mist +hanging over the surface of the ground, I changed my opinion. However, +neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, so as soon as was practical +we started homewards. I had already on the previous day sent some of the +men back to the kraals to fetch a ladder, and when we reached the cliff +we found them waiting for us beneath. With the help of the ladder the +descent was easy. Stella simply got out of her rough litter at the top +of the cliff, for we found it necessary to carry her, climbed down the +ladder, and got into it again at the bottom. + +Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of +Hendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here +with--"and lived happily ever after." But alas! it is not so. How am I +to write it? + +My dearest wife's vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that +the danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that +her state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of +leaving Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of +mind, and the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, +combined with her delicate state of health, had completely broken her +down. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack of +fever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that accursed +valley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her dreadfully +weak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. + +I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my +future, never of _our_ future. It is impossible for me to tell how sweet +she was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I wish +to tell it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if ever +a woman drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, Stella +Quatermain did so. + +The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived +to kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had +little skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through one +weary night I watched her with a breaking heart. + +The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak +behind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. Stella +awoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to open the +door of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on the splendour +of the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an angel might +smile. Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, pointing to the +radiant heavens, whispered: + +"_There, Allan, there!_" + +It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must wander +to the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; it +cannot be written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also die! + +Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we can +never go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my father +before me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, there is +but one word of comfort. "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken +away." Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a humble heart, +"Blessed be the name of the Lord." + + + +I buried her by her father's side, and the weeping of the people who had +loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could weep no +more. + +On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed +myself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, +and by its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near +silently, and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on the +further side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella's grave, +and tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would unearth that +which lay within, was _Hendrika_. Her face was wild and haggard, her +form was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore slipped aside, the +shoulder-blades seemed to project almost through her skin. Suddenly she +looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful maniac laugh, she put her hand +to her girdle and drew her great knife from it. I thought that she was +about to attack me, and prepared to defend myself as I best could, for I +was unarmed. But she made no effort to do so. Lifting the knife on high, +for a moment she held it glittering in the moonlight, then plunged it +into her own breast, and fell headlong to the ground. + +I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently +she opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. + +"Macumazahn," she said, speaking in English and in an thick difficult +voice like one who half forgot and half remembered--"Macumazahn, I +remember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?" + +"Yes," I said, "she is dead, and you killed her." + +"I killed her!" the dying woman faltered, "and I loved her. Yes, yes, I +know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and now +once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her--because I +loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not dead +yet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very slowly. +It was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed her, and now +she never can forgive me." + +"Ask forgiveness from above," I said, for Hendrika had been a Christian, +and the torment of her remorse touched me. + +"I ask no forgiveness," she said. "May God torture me for ever, because +I killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to find me +and forgives me! I only want her forgiveness." And wailing in an anguish +of the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to be forgotten, +Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. + +I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had +happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed +to give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the +natives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to the +vultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of Hendrika. + + + +A week after Hendrika's death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was +hateful to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi +and told him that I was going. He answered that it was well. "The place +has served your turn," he said; "here you have won that joy which it was +fated you should win, and have suffered those things that it was fated +you should suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, the joy and the +suffering, like the sunshine and the storm, are the same thing, and will +rest at last in the same heaven, the heaven from which they came. Now +go, Macumazahn." + +I asked him if he was coming with me. + +"No," he answered, "our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We met +together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes +his own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my years +are few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. Perhaps +we may meet again, but it will not be in this world. Henceforth we have +each of us a friend the less." + +"Heavy words," I said. + +"True words," he answered. + +Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving +Indaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of such +cattle and goods as I did not want. + +Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had almost +recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was afterwards +named, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting a +respectable native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight +with the baboons, to accompany me as his nurse. + +Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away +from Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the +Bad Lands, and my first night's outspan was beneath that very tree where +Stella, my lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. + +I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not died +in the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from year +to year I have continued to feel while I wander through the lonely +wilderness of life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had won my +darling's love, and for a little while we had been happy together. Our +happiness was too perfect to endure. She is lost to me now, but she is +lost to be found again. + +Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. + +"Good-bye, Macumazahn," he said, nodding his white lock at me. "Good-bye +for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make me that. +But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved each other +shall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man in my way, +Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. All my +prophecies to you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one shall come +true also. I tell you that you shall return to Babyan Kraals and shall +not find me. I tell you that you shall journey to a further land than +Babyan Kraals and shall find me. Farewell!" and he took a pinch of +snuff, turned, and went. + + + +Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many +adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived +safely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both Tota +and my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well chronicle +the destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my charge. Then she +was adopted by a lady, the wife of an English colonel, who was stationed +at the Cape. She was taken by her adopted parents to England, where +she grew up a very charming and pretty girl, and ultimately married a +clergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her again, though we often wrote +to each other. + +Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been gathered +to the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah me! all +this took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. + +Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson's +property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I +wrote to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer +to whom the matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not +having been celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according to +English law, and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly enough +I acquiesced in this, and the property passed to a cousin of my +father-in-law's; but since I have come to live in England I have been +informed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, and that there +is every probability that the courts would have declared the marriage +perfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordance +with the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now so +rich that it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin is +dead, his son is in possession, so let him keep it. + +Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years +after my darling's death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook +an expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of +the well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted +my horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a strange +prescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for the music +of the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals that used to be +to the left of the road by the river had vanished. I rode towards their +site; the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the paths were dumb with +grass. Presently I reached the place. There, overgrown with grass, were +the burnt ashes of the kraals, and there among the ashes, gleaming in +the moonlight, lay the white bones of men. Now it was clear to me. The +settlement had been fallen on by some powerful foe, and its inhabitants +put to the assegai. The forebodings of the natives had come true; Babyan +Kraals were peopled by memories alone. + +I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. +They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I +entered one of them--it had been our sleeping hut--and lit a candle +which I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and +broken mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. Then +I remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor and +concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. I +went to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within wrapped +in rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife had been +married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered wreath and +flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. I opened it; +it contained a lock of my own hair! + +I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away +and could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the +floor. + +Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving +my horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined +garden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling's grave grew a +self-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers on to +the mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. A great +baboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished into the +trees. I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika doomed +to keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous rage +had done to death. + +I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be +written. Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters +fall in melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting mountain, +I turned and sought that spot where first we had told our love. Now the +orange grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of the trees were +dead, choked with creepers, but some still flourished. There stood the +one beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock that had been our +seat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of _Stella_, the Stella whom +I had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her upturned face was that same +spiritual look which I saw upon it in the hour when we first had kissed. +The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, the breeze wavered in her curling +hair, her breast rose and fell, a gentle smile played about her +parted lips. I stood transfixed with awe and joy, gazing on that lost +loveliness which once was mine. I could not speak, and she spoke no +word; she did not even seem to see me. Now her eyes fell. For a moment +they met mine, and their message entered into me. + +Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous +moonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the +waters, the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the +sorrow and the hope. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Allan's Wife, by H. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com + + + + + +Allan's Wife + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + + My Dear Macumazahn, + + It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening of + that Allen who has become as well known to me as any other friend + I have. It is therefore fitting that I should dedicate to you + this, his last tale--the story of his wife, and the history of + some further adventures which befell him. They will remind you of + many an African yarn--that with the baboons may recall an + experience of your own which I did not share. And perhaps they + will do more than this. Perhaps they will bring back to you some + of the long past romance of days that are lost to us. The country + of which Allan Quatermain tells his tale is now, for the most + part, as well known and explored as are the fields of Norfolk. + Where we shot and trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face + of civilized man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The + shadow of the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on + the Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the + morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The blue gums + that we planted in the garden of the "Palatial" must be large + trees by now, and the "Palatial" itself has passed from us. Jess + sat in it waiting for her love after we were gone. There she + nursed him back to life. But Jess is dead, and strangers own it, + or perhaps it is a ruin. + + For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the mystery and + promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day sun burns + overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of those we knew are + left. Some are victims to battle and murder, their bones strew the + veldt; death has taken some in a more gentle fashion; others are + hidden from us, we know not where. We might well fear to return to + that land lest we also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart + to-day, the past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. + Still we can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, + lightly undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed. + Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria Horse, + the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight patrols; aye, + and hear the roar of guns echoed from the Shameful Hill. + + To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those eventful + years of youth which we passed together in the African towns and + on the African veldt, I dedicate these pages, subscribing myself + now as always, +Your sincere friend, +Indanda. + + To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq. + + + + + +ALLAN'S WIFE + + + +CHAPTER I + +EARLY DAYS + +It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just +before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead +wife, stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. + +When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his +literary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts, of which the +following is one. The other is simply a record of events wherein Mr. +Quatermain was not personally concerned--a Zulu novel, the story of +which was told to him by the hero many years after the tragedy had +occurred. But with this we have nothing to do at present. + + + +I have often thought (Mr. Quatermain's manuscript begins) that I would +set down on paper the events connected with my marriage, and the loss +of my most dear wife. Many years have now passed since that event, and +to some extent time has softened the old grief, though Heaven knows it +is still keen enough. On two or three occasions I have even begun the +record. Once I gave it up because the writing of it depressed me +beyond bearing, once because I was suddenly called away upon a +journey, and the third time because a Kaffir boy found my manuscript +convenient for lighting the kitchen fire. + +But now that I am at leisure here in England, I will make a fourth +attempt. If I succeed, the story may serve to interest some one in +after years when I am dead and gone; before that I should not wish it +to be published. It is a wild tale enough, and suggests some curious +reflections. + +I am the son of a missionary. My father was originally curate in +charge of a small parish in Oxfordshire. He had already been some ten +years married to my dear mother when he went there, and he had four +children, of whom I was the youngest. I remember faintly the place +where we lived. It was an ancient long grey house, facing the road. +There was a very large tree of some sort in the garden. It was hollow, +and we children used to play about inside of it, and knock knots of +wood from the rough bark. We all slept in a kind of attic, and my +mother always came and kissed us when we were in bed. I used to wake +up and see her bending over me, a candle in her hand. There was a +curious kind of pole projecting from the wall over my bed. Once I was +dreadfully frightened because my eldest brother made me hang to it by +my hands. That is all I remember about our old home. It has been +pulled down long ago, or I would journey there to see it. + +A little further down the road was a large house with big iron gates +to it, and on the top of the gate pillars sat two stone lions, which +were so hideous that I was afraid of them. Perhaps this sentiment was +prophetic. One could see the house by peeping through the bars of the +gates. It was a gloomy-looking place, with a tall yew hedge round it; +but in the summer-time some flowers grew about the sun-dial in the +grass plat. This house was called the Hall, and Squire Carson lived +there. One Christmas--it must have been the Christmas before my father +emigrated, or I should not remember it--we children went to a +Christmas-tree festivity at the Hall. There was a great party there, +and footmen wearing red waistcoats stood at the door. In the dining- +room, which was panelled with black oak, was the Christmas-tree. +Squire Carson stood in front of it. He was a tall, dark man, very +quiet in his manners, and he wore a bunch of seals on his waistcoat. +We used to think him old, but as a matter of fact he was then not more +than forty. He had been, as I afterwards learned, a great traveller in +his youth, and some six or seven years before this date he married a +lady who was half a Spaniard--a papist, my father called her. I can +remember her well. She was small and very pretty, with a rounded +figure, large black eyes, and glittering teeth. She spoke English with +a curious accent. I suppose that I must have been a funny child to +look at, and I know that my hair stood up on my head then as it does +now, for I still have a sketch of myself that my mother made of me, in +which this peculiarity is strongly marked. On this occasion of the +Christmas-tree I remember that Mrs. Carson turned to a tall, foreign- +looking gentleman who stood beside her, and, tapping him +affectionately on the shoulder with her gold eye-glasses, said-- + +"Look, cousin--look at that droll little boy with the big brown eyes; +his hair is like a--what you call him?--scrubbing-brush. Oh, what a +droll little boy!" + +The tall gentleman pulled at his moustache, and, taking Mrs. Carson's +hand in his, began to smooth my hair down with it till I heard her +whisper-- + +"Leave go my hand, cousin. Thomas is looking like--like the +thunderstorm." + +Thomas was the name of Mr. Carson, her husband. + +After that I hid myself as well as I could behind a chair, for I was +shy, and watched little Stella Carson, who was the squire's only +child, giving the children presents off the tree. She was dressed as +Father Christmas, with some soft white stuff round her lovely little +face, and she had large dark eyes, which I thought more beautiful than +anything I had ever seen. At last it came to my turn to receive a +present--oddly enough, considered in the light of future events, it +was a large monkey. Stella reached it down from one of the lower +boughs of the tree and handed it to me, saying-- + +"Dat is my Christmas present to you, little Allan Quatermain." + +As she did so her sleeve, which was covered with cotton wool, spangled +over with something that shone, touched one of the tapers and caught +fire--how I do not know--and the flame ran up her arm towards her +throat. She stood quite still. I suppose that she was paralysed with +fear; and the ladies who were near screamed very loud, but did +nothing. Then some impulse seized me--perhaps instinct would be a +better word to use, considering my age. I threw myself upon the child, +and, beating at the fire with my hands, mercifully succeeded in +extinguishing it before it really got hold. My wrists were so badly +scorched that they had to be wrapped up in wool for a long time +afterwards, but with the exception of a single burn upon her throat, +little Stella Carson was not much hurt. + +This is all that I remember about the Christmas-tree at the Hall. What +happened afterwards is lost to me, but to this day in my sleep I +sometimes see little Stella's sweet face and the stare of terror in +her dark eyes as the fire ran up her arm. This, however, is not +wonderful, for I had, humanly speaking, saved the life of her who was +destined to be my wife. + +The next event which I can recall clearly is that my mother and three +brothers all fell ill of fever, owing, as I afterwards learned, to the +poisoning of our well by some evil-minded person, who threw a dead +sheep into it. + +It must have been while they were ill that Squire Carson came one day +to the vicarage. The weather was still cold, for there was a fire in +the study, and I sat before the fire writing letters on a piece of +paper with a pencil, while my father walked up and down the room +talking to himself. Afterwards I knew that he was praying for the +lives of his wife and children. Presently a servant came to the door +and said that some one wanted to see him. + +"It is the squire, sir," said the maid, "and he says he particularly +wishes to see you." + +"Very well," answered my father, wearily, and presently Squire Carson +came in. His face was white and haggard, and his eyes shone so +fiercely that I was afraid of him. + +"Forgive me for intruding on you at such a time, Quatermain," he said, +in a hoarse voice, "but to-morrow I leave this place for ever, and I +wish to speak to you before I go--indeed, I must speak to you." + +"Shall I send Allan away?" said my father, pointing to me. + +"No; let him bide. He will not understand." Nor, indeed, did I at the +time, but I remembered every word, and in after years their meaning +grew on me. + +"First tell me," he went on, "how are they?" and he pointed upwards +with his thumb. + +"My wife and two of the boys are beyond hope," my father answered, +with a groan. "I do not know how it will go with the third. The Lord's +will be done!" + +"The Lord's will be done," the squire echoed, solemnly. "And now, +Quatermain, listen--my wife's gone." + +"Gone!" my father answered. "Who with?" + +"With that foreign cousin of hers. It seems from a letter she left me +that she always cared for him, not for me. She married me because she +thought me a rich English milord. Now she has run through my property, +or most of it, and gone. I don't know where. Luckily, she did not care +to encumber her new career with the child; Stella is left to me." + +"That is what comes of marrying a papist, Carson," said my father. +That was his fault; he was as good and charitable a man as ever lived, +but he was bigoted. "What are you going to do--follow her?" + +He laughed bitterly in answer. + +"Follow her!" he said; "why should I follow her? If I met her I might +kill her or him, or both of them, because of the disgrace they have +brought upon my child's name. No, I never want to look upon her face +again. I trusted her, I tell you, and she has betrayed me. Let her go +and find her fate. But I am going too. I am weary of my life." + +"Surely, Carson, surely," said my father, "you do not mean----" + +"No, no; not that. Death comes soon enough. But I will leave this +civilized world which is a lie. We will go right away into the wilds, +I and my child, and hide our shame. Where? I don't know where. +Anywhere, so long as there are no white faces, no smooth educated +tongues----" + +"You are mad, Carson," my father answered. "How will you live? How can +you educate Stella? Be a man and wear it down." + +"I will be a man, and I will wear it down, but not here, Quatermain. +Education! Was not she--that woman who was my wife--was not she highly +educated?--the cleverest woman in the country forsooth. Too clever for +me, Quatermain--too clever by half! No, no, Stella shall be brought up +in a different school; if it be possible, she shall forget her very +name. Good-bye, old friend, good-bye for ever. Do not try to find me +out, henceforth I shall be like one dead to you, to you and all I +knew," and he was gone. + +"Mad," said my father, with a heavy sigh. "His trouble has turned his +brain. But he will think better of it." + +At that moment the nurse came hurrying in and whispered something in +his ear. My father's face turned deadly pale. He clutched at the table +to support himself, then staggered from the room. My mother was dying! + +It was some days afterwards, I do not know exactly how long, that my +father took me by the hand and led me upstairs into the big room which +had been my mother's bedroom. There she lay, dead in her coffin, with +flowers in her hand. Along the wall of the room were arranged three +little white beds, and on each of the beds lay one of my brothers. +They all looked as though they were asleep, and they all had flowers +in their hands. My father told me to kiss them, because I should not +see them any more, and I did so, though I was very frightened. I did +not know why. Then he took me in his arms and kissed me. + +"The Lord hath given," he said, "and the Lord hath taken away; blessed +be the name of the Lord." + +I cried very much, and he took me downstairs, and after that I have +only a confused memory of men dressed in black carrying heavy burdens +towards the grey churchyard! + +Next comes a vision of a great ship and wide tossing waters. My father +could no longer bear to live in England after the loss that had fallen +on him, and made up his mind to emigrate to South Africa. We must have +been poor at the time--indeed, I believe that a large portion of our +income went from my father on my mother's death. At any rate we +travelled with the steerage passengers, and the intense discomfort of +the journey with the rough ways of our fellow emigrants still remain +upon my mind. At last it came to an end, and we reached Africa, which +I was not to leave again for many, many years. + +In those days civilization had not made any great progress in Southern +Africa. My father went up the country and became a missionary among +the Kaffirs, near to where the town of Cradock now stands, and here I +grew to manhood. There were a few Boer farmers in the neighbourhood, +and gradually a little settlement of whites gathered round our mission +station--a drunken Scotch blacksmith and wheelwright was about the +most interesting character, who, when he was sober, could quote the +Scottish poet Burns and the Ingoldsby Legends, then recently +published, literally by the page. It was from that I contracted a +fondness for the latter amusing writings, which has never left me. +Burns I never cared for so much, probably because of the Scottish +dialect which repelled me. What little education I got was from my +father, but I never had much leaning towards books, nor he much time +to teach them to me. On the other hand, I was always a keen observer +of the ways of men and nature. By the time that I was twenty I could +speak Dutch and three or four Kaffir dialects perfectly, and I doubt +if there was anybody in South Africa who understood native ways of +thought and action more completely than I did. Also I was really a +very good shot and horseman, and I think--as, indeed, my subsequent +career proves to have been the case--a great deal tougher than the +majority of men. Though I was then, as now, light and small, nothing +seemed to tire me. I could bear any amount of exposure and privation, +and I never met the native who was my master in feats of endurance. Of +course, all that is different now, I am speaking of my early manhood. + +It may be wondered that I did not run absolutely wild in such +surroundings, but I was held back from this by my father's society. He +was one of the gentlest and most refined men that I ever met; even the +most savage Kaffir loved him, and his influence was a very good one +for me. He used to call himself one of the world's failures. Would +that there were more such failures. Every morning when his work was +done he would take his prayer-book and, sitting on the little stoep or +verandah of our station, would read the evening psalms to himself. +Sometimes there was not light enough for this, but it made no +difference, he knew them all by heart. When he had finished he would +look out across the cultivated lands where the mission Kaffirs had +their huts. + +But I knew it was not these he saw, but rather the grey English +church, and the graves ranged side by side before the yew near the +wicket gate. + +It was there on the stoep that he died. He had not been well, and one +evening I was talking to him, and his mind went back to Oxfordshire +and my mother. He spoke of her a good deal, saying that she had never +been out of his mind for a single day during all these years, and that +he rejoiced to think he was drawing near that land wither she had +gone. Then he asked me if I remembered the night when Squire Carson +came into the study at the vicarage, and told him that his wife had +run away, and that he was going to change his name and bury himself in +some remote land. + +I answered that I remembered it perfectly. + +"I wonder where he went to," said my father, "and if he and his +daughter Stella are still alive. Well, well! I shall never meet them +again. But life is a strange thing, Allan, and you may. If you ever +do, give them my kind love." + +After that I left him. We had been suffering more than usual from the +depredations of the Kaffir thieves, who stole our sheep at night, and, +as I had done before, and not without success, I determined to watch +the kraal and see if I could catch them. Indeed, it was from this +habit of mine of watching at night that I first got my native name of +Macumazahn, which may be roughly translated as "he who sleeps with one +eye open." So I took my rifle and rose to go. But he called me to him +and kissed me on the forehead, saying, "God bless you, Allan! I hope +that you will think of your old father sometimes, and that you will +lead a good and happy life." + +I remember that I did not much like his tone at the time, but set it +down to an attack of low spirits, to which he grew very subject as the +years went on. I went down to the kraal and watched till within an +hour of sunrise; then, as no thieves appeared, returned to the +station. As I came near I was astonished to see a figure sitting in my +father's chair. At first I thought it must be a drunken Kaffir, then +that my father had fallen asleep there. + +And so he had,--for he was dead! + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRE-FIGHT + +When I had buried my father, and seen a successor installed in his +place--for the station was the property of the Society--I set to work +to carry out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to +execute because it would have involved separation from my father. Put +shortly, it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right +through the countries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, +and as much further North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, +for though the emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these +territories, they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But +I was now alone in the world, and it mattered little what became of +me; so, driven on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old +as I am, will perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to +undertake the journey. + +Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station, +reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The +proceeds I invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading +purposes, and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved any +modern explorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to do a +good deal of execution with them. One of them was a single-barrelled, +smooth bore, fitted for percussion caps--a roer we called it--which +threw a three-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse +black powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, +although it generally knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I +only did under compulsion. The best of the lot, perhaps, was a double- +barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, but it had flint locks. Also there were +some old tower muskets, which might or might not throw straight at +seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs with me, and three good horses, +which were supposed to be salted--that is, proof against the sickness. +Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow named Indaba-zimbi, which, being +translated, means "tongue of iron." I suppose he got this name from +his strident voice and exhaustless eloquence. This man was a great +character in his way. He had been a noted witch-doctor among a +neighbouring tribe, and came to the station under the following +circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable part in this history, +are perhaps worth recording. + +Two years before my father's death I had occasion to search the +country round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it +occurred to me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were +bred by a Kaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about +fifty miles from our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen +safe at home. The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the +following morning I went to pay my respects to him before leaving, and +was somewhat surprised to find a collection of some hundreds of men +and women sitting round him anxiously watching the sky in which the +thunder-clouds were banking up in a very ominous way. + +"You had better wait, white man," said the chief, "and see the rain- +doctors fight the lightning." + +I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had +for some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe, +although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country +now known as Zululand. But a son of the chief's, a man of about +thirty, had lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This +irritated Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between +the two witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by +lightning being given and accepted. These were the conditions. The +rivals must await the coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary +tempest would serve their turn. Then, carrying assegais in their +hands, they must take their stand within fifty paces of each other +upon a certain patch of ground where the big thunderbolts were +observed to strike continually, and by the exercise of their occult +powers and invocations to the lightning, must strive to avert death +from themselves and bring it on their rival. The terms of this +singular match had been arranged a month previously, but no storm +worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the local weather-prophets +believed it to be brewing. + +I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and +was told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped +the second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and +be jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance. + +The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my +desire to be gone, and I accepted the chief's invitation to see it +out. Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western heavens +grew darker and darker, and the still air heralded the coming of the +storm, yet it did not come. By four o'clock, however, it became +obvious that it must burst soon--at sunset, the old chief said, and in +the company of the whole assembly I moved down to the place of combat. +The kraal was built on the top of a hill, and below it the land sloped +gently to the banks of a river about half a mile away. On the hither +side of the bank was the piece of land that was, the natives said, +"loved of the lightning." Here the magicians took up their stand, +while the spectators grouped themselves on the hillside about two +hundred yards away--which was, I thought, rather too near to be +pleasant. When we had sat there for a while my curiosity overcame me, +and I asked leave of the chief to go down and inspect the arena. He +said I might do so at my own risk. I told him that the fire from above +would not hurt white men, and went to find that the spot was a bed of +iron ore, thinly covered with grass, which of course accounted for its +attracting the lightning from the storms as they travelled along the +line of the river. At each end of this iron-stone area were placed the +combatants, Indaba-zimbi facing the east, and his rival the west, and +before each there burned a little fire made of some scented root. +Moreover they were dressed in all the paraphernalia of their craft, +snakeskins, fish-bladders, and I know not what beside, while round +their necks hung circlets of baboons' teeth and bones from human +hands. First I went to the western end where the chief's son stood. He +was pointing with his assegai towards the advancing storm, and +invoking it in a voice of great excitement. + +"Come, fire, and lick up Indaba-zimbi! + +"Hear me, Storm Devil, and lick Indaba-zimbi with your red tongue! + +"Spit on him with your rain! + +"Whirl him away in your breath! + +"Make him as nothing--melt the marrow in his bones! + +"Run into his heart and burn away the lies! + +"Show all the people who is the true Witch Finder! + +"Let me not be put to shame in the eyes of this white man!" + +Thus he spoke, or rather chanted, and all the while rubbed his broad +chest--for he was a very fine man--with some filthy compound of +medicine or /mouti/. + +After a while, getting tired of his song, I walked across the iron- +stone, to where Indaba-zimbi sat by his fire. He was not chanting at +all, but his performance was much more impressive. It consisted in +staring at the eastern sky, which was perfectly clear of cloud, and +every now and again beckoning at it with his finger, then turning +round to point with the assegai towards his rival. For a while I +looked at him in silence. He was a curious wizened man, apparently +over fifty years of age, with thin hands that looked as tough as wire. +His nose was much sharper than is usual among these races, and he had +a queer habit of holding his head sideways like a bird when he spoke, +which, in addition to the humour that lurked in his eye, gave him a +most comical appearance. Another strange thing about him was that he +had a single white lock of hair among his black wool. At last I spoke +to him: + +"Indaba-zimbi, my friend," I said, "you may be a good witch-doctor, +but you are certainly a fool. It is no good beckoning at the blue sky +while your enemy is getting a start with the storm." + +"You may be clever, but don't think you know everything, white man," +the old fellow answered, in a high, cracked voice, and with something +like a grin. + +"They call you Iron-tongue," I went on; "you had better use it, or the +Storm Devil won't hear you." + +"The fire from above runs down iron," he answered, "so I keep my +tongue quiet. Oh, yes, let him curse away, I'll put him out presently. +Look now, white man." + +I looked, and in the eastern sky there grew a cloud. At first it was +small, though very black, but it gathered with extraordinary rapidity. + +This was odd enough, but as I had seen the same thing happen before it +did not particularly astonish me. It is by no means unusual in Africa +for two thunderstorms to come up at the same time from different +points of the compass. + +"You had better get on, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "the big storm is +coming along fast, and will soon eat up that baby of yours," and I +pointed to the west. + +"Babies sometimes grow to giants, white man," said Indaba-zimbi, +beckoning away vigorously. "Look now at my cloud-child." + +I looked; the eastern storm was spreading itself from earth to sky, +and in shape resembled an enormous man. There was its head, its +shoulders, and its legs; yes, it was like a huge giant travelling +across the heavens. The light of the setting sun escaping from beneath +the lower edge of the western storm shot across the intervening space +in a sheet of splendour, and, lighting upon the advancing figure of +cloud, wrapped its middle in hues of glory too wonderful to be +described; but beneath and above this glowing belt his feet and head +were black as jet. Presently, as I watched, an awful flash of light +shot from the head of the cloud, circled it about as though with a +crown of living fire, and vanished. + +"Aha," chuckled old Indaba-zimbi, "my little boy is putting on his +man's ring," and he tapped the gum ring on his own head, which natives +assume when they reach a certain age and dignity. "Now, white man, +unless you are a bigger wizard than either of us you had better clear +off, for the fire-fight is about to begin." + +I thought this sound advice. + +"Good luck go with you, my black uncle," I said. "I hope you don't +feel the iniquities of a mis-spent life weighing on you at the last." + +"You look after yourself, and think of your own sins, young man," he +answered, with a grim smile, and taking a pinch of snuff, while at +that very moment a flash of lightning, I don't know from which storm, +struck the ground within thirty paces of me. That was enough for me, I +took to my heels, and as I went I heard old Indaba-zimbi's dry chuckle +of amusement. + +I climbed the hill till I came to where the chief was sitting with his +indunas, or headmen, and sat down near to him. I looked at the man's +face and saw that he was intensely anxious for his son's safety, and +by no means confident of the young man's powers to resist the magic of +Indaba-zimbi. He was talking in a low voice to the induna next to him. +I affected to take no notice and to be concentrating my attention on +the novel scene before me; but in those days I had very quick ears, +and caught the drift of the conversation. + +"Hearken!" the chief was saying, "if the magic of Indaba-zimbi +prevails against my son I will endure him no more. Of this I am sure, +that when he has slain my son he will slay me, me also, and make +himself chief in my place. I fear Indaba-zimbi. /Ou!/" + +"Black One," answered the induna, "wizards die as dogs die, and, once +dead, dogs bark no more." + +"And once dead," said the chiefs, "wizards work no more spells," and +he bent and whispered in the induna's ear, looking at the assegai in +his hand as he whispered. + +"Good, my father, good!" said the induna, presently. "It shall be done +to-night, if the lightning does not do it first." + +"A bad look-out for old Indaba-zimbi," I said to myself. "They mean to +kill him." Then I thought no more of the matter for a while, the scene +before me was too tremendous. + +The two storms were rapidly rushing together. Between them was a gulf +of blue sky, and from time to time flashes of blinding light passed +across this gulf, leaping from cloud to cloud. I remember that they +reminded me of the story of the heathen god Jove and his thunderbolts. +The storm that was shaped like a giant and ringed with the glory of +the sinking sun made an excellent Jove, and I am sure that the bolts +which leapt from it could not have been surpassed even in mythological +times. Oddly enough, as yet the flashes were not followed by thunder. +A deadly stillness lay upon the place, the cattle stood silently on +the hillside, even the natives were awed to silence. Dark shadows +crept along the bosom of the hills, the river to the right and left +was hidden in wreaths of cloud, but before us and beyond the +combatants it shone like a line of silver beneath the narrowing space +of open sky. Now the western tempest was scrawled all over with lines +of intolerable light, while the inky head of the cloud-giant to the +east was continually suffused with a white and deadly glow that came +and went in pulses, as though a blood of flame was being pumped into +it from the heart of the storm. + +The silence deepened and deepened, the shadows grew blacker and +blacker, then suddenly all nature began to moan beneath the breath of +an icy wind. On sped the wind; the smooth surface of the river was +ruffled by it into little waves, the tall grass bowed low before it, +and in its wake came the hissing sound of furious rain. + +Ah! the storms had met. From each there burst an awful blaze of +dazzling flame, and now the hill on which we sat rocked at the noise +of the following thunder. The light went out of the sky, darkness fell +suddenly on the land, but not for long. Presently the whole landscape +grew vivid in the flashes, it appeared and disappeared, now everything +was visible for miles, now even the men at my side vanished in the +blackness. The thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of +doom, whirlwinds tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into +the air, and in a low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the +rushing rain. + +I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, +and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone. As flash +followed flash, from time to time I caught sight of the two wizards. +They were slowly advancing towards one another, each pointing at his +foe with the assegai in his hand. I could see their every movement, +and it seemed to me that the chain lightning was striking the iron- +stone all round them. + +Suddenly the thunder and lightning ceased for a minute, everything +grew black, and, except for the rain, silent. + +"It is over one way or the other, chief," I called out into the +darkness. + +"Wait, white man, wait!" answered the chief, in a voice thick with +anxiety and fear. + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the heavens were lit up +again till they literally seemed to flame. There were the men, not ten +paces apart. A great flash fell between them, I saw them stagger +beneath the shock. Indaba-zimbi recovered himself first--at any rate +when the next flash came he was standing bolt upright, pointing with +his assegai towards his enemy. The chief's son was still on his legs, +but he was staggering like a drunken man, and the assegai had fallen +from his hand. + +Darkness! then again a flash, more fearful, if possible, than any that +had gone before. To me it seemed to come from the east, right over the +head of Indaba-zimbi. At that instant I saw the chief's son wrapped, +as it were, in the heart of it. Then the thunder pealed, the rain +burst over us like a torrent, and I saw no more. + +The worst of the storm was done, but for a while the darkness was so +dense that we could not move, nor, indeed, was I inclined to leave the +safety of the hillside where the lightning was never known to strike, +and venture down to the iron-stone. Occasionally there still came +flashes, but, search as we would, we could see no trace of either of +the wizards. For my part, I believed that they were both dead. Now the +clouds slowly rolled away down the course of the river, and with them +went the rain; and now the stars shone in their wake. + +"Let us go and see," said the old chief, rising and shaking the water +from his hair. "The fire-fight is ended, let us go and see who has +conquered." + +I rose and followed him, dripping as though I had swum a hundred yards +with my clothes on, and after me came all the people of the kraal. + +We reached the spot; even in that light I could see where the iron- +stone had been split and fused by the thunderbolts. While I was +staring about me, I suddenly heard the chief, who was on my right, +give a low moan, and saw the people cluster round him. I went up and +looked. There, on the ground, lay the body of his son. It was a +dreadful sight. The hair was burnt off his head, the copper rings upon +his arms were fused, the assegai handle which lay near was literally +shivered into threads, and, when I took hold of his arm, it seemed to +me that every bone of it was broken. + +The men with the chief stood gazing silently, while the women wailed. + +"Great is the magic of Indaba-zimbi!" said a man, at length. The chief +turned and struck him a heavy blow with the kerrie in his hand. + +"Great or not, thou dog, he shall die," he cried, "and so shalt thou +if thou singest his praises so loudly." + +I said nothing, but thinking it probable that Indaba-zimbi had shared +the fate of his enemy, I went to look. But I could see nothing of him, +and at length, being thoroughly chilled with the wet, started back to +my waggon to change my clothes. On reaching it, I was rather surprised +to see a strange Kaffir seated on the driving-box wrapped up in a +blanket. + +"Hullo! come out of that," I said. + +The figure on the box slowly unrolled the blanket, and with great +deliberation took a pinch of snuff. + +"It was a good fire-fight, white man, was it not?" said Indaba-zimbi, +in his high, cracked voice. "But he never had a chance against me, +poor boy. He knew nothing about it. See, white man, what becomes of +presumption in the young. It is sad, very sad, but I made the flashes +fly, didn't I?" + +"You old humbug," I said, "unless you are careful you will soon learn +what comes of presumption in the old, for your chief is after you with +an assegai, and it will take all your magic to dodge that." + +"Now you don't say so," said Indaba-zimbi, clambering off the waggon +with rapidity; "and all because of this wretched upstart. There's +gratitude for you, white man. I expose him, and they want to kill me. +Well, thank you for the hint. We shall meet again before long," and he +was gone like a shot, and not too soon, for just then some of the +chief's men came up to the waggon. + +On the following morning I started homewards. The first face I saw on +arriving at the station was that of Indaba-zimbi. + +"How do you do, Macumazahn?" he said, holding his head on one side and +nodding his white lock. "I hear you are Christians here, and I want to +try a new religion. Mine must be a bad one seeing that my people +wanted to kill me for exposing an impostor." + + + +CHAPTER III + +NORTHWARDS + +I make no apology to myself, or to anybody who may happen to read this +narrative in future, for having set out the manner of my meeting with +Indaba-zimbi: first, because it was curious, and secondly, because he +takes some hand in the subsequent events. If that old man was a +humbug, he was a very clever one. What amount of truth there was in +his pretensions to supernatural powers it is not for me to determine, +though I may have my own opinion on the subject. But there was no +mistake as to the extraordinary influence he exercised over his +fellow-natives. Also he quite got round my poor father. At first the +old gentleman declined to have him at the station, for he had a great +horror of these Kaffir wizards or witch-finders. But Indaba-zimbi +persuaded him that he was anxious to investigate the truths of +Christianity, and challenged him to a discussion. The argument lasted +two years--to the time of my father's death, indeed. At the conclusion +of each stage Indaba-zimbi would remark, in the words of the Roman +Governor, "Almost, praying white man, thou persuadest me to become a +Christian," but he never quite became one--indeed, I do not think he +ever meant to. It was to him that my father addressed his "Letters to +a Native Doubter." This work, which, unfortunately, remains in +manuscript, is full of wise saws and learned instances. It ought to be +published together with a /prcis/ of the doubter's answers, which +were verbal. + +So the talk went on. If my father had lived I believe it would be +going on now, for both the disputants were quite inexhaustible. +Meanwhile Indaba-zimbi was allowed to live on the station on condition +that he practised no witchcraft, which my father firmly believed to be +a wile of the devil. He said that he would not, but for all that there +was never an ox lost, or a sudden death, but he was consulted by those +interested. + +When he had been with us a year, a deputation came to him from the +tribe he had left, asking him to return. Things had not gone well with +them since he went away, they said, and now the chief, his enemy, was +dead. Old Indaba-zimbi listened to them till they had done, and, as he +listened, raked sand into a little heap with his toes. Then he spoke, +pointing to the little heap, "There is your tribe to-day," he said. +Then he lifted his heel and stamped the heap flat. "There is your +tribe before three moons are gone. Nothing is left of it. You drove me +away: I will have no more to do with you; but when you are being +killed think of my words." + +The messengers went. Three months afterwards I heard that the whole +community had been wiped out by an Impi of raiding Pondos. + +When I was at length ready to start upon my expedition, I went to old +Indaba-zimbi to say good-bye to him, and was rather surprised to find +him engaged in rolling up medicine, assegais, and other sundries in +his blankets. + +"Good-bye, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "I am going to trek north." + +"Yes, Macumazahn," he answered, with his head on one side; "and so am +I--I want to see that country. We will go together." + +"Will we!" I said; "wait till you are asked, you old humbug." + +"You had better ask me, then, Macumazahn, for if you don't you will +never come back alive. Now that the old chief (my father) is gone to +where the storms come from," and he nodded to the sky, "I feel myself +getting into bad habits again. So last night I just threw up the bones +and worked out about your journey, and I can tell you this, that if +you don't take me you will die, and, what is more, you will lose one +who is dearer to you than life in a strange fashion. So just because +you gave me that hint a couple of years ago, I made up my mind to come +with you." + +"Don't talk stuff to me," I said. + +"Ah, very well, Macumazahn, very well; but what happened to my own +people six months ago, and what did I tell the messengers would +happen? They drove me away, and they are gone. If you drive me away +you will soon be gone too," and he nodded his white lock at me and +smiled. Now I was not more superstitious than other people, but +somehow old Indaba-zimbi impressed me. Also I knew his extraordinary +influence over every class of native, and bethought me that he might +be useful in that way. + +"All right," I said: "I appoint you witch-finder to the expedition +without pay." + +"First serve, then ask for wages," he answered. "I am glad to see that +you have enough imagination not to be altogether a fool, like most +white men, Macumazahn. Yes, yes, it is want of imagination that makes +people fools; they won't believe what they can't understand. You can't +understand my prophecies any more than the fool at the kraal could +understand that I was his master with the lightning. Well, it is time +to trek, but if I were you, Macumazahn, I should take one waggon, not +two." + +"Why?" I said. + +"Because you will lose your waggons, and it is better to lose one than +two." + +"Oh, nonsense!" I said. + +"All right, Macumazahn, live and learn." And without another word he +walked to the foremost waggon, put his bundle into it, and climbed on +to the front seat. + +So having bid an affectionate adieu to my white friends, including the +old Scotchman who got drunk in honour of the event, and quoted Burns +till the tears ran down his face, at length I started, and travelled +slowly northwards. For the first three weeks nothing very particular +befell me. Such Kaffirs as we came in contact with were friendly, and +game literally swarmed. Nobody living in those parts of South Africa +nowadays can have the remotest idea of what the veldt was like even +thirty years ago. + +Often and often I have crept shivering on to my waggon-box just as the +sun rose and looked out. At first one would see nothing but a vast +field of white mist suffused towards the east by a tremulous golden +glow, through which the tops of stony koppies stood up like gigantic +beacons. From the dense mist would come strange sounds--snorts, +gruntings, bellows, and the thunder of countless hoofs. Presently this +great curtain would grow thinner, then it would melt, as the smoke +from a pipe melts into the air, and for miles on miles the wide +rolling country interspersed with bush opened to the view. But it was +not tenantless as it is now, for as far as the eye could reach it +would be literally black with game. Here to the right might be a herd +of vilderbeeste that could not number less than two thousand. Some +were grazing, some gambolled, whisking their white tails into the air, +while all round the old bulls stood upon hillocks sniffing +suspiciously at the breeze. There, in front, a hundred yards away, +though to the unpractised eye they looked much closer, because of the +dazzling clearness of the atmosphere, was a great herd of springbok +trekking along in single file. Ah, they have come to the waggon-track +and do not like the look of it. What will they do?--go back? Not a bit +of it. It is nearly thirty feet wide, but that is nothing to a +springbok. See, the first of them bounds into the air like a ball. How +beautifully the sunshine gleams upon his golden hide! He has cleared +it, and the others come after him in numberless succession, all except +the fawns, who cannot jump so far, and have to scamper over the +doubtful path with a terrified /bah/. What is that yonder, moving +above the tops of the mimosa, in the little dell at the foot of the +koppie? Giraffes, by George! three of them; there will be marrow-bones +for supper to-night. Hark! the ground shakes behind us, and over the +brow of the rise rush a vast herd of blesbock. On they come at full +gallop, their long heads held low, they look like so many bearded +goats. I thought so--behind them is a pack of wild dogs, their fur +draggled, their tongues lolling. They are in full cry; the giraffes +hear them and are away, rolling round the koppie like a ship in a +heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are close +on a buck. He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his +flank and misses him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly +round and sees the waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his +despair rushes up to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs +pull up some thirty paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the +gun--no, not the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with loopers. + +Bang! bang! there, my friends, two of you will never hunt buck again. +No, don't touch the buck, for he has come to us for shelter, and he +shall have it. + +Ah, how beautiful is nature before man comes to spoil it! + +Such a sight as this have I seen many a hundred times, and I hope to +see it again before I die. + +The first real adventure that befell me on this particular journey was +with elephants, which I will relate because of its curious +termination. Just before we crossed the Orange River we came to a +stretch of forest-land some twenty miles broad. The night we entered +this forest we camped in a lovely open glade. A few yards ahead +tambouki grass was growing to the height of a man, or rather it had +been; now, with the exception of a few stalks here and there, it was +crushed quite flat. It was already dusk when we camped; but after the +moon got up I walked from the fire to see how this had happened. One +glance was enough for me; a great herd of elephants had evidently +passed over the tall grass not many hours before. The sight of their +spoor rejoiced me exceedingly, for though I had seen wild elephants, +at that time I had never shot one. Moreover, the sight of elephant +spoor to the African hunter is what "colour in the pan" is to the +prospector of gold. It is by the ivory that he lives, and to shoot it +or trade it is his chief aim in life. My resolution was soon taken. I +would camp the waggons for a while in the forest, and start on +horseback after the elephants. + +I communicated my decision to Indaba-zimbi and the other Kaffirs. The +latter were not loth, for your Kaffir loves hunting, which means +plenty of meat and congenial occupation, but Indaba-zimbi would +express no opinion. I saw him retire to a little fire that he had lit +for himself, and go through some mysterious performances with bones +and clay mixed with ashes, which were watched with the greatest +interest by the other Kaffirs. At length he rose, and, coming forward, +informed me that it was all right, and that I did well to go and hunt +the elephants, as I should get plenty of ivory; but he advised me to +go on foot. I said I should do nothing of the sort, but meant to ride. +I am wiser now; this was the first and last time that I ever attempted +to hunt elephants on horseback. + +Accordingly we started at dawn, I, Indaba-zimbi, and three men; the +rest I left with the waggons. I was on horseback, and so was my +driver, a good rider and a skilful shot for a Kaffir, but Indaba-zimbi +and the others walked. From dawn till mid-day we followed the trail of +the herd, which was as plain as a high road. Then we off-saddled to +let the horses rest and feed, and about three o'clock started on +again. Another hour or so passed, and still there was no sign of +elephants. Evidently the herd had travelled fast and far, and I began +to think that we should have to give it up, when suddenly I caught +sight of a brown mass moving through the thorn-trees on the side of a +slope about a quarter of a mile away. My heart seemed to jump into my +mouth. Where is the hunter who has not felt like this at the sight of +his first elephant? + +I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to +stalk the bull. Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope +till we came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush. Here +I saw the elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned +trees lay all about. I did not take much notice, however, for all my +thoughts were fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my +horse gave a violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and +there came a mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me. I +looked: there was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four +yards off. I could just catch sight of its outstretched ears +projecting on either side. I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was +running away. + +Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I +was young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the +moment I lifted my "roer" or elephant gun and fired at the great brute +over my horse's head. The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me +off the horse. I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the +bull lurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the +flank will quicken the movement even of an elephant. By this time I +had realized the folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull +would take no further notice of it. But he took a different view of +the matter. Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round +and came for me with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming +terribly. I was quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first +thought was of escape. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but +he would not move an inch. The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, +and he simply stood still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering +all over like a leaf. + +On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to +stir the horse. Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my +head. A thought flashed through my brain. Quick as light I rolled from +the saddle. By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick +through as a man's body. The tree was lifted a little off the ground +by the broken boughs which took its weight, and with a single +movement, so active is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath +it. As I did so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a +mighty thud on the back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was +almost in darkness, for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over +across the tree under which I lay ensconced. But he did not stop there +long. In ten seconds more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead +nag's neck, and, with a mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree. I +wriggled backwards as far as I could towards the roots of the tree, +for I knew what he was after. Presently I saw the red tip of the +bull's trunk stretching itself towards me. If he could manage to hook +it round any part of me I was lost. But in the position I occupied, +that was just what he could not do, although he knelt down to +facilitate his operations. On came the snapping tip like a great open- +mouthed snake; it closed upon my hat, which vanished. Again it was +thrust down, and a scream of rage was bellowed through it within four +inches of my head. Now it seemed to elongate itself. Oh, heavens! now +it had me by the hair, which, luckily for myself, was not very long. +Then it was my turn to scream, for next instant half a square inch of +hair was dragged from my scalp by the roots. I was being plucked +alive, as I have seen cruel Kaffir kitchen boys pluck a fowl. + +The elephant, however, disappointed with these moderate results, +changed his tactics. He wound his trunk round the fallen tree and +lifted. The tree stirred, but fortunately the broken branches embedded +in the spongy soil, and some roots, which still held, prevented it +from being turned over, though he lifted it so much that, had it +occurred to him, he could now easily have drawn me out with his trunk. +Again he hoisted with all his mighty strength, and I saw that the tree +was coming, and roared aloud for help. Some shots were fired close by +in answer, but if they hit the bull, their only effect was to stir his +energies to more active life. In another few seconds my shelter would +be torn away, and I should be done for. A cold perspiration burst out +over me as I realized that I was lost. Then of a sudden I remembered +that I had a pistol in my belt, which I often used for despatching +wounded game. It was loaded and capped. By this time the tree was +lifted so much that I could easily get my hand down to my middle and +draw the pistol from its case. I drew and cocked it. Now the tree was +coming over, and there, within three feet of my head, was the great +brown trunk of the elephant. I placed the muzzle of the pistol within +an inch of it and fired. The result was instantaneous. Down sunk the +tree again, giving one of my legs a considerable squeeze, and next +instant I heard a crashing sound. The elephant had bolted. + +By this time, what between fright and struggling, I was pretty well +tired. I cannot remember how I got from under the fallen tree, or +indeed anything, until I found myself sitting on the ground drinking +some peach brandy from a flask, and old Indaba-zimbi opposite to me +nodding his white lock sagely, while he fired off moral reflections on +the narrowness of my escape, and my unwisdom in not having taken his +advice to go on foot. That reminded me of my horse--I got up and went +to look at it. It was quite dead, the blow of the elephant's trunk had +fallen on the saddle, breaking the framework, and rendering it +useless. I reflected that in another two seconds it would have fallen +on /me/. Then I called to Indaba-zimbi and asked which way the +elephants had gone. + +"There!" he said, pointing down the gully, "and we had better go after +them, Macumazahn. We have had the bad luck, now for the good." + +There was philosophy in this, though, to tell the truth, I did not +feel particularly sharp set on elephants at the moment. I seemed to +have had enough of them. However, it would never do to show the white +feather before the boys, so I assented with much outward readiness, +and we started, I on the second horse, and the others on foot. When we +had travelled for the best part of an hour down the valley, all of a +sudden we came upon the whole herd, which numbered a little more than +eighty. Just in front of them the bush was so thick that they seemed +to hesitate about entering it, and the sides of the valley were so +rocky and steep at this point that they could not climb them. + +They saw us at the same moment as we saw them, and inwardly I was +filled with fears lest they should take it into their heads to charge +back up the gully. But they did not; trumpeting aloud, they rushed at +the thick bush which went down before them like corn before a sickle. +I do not think that in all my experiences I ever heard anything to +equal the sound they made as they crashed through and over the shrubs +and trees. Before them was a dense forest belt from a hundred to a +hundred and fifty feet in width. As they rushed on, it fell, so that +behind them was nothing but a level roadway strewed with fallen +trunks, crushed branches, and here and there a tree, too strong even +for them, left stranded amid the wreck. On they went, and, +notwithstanding the nature of the ground over which they had to +travel, they kept their distance ahead of us. This sort of thing +continued for a mile or more, and then I saw that in front of the +elephants the valley opened into a space covered with reeds and grass +--it might have been five or six acres in extent--beyond which the +valley ran on again. + +The herd reached the edge of this expanse, and for a moment pulled up, +hesitating--evidently they mistrusted it. My men yelled aloud, as only +Kaffirs can, and that settled them. Headed by the wounded bull, whose +martial ardour, like my own, was somewhat cooled, they spread out and +dashed into the treacherous swamp--for such it was, though just then +there was no water to be seen. For a few yards all went well with +them, though they clearly found it heavy going; then suddenly the +great bull sank up to his belly in the stiff peaty soil, and remained +fixed. The others, mad with fear, took no heed of his struggles and +trumpetings, but plunged on to meet the same fate. In five minutes the +whole herd of them were hopelessly bogged, and the more they struggled +to escape, the deeper they sunk. There was one exception, indeed, a +cow managed to win back to firm shore, and, lifting her trunk, +prepared to charge us as we came up. But at that moment she heard the +scream of her calf, and rushed back to its assistance, only to be +bogged with the others. + +Such a scene I never saw before or since. The swamp was spotted all +over with the large forms of the elephants, and the air rang with +their screams of rage and terror as they waved their trunks wildly to +and fro. Now and then a monster would make a great effort and drag his +mass from its peaty bed, only to stick fast again at the next step. It +was a most pitiable sight, though one that gladdened the hearts of my +men. Even the best natives have little compassion for the sufferings +of animals. + +Well, the rest was easy. The marsh that would not bear the elephants +carried our weight well enough. Before midnight all were dead, for we +shot them by moonlight. I would gladly have spared the young ones and +some of the cows, but to do so would only have meant leaving them to +perish of hunger; it was kinder to kill them at once. The wounded bull +I slew with my own hand, and I cannot say that I felt much compunction +in so doing. He knew me again, and made a desperate effort to get at +me, but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast. + +The pan presented a curious sight when the sun rose next morning. +Owing to the support given by the soil, few of the dead elephants had +fallen: there they stood as though they were asleep. + +I sent back for the waggons, and when they arrived on the morrow, +formed a camp, about a mile away from the pan. Then began the work of +cutting out the elephants' tusks; it took over a week, and for obvious +reasons was a disgusting task. Indeed, had it not been for the help of +some wandering bushmen, who took their pay in elephant meat, I do not +think we could ever have managed it. + +At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry, +so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys +wanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too +much bent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five +years. Then I came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. +Ultimately I sold the ivory for something over twelve hundred pounds-- +not bad pay for one day's shooting. + +This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many +hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on +horseback. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ZULU IMPI + +After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of +the bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able +to find the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or +more I trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free State +from Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The only +difficulties met with were such as are still common to African +travellers--occasional want of water and troubles about crossing +sluits and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where +Kimberley now stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because +there was no water. I little dreamed then that I should live to see +Kimberley a great city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds +annually, and old Indaba-zimbi's magic cannot have been worth so much +after all, or he would have told me. + +I found the country almost entirely depopulated. Not very long before +Mosilikatze the Lion, Chaka's General had swept across it in his +progress towards what is now Matabeleland. His footsteps were evident +enough. Time upon time I trekked up to what had evidently been the +sites of Kaffir kraals. Now the kraals were ashes and piles of tumbled +stones, and strewn about among the rank grass were the bones of +hundreds of men, women, and children, all of whom had kissed the Zulu +assegai. I remember that in one of these desolate places I found the +skull of a child in which a ground-lark had built its nest. It was the +twittering of the young birds inside that first called my attention to +it. Shortly after this we met with our second great adventure, a much +more serious and tragic one than the first. + +We were trekking parallel with the Kolong river when a herd of +blesbock crossed the track. I fired at one of them and hit it behind. +It galloped about a hundred yards with the rest of the herd, then lay +down. As we were in want of meat, not having met with any game for a +few days past, I jumped on to my horse, and, telling Indaba-zimbi that +I would overtake the waggons or meet them on the further side of a +rise about an hour's trek away, I started after the wounded buck. As +soon as I came within a hundred yards of it, however, it jumped up and +ran away as fast as though it were untouched, only to lie down again +at a distance. I followed, thinking that strength would soon fail it. +This happened three times. On the third occasion it vanished behind a +ridge, and, though by now I was out of both temper and patience, I +thought I might as well ride to the crest and see if I could get a +shot at it on the further side. + +I reached the ridge, which was strewn with stones, looked over it, and +saw--a Zulu Impi! + +I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt of it. They +were halted about a thousand yards away, by the water; some were lying +down, some were cooking at fires, others were stalking about with +spears and shields in their hands; there might have been two thousand +or more of them in all. While I was wondering--and that with no little +uneasiness--what on earth they could be doing there, suddenly I heard +a wild cry to the right and left of me. I glanced first one way, then +the other. From either side a great Zulu was bearing down on me, their +broad stabbing assegais aloft, and black shields in their left hands. +The man to the right was about fifteen yards away, he to the left was +not more than ten. On they came, their fierce eyes almost starting out +of their heads, and I felt, with a cold thrill of fear, that in +another three seconds those broad "bangwans" might be buried in my +vitals. On such occasions we act, I suppose, more from instinct than +from anything else--there is no time for thought. At any rate, I +dropped the reins and, raising my gun, fired point blank at the left- +hand man. The bullet struck him in the middle of his shield, pierced +it, and passed through him, and over he rolled upon the veldt. I swung +round in the saddle; most happily my horse was accustomed to standing +still when I fired from his back, also he was so surprised that he did +not know which way to shy. The other savage was almost on me; his +outstretched shield reached the muzzle of my gun as I pulled the +trigger of the left barrel. It exploded, the warrior sprung high into +the air, and fell against my horse dead, his spear passing just in +front of my face. + +Without waiting to reload, or even to look if the main body of the +Zulus had seen the death of their two scouts, I turned my horse and +drove my heels into his sides. As soon as I was down the slope of the +rise I pulled a little to the right in order to intercept the waggons +before the Zulus saw them. I had not gone three hundred yards in this +new direction when, to my utter astonishment, I struck a trail marked +with waggon-wheels and the hoofs of oxen. Of waggons there must have +been at least eight, and several hundred cattle. Moreover, they had +passed within twelve hours; I could tell that by the spoor. Then I +understood; the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in +all probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. + +The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I +followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, +and there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a +rough laager upon the banks of the river. There, too, were my own +waggons trekking down the slope towards them. + +In another five minutes I was there. The Boers--for Boers they were-- +were standing about outside the little laager watching the approach of +my two waggons. I called to them, and they turned and saw me. The very +first man my eyes fell on was a Boer named Hans Botha, whom I had +known well years ago in the Cape. He was not a bad specimen of his +class, but a very restless person, with a great objection to +authority, or, as he expressed it, "a love of freedom." He had joined +a party of the emigrant Boers some years before, but, as I learned +presently, had quarrelled with its leader, and was now trekking away +into the wilderness to found a little colony of his own. Poor fellow! +It was his last trek. + +"How do you do, Meinheer Botha?" I said to him in Dutch. + +The man looked at me, looked again, then, startled out of his Dutch +stolidity, cried to his wife, who was seated on the box of the +waggon-- + +"Come here, Frau, come. Here is Allan Quatermain, the Englishman, the +son of the 'Predicant.' How goes it, Heer Quatermain, and what is the +news down in the Cape yonder?" + +"I don't know what the news is in the Cape, Hans," I answered, +solemnly; "but the news here is that there is a Zulu Impi upon your +spoor and within two miles of the waggons. That I know, for I have +just shot two of their sentries," and I showed him my empty gun. + +For a moment there was a silence of astonishment, and I saw the +bronzed faces of the men turn pale beneath their tan, while one or two +of the women gave a little scream, and the children crept to their +sides. + +"Almighty!" cried Hans, "that must be the Umtetwa Regiment that +Dingaan sent against the Basutus, but who could not come at them +because of the marshes, and so were afraid to return to Zululand, and +struck north to join Mosilikatze." + +"Laager up, Carles! Laager up for your lives, and one of you jump on a +horse and drive in the cattle." + +At this moment my own waggons came up. Indaba-zimbi was sitting on the +box of the first, wrapped in a blanket. I called him and told him the +news. + +"Ill tidings, Macumazahn," he said; "there will be dead Boers about +to-morrow morning, but they will not attack till dawn, then they will +wipe out the laager /so!/" and he passed his hand before his mouth. + +"Stop that croaking, you white-headed crow," I said, though I knew his +words were true. What chance had a laager of ten waggons all told +against at least two thousand of the bravest savages in the world? + +"Macumazahn, will you take my advice this time?" Indaba-zimbi said, +presently. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"This. Leave your waggons here, jump on that horse, and let us two run +for it as hard as we can go. The Zulus won't follow us, they will be +looking after the Boers." + +"I won't leave the other white men," I said; "it would be the act of a +coward. If I die, I die." + +"Very well, Macumazahn, then stay and be killed," he answered, taking +a pinch of snuff. "Come, let us see about the waggons," and we walked +towards the laager. + +Here everything was in confusion. However, I got hold of Hans Botha +and put it to him if it would not be best to desert the waggons and +make a run for it. + +"How can we do it?" he answered; "two of the women are too fat to go a +mile, one is sick in childbed, and we have only six horses among us. +Besides, if we did we should starve in the desert. No, Heer Allan, we +must fight it out with the savages, and God help us!" + +"God help us, indeed. Think of the children, Hans!" + +"I can't bear to think," he answered, in a broken voice, looking at +his own little girl, a sweet, curly-haired, blue-eyed child of six, +named Tota, whom I had often nursed as a baby. "Oh, Heer Allan, your +father, the Predicant, always warned me against trekking north, and I +never would listen to him because I thought him a cursed Englishman; +now I see my folly. Heer Allan, if you can, try to save my child from +those black devils; if you live longer than I do, or if you can't save +her, kill her," and he clasped my hand. + +"It hasn't come to that yet, Hans," I said. + +Then we set to work on the laager. The waggons, of which, including my +two, there were ten, were drawn into the form of a square, and the +disselboom of each securely lashed with reims to the underworks of +that in front of it. The wheels also were locked, and the space +between the ground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with +branches of the "wait-a-bit" thorn that fortunately grew near in +considerable quantities. In this way a barrier was formed of no mean +strength as against a foe unprovided with firearms, places being left +for the men to fire from. In a little over an hour everything was done +that could be done, and a discussion arose as to the disposal of the +cattle, which had been driven up close to the camp. Some of the Boers +were anxious to get them into the laager, small as it was, or at least +as many of them as it would hold. I argued strongly against this, +pointing out that the brutes would probably be seized with panic as +soon as the firing began, and trample the defenders of the laager +under foot. As an alternative plan I suggested that some of the native +servants should drive the herd along the valley of the river till they +reached a friendly tribe or some other place of safety. Of course, if +the Zulus saw them they would be taken, but the nature of the ground +was favourable, and it was possible that they might escape if they +started at once. The proposition was promptly agreed to, and, what is +more, it was settled that one Dutchman and such of the women and +children as could travel should go with them. In half an hour's time +twelve of them started with the natives, the Boer in charge, and the +cattle. Three of my own men went with the latter, the three others and +Indaba-zimbi stopped with me in the laager. + +The parting was a heart-breaking scene, upon which I do not care to +dwell. The women wept, the men groaned, and the children looked on +with scared white faces. At length they were gone, and I for one was +thankful of it. There remained in the laager seventeen white men, four +natives, the two Boer fraus who were too stout to travel, the woman in +childbed and her baby, and Hans Bother's little daughter Tota, whom he +could not make up his mind to part with. Happily her mother was +already dead. And here I may state that ten of the women and children, +together with about half of the cattle, escaped. The Zulu Impi never +saw them, and on the third day of travel they came to the fortified +place of a Griqua chief, who sheltered them on receiving half the +cattle in payment. Thence by slow degrees they journeyed down to the +Cape Colony, reaching a civilized region within a little more than a +year from the date of the attack on the laager. + +The afternoon was now drawing towards evening, but still there were no +signs of the Impi. A wild hope struck us that they might have gone on +about their business. Ever since Indaba-zimbi had heard that the +regiment was supposed to belong to the Umtetwa tribe, he had, I +noticed, been plunged in deep thought. Presently he came to me and +volunteered to go out and spy upon their movements. At first Hans +Botha was against this idea, saying that he was a "verdomde swartzel" +--an accursed black creature--and would betray us. I pointed out that +there was nothing to betray. The Zulus must know where the waggons +were, but it was important for us to gain information of their +movements. So it was agreed that Indaba-zimbi should go. I told him +this. He nodded his white lock, said "All right, Macumazahn," and +started. I noticed with some surprise, however, that before he did so +he went to the waggon and fetched his "mouti," or medicine, which, +together with his other magical apparatus, he always carried in a skin +bag. I asked him why he did this. He answered that it was to make +himself invulnerable against the spears of the Zulus. I did not in the +least believe his explanation, for in my heart I was sure that he +meant to take the opportunity to make a bolt of it, leaving me to my +fate. I did not, however, interfere to prevent this, for I had an +affection for the old fellow, and sincerely hoped that he might escape +the doom which overshadowed us. + +So Indaba-zimbi sauntered off, and as I looked at his retreating form +I thought I should never see it again. But I was mistaken, and little +knew that he was risking his life, not for the Boers whom he hated one +and all, but for me whom in his queer way he loved. + +When he had gone we completed our preparations for defence, +strengthening the waggons and the thorns beneath with earth and +stones. Then at sunset we ate and drank as heartily as we could under +the circumstances, and when we had done, Hans Botha, as head of the +party, offered up prayer to God for our preservation. It was a +touching sight to see the burly Dutchman, his hat off, his broad face +lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, praying aloud in homely, +simple language to Him who alone could save us from the spears of a +cruel foe. I remember that the last sentence of his prayer was, +"Almighty, if we must be killed, save the women and children and my +little girl Tota from the accursed Zulus, and do not let us be +tortured." + +I echoed the request very earnestly in my own heart, that I know, for +in common with the others I was dreadfully afraid, and it must be +admitted not without reason. + +Then the darkness came on, and we took up our appointed places each +with a rifle in his hands and peered out into the gloom in silence. +Occasionally one of the Boers would light his pipe with a brand from +the smouldering fire, and the glow of it would shine for a few moments +on his pale, anxious face. + +Behind me one of the stout "fraus" lay upon the ground. Even the +terror of our position could not keep her heavy eyes from their +accustomed sleep, and she snored loudly. On the further side of her, +just by the fire, lay little Tota, wrapped in a kaross. She was asleep +also, her thumb in her mouth, and from time to time her father would +come to look at her. + +So the hours wore on while we waited for the Zulus. But from my +intimate knowledge of the habits of natives I had little fear that +they would attack us at night, though, had they done so, they could +have compassed our destruction with but small loss to themselves. It +is not the habit of this people, they like to fight in the light of +day--at dawn for preference. + +About eleven o'clock, just as I was nodding a little at my post, I +heard a low whistle outside the laager. Instantly I was wide awake, +and all along the line I heard the clicking of locks as the Boers +cocked their guns. + +"Macumazahn," said a voice, the voice of Indaba-zimbi, "are you +there?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Then hold a light so that I can see how to climb into the laager," he +said. + +"Yah! yah! hold a light," put in one of the Boers. "I don't trust that +black schepsel of yours, Heer Quatermain; he may have some of his +countrymen with him." Accordingly a lantern was produced and held +towards the voice. There was Indaba-zimbi alone. We let him into the +laager and asked him the news. + +"This is the news, white men," he said. "I waited till dark, and +creeping up to the place where the Zulus are encamped, hid myself +behind a stone and listened. They are a great regiment of Umtetwas as +Baas Botha yonder thought. They struck the spoor of the waggons three +days ago and followed it. To-night they sleep upon their spears, +to-morrow at daybreak they will attack the laager and kill everybody. +They are very bitter against the Boers, because of the battle at Blood +River and the other fights, and that is why they followed the waggons +instead of going straight north after Mosilikatze." + +A kind of groan went up from the group of listening Dutchmen. + +"I tell you what it is, Heeren," I said, "instead of waiting to be +butchered here like buck in a pitfall, let us go out now and fall upon +the Impi while it sleeps." + +This proposition excited some discussion, but in the end only one man +could be found to vote for it. Boers as a rule lack that dash which +makes great soldiers; such forlorn hopes are not in their line, and +rather than embark upon them they prefer to take their chance in a +laager, however poor that chance may be. For my own part I firmly +believe that had my advice been taken we should have routed the Zulus. +Seventeen desperate white men, armed with guns, would have produced no +small effect upon a camp of sleeping savages. But it was not taken, so +it is no use talking about it. + +After that we went back to our posts, and slowly the weary night wore +on towards the dawn. Only those who have watched under similar +circumstances while they waited the advent of almost certain and cruel +death, can know the torturing suspense of those heavy hours. But they +went somehow, and at last in the far east the sky began to lighten, +while the cold breath of dawn stirred the tilts of the waggons and +chilled me to the bone. The fat Dutchwoman behind me woke with a yawn, +then, remembering all, moaned aloud, while her teeth chattered with +cold and fear. Hans Botha went to his waggon and got a bottle of peach +brandy, from which he poured into a tin pannikin, giving us each a +stiff dram, and making attempts to be cheerful as he did so. But his +affected jocularity only seemed to depress his comrades the more. +Certainly it depressed me. + +Now the light was growing, and we could see some way into the mist +which still hung densely over the river, and now--ah! there it was. +From the other side of the hill, a thousand yards or more from the +laager, came a faint humming sound. It grew and grew till it gathered +to a chant--the awful war chant of the Zulus. Soon I could catch the +words. They were simple enough: + + "We shall slay, we shall slay! Is it not so, my brothers? + Our spears shall blush blood-red. Is it not so, my brothers? + For we are the sucklings of Chaka, blood is our milk, my brothers. + Awake, children of the Umtetwa, awake! + The vulture wheels, the jackal sniffs the air; + Awake, children of the Umtetwa--cry aloud, ye ringed men: + There is the foe, we shall slay them. Is it not so, my brothers? + /S'gee! S'gee! S'gee!/" + +Such is a rough translation of that hateful chant which to this very +day I often seem to hear. It does not look particularly imposing on +paper, but if, while he waited to be killed, the reader could have +heard it as it rolled through the still air from the throats of nearly +three thousand warriors singing all to time, he would have found it +impressive enough. + +Now the shields began to appear over the brow of the rise. They came +by companies, each company about ninety strong. Altogether there were +thirty-one companies. I counted them. When all were over they formed +themselves into a triple line, then trotted down the slope towards us. +At a distance of a hundred and fifty yards or just out of the shot of +such guns as we had in those days, they halted and began singing +again-- + + "Yonder is the kraal of the white man--a little kraal, my brothers; + We shall eat it up, we shall trample it flat, my brothers. + But where are the white man's cattle--where are his oxen, my brothers?" + +This question seemed to puzzle them a good deal, for they sang the +song again and again. At last a herald came forward, a great man with +ivory rings about his arm, and, putting his hands to his mouth, called +out to us asking where our cattle were. + +Hans Botha climbed on to the top of a waggon and roared out that they +might answer that question themselves. + +Then the herald called again, saying that he saw the cattle had been +sent away. + +"We shall go and find the cattle," he said, "then we shall come and +kill you, because without cattle you must stop where you are, but if +we wait to kill you before we get the cattle, they may have trekked +too far for us to follow. And if you try to run away we shall easily +catch you white men!" + +This struck me as a very odd speech, for the Zulus generally attack an +enemy first and take his cattle afterwards; still, there was a certain +amount of plausibility about it. While I was still wondering what it +all might mean, the Zulus began to run past us in companies towards +the river. Suddenly a shout announced that they had found the spoor of +the cattle, and the whole Impi of them started down it at a run till +they vanished over a rise about a quarter of a mile away. + +We waited for half an hour or more, but nothing could we see of them. + +"Now I wonder if the devils have really gone," said Hans Botha to me. +"It is very strange." + +"I will go and see," said Indaba-zimbi, "if you will come with me, +Macumazahn. We can creep to the top of the ridge and look over." + +At first I hesitated, but curiosity overcame me. I was young in those +days and weary with suspense. + +"Very well," I said, "we will go." + +So we started. I had my elephant gun and ammunition. Indaba-zimbi had +his medicine bag and an assegai. We crept to the top of the rise like +sportsmen stalking a buck. The slope on the other side was strewn with +rocks, among which grew bushes and tall grass. + +"They must have gone down the Donga," I said to Indaba-zimbi, "I can't +see one of them." + +As I spoke there came a roar of men all round me. From every rock, +from every tuft of grass rose a Zulu warrior. Before I could turn, +before I could lift a gun, I was seized and thrown. + +"Hold him! Hold the White Spirit fast!" cried a voice. "Hold him, or +he will slip away like a snake. Don't hurt him, but hold him fast. Let +Indaba-zimbi walk by his side." + +I turned on Indaba-zimbi. "You black devil, you have betrayed me!" I +cried. + +"Wait and see, Macumazahn," he answered, coolly. "Now the fight is +going to begin." + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE END OF THE LAAGER + +I gasped with wonder and rage. What did that scoundrel Indaba-zimbi +mean? Why had I been drawn out of the laager and seized, and why, +being seized, was I not instantly killed? They called me the "White +Spirit." Could it be that they were keeping me to make me into +medicine? I had heard of such things being done by Zulus and kindred +tribes, and my blood ran cold at the thought. What an end! To be +pounded up, made medicine of, and eaten! + +However, I had little time for further reflection, for now the whole +Impi was pouring back from the donga and river-banks where it had +hidden while their ruse was carried out, and once more formed up on +the side of the slope. I was taken to the crest of the slope and +placed in the centre of the reserve line in the especial charge of a +huge Zulu named Bombyane, the same man who had come forward as a +herald. This brute seemed to regard me with an affectionate curiosity. +Now and again he poked me in the ribs with the handle of his assegai, +as though to assure himself that I was solid, and several times he +asked me to be so good as to prophesy how many Zulus would be killed +before the "Amaboona," as they called the Boers, were "eaten up." + +At first I took no notice of him beyond scowling, but presently, +goaded into anger, I prophesied that he would be dead in an hour! + +He only laughed aloud. "Oh! White Spirit," he said, "is it so? Well, +I've walked a long way from Zululand, and shall be glad of a rest." + +And he got it shortly, as will be seen. + +Now the Zulus began to sing again-- + + "We have caught the White Spirit, my brother! my brother! + Iron-Tongue whispered of him, he smelt him out, my brother. + Now the Maboona are ours--they are already dead, my brother." + +So that treacherous villain Indaba-zimbi had betrayed me. Suddenly the +chief of the Impi, a grey-haired man named Sususa, held up his +assegai, and instantly there was silence. Then he spoke to some +indunas who stood near him. Instantly they ran to the right and left +down the first line, saying a word to the captain of each company as +they passed him. Presently they were at the respective ends of the +line, and simultaneously held up their spears. As they did so, with an +awful roar of "Bulala Amaboona"--"Slay the Boers," the entire line, +numbering nearly a thousand men, bounded forward like a buck startled +from its form, and rushed down upon the little laager. It was a +splendid sight to see them, their assegais glittering in the sunlight +as they rose and fell above their black shields, their war-plumes +bending back upon the wind, and their fierce faces set intently on the +foe, while the solid earth shook beneath the thunder of their rushing +feet. I thought of my poor friends the Dutchmen, and trembled. What +chance had they against so many? + +Now the Zulus, running in the shape of a bow so as to wrap the laager +round on three sides, were within seventy yards, and now from every +waggon broke tongues of fire. Over rolled a number of the Umtetwa, but +the rest cared little. Forward they sped straight to the laager, +striving to force a way in. But the Boers plied them with volley after +volley, and, packed as the Zulus were, the elephant guns loaded with +slugs and small shot did frightful execution. Only one man even got on +to a waggon, and as he did so I saw a Boer woman strike him on the +head with an axe. He fell down, and slowly, amid howls of derision +from the two lines on the hill-side, the Zulus drew back. + +"Let us go, father!" shouted the soldiers on the slope, among whom I +was, to their chief, who had come up. "You have sent out the little +girls to fight, and they are frightened. Let us show them the way." + +"No, no!" the chief Sususa answered, laughing. "Wait a minute and the +little girls will grow to women, and women are good enough to fight +against Boers!" + +The attacking Zulus heard the mockery of their fellows, and rushed +forward again with a roar. But the Boers in the laager had found time +to load, and they met with a warm reception. Reserving their fire till +the Zulus were packed like sheep in a kraal, they loosed into them +with the roers, and the warriors fell in little heaps. But I saw that +the blood of the Umtetwas was up; they did not mean to be beaten back +this time, and the end was near. See! six men had leapt on to a +waggon, slain the man behind it, and sprung into the laager. They were +killed there, but others followed, and then I turned my head. But I +could not shut my ears to the cries of rage and death, and the +terrible /S'gee! S'gee!/ of the savages as they did their work of +murder. Once only I looked up and saw poor Hans Botha standing on a +waggon smiting down men with the butt of his rifle. The assegais shot +up towards him like tongues of steel, and when I looked again he was +gone. + +I turned sick with fear and rage. But alas! what could I do? They were +all dead now, and probably my own turn was coming, only my death with +not be so swift. + +The fight was ended, and the two lines on the slope broke their order, +and moved down to the laager. Presently we were there, and a dreadful +sight it was. Many of the attacking Zulus were dead--quite fifty I +should say, and at least a hundred and fifty were wounded, some of +them mortally. The chief Sususa gave an order, the dead men were +picked up and piled in a heap, while those who were slightly hurt +walked off to find some one to tie up their wounds. But the more +serious cases met with a different treatment. The chief or one of his +indunas considered each case, and if it was in any way bad, the man +was taken up and thrown into the river which ran near. None of them +offered any objection, though one poor fellow swam to shore again. He +did not stop there long, however, for they pushed him back and drowned +him by force. + +The strangest case of all was that of the chief's own brother. He had +been captain of the line, and his ankle was smashed by a bullet. +Sususa came up to him, and, having examined the wound, rated him +soundly for failing in the first onslaught. + +The poor fellow made the excuse that it was not his fault, as the +Boers had hit him in the first rush. His brother admitted the truth of +this, and talked to him amicably. + +"Well," he said at length, offering him a pinch of snuff, "you cannot +walk again." + +"No, chief," said the wounded man, looking at his ankle. + +"And to-morrow we must walk far," went on Sususa. + +"Yes, chief." + +"Say, then, will you sit here on the veldt, or----" and he nodded +towards the river. + +The man dropped his head on his breast for a minute as though in +thought. Presently he lifted it and looked Sususa straight in the +face. + +"My ankle pains me, my brother," he said; "I think I will go back to +Zululand, for there is the only kraal I wish to see again, even if I +creep about it like a snake."[*] + +[*] The Zulus believe that after death their spirits enter into the + bodies of large green snakes, which glide about the kraals. To + kill these snakes is sacrilege. + +"It is well, my brother," said the chief. "Rest softly," and having +shaken hands with him, he gave an order to one of the indunas, and +turned away. + +Then men came, and, supporting the wounded man, led him down to the +banks of the stream. Here, at his request, they tied a heavy stone +round his neck, and then threw him into a deep pool. I saw the whole +sad scene, and the victim never even winced. It was impossible not to +admire the extraordinary courage of the man, or to avoid being struck +with the cold-blooded cruelty of his brother the chief. And yet the +act was necessary from his point of view. The man must either die +swiftly, or be left to perish of starvation, for no Zulu force will +encumber itself with wounded men. Years of merciless warfare had so +hardened these people that they looked on death as nothing, and were, +to do them justice, as willing to meet it themselves as to inflict it +on others. When this very Impi had been sent out by the Zulu King +Dingaan, it consisted of some nine thousand men. Now it numbered less +than three; all the rest were dead. They, too, would probably soon be +dead. What did it matter? They lived by war to die in blood. It was +their natural end. "Kill till you are killed." That is the motto of +the Zulu soldier. It has the merit of simplicity. + +Meanwhile the warriors were looting the waggons, including my own, +having first thrown all the dead Boers into a heap. I looked at the +heap; all of them were there, including the two stout fraus, poor +things. But I missed one body, that of Hans Botha's daughter, little +Tota. A wild hope came into my heart that she might have escaped; but +no, it was not possible. I could only pray that she was already at +rest. + +Just then the great Zulu, Bombyane, who had left my side to indulge in +the congenial occupation of looting, came out of a waggon crying that +he had got the "little white one." I looked; he was carrying the child +Tota, gripping her frock in one of his huge black hands. He stalked up +to where we were, and held the child before the chief. "Is it dead, +father?" he said, with a laugh. + +Now, as I could well see, the child was not dead, but had been hidden +away, and fainted with fear. + +The chief glanced at it carelessly, and said-- + +"Find out with your kerrie." + +Acting on this hint the black devil held up the child, and was about +to kill it with his knobstick. This was more than I could bear. I +sprang at him and struck him with all my force in the face, little +caring if I was speared or not. He dropped Tota on the ground. + +"Ou!" he said, putting his hand to his nose, "the White Spirit has a +hard fist. Come, Spirit, I will fight you for the child." + +The soldiers cheered and laughed. "Yes! yes!" they said, "let Bombyane +fight the White Spirit for the child. Let them fight with assegais." + +For a moment I hesitated. What chance had I against this black giant? +But I had promised poor Hans to save the child if I could, and what +did it matter? As well die now as later. However, I had wit enough +left to make a favour of it, and intimated to the chief through +Indaba-zimbi that I was quite willing to condescend to kill Bombyane, +on condition that if I did so the child's life should be given to me. +Indaba-zimbi interpreted my words, but I noticed that he would not +look on me as he spoke, but covered his face with his hands and spoke +of me as "the ghost" or the "son of the spirit." For some reason that +I have never quite understood, the chief consented to the duel. I +fancy it was because he believed me to be more than mortal, and was +anxious to see the last of Bombyane. + +"Let them fight," he said. "Give them assegais and no shields; the +child shall be to him who conquers." + +"Yes! yes!" cried the soldiers. "Let them fight. Don't be afraid, +Bombyane; if he is a spirit, he's a very small one." + +"I never was frightened of man or beast, and I am not going to run +away from a White Ghost," answered the redoubtable Bombyane, as he +examined the blade of his great bangwan or stabbing assegai. + +Then they made a ring round us, gave me a similar assegai, and set us +some ten paces apart. I kept my face as calm as I could, and tried to +show no signs of fear, though in my heart I was terribly afraid. +Humanly speaking, my doom was on me. The giant warrior before me had +used the assegai from a child--I had no experience of the weapon. +Moreover, though I was quick and active, he must have been at least +twice as strong as I am. However, there was no help for it, so, +setting my teeth, I grasped the great spear, breathed a prayer, and +waited. + +The giant stood awhile looking at me, and, as he stood, Indaba-zimbi +walked across the ring behind me, muttering as he passed, "Keep cool, +Macumazahn, and wait for him. I will make it all right." + +As I had not the slightest intention of commencing the fray, I thought +this good advice, though how Indaba-zimbi could "make it all right" I +failed to see. + +Heavens! how long that half-minute seemed! It happened many years ago, +but the whole scene rises up before my eyes as I write. There behind +us was the blood-stained laager, and near it lay the piles of dead; +round us was rank upon rank of plumed savages, standing in silence to +wait the issue of the duel, and in the centre stood the grey-haired +chief and general, Sususa, in all his war finery, a cloak of leopard +skin upon his shoulders. At his feet lay the senseless form of little +Tota, to my left squatted Indaba-zimbi, nodding his white lock and +muttering something--probably spells; while in front was my giant +antagonist, his spear aloft and his plumes wavering in the gentle +wind. Then over all, over grassy slope, river, and koppie, over the +waggons of the laager, the piles of dead, the dense masses of the +living, the swooning child, over all shone the bright impartial sun, +looking down like the indifferent eye of Heaven upon the loveliness of +nature and the cruelty of man. Down by the river grew thorn-trees, and +from them floated the sweet scent of the mimosa flower, and came the +sound of cooing turtle-doves. I never smell the one or hear the other +without the scene flashing into my mind again, complete in its every +detail. + +Suddenly, without a sound, Bombyane shook his assegai and rushed +straight at me. I saw his huge form come; like a man in a dream, I saw +the broad spear flash on high; now he was on me! Then, prompted to it +by some providential impulse--or had the spells of Indaba-zimbi +anything to do with the matter?--I dropped to my knee, and quick as +light stretched out my spear. He drove at me: the blade passed over my +head. I felt a weight on my assegai; it was wrenched from my hand; his +great limbs knocked against me. I glanced round. Bombyane was +staggering along with head thrown back and outstretched arms from +which his spear had fallen. His spear had fallen, but the blade of +mine stood out between his shoulders--I had transfixed him. He +stopped, swung slowly round as though to look at me: then with a sigh +the giant sank down--/dead/. + +For a moment there was silence; then a great cry rose--a cry of +"Bombyane is dead. The White Spirit has slain Bombyane. Kill the +wizard, kill the ghost who has slain Bombyane by witchcraft." + +Instantly I was surrounded by fierce faces, and spears flashed before +my eyes. I folded my arms and stood calmly waiting the end. In a +moment it would have come, for the warriors were mad at seeing their +champion overthrown thus easily. But presently through the tumult I +heard the high, cracked voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +"Stand back, you fools!" it cried; "can a spirit then be killed?" + +"Spear him! spear him!" they roared in fury. "Let us see if he is a +spirit. How did a spirit slay Bombyane with an assegai? Spear him, +rain-maker, and we shall see." + +"Stand back," cried Indaba-zimbi again, "and I will show you if he can +be killed. I will kill him myself, and call him back to life again +before your eyes." + +"Macumazahn, trust me," he whispered in my ear in the Sisutu tongue, +which the Zulus did not understand. "Trust me; kneel on the grass +before me, and when I strike at you with the spear, roll over like one +dead; then, when you hear my voice again, get up. Trust me--it is your +only hope." + +Having no choice I nodded my head in assent, though I had not the +faintest idea of what he was about to do. The tumult lessened +somewhat, and once more the warriors drew back. + +"Great White Spirit--Spirit of victory," said Indaba-zimbi, addressing +me aloud, and covering his eyes with his hand, "hear me and forgive +me. These children are blind with folly, and think thee mortal because +thou hast dealt death upon a mortal who dared to stand against thee. +Deign to kneel down before me and let me pierce thy heart with this +spear, then when I call upon thee, arise unhurt." + +I knelt down, not because I wished to, but because I must. I had not +overmuch faith in Indaba-zimbi, and thought it probable that he was in +truth about to make an end of me. But really I was so worn out with +fears, and the horrors of the night and day had so shaken my nerves, +that I did not greatly care what befell me. When I had been kneeling +thus for about half a minute Indaba-zimbi spoke. + +"People of the Umtetwa, children of T'Chaka," he said, "draw back a +little way, lest an evil fall on you, for now the air is thick with +ghosts." + +They drew back a space, leaving us in a circle about twelve yards in +diameter. + +"Look on him who kneels before you," went on Indaba-zimbi, "and listen +to my words, to the words of the witch-finder, the words of the rain- +maker, Indaba-zimbi, whose fame is known to you. He seems to be a +young man, does he not? I tell you, children of the Umtetwa, he is no +man. He is the Spirit who gives victory to the white men, he it is who +gave them assegais that thunder and taught them how to slay. Why were +the Impis of Dingaan rolled back at the Blood River? Because /he/ was +there. Why did the Amaboona slay the people of Mosilikatze by the +thousand? Because /he/ was there. And so I say to you that, had I not +drawn him from the laager by my magic but three hours ago, you would +have been conquered--yes, you would have been blown away like the dust +before the wind; you would have been burnt up like the dry grass in +the winter when the fire is awake among it. Ay, because he had but +been there many of your bravest were slain in overcoming a few--a +pinch of men who could be counted on the fingers. But because I loved +you, because your chief Sususa is my half-brother--for had we not one +father?--I came to you, I warned you. Then you prayed me and I drew +the Spirit forth. But you were not satisfied when the victory was +yours, when the Spirit, of all you had taken asked but one little +thing--a white child to take away and sacrifice to himself, to make +the medicine of his magic of----" + +Here I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting, but thought +better of it. + +"You said him nay; you said, 'Let him fight with our bravest man, let +him fight with Bombyane the giant for the child.' And he deigned to +slay Bombyane as you have seen, and now you say, 'Slay him; he is no +spirit.' Now I will show you if he is a spirit, for I will slay him +before your eyes, and call him to life again. But you have brought +this upon yourselves. Had you believed, had you offered no insult to +the Spirit, he would have stayed with you, and you should have become +unconquerable. Now he will arise and leave you, and woe be on you if +you try to stay him. + +"Now all men," he went on, "look for a space upon this assegai that I +hold up," and he lifted the bangwan of the deceased Bombyane high +above his head so that all the multitude could see it. Every eye was +fixed upon the broad bright spear. For a while he held it still, then +he moved it round and round in a circle, muttering as he did so, and +still their gaze followed it. For my part, I watched his movements +with the greatest anxiety. That assegai had already been nearer my +person than I found at all pleasant, and I had no desire to make a +further acquaintance with it. Nor, indeed, was I sure that Indaba- +zimbi was not really going to kill me. I could not understand his +proceedings at all, and at the best I did not relish playing the +/corpus vile/ to his magical experiments. + +"/Look! look! look!/" he screamed. + +Then suddenly the great spear flashed down towards my breast. I felt +nothing, but, to my sight, it seemed as though it had passed through +me. + +"See!" roared the Zulus. "Indaba-zimbi has speared him; the red +assegai stands out behind his back." + +"Roll over, Macumazahn," Indaba-zimbi hissed in my ear, "roll over and +pretend to die--quick! quick!" + +I lost no time in following these strange instructions, but falling on +to my side, threw my arms wide, kicked my legs about, and died as +artistically as I could. Presently I gave a stage shiver and lay +still. + +"See!" said the Zulus, "he is dead, the Spirit is dead. Look at the +blood upon the assegai!" + +"Stand back! stand back!" cried Indaba-zimbi, "or the ghost will haunt +you. Yes, he is dead, and now I will call him back to life again. +Look!" and putting down his hand, he plucked the spear from wherever +it was fixed, and held it aloft. "The spear is red, is it not? Watch, +men, watch! /it grows white!/" + +"Yes, it grows white," they said. "Ou! it grows white." + +"It grows white because the blood returns to whence it came," said +Indaba-zimbi. "Now, great Spirit, hear me. Thou art dead, the breath +has gone out of thy mouth. Yet hear me and arise. Awake, White Spirit, +awake and show thy power. Awake! arise unhurt!" + +I began to respond cheerfully to this imposing invocation. + +"Not so fast, Macumazahn," whispered Indaba-zimbi. + +I took the hint, and first held up my arm, then lifted my head and let +it fall again. + +"He lives! by the head of T'Chaka he lives!" roared the soldiers, +stricken with mortal fear. + +Then slowly and with the greatest dignity I gradually arose, stretched +my arms, yawned like one awaking from heavy sleep, turned and looked +upon them unconcernedly. While I did so, I noticed that old Indaba- +zimbi was almost fainting from exhaustion. Beads of perspiration stood +upon his brow, his limbs trembled, and his breast heaved. + +As for the Zulus, they waited for no more. With a howl of terror the +whole regiment turned and fled across the rise, so that presently we +were left alone with the dead, and the swooning child. + +"How on earth did you do that, Indaba-zimbi?" I asked in amaze. + +"Do not ask me, Macumazahn," he gasped. "You white men are very +clever, but you don't quite know everything. There are men in the +world who can make people believe they see things which they do not +see. Let us be going while we may, for when those Umtetwas have got +over their fright, they will come back to loot the waggons, and then +perhaps /they/ will begin asking questions that I can't answer." + +And here I may as well state that I never got any further information +on this matter from old Indaba-zimbi. But I have my theory, and here +it is for whatever it may be worth. I believe that Indaba-zimbi +/mesmerized/ the whole crowd of onlookers, myself included, making +them believe that they saw the assegai in my heart, and the blood upon +the blade. The reader may smile and say, "Impossible;" but I would ask +him how the Indian jugglers do their tricks unless it is by mesmerism. +The spectators /seem/ to see the boy go under the basket and there +pierced with daggers, they /seem/ to see women in a trance supported +in mid-air upon the point of a single sword. In themselves these +things are not possible, they violate the laws of nature, as those +laws are known to us, and therefore must surely be illusion. And so +through the glamour thrown upon them by Indaba-zimbi's will, that Zulu +Impi seemed to see me transfixed with an assegai which never touched +me. At least, that is my theory; if any one has a better, let him +adopt it. The explanation lies between illusion and magic of a most +imposing character, and I prefer to accept the first alternative. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +STELLA + +I was not slow to take Indaba-zimbi's hint. About a hundred and fifty +yards to the left of the laager was a little dell where I had hidden +my horse, together with one belonging to the Boers, and my saddle and +bridle. Thither we went, I carrying the swooning Tota in my arms. To +our joy we found the horses safe, for the Zulus had not seen them. +Now, of course, they were our only means of locomotion, for the oxen +had been sent away, and even had they been there we could not have +found time to inspan them. I laid Tota down, caught my horse, undid +his knee halter, and saddled up. As I was doing so a thought struck +me, and I told Indaba-zimbi to run to the laager and see if he could +find my double-barrelled gun and some powder and shot, for I had only +my elephant "roer" and a few charges of powder and ball with me. + +He went, and while he was away, poor little Tota came to herself and +began to cry, till she saw my face. + +"Ah, I have had such a bad dream," she said, in Dutch: "I dreamed that +the black Kaffirs were going to kill me. Where is my papa?" + +I winced at the question. "Your papa has gone on a journey, dear," I +said, "and left me to look after you. We shall find him one day. You +don't mind going with Heer Allan, do you?" + +"No," she said, a little doubtfully, and began to cry again. Presently +she remembered that she was thirsty, and asked for water. I led her to +the river and she drank. "Why is my hand red, Heer Allan?" she asked, +pointing to the smear of Bombyane's blood-stained fingers. + +At this moment I felt very glad that I had killed Bombyane. + +"It is only paint, dear," I said; "see, we will wash it and your +face." + +As I was doing this, Indaba-zimbi returned. The guns were all gone; he +said the Zulus had taken them and the powder. But he had found some +things and brought them in a sack. There was a thick blanket, about +twenty pounds weight of biltong or sun-dried meat, a few double- +handfuls of biscuits, two water-bottles, a tin pannikin, some matches +and sundries. + +"And now, Macumazahn," he said, "we had best be going, for those +Umtetwas are coming back. I saw one of them on the brow of the rise." + +That was enough for me. I lifted little Tota on to the bow of my +saddle, climbed into it, and rode off, holding her in front of me. +Indaba-zimbi slipped a reim into the mouth of the best of the Boer +horses, threw of the sack of sundries on to its back and mounted also, +holding the elephant gun in his hand. We went eight or nine hundred +yards in silence till we were quite out of range of sight from the +waggons, which were in a hollow. Then I pulled up, with such a feeling +of thankfulness in my heart as cannot be told in words; for now I knew +that, mounted as we were, those black demons could never catch us. But +where were we to steer for? I put the question to Indaba-zimbi, asking +him if he thought that we had better try and follow the oxen which we +had sent away with the Kaffirs and women on the preceding night. He +shook his head. + +"The Umtetwas will go after the oxen presently," he answered, "and we +have seen enough of them." + +"Quite enough," I answered, with enthusiasm; "I never want to see +another; but where are we to go? Here we are alone with one gun and a +little girl in the vast and lonely veldt. Which way shall we turn?" + +"Our faces were towards the north before we met the Zulus," answered +Indaba-zimbi; "let us still keep them to the north. Ride on, +Macumazahn; to-night when we off-saddle I will look into the matter." + +So all that long afternoon we rode on, following the course of the +river. From the nature of the ground we could only go slowly, but +before sunset I had the satisfaction of knowing that there must be at +least twenty-five miles between us and those accursed Zulus. Little +Tota slept most of the way, the motion of the horse was easy, and she +was worn out. + +At last the sunset came, and we off-saddled in a dell by the river. +There was not much to eat, but I soaked some biscuit in water for +Tota, and Indaba-zimbi and I made a scanty meal of biltong. When we +had done I took off Tota's frock, wrapped her up in a blanket near the +fire we had made, and lit a pipe. I sat there by the side of the +sleeping orphaned child, and from my heart thanked Providence for +saving her life and mine from the slaughter of that day. What a +horrible experience it had been! It seemed like a nightmare to look +back upon. And yet it was sober fact, one among those many tragedies +which dotted the paths of the emigrant Boers with the bones of men, +women, and children. These horrors are almost forgotten now; people +living in Natal now, for instance, can scarcely realize that some +forty years ago six hundred white people, many of them women and +children, were thus massacred by the Impis of Dingaan. But it was so, +and the name of the district, /Weenen/, or the Place of Weeping, will +commemorate them for ever. + +Then I fell to reflecting on the extraordinary adroitness old Indaba- +zimbi had shown in saving my life. It appeared that he himself had +lived among the Umtetwa Zulus in his earlier manhood, and was a noted +rain-doctor and witch-finder. But when T'Chaka, Dingaan's brother, +ordered a general massacre of the witch-finders, he alone had saved +his life by his skill in magic, and ultimately fled south for reasons +too long to set out here. When he heard, therefore, that the regiment +was an Umtetwa regiment, which, leaving their wives and children, had +broken away from Zululand to escape the cruelties of Dingaan; under +pretence of spying on them, he took the bold course of going straight +up to the chief, Sususa, and addressing him as his brother, which he +was. The chief knew him at once, and so did the soldiers, for his fame +was still great among them. Then he told them his cock and bull story +about my being a white spirit, whose presence in the laager would +render it invincible, and with the object of saving my life in the +slaughter which he knew must ensue, agreed to charm me out of the +laager and deliver me into their keeping. How the plan worked has +already been told; it was a risky one; still, but for it my troubles +would have been done with these many days. + +So I lay and thought with a heart full of gratitude, and as I did so +saw old Indaba-zimbi sitting by the fire and going through some +mysterious performances with bones which he produced from his bag, and +ashes mixed with water. I spoke to him and asked what he was about. He +replied that he was tracing out the route that we should follow. I +felt inclined to answer "bosh!" but remembering the very remarkable +instances which he had given of his prowess in occult matters I held +my tongue, and taking little Tota into my arms, worn out with toil and +danger and emotion, I went to sleep. + +I awoke just as the dawn was beginning to flame across the sky in +sheets of primrose and of gold, or rather it was little Tota who woke +me by kissing me as she lay between sleep and waking, and calling me +"papa." It wrung my heart to hear her, poor orphaned child. I got up, +washed and dressed her as best I could, and we breakfasted as we had +supped, on biltong and biscuit. Tota asked for milk, but I had none to +give her. Then we caught the horses, and I saddled mine. + +"Well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "now what path do your bones point to?" + +"Straight north," he said. "The journey will be hard, but in about +four days we shall come to the kraal of a white man, an Englishman, +not a Boer. His kraal is in a beautiful place, and there is a great +peak behind it where there are many baboons." + +I looked at him. "This is all nonsense, Indaba-zimbi," I said. +"Whoever heard of an Englishman building a house in these wilds, and +how do you know anything about it? I think that we had better strike +east towards Port Natal." + +"As you like, Macumazahn," he answered, "but it will take us three +months' journey to get to Port Natal, if we ever get there, and the +child will die on the road. Say, Macumazahn, have my words come true +heretofore, or have they not? Did I not tell you not to hunt the +elephants on horseback? Did I not tell you to take one waggon with you +instead of two, as it is better to lose one than two?" + +"You told me all these things," I answered. + +"And so I tell you now to ride north, Macumazahn, for there you will +find great happiness--yes, and great sorrow. But no man should run +away from happiness because of the sorrow. As you will, as you will!" + +Again I looked at him. In his divinations I did not believe, yet I +came to the conclusion that he was speaking what he knew to be the +truth. It struck me as possible that he might have heard of some white +man living like a hermit in the wilds, but preferring to keep up his +prophetic character would not say so. + +"Very well, Indaba-zimbi," I said, "let us ride north." + +Shortly after we started, the river we had followed hitherto turned +off in a westerly direction, so we left it. All that day we rode +across rolling uplands, and about an hour before sunset halted at a +little stream which ran down from a range of hills in front of us. By +this time I was heartily tired of the biltong, so taking my elephant +rifle--for I had nothing else--I left Tota with Indaba-zimbi, and +started to try if I could shoot something. Oddly enough we had seen no +game all the day, nor did we see any on the subsequent days. For some +mysterious reason they had temporarily left the district. I crossed +the little streamlet in order to enter the belt of thorns which grew +upon the hill-side beyond, for there I hoped to find buck. As I did so +I was rather disturbed to see the spoor of two lions in the soft sandy +edge of a pool. Breathing a hope that they might not still be in the +neighbourhood, I went on into the belt of scattered thorns. For a long +while I hunted about without seeing anything, except one duiker buck, +which bounded off with a crash from the other side of a stone without +giving me a chance. At length, just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie +buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger than a large hare, +standing on a stone, about forty yards from me. Under ordinary +circumstances I should never have dreamed of firing at such a thing, +especially with an elephant gun, but we were hungry. So I sat down +with my back against a rock, and aimed steadily at its head. I did +this because if I struck it in the body the three-ounce ball would +have knocked it to bits. At last I pulled the trigger, the gun went +off with the report of a small cannon, and the buck disappeared. I ran +to the spot with more anxiety than I should have felt in an ordinary +way over a koodoo or an eland. To my delight there the little creature +lay--the huge bullet had decapitated it. Considering all the +circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot than +this, but if any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit's head +fifty yards away with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball. + +I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp. There we +skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire. He just made a good +meal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast. + +There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly +remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie +up the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we +knew they were grazing within fifty yards. This being so we could only +make up the fire and take our chance. Shortly afterwards I went to +sleep with little Tota in my arms. Suddenly I was awakened by hearing +that peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to +the fire, which was still burning brightly. Next second there came a +noise of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse +appeared in the ring of firelight. As in a flash of lightning I saw +his staring eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with +which he had been knee-haltered, flying in the air. Also I saw +something else, for on his back was a great dark form with glowing +eyes, and from the form came a growling sound. It was a lion. + +The horse dashed on. He galloped right through the fire, for which he +had run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, +and vanished into the night. We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or +more, then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls. +As may be imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited +anxiously till the dawn broke, two hours later. + +As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota still +asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had +vanished. When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains +lying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms +slinking away in the grey light. + +To go any further was useless; we knew all about it now, so we turned +to look for the other horse. But our cup of misfortune was not yet +full; the horse was nowhere to be found. Terrified by the sight and +smell of the lions, it had with a desperate effort also burst the reim +with which it had been knee-haltered, and galloped far away. I sat +down, feeling as though I could cry like a woman. For now we were left +alone in these vast solitudes without a horse to carry us, and with a +child who was not old enough to walk for more than a little way at a +time. + +Well, it was no use giving in, so with a few words we went back to our +camp, where I found Tota crying because she had woke to find herself +alone. Then we ate a little food and prepared to start. First we +divided such articles as we must take with us into two equal parts, +rejecting everything that we could possibly do without. Then, by an +afterthought, we filled our water-bottles, though at the time I was +rather against doing so, because of the extra weight. But Indaba-zimbi +overruled me in the matter, fortunately for all three of us. I settled +to look after Tota for the first march, and to give the elephant gun +to Indaba-zimbi. At length all was ready, and we set out on foot. By +the help of occasional lifts over rough places, Tota managed to walk +up the slope of the hill-side where I had shot the Petie buck. At +length we reached it, and, looking at the country beyond, I gave an +exclamation of dismay. To say that it was desert would be saying too +much; it was more like the Karroo in the Cape--a vast sandy waste, +studded here and there with low shrubs and scattered rocks. But it was +a great expanse of desolate land, stretching further than the eye +could reach, and bordered far away by a line of purple hills, in the +centre of which a great solitary peak soared high into the air. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "we can never cross this if we take six days." + +"As you will, Macumazahn," he answered; "but I tell you that there"-- +and he pointed to the peak--"there the white man lives. Turn which way +you like, but if you turn you will perish." + +I reflected for a moment, Our case was, humanly speaking, almost +hopeless. It mattered little which way we went. We were alone, almost +without food, with no means of transport, and a child to carry. As +well perish in the sandy waste as on the rolling veldt or among the +trees of the hill-side. Providence alone could save us, and we must +trust to Providence. + +"Come on," I said, lifting Tota on to my back, for she was already +tired. "All roads lead to rest." + +How am I to describe the misery of the next four days? How am I to +tell how we stumbled on through that awful desert, almost without +food, and quite without water, for there were no streams, and we saw +no springs? We soon found how the case was, and saved almost all the +water in our bottles for the child. To look back on it is like a +nightmare. I can scarcely bear to dwell on it. Day after day, by turns +carrying the child through the heavy sand; night after night lying +down in the scrub, chewing the leaves, and licking such dew as there +was from the scanty grass! Not a spring, not a pool, not a head of +game! It was the third night; we were nearly mad with thirst. Tota was +in a comatose condition. Indaba-zimbi still had a little water in his +bottle--perhaps a wine-glassful. With it we moistened our lips and +blackened tongues. Then we gave the rest to the child. It revived her. +She awoke from her swoon to sink into sleep. + +See, the dawn was breaking. The hills were not more than eight miles +or so away now, and they were green. There must be water there. + +"Come," I said. + +Indaba-zimbi lifted Tota into the kind of sling that we had made out +of the blanket in which to carry her on our backs, and we staggered on +for an hour through the sand. She awoke crying for water, and alas! we +had none to give her; our tongues were hanging from our lips, we could +scarcely speak. + +We rested awhile, and Tota mercifully swooned away again. Then Indaba- +zimbi took her. Though he was so thin the old man's strength was +wonderful. + +Another hour; the slope of the great peak could not be more than two +miles away now. A couple of hundred yards off grew a large baobab +tree. Could we reach its shade? We had done half the distance when +Indaba-zimbi fell from exhaustion. We were now so weak that neither of +us could lift the child on to our backs. He rose again, and we each +took one of her hands and dragged her along the road. Fifty yards-- +they seemed to be fifty miles. Ah, the tree was reached at last; +compared with the heat outside, the shade of its dense foliage seemed +like the dusk and cool of a vault. I remember thinking that it was a +good place to die in. Then I remember no more. + + + +I woke with a feeling as though the blessed rain were falling on my +face and head. Slowly, and with great difficulty, I opened my eyes, +then shut them again, having seen a vision. For a space I lay thus, +while the rain continued to fall; I saw now that I must be asleep, or +off my head with thirst and fever. If I were not off my head how came +I to imagine that a lovely dark-eyed girl was bending over me +sprinkling water on my face? A white girl, too, not a Kaffir woman. +However, the dream went on. + +"Hendrika," said a voice in English, the sweetest voice that I had +ever heard; somehow it reminded me of wind whispering in the trees at +night. "Hendrika, I fear he dies; there is a flask of brandy in my +saddle-bag; get it." + +"Ah! ah!" grunted a harsh voice in answer; "let him die, Miss Stella. +He will bring you bad luck--let him die, I say." I felt a movement of +air above me as though the woman of my vision turned swiftly, and once +again I opened my eyes. She had risen, this dream woman. Now I saw +that she was tall and graceful as a reed. She was angry, too; her dark +eyes flashed, and she pointed with her hand at a female who stood +before her, dressed in nondescript kind of clothes such as might be +worn by either a man or a woman. The woman was young, of white blood, +very short, with bowed legs and enormous shoulders. In face she was +not bad-looking, but the brow receded, the chin and ears were +prominent--in short, she reminded me of nothing so much as a very +handsome monkey. She might have been the missing link. + +The lady was pointing at her with her hand. "How dare you?" she said. +"Are you going to disobey me again? Have you forgotten what I told +you, Babyan?"[*] + +[*] Baboon. + +"Ah! ah!" grunted the woman, who seemed literally to curl and shrivel +up beneath her anger. "Don't be angry with me, Miss Stella, because I +can't bear it. I only said it because it was true. I will fetch the +brandy." + +Then, dream or no dream, I determined to speak. + +"Not brandy," I gasped in English as well as my swollen tongue would +allow; "give me water." + +"Ah, he lives!" cried the beautiful girl, "and he talks English. See, +sir, here is water in your own bottle; you were quite close to a +spring, it is on the other side of the tree." + +I struggled to a sitting position, lifted the bottle to my lips, and +drank from it. Oh! that drink of cool, pure water! never had I tasted +anything so delicious. With the first gulp I felt life flow back into +me. But wisely enough she would not let me have much. "No more! no +more!" she said, and dragged the bottle from me almost by force. + +"The child," I said--"is the child dead?" + +"I do not know yet," she answered. "We have only just found you, and I +tried to revive you first." + +I turned and crept to where Tota lay by the side of Indaba-zimbi. It +was impossible to say if they were dead or swooning. The lady +sprinkled Tota's face with the water, which I watched greedily, for my +thirst was still awful, while the woman Hendrika did the same office +for Indaba-zimbi. Presently, to my vast delight, Tota opened her eyes +and tried to cry, but could not, poor little thing, because her tongue +and lips were so swollen. But the lady got some water into her mouth, +and, as in my case, the effect was magical. We allowed her to drink +about a quarter of a pint, and no more, though she cried bitterly for +it. Just then old Indaba-zimbi came to with a groan. He opened his +eyes, glanced round, and took in the situation. + +"What did I tell you, Macumazahn?" he gasped, and seizing the bottle, +he took a long pull at it. + +Meanwhile I sat with my back against the trunk of the great tree and +tried to realize the situation. Looking to my left I saw too good +horses--one bare-backed, and one with a rudely made lady's saddle on +it. By the side of the horses were two dogs, of a stout greyhound +breed, that sat watching us, and near the dogs lay a dead Orib buck, +which they had evidently been coursing. + +"Hendrika," said the lady presently, "they must not eat meat just yet. +Go look up the tree and see if there is any ripe fruit on it." + +The woman ran swiftly into the plain and obeyed. Presently she +returned. "I see some ripe fruit," she said, "but it is high, quite at +the top." + +"Fetch it," said the lady. + +"Easier said than done," I thought to myself; but I was much mistaken. +Suddenly the woman bounded at least three feet into the air and caught +one of the spreading boughs in her large flat hands; then came a swing +that would have filled an acrobat with envy--and she was on it. + +"Now there is an end," I thought again, for the next bough was beyond +her reach. But again I was mistaken. She stood up on the bough, +gripping it with her bare feet, and once more sprang at the one above, +caught it and swung herself into it. + +I suppose that the lady saw my expression of astonishment. "Do not +wonder, sir," she said, "Hendrika is not like other people. She will +not fall." + +I made no answer, but watched the progress of this extraordinary +person with the most breathless interest. On she went, swinging +herself from bough to bough, and running along them like a monkey. At +last she reached the top, and began to swarm up a thin branch towards +the ripe fruit. When she was near enough she shook the branch +violently. There was a crack--a crash--it broke. I shut my eyes, +expecting to see her crushed on the ground before me. + +"Don't be afraid," said the lady again, laughing gently. "Look, she is +quite safe." + +I looked, and so she was. She had caught a bough as she fell, clung to +it, and was now calmly dropping to another. Old Indaba-zimbi had also +watched this performance with interest, but it did not seem to +astonish him over-much. "Baboon-woman?" he said, as though such people +were common, and then turned his attention to soothing Tota, who was +moaning for more water. Meanwhile Hendrika came down the tree with +extraordinary rapidity, and swinging by one hand from a bough, dropped +about eight feet to the ground. + +In another two minutes we were all three sucking the pulpy fruit. In +an ordinary way we should have found it tasteless enough: as it was I +thought it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. After three +days spent without food or water, in the desert, one is not +particular. While we were still eating the fruit, the lady of my +vision set her companion to work to partially flay the orib which her +dogs had killed, and busied herself in making a fire of fallen boughs. +As soon as it burned brightly she took strips of the orib flesh, +toasted them, and gave them to us on leaves. We ate, and now were +allowed a little more water. After that she took Tota to the spring +and washed her, which she sadly needed, poor child! Next came our turn +to wash, and oh, the joy of it! + +I came back to the tree, walking painfully, indeed, but a changed man. +There sat the beautiful girl with Tota on her knees. She was lulling +her to sleep, and held up her finger to me enjoining silence. At last +the child went off into a sound natural slumber--an example that I +should have been glad to follow had it not been for my burning +curiosity. Then I spoke. + +"May I ask what your name is?" I said. + +"Stella," she answered. + +"Stella what?" I said. + +"Stella nothing," she answered, in some pique; "Stella is my name; it +is short and easy to remember at any rate. My father's name is Thomas, +and we live up there," and she pointed round the base of the great +peak. I looked at her astonished. "Have you lived there long?" I +asked. + +"Ever since I was seven years old. We came there in a waggon. Before +that we came from England--from Oxfordshire; I can show you the place +on a big map. It is called Garsingham." + +Again I thought I must be dreaming. "Do you know, Miss Stella," I +said, "it is very strange--so strange that it almost seems as though +it could not be true--but I also came from Garsingham in Oxfordshire +many years ago." + +She started up. "Are you an English gentleman?" she said. "Ah, I have +always longed to see an English gentleman. I have never seen but one +Englishman since we lived here, and he certainly was not a gentleman-- +no white people at all, indeed, except a few wandering Boers. We live +among black people and baboons--only I have read about English people +--lots of books--poetry and novels. But tell me what is your name? +Macumazahn the black man called you, but you must have a white name, +too." + +"My name is Allan Quatermain," I said. + +Her face turned quite white, her rosy lips parted, and she looked at +me wildly with her beautiful dark eyes. + +"It is wonderful," she said, "but I have often heard that name. My +father has told me how a little boy called Allan Quatermain once saved +my life by putting out my dress when it was on fire--see!"--and she +pointed to a faint red mark upon her neck--"here is the scar of the +burn." + +"I remember it," I said. "You were dressed up as Father Christmas. It +was I who put out the fire; my wrists were burnt in doing so." + +Then for a space we sat silent, looking at each other, while Stella +slowly fanned herself with her wide felt hat, in which some white +ostrich plumes were fixed. + +"This is God's doing," she said at last. "You saved my life when I was +a child; now I have saved yours and the little girl's. Is she your own +daughter?" she added, quickly. + +"No," I answered; "I will tell you the tale presently." + +"Yes," she said, "you shall tell me as we go home. It is time to be +starting home, it will take us three hours to get there. Hendrika, +Hendrika, bring the horses here!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BABOON-WOMAN + +Hendrika obeyed, leading the horses to the side of the tree. + +"Now, Mr. Allan," said Stella, "you must ride on my horse, and the old +black man must ride on the other. I will walk, and Hendrika will carry +the child. Oh, do not be afraid, she is very strong, she could carry +you or me." + +Hendrika grunted assent. I am sorry that I cannot express her method +of speech by any more polite term. Sometimes she grunted like a +monkey, sometimes she clicked like a Bushman, and sometimes she did +both together, when she became quite unintelligible. + +I expostulated against this proposed arrangement, saying that we could +walk, which was a fib, for I do not think that I could have done a +mile; but Stella would not listen, she would not even let me carry my +elephant gun, but took it herself. So we mounted with some difficulty, +and Hendrika took up the sleeping Tota in her long, sinewy arms. + +"See that the 'Baboon-woman' does not run away into the mountains with +the little white one," said Indaba-zimbi to me in Kaffir, as he +climbed slowly on to the horse. + +Unfortunately Hendrika understood his speech. Her face twisted and +grew livid with fury. She put down Tota and literally sprang at +Indaba-zimbi as a monkey springs. But weary and worn as he was, the +old gentleman was too quick for her. With an exclamation of genuine +fright he threw himself from the horse on the further side, with the +somewhat ludicrous result that all in a moment Hendrika was occupying +the seat which he had vacated. Just then Stella realized the position. + +"Come down, you savage, come down!" she said, stamping her foot. + +The extraordinary creature flung herself from the horse and literally +grovelled on the ground before her mistress and burst into tears. + +"Pardon, Miss Stella," she clicked and grunted in villainous English, +"but he called me 'Babyan-frau' (Baboon-woman)." + +"Tell your servant that he must not use such words to Hendrika, Mr. +Allan," Stella said to me. "If he does," she added, in a whisper, +"Hendrika will certainly kill him." + +I explained this to Indaba-zimbi, who, being considerably frightened, +deigned to apologize. But from that hour there was hate and war +between these two. + +Harmony having been thus restored, we started, the dogs following us. +A small strip of desert intervened between us and the slope of the +peak--perhaps it was two miles wide. We crossed it and reached rich +grass lands, for here a considerable stream gathered from the hills; +but it did not flow across the barren lands, it passed to the east +along the foot of the hills. This stream we had to cross by a ford. +Hendrika walked boldly through it, holding Tota in her arms. Stella +leapt across from stone to stone like a roebuck; I thought to myself +that she was the most graceful creature that I had ever seen. After +this the track passed around a pleasantly-wooded shoulder of the peak, +which was, I found, known as Babyan Kap, or Baboon Head. Of course we +could only go at a foot pace, so our progress was slow. Stella walked +for some way in silence, then she spoke. + +"Tell me, Mr. Allan," she said, "how it was that I came to find you +dying in the desert?" + +So I began and told her all. It took an hour or more to do so, and she +listened intently, now and again asking a question. + +"It is all very wonderful," she said when I had done, "very wonderful +indeed. Do you know I went out this morning with Hendrika and the dogs +for a ride, meaning to get back home by mid-day, for my father is ill, +and I do not like to leave him for long. But just as I was going to +turn, when we were about where we are now--yes, that was the very bush +--an orib got up, and the dogs chased it. I followed them for the +gallop, and when we came to the river, instead of turning to the left +as bucks generally do, the orib swam the stream and took to the Bad +Lands beyond. I followed it, and within a hundred yards of the big +tree the dogs killed it. Hendrika wanted to turn back at once, but I +said that we would rest under the shade of the tree, for I knew that +there was a spring of water near. Well, we went; and there I saw you +all lying like dead; but Hendrika, who is very clever in some ways, +said no--and you know the rest. Yes, it is very wonderful." + +"It is indeed," I said. "Now tell me, Miss Stella, who is Hendrika?" + +She looked round before answering to see that the woman was not near. + +"Hers is a strange story, Mr. Allan. I will tell you. You must know +that all these mountains and the country beyond are full of baboons. +When I was a girl of about ten I used to wander a great deal alone in +the hills and valleys, and watch the baboons as they played among the +rocks. There was one family of baboons that I watched especially--they +used to live in a kloof about a mile from the house. The old man +baboon was very large, and one of the females had a grey face. But the +reason why I watched them so much was because I saw that they had with +them a creature that looked like a girl, for her skin was quite white, +and, what was more, that she was protected from the weather when it +happened to be cold by a fur belt of some sort, which was tied round +her throat. The old baboons seemed to be especially fond of her, and +would sit with their arms round her neck. For nearly a whole summer I +watched this particular white-skinned baboon till at last my curiosity +quite overmastered me. I noticed that, though she climbed about the +cliffs with the other monkeys, at a certain hour a little before +sundown they used to put her with one or two other much smaller ones +into a little cave, while the family went off somewhere to get food, +to the mealie fields, I suppose. Then I got an idea that I would catch +this white baboon and bring it home. But of course I could not do this +by myself, so I took a Hottentot--a very clever man when he was not +drunk--who lived on the stead, into my confidence. He was called +Hendrik, and was very fond of me; but for a long while he would not +listen to my plan, because he said that the babyans would kill us. At +last I bribed him with a knife that had four blades, and one afternoon +we started, Hendrik carrying a stout sack made of hide, with a rope +running through it so that the mouth could be drawn tight. + +"Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the +trees at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and +grunting to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took +the white one and three other little babies and put them in the cave. +Then the old man came out, looked carefully round, called to his +family, and went off with them over the brow of the kloof. Now very +slowly and cautiously we crept up over the rocks till we came to the +mouth of the cave and looked in. All the four little baboons were fast +asleep, with their backs towards us, and their arms round each other's +necks, the white one being in the middle. Nothing could have been +better for our plans. Hendrik, who by this time had quite entered into +the spirit of the thing, crept along the cave like a snake, and +suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide bag over the head of the white +baboon. The poor little thing woke up and gave a violent jump which +caused it to vanish right into the bag. Then Hendrik pulled the string +tight, and together we knotted it so that it was impossible for our +captive to escape. Meanwhile the other baby baboons had rushed from +the cave screaming, and when we got outside they were nowhere to be +seen. + +"'Come on, Missie,' said Hendrik; 'the babyans will soon be back.' He +had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking +violently, and screaming like a child. It was dreadful to hear its +shrieks. + +"We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as +we could manage. When we were near the waterfall, and within about +three hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, +and there, leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was +the whole family of baboons headed by the old man. + +"'Run, Missie, run!' gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving +him far behind. I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were +working, crying, 'The babyans! the babyans!' Luckily the men had their +sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, +who was almost overtaken. The baboons made a good fight for it, +however, and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai +that they ran away. + +"Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father +sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved. It is very strong, and +has a barred window. To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having +untied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, +shutting the door behind him. In another moment the poor little thing +was out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad. It +sprung at the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head +against them till the blood came. Then it fell to the floor, and sat +upon it crying like a child, and rocking itself backwards and +forwards. It was so sad to see it that I began to cry too. + +"Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about. I +told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, +and said that it must be let go. But when he looked at it through the +bars of the window he nearly fell down with astonishment. + +"'Why!' he said, 'this is not a baboon, it is a white child that the +baboons have stolen and brought up!' + +"Now, Mr. Allan, whether my father is right or wrong, you can judge +for yourself. You see Hendrika--we named her that after Hendrik, who +caught her--she is a woman, not a monkey, and yet she has many of the +ways of monkeys, and looks like one too. You saw how she can climb, +for instance, and you hear how she talks. Also she is very savage, and +when she is angry or jealous she seems to go mad, though she is as +clever as anybody. I think that she must have been stolen by the +baboons when she was quite tiny and nurtured by them, and that is why +she is so like them. + +"But to go on. My father said that it was our duty to keep Hendrika at +any cost. The worst of it was, that for three days she would eat +nothing, and I thought that she would die, for all the while she sat +and wailed. On the third day, however, I went to the bars of the +window place, and held out a cup of milk and some fruit to her. She +looked at it for a long while, then crept up moaning, took the milk +from my hand, drank it greedily, and afterwards ate the fruit. From +that time forward she took food readily enough, but only if I would +feed her. + +"But I must tell you of the dreadful end of Hendrik. From the day that +we captured Hendrika the whole place began to swarm with baboons which +were evidently employed in watching the kraals. One day Hendrik went +out towards the hills alone to gather some medicine. He did not come +back again, so the next day search was made. By a big rock which I can +show you, they found his scattered and broken bones, the fragments of +his assegai, and four dead baboons. They had set upon him and torn him +to pieces. + +"My father was very much frightened at this, but still he would not +let Hendrika go, because he said that she was human, and that it was +our duty to reclaim her. And so we did--to a certain extent, at least. +After the murder of Hendrik, the baboons vanished from the +neighbourhood, and have only returned quite recently, so at length we +ventured to let Hendrika out. By this time she had grown very fond of +me; still, on the first opportunity she ran away. But in the evening +she returned again. She had been seeking the baboons, and could not +find them. Shortly afterwards she began to speak--I taught her--and +from that time she has loved me so that she will not leave me. I think +it would kill her if I went away from her. She watches me all day, and +at night sleeps on the floor of my hut. Once, too, she saved my life +when I was swept down the river in flood; but she is jealous, and +hates everybody else. Look, how she is glaring at you now because I am +talking to you!" + +I looked. Hendrika was tramping along with the child in her arms and +staring at me in a most sinister fashion out of the corners of her +eyes. + +While I was reflecting on the Baboon-woman's strange story, and +thinking that she was an exceedingly awkward customer, the path took a +sudden turn. + +"Look!" said Stella, "there is our home. Is it not beautiful?" + +It was beautiful indeed. Here on the western side of the great peak a +bay had been formed in the mountain, which might have measured eight +hundred or a thousand yards across by three-quarters of a mile in +depth. At the back of this indentation the sheer cliff rose to the +height of several hundred feet, and behind it and above it the great +Babyan Peak towered up towards the heavens. The space of ground, +embraced thus in the arms of the mountain, as it were, was laid out, +as though by the cunning hand of man, in three terraces that rose one +above the other. To the right and left of the topmost terrace were +chasms in the cliff, and down each chasm fell a waterfall, from no +great height, indeed, but of considerable volume. These two streams +flowed away on either side of the enclosed space, one towards the +north, and the other, the course of which we had been following, round +the base of the mountain. At each terrace they made a cascade, so that +the traveller approaching had a view of eight waterfalls at once. +Along the edge of the stream to our left were placed Kaffir kraals, +built in orderly groups with verandahs, after the Basutu fashion, and +a very large part of the entire space of land was under cultivation. +All of this I noted at once, as well as the extraordinary richness and +depth of the soil, which for many ages past had been washed down from +the mountain heights. Then following the line of an excellent waggon +road, on which we now found ourselves, that wound up from terrace to +terrace, my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the scene. For in the +centre of the topmost platform or terrace, which may have enclosed +eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded by groves of +orange trees, gleamed buildings of which I had never seen the like. +There were three groups of them, one in the middle, and one on either +side, and a little to the rear, but, as I afterwards discovered, the +plan of all was the same. In the centre was an edifice constructed +like an ordinary Zulu hut--that is to say, in the shape of a beehive, +only it was five times the size of any hut I ever saw, and built of +blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinary +knowledge of the principles and properties of arch building, and with +so much accuracy and finish that it was often difficult to find the +joints of the massive blocks. From this centre hut ran three covered +passages, leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, +only smaller, and each whole block was enclosed by a marble wall about +four feet in height. + +Of course we were as yet too far off to see all these details, but the +general outline I saw at once, and it astonished me considerably. Even +old Indaba-zimbi, whom the Baboon-woman had been unable to move, +deigned to show wonder. + +"Ou!" he said; "this is a place of marvels. Who ever saw kraals built +of white stone?" + +Stella watched our faces with an expression of intense amusement, but +said nothing. + +"Did your father build those kraals?" I gasped, at length. + +"My father! no, of course not," she answered. "How would it have been +possible for one white man to do so, or to have made this road? He +found them as you see." + +"Who built them, then?" I said again. + +"I do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the +people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon +another, and these huts are so wonderfully constructed that, though +they must have stood for ages, not a stone of them had fallen. But I +can show you the quarry where the marble was cut; it is close by and +behind it is the entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks +was a silver mine. Perhaps the people who worked the mine built the +marble huts. The world is old, and no doubt plenty of people have +lived in it and been forgotten."[*] + +[*] Kraals of a somewhat similar nature to those described by Mr. + Quatermain have been discovered in the Marico district of the + Transvaal, and an illustration of them is to be found in Mr. + Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a Waggon," vol. ii. p. 55. Mr. + Anderson says, "In this district are the ancient stone kraals + mentioned in an early chapter; but it requires a fuller + description to show that these extensive kraals must have been + erected by a white race who understood building in stone and at + right angles, with door-posts, lintels, and sills, and it required + more than Kaffir skill to erect the stone huts, with stone + circular roofs, beautifully formed and most substantially erected; + strong enough, if not disturbed, to last a thousand years."-- + Editor. + +Then we rode on in silence. I have seen many beautiful sights in +Africa, and in such matters, as in others, comparisons are odious and +worthless, but I do not think that I ever saw a lovelier scene. It was +no one thing--it was the combination of the mighty peak looking forth +on to the everlasting plains, the great cliffs, the waterfalls that +sparkled in rainbow hues, the rivers girdling the rich cultivated +lands, the gold-specked green of the orange trees, the flashing domes +of the marble huts, and a thousand other things. Then over all brooded +the peace of evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled +heaven with changing hues of splendour, that wrapped the mountain and +cliffs in cloaks of purple and of gold, and lay upon the quiet face of +the water like the smile of a god. + +Perhaps also the contrast, and the memory of those three awful days +and nights in the hopeless desert, enhanced the charm, and perhaps the +beauty of the girl who walked beside me completed it. For of this I am +sure, that of all sweet and lovely things that I looked on then, she +was the sweetest and the loveliest. + +Ah, it did not take me long to find my fate. How long will it be +before I find her once again? + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MARBLE KRAALS + +At length the last platform, or terrace, was reached, and we pulled up +outside the wall surrounding the central group of marble huts--for so +I must call them, for want of a better name. Our approach had been +observed by a crowd of natives, whose race I have never been able to +determine accurately; they belonged to the Basutu and peaceful section +of the Bantu peoples rather than to the Zulu and warlike. Several of +these ran up to take the horses, gazing on us with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. We dismounted--speaking for myself, not without +difficulty--indeed, had it not been for Stella's support I should have +fallen. + +"Now you must come and see my father," she said. "I wonder what he +will think of it, it is all so strange. Hendrika, take the child to my +hut and give her milk, then put her into my bed; I will come +presently." + +Hendrika went off with a somewhat ugly grin to do her mistress's +bidding, and Stella led the way through the narrow gateway in the +marble wall, which may have enclosed nearly half an "erf," or three- +quarters of an acre of ground in all. It was beautifully planted as a +garden, many European vegetables and flowers were growing in it, +besides others with which I was not acquainted. Presently we came to +the centre hut, and it was then that I noticed the extraordinary +beauty and finish of the marble masonry. In the hut, and facing the +gateway, was a modern door, rather rudely fashioned of Buckenhout, a +beautiful reddish wood that has the appearance of having been +sedulously pricked with a pin. Stella opened it, and we entered. The +interior of the hut was the size of a large and lofty room, the walls +being formed of plain polished marble. It was lighted somewhat dimly, +but quite effectively, by peculiar openings in the roof, from which +the rain was excluded by overhanging eaves. The marble floor was +strewn with native mats and skins of animals. Bookcases filled with +books were placed against the walls, there was a table in the centre, +chairs seated with rimpi or strips of hide stood about, and beyond the +table was a couch on which a man was lying reading. + +"Is that you, Stella?" said a voice, that even after so many years +seemed familiar to me. "Where have you been, my dear? I began to think +that you had lost yourself again." + +"No, father, dear, I have not lost myself, but I have found somebody +else." + +At that moment I stepped forward so that the light fell on me. The old +gentleman on the couch rose with some difficulty and bowed with much +courtesy. He was a fine-looking old man, with deep-set dark eyes, a +pale face that bore many traces of physical and mental suffering, and +a long white beard. + +"Be welcome, sir," he said. "It is long since we have seen a white +face in these wilds, and yours, if I am not mistaken, is that of an +Englishman. There has been but one Englishman here for twelve years, +and he, I grieve to say, was an outcast flying from justice," and he +bowed again and stretched out his hand. + +I looked at him, and then of a sudden his name flashed back into my +mind. I took his hand. + +"How do you do, Mr. Carson?" I said. + +He started as though he had been stung. + +"Who told you that name?" he cried. "It is a dead name. Stella, is it +you? I forbade you to let it pass your lips." + +"I did not speak it, father. I have never spoken it," she answered. + +"Sir," I broke in, "if you will allow me I will show you how I came to +know your name. Do you remember many years ago coming into the study +of a clergyman in Oxfordshire and telling him that you were going to +leave England for ever?" + +He bowed his head. + +"And do you remember a little boy who sat upon the hearthrug writing +with a pencil?" + +"I do," he said. + +"Sir, I was that boy, and my name is Allan Quatermain. Those children +who lay sick are all dead, their mother is dead, and my father, your +old friend, is dead also. Like you he emigrated, and last year he died +in the Cape. But that is not all the story. After many adventures, I, +one Kaffir, and a little girl, lay senseless and dying in the Bad +Lands, where we had wandered for days without water, and there we +should have perished, but your daughter, Miss----" + +"Call her Stella," he broke in, hastily. "I cannot bear to hear that +name. I have forsworn it." + +"Miss Stella found us by chance and saved our lives." + +"By chance, did you say, Allan Quatermain?" he answered. "There is +little chance in all this; such chances spring from another will than +ours. Welcome, Allan, son of my old friend. Here we live as it were in +a hermitage, with Nature as our only friend, but such as we have is +yours, and for as long as you will take it. But you must be starving; +talk no more now. Stella, it is time to eat. To-morrow we will talk." + +To tell the truth I can recall very little of the events of that +evening. A kind of dizzy weariness overmastered me. I remember sitting +at a table next to Stella, and eating heartily, and then I remember +nothing more. + +I awoke to find myself lying on a comfortable bed in a hut built and +fashioned on the same model as the centre one. While I was wondering +what time it was, a native came bringing some clean clothes on his +arm, and, luxury of luxuries, produced a bath hollowed from wood. I +rose, feeling a very different man, my strength had come back again to +me; I dressed, and following a covered passage found myself in the +centre hut. Here the table was set for breakfast with all manner of +good things, such as I had not seen for many a month, which I +contemplated with healthy satisfaction. Presently I looked up, and +there before me was a more delightful sight, for standing in one of +the doorways which led to the sleeping huts was Stella, leading little +Tota by the hand. + +She was very simply dressed in a loose blue gown, with a wide collar, +and girdled in at the waist by a little leather belt. In the bosom of +her robe was a bunch of orange blooms, and her rippling hair was tied +in a single knot behind her shapely head. She greeted me with a smile, +asking how I had slept, and then held Tota up for me to kiss. Under +her loving care the child had been quite transformed. She was neatly +dressed in a garment of the same blue stuff that Stella wore, her fair +hair was brushed; indeed, had it not been for the sun blisters on her +face and hands, one would scarcely have believed that this was the +same child whom Indaba-zimbi and I had dragged for hour after hour +through the burning, waterless desert. + +"We must breakfast alone, Mr. Allan," she said; "my father is so upset +by your arrival that he will not get up yet. Oh, you cannot tell how +thankful I am that you have come. I have been so anxious about him of +late. He grows weaker and weaker; it seems to me as though the +strength were ebbing away from him. Now he scarcely leaves the kraal, +I have to manage everything about the farm; he does nothing but read +and think." + +Just then Hendrika entered, bearing a jug of coffee in one hand and of +milk in the other, which she set down upon the table, casting a look +of little love at me as she did so. + +"Be careful, Hendrika; you are spilling the coffee," said Stella. +"Don't you wonder how we come to have coffee here, Mr. Allan? I will +tell you--we grow it. That was my idea. Oh, I have lots of things to +show you. You don't know what we have managed to do in the time that +we have been here. You see we have plenty of labour, for the people +about look upon my father as their chief." + +"Yes," I said, "but how do you get all these luxuries of +civilization?" and I pointed to the books, the crockery, and the +knives and forks. + +"Very simply. Most of the books my father brought with him when we +first trekked into the wilds; there was nearly a waggon load of them. +But every few years we have sent an expedition of three waggons right +down to Port Natal. The waggons are loaded with ivory and other goods, +and come back with all kinds of things that been sent out from England +for us. So you see, although we live in this wild place, we are not +altogether cut off. We can send runners to Natal and back in three +months, and the waggons get there and back in a year. The last lot +arrived quite safe about three months ago. Our servants are very +faithful, and some of them speak Dutch well." + +"Have you ever been with the waggons?" I asked. + +"Since I was a child I have never been more than thirty miles from +Babyan's Peak," she answered. "Do you know, Mr. Allan, that you are, +with one exception, the first Englishman that I have known out of a +book. I suppose that I must seem very wild and savage to you, but I +have had one advantage--a good education. My father has taught me +everything, and perhaps I know some things that you don't. I can read +French and German, for instance. I think that my father's first idea +was to let me run wild altogether, but he gave it up." + +"And don't you wish to go into the world?" I asked. + +"Sometimes," she said, "when I get lonely. But perhaps my father is +right--perhaps it would frighten and bewilder me. At any rate he would +never return to civilization; it is his idea, you know, although I am +sure I do not know where he got it from, nor why he cannot bear that +our name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make +our lives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your +breakfast? Let us go out, and I will show you our home." + +I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned, +Mr. Carson--for after all that was his name, though he would never +allow it to be spoken--had come into the hut. He felt better now, he +said, and would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an +arm. + +So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba- +zimbi whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could +tire that old man. + +The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the +lower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have +said, faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow +of the great peak till nearly eleven o'clock in the morning--a great +advantage in that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, +which was beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that +I ever saw. There were three or four natives working in it, and they +all saluted my host as "Baba," or father. Then we visited the other +two groups of marble huts. One of these was used for stables and +outbuildings, the other as storehouses, the centre hut having been, +however, turned into a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he +earnestly tried to convert the natives, most of whom were refugees who +had come to him for shelter, and he had practised the more elementary +rites of the church for so long that I think he began to believe that +he really was a clergyman. For instance, he always married those of +his people who would consent to a monogamous existence, and baptized +their children. + +When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble +huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive +like weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the +next platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think +that it was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample +water for purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage +for hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the +people were most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by +Mr. Carson on the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the +produce--indeed, in this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do +with more? Consequently the tribesmen, who, by the way, called +themselves the "Children of Thomas," were able to accumulate +considerable wealth. All their disputes were referred to their +"father," and he also was judge of offences and crimes. Some were +punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods, other and +graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiat which to +one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the decree +that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden. + +Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter's arm and contemplated the +scene with pride. + +"I have done all this, Allan Quatermain," he said. "When renouncing +civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the +remotest places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. +Nothing was to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, +and the waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path +of garden land and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives +then, but by degrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand +strong. Here we live in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, +and I seek no more. Heaven has prospered me so far--may it do so to +the end, which for me draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. +If you wish to see the old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, +Stella will show them to you. No, my love, you need not trouble to +come, I can manage. Look! some of the headmen are waiting to see me." + +So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we +turned, and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up +behind the marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material +of which they were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit +opened up a very thick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. +I know another like it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I +cannot say; not by natives, that is certain, though the builders of +these kraals had condescended to borrow the shape of native huts for +their model. By the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever +saw was a highly finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one +day in the quarry. + +After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill +till we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in +a gorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long +and narrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a +sound of groaning and barking that was almost enough to deafen us. I +knew what it was at once: the whole place was filled with baboons, +which clambered down the rocks towards us from every direction, and in +a manner that struck me as being unnaturally fearless. Stella turned a +little pale and clung to my arm. + +"It is very silly of me," she whispered. "I am not at all nervous, but +ever since they killed Hendrik I cannot bear the sight of those +animals. I always think that there is something human about them." + +Meanwhile the baboons drew nearer, talking to each other as they came. +Tota began to cry, and clung to Stella. Stella clung to me, while I +and Indaba-zimbi put as bold a front on the matter as we could. Only +Hendrika stood looking at the brutes with an unconcerned smile on her +monkey face. When the great apes were quite near, she suddenly called +aloud. Instantly they stopped their hideous clamour as though at a +word of command. Then Hendrika addressed them: I can only describe it +so. That is to say, she began to make a noise such as baboons do when +they converse with each other. I have known Hottentots and Bushmen who +said that they could talk with the baboons and understand their +language, but I confess I never heard it done before or since. + +From the mouth of Hendrika came a succession of grunts, groans, +squeals, clicks, and every other abominable noise that can be +conceived, conveying to my mind a general idea of expostulation. At +any rate the baboons listened. One of them grunted back some answer, +and then the whole mob drew off to the rocks. + +I stood astonished, and without a word we turned back to the kraal, +for Hendrika was too close to allow me to speak. When we reached the +dining hut Stella went in, followed by Hendrika. But Indaba-zimbi +plucked me by the sleeve, and I stopped outside. + +"Macumazahn," he said. "Baboon-woman--devil-woman. Be careful, +Macumazahn. She loves that Star (the natives aptly enough called +Stella the Star), and is jealous. Be careful, Macumazahn, or the Star +will set!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"LET US GO IN, ALLAN!" + +It is very difficult for me to describe the period of time which +elapsed between my arrival at Babyan's Peak and my marriage with +Stella. When I look back on it, it seems sweet as with the odour of +flowers, and dim as with the happy dusk of summer eves, while through +the sweetness comes the sound of Stella's voice, and through the gloom +shines the starlight of her eyes. I think that we loved each other +from the first, though for a while we said no word of love. Day by day +I went about the place with her, accompanied by little Tota and +Hendrika only, while she attended to the thousand and one matters +which her father's ever-growing weakness had laid upon her; or rather, +as time drew on, I attended to the business, and she accompanied me. +All day through we were together. Then after supper, when the night +had fallen, we would walk together in the garden and come at length to +hear her father read aloud sometimes from the works of a poet, +sometimes from history. Or, if he did not feel well, Stella would +read, and when this was done, Mr. Carson would celebrate a short form +of prayer, and we would separate till the morning once more brought +our happy hour of meeting. + +So the weeks went by, and with every week I grew to know my darling +better. Often, I wonder now, if my fond fancy deceives me, or if +indeed there are women as sweet and dear as she. Was it solitude that +had given such depth and gentleness to her? Was it the long years of +communing with Nature that had endowed her with such peculiar grace, +the grace we find in opening flowers and budding trees? Had she caught +that murmuring voice from the sound of the streams which fall +continually about her rocky home? was it the tenderness of the evening +sky beneath which she loved to walk, that lay like a shadow on her +face, and the light of the evening stars that shone in her quiet eyes? +At the least to me she was the realization of that dream which haunts +the sleep of sin-stained men; so my memory paints her, so I hope to +find her when at last the sleep has rolled away and the fevered dreams +are done. + +At last there came a day--the most blessed of my life, when we told +our love. We had been together all the morning, but after dinner Mr. +Carson was so unwell that Stella stopped in with him. At supper we met +again, and after supper, when she had put little Tota, to whom she had +grown much attached, to bed, we went out, leaving Mr. Carson dozing on +the couch. + +The night was warm and lovely, and without speaking we walked up the +garden to the orange grove and sat down upon a rock. There was a +little breeze which shook the petals of the orange blooms over us in +showers, and bore their delicate fragrance far and wide. Silence +reigned around, broken only by the sound of the falling waterfalls +that now died to a faint murmur, and now, as the wavering breeze +turned, boomed loudly in our ears. The moon was not yet visible, but +already the dark clouds which floated through the sky above us--for +there had been rain--showed a glow of silver, telling us that she +shone brightly behind the peak. Stella began to talk in her low, +gentle voice, speaking to me of her life in the wilderness, how she +had grown to love it, how her mind had gone on from idea to idea, and +how she pictured the great rushing world that she had never seen as it +was reflected to her from the books which she had read. It was a +curious vision of life that she had: things were out of proportion to +it; it was more like a dream than a reality--a mirage than the actual +face of things. The idea of great cities, and especially of London, +had a kind of fascination for her: she could scarcely realize the +rush, the roar and hurry, the hard crowds of men and women, strangers +to each other, feverishly seeking for wealth and pleasure beneath a +murky sky, and treading one another down in the fury of their +competition. + +"What is it all for?" she asked earnestly. "What do they seek? Having +so few years to live, why do they waste them thus?" + +I told her that in the majority of instances it was actual hard +necessity that drove them on, but she could barely understand me. +Living as she had done, in the midst of the teeming plenty of a +fruitful earth, she did not seem to be able to grasp the fact that +there were millions who from day to day know not how to stay their +hunger. + +"I never want to go there," she went on; "I should be bewildered and +frightened to death. It is not natural to live like that. God put Adam +and Eve in a garden, and that is how he meant their children to live-- +in peace, and looking always on beautiful things. This is my idea of +perfect life. I want no other." + +"I thought you once told me that you found it lonely," I said. + +"So I did," she answered, innocently, "but that was before you came. +Now I am not lonely any more, and it is perfect--perfect as the +night." + +Just then the full moon rose above the elbow of the peak, and her rays +stole far and wide down the misty valley, gleaming on the water, +brooding on the plain, searching out the hidden places of the rocks, +wrapping the fair form of nature as in a silver bridal veil through +which her beauty shone mysteriously. + +Stella looked down the terraced valley; she turned and looked up at +the scarred face of the golden moon, and then she looked at me. The +beauty of the night was about her face, the scent of the night was on +her hair, the mystery of the night shone in her shadowed eyes. She +looked at me, I looked on her, and all our hearts' love blossomed +within us. We spoke no word--we had no words to speak, but slowly we +drew near, till lips were pressed to lips as we kissed our eternal +troth. + +It was she who broke that holy silence, speaking in a changed voice, +in soft deep notes that thrilled me like the lowest chords of a +smitten harp. + +"Ah, now I understand," she said, "now I know why we are lonely, and +how we can lose our loneliness. Now I know what it is that stirs us in +the beauty of the sky, in the sound of water and in the scent of +flowers. It is Love who speaks in everything, though till we hear his +voice we understand nothing. But when we hear, then the riddle is +answered and the gates of our heart are opened, and, Allan, we see the +way that wends through death to heaven, and is lost in the glory of +which our love is but a shadow. + +"Let us go in, Allan. Let us go before the spell breaks, so that +whatever overtakes us, sorrow, death, or separation, we may always +have this perfect memory to save us. Come, dearest, let us go!" + +I rose like a man in a dream, still holding her by the hand. But as I +rose my eye fell upon something that gleamed white among the foliage +of the orange bush at my side. I said nothing, but looked. The breeze +stirred the orange leaves, the moonlight struck for a moment full upon +the white object. + +It was the face of Hendrika, the Babyan-woman, as Indaba-zimbi had +called her, and on it was a glare of hate that made me shudder. + +I said nothing; the face vanished, and just then I heard a baboon bark +in the rocks behind. + +Then we went down the garden, and Stella passed into the centre hut. I +saw Hendrika standing in the shadow near the door, and went up to her. + +"Hendrika," I said, "why were you watching Miss Stella and myself in +the garden?" + +She drew her lips up till her teeth gleamed in the moonlight. + +"Have I not watched her these many years, Macumazahn? Shall I cease to +watch because a wandering white man comes to steal her? Why were you +kissing her in the garden, Macumazahn? How dare you kiss her who is a +star?" + +"I kissed her because I love her, and because she loves me," I +answered. "What has that to do with you, Hendrika?" + +"Because you love her," she hissed in answer; "and do I not love her +also, who saved me from the babyans? I am a woman as she is, and you +are a man, and they say in the kraals that men love women better than +women love women. But it is a lie, though this is true, that if a +woman loves a man she forgets all other love. Have I not seen it? I +gather her flowers--beautiful flowers; I climb the rocks where you +would never dare to go to find them; you pluck a piece of orange bloom +in the garden and give it to her. What does she do?--she takes the +orange bloom, she puts it in her breast, and lets my flowers die. I +call to her--she does not hear me--she is thinking. You whisper to +some one far away, and she hears and smiles. She used to kiss me +sometimes; now she kisses that white brat you brought, because you +brought it. Oh, I see it all--all; I have seen it from the first; you +are stealing her from us, stealing her to yourself, and those who +loved her before you came are forgotten. Be careful, Macumazahn, be +careful, lest I am revenged upon you. You, you hate me; you think me +half a monkey; that servant of yours calls me Baboon-woman. Well, I +have lived with baboons, and they are clever--yes, they can play +tricks and know things that you don't, and I am cleverer than they, +for I have learnt the wisdom of white people also, and I say to you, +Walk softly, Macumazahn, or you will fall into a pit," and with one +more look of malice she was gone. + +I stood for a moment reflecting. I was afraid of this strange creature +who seemed to combine the cunning of the great apes that had reared +her with the passions and skill of human kind. I foreboded evil at her +hands. And yet there was something almost touching in the fierceness +of her jealousy. It is generally supposed that this passion only +exists in strength when the object loved is of another sex from the +lover, but I confess that, both in this instance and in some others +which I have met with, this has not been my experience. I have known +men, and especially uncivilized men, who were as jealous of the +affection of their friend or master as any lover could be of that of +his mistress; and who has not seen cases of the same thing where +parents and their children are concerned? But the lower one gets in +the scale of humanity, the more readily this passion thrives; indeed, +it may be said to come to its intensest perfection in brutes. Women +are more jealous than men, small-hearted men are more jealous than +those of larger mind and wider sympathy, and animals are the most +jealous of all. Now Hendrika was in some ways not far removed from +animal, which may perhaps account for the ferocity of her jealousy of +her mistress's affection. + +Shaking off my presentiments of evil, I entered the centre hut. Mr. +Carson was resting on the sofa, and by him knelt Stella holding his +hand, and her head resting on his breast. I saw at once that she had +been telling him of what had come about between us; nor was I sorry, +for it is a task that a would-be son-in-law is generally glad to do by +deputy. + +"Come here, Allan Quatermain," he said, almost sternly, and my heart +gave a jump, for I feared lest he might be about to require me to go +about my business. But I came. + +"Stella tells me," he went on, "that you two have entered into a +marriage engagement. She tells me also that she loves you, and that +you say that you love her." + +"I do indeed, sir," I broke in; "I love her truly; if ever a woman was +loved in this world, I love her." + +"I thank Heaven for it," said the old man. "Listen, my children. Many +years ago a great shame and sorrow fell upon me, so great a sorrow +that, as I sometimes think, it affected my brain. At any rate, I +determined to do what most men would have considered the act of a +madman, to go far away into the wilderness with my only child, there +to live remote from civilization and its evils. I did so; I found this +place, and here we have lived for many years, happily enough, and +perhaps not without doing good in our generation, but still in a way +unnatural to our race and status. At first I thought I would let my +daughter grow up in a state of complete ignorance, that she should be +Nature's child. But as time went on, I saw the folly and the +wickedness of my plan. I had no right to degrade her to the level of +the savages around me, for if the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a +bitter fruit, still it teaches good from evil. So I educated her as +well as I was able, till in the end I knew that in mind, as in body, +she was in no way inferior to her sisters, the children of the +civilized world. She grew up and entered into womanhood, and then it +came into my mind that I was doing her a bitter wrong, that I was +separating her from her kind and keeping her in a wilderness where she +could find neither mate nor companion. But though I knew this, I could +not yet make up my mind to return to active life; I had grown to love +this place. I dreaded to return into the world I had abjured. Again +and again I put my resolutions aside. Then at the commencement of this +year I fell ill. For a while I waited, hoping that I might get better, +but at last I realized that I should never get better, that the hand +of Death was upon me." + +"Ah, no, father, not that!" Stella said, with a cry. + +"Yes, love, that, and it is true. Now you will be able to forget our +separation in the happiness of a new meeting," and he glanced at me +and smiled. "Well, when this knowledge came home to me, I determined +to abandon this place and trek for the coast, though I well knew that +the journey would kill me. I should never live to reach it. But Stella +would, and it would be better than leaving her here alone with savages +in the wilderness. On the very day that I had made up my mind to take +this step Stella found you dying in the Bad Lands, Allan Quatermain, +and brought you here. She brought you, of all men in the world, you, +whose father had been my dear friend, and who once with your baby +hands had saved her life from fire, that she might live to save yours +from thirst. At the time I said little, but I saw the hand of +Providence in this, and I determined to wait and see what came about +between you. At the worst, if nothing came about, I soon learned that +I could trust you to see her safely to the coast after I was gone. But +many days ago I knew how it stood between you, and now things are +determined as I prayed they might be. God bless you both, my children; +may you be happy in your love; may it endure till death and beyond it. +God bless you both!" and he stretched out his hand towards me. + +I took it, and Stella kissed him. + +Presently he spoke again-- + +"It is my intention," he said, "if you two consent, to marry you next +Sunday. I wish to do so soon, for I do not know how much longer will +be allowed to me. I believe that such a ceremony, solemnly celebrated +and entered into before witnesses, will, under the circumstances, be +perfectly legal; but of course you will repeat it with every formality +the first moment it lies in your power so to do. And now, there is one +more thing: when I left England my fortunes were in a shattered +condition; in the course of years they have recovered themselves, the +accumulated rents, as I heard but recently, when the waggons last +returned from Port Natal, have sufficed to pay off all charges, and +there is a considerable balance over. Consequently you will not marry +on nothing, for of course you, Stella, are my heiress, and I wish to +make a stipulation. It is this. That so soon as my death occurs you +should leave this place and take the first opportunity of returning to +England. I do not ask you to live there always; it might prove too +much for people reared in the wilds, as both of you have been; but I +do ask you to make it your permanent home. Do you consent and promise +this?" + +"I do," I answered. + +"And so do I," said Stella. + +"Very well," he answered; "and now I am tired out. Again God bless you +both, and good-night." + + + +CHAPTER X + +HENDRIKA PLOTS EVIL + +On the following morning I had a conversation with Indaba-zimbi. First +of all I told him that I was going to marry Stella. + +"Oh!" he said, "I thought so, Macumazahn. Did I not tell you that you +would find happiness on this journey? Most men must be content to +watch the Star from a long way off, to you it is given to wear her on +your heart. But remember, Macumazahn, remember that stars set." + +"Can you not stop your croaking even for a day?" I answered, angrily, +for his words sent a thrill of fear through me. + +"A true prophet must tell the ill as well as the good, Macumazahn. I +only speak what is on my mind. But what of it? What is life but loss, +loss upon loss, till life itself be lost? But in death we may find all +the things that we have lost. So your father taught, Macumazahn, and +there was wisdom in his gentleness. Ou! I do not believe in death; it +is change, that is all, Macumazahn. Look now, the rain falls, the +drops of rain that were one water in the clouds fall side by side. +They sink into the ground; presently the sun will come out, the earth +will be dry, the drops will be gone. A fool looks and says the drops +are dead, they will never be one again, they will never again fall +side by side. But I am a rain-maker, and I know the ways of rain. It +is not true. The drops will drain by many paths into the river, and +will be one water there. They will go up to the clouds again in the +mists of morning, and there will again be as they have been. We are +the drops of rain, Macumazahn. When we fall that is our life. When we +sink into the ground that is death, and when we are drawn up again to +the sky, what is that, Macumazahn? No! no! when we find we lose, and +when we seem to lose, then we shall really find. I am not a Christian, +Macumazahn, but I am old, and have watched and seen things that +perhaps Christians do not see. There, I have spoken. Be happy with +your star, and if it sets, wait, Macumazahn, wait till it rises again. +It will not be long; one day you will go to sleep, then your eyes will +open on another sky, and there your star will be shining, Macumazahn." + +I made no answer at the time. I could not bear to talk of such a +thing. But often and often in the after years I have thought of +Indaba-zimbi and his beautiful simile and gathered comfort from it. He +was a strange man, this old rain-making savage, and there was more +wisdom in him than in many learned atheists--those spiritual +destroyers who, in the name of progress and humanity, would divorce +hope from life, and leave us wandering in a lonesome, self-consecrated +hell. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, changing the subject, "I have something to +say," and I told him of the threats of Hendrika. + +He listened with an unmoved face, nodding his white lock at intervals +as the narrative went on. But I saw that he was disturbed by it. + +"Macumazahn," he said at length, "I have told you that this is an evil +woman. She was nourished on baboon milk, and the baboon nature is in +her veins. Such creatures should be killed, not kept. She will make +you mischief if she can. But I will watch her, Macumazahn. Look, the +Star is waiting for you; go, or she will hate me as Hendrika hates +you." + +So I went, nothing loth, for attractive as was the wisdom of Indaba- +zimbi, I found a deeper meaning in Stella's simplest word. All the +rest of that day I passed in her company, and the greater part of the +two following days. At last came Saturday night, the eve of our +marriage. It rained that night, so we did not go out, but spent the +evening in the hut. We sat hand in hand, saying little, but Mr. Carson +talked a good deal, telling us tales of his youth, and of countries +that he had visited. Then he read aloud from the Bible, and bade us +goodnight. I also kissed Stella and went to bed. I reached my hut by +the covered way, and before I undressed opened the door to see what +the night was like. It was very dark, and rain was still falling, but +as the light streamed out into the gloom I fancied that I caught sight +of a dusky form gliding away. The thought of Hendrika flashed into my +mind; could she be skulking about outside there? Now I had said +nothing of Hendrika and her threats either to Mr. Carson or Stella, +because I did not wish to alarm them. Also I knew that Stella was +attached to this strange person, and I did not wish to shake her +confidence in her unless it was absolutely necessary. For a minute or +two I stood hesitating, then, reflecting that if it was Hendrika, +there she should stop, I went in and put up the stout wooden bar that +was used to secure the door. For the last few nights old Indaba-zimbi +had made a habit of sleeping in the covered passage, which was the +only other possible way of access. As I came to bed I had stepped over +him rolled up in his blanket, and to all appearances fast asleep. So +it being evident that I had nothing to fear, I promptly dismissed the +matter from my mind, which, as may be imagined, was indeed fully +occupied with other thoughts. + +I got into bed, and for awhile lay awake thinking of the great +happiness in store for me, and of the providential course of events +that had brought it within my reach. A few weeks since and I was +wandering in the desert a dying man, bearing a dying child, and with +scarcely a possession left in the world except a store of buried ivory +that I never expected to see again. And now I was about to wed one of +the sweetest and loveliest women on the whole earth--a woman whom I +loved more than I could have thought possible, and who loved me back +again. Also, as though that were not good fortune enough, I was to +acquire with her very considerable possessions, quite sufficiently +large to enable us to follow any plan of life we found agreeable. As I +lay and reflected on all this I grew afraid of my good fortune. Old +Indaba-zimbi's melancholy prophecies came into my mind. Hitherto he +had always prophesied truly. What if these should be true also? I +turned cold as I thought of it, and prayed to the Power above to +preserve us both to live and love together. Never was prayer more +needed. While its words were still upon my lips I dropped asleep and +dreamed a most dreadful dream. + +I dreamed that Stella and I were standing together to be married. She +was dressed in white, and radiant with beauty, but it was a wild, +spiritual beauty which frightened me. Her eyes shone like stars, a +pale flame played about her features, and the wind that blew did not +stir her hair. Nor was this all, for her white robes were death +wrappings, and the altar at which we stood was formed of the piled-up +earth from an open grave that yawned between us. So we stood waiting +for one to wed us, but no one came. Presently from the open grave +sprang the form of Hendrika. In her hand was a knife, with which she +stabbed at me, but pierced the heart of Stella, who, without a cry, +fell backwards into the grave, still looking at me as she fell. Then +Hendrika leaped after her into the grave. I heard her feet strike +heavily. + +"/Awake, Macumazahn! awake!/" cried the voice of Indaba-zimbi. + +I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me. +In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious +struggling. Luckily I kept my head. Just by me was a chair on which +were matches and a rush taper. I struck a match and held it to the +taper. Now in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over +the other on the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel. +The fat melted and the light burnt up. It was Indaba-zimbi and the +woman Hendrika who were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was +getting the better of the man, strong as he was. I rushed towards +them. Now she was uppermost, now she had wrenched herself from his +fierce grip, and now the great knife she had in her hand flashed up. + +But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked +with all my strength. She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save +herself, most fortunately dropped the knife. Then we flung ourselves +upon her. Heavens! the strength of that she-devil! Nobody who has not +experienced it could believe it. She fought and scratched and bit, and +at one time nearly mastered the two of us. As it was she did break +loose. She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence +straight up at the roof of the hut. I never saw such a jump, and could +not conceive what she meant to do. In the roof were the peculiar holes +which I have described. They were designed to admit light, and covered +with overhanging eaves. She sprung straight and true like a monkey, +and, catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw +herself through it. But here her strength, exhausted with the long +struggle, failed her. For a moment she swung, then dropped to the +ground and fell senseless. + +"Ou!" gasped Indaba-zimbi. "Let us tie the devil up before she comes +to life again." + +I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the +corner of the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion +that even she could scarcely escape. Then we carried her into the +passage, and Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I +did not wish to raise an alarm at that hour of the night. + +"Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?" he said. "For several +nights I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made +a plan. To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep. +An hour after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a +beam of light come into the hut through the hole in the roof. +Presently I saw the beam of light vanish. At first I thought that a +cloud was passing over the moon, but I listened and heard a noise as +though some one was squeezing himself through a narrow space. +Presently he was through, and hanging by his hands. Then the light +came in again, and in the middle of it I saw the Babyan-frau swinging +from the roof, and about to drop into the hut. She clung by both +hands, and in her mouth was a great knife. She dropped, and I ran +forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped her round the middle. +But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struck at me in the +dark and missed me. Then we struggled, and you know the rest. You were +very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn." + +"Very nearly indeed," I answered, still panting, and arranging the +rags of my night-dress round me as best I might. Then the memory of my +horrid dream flashed into my mind. Doubtless it had been conjured up +by the sound of Hendrika dropping to the floor--in my dream it had +been a grave that she dropped into. All of it, then, had been +experienced in that second of time. Well, dreams are swift; perhaps +Time itself is nothing but a dream, and events that seem far apart +really occur simultaneously. + +We passed the rest of the night watching Hendrika. Presently she came +to herself and struggled furiously to break the reim. But the untanned +buffalo hide was too strong even for her, and, moreover, Indaba-zimbi +unceremoniously sat upon her to keep her quiet. At last she gave it +up. + +In due course the day broke--my marriage day. Leaving Indaba-zimbi to +watch my would-be murderess, I went and fetched some natives from the +stables, and with their aid bore Hendrika to the prison hut--that same +hut in which she had been confined when she had been brought a baboon- +child from the rocks. Here we shut her up, and, leaving Indaba-zimbi +to watch outside, I returned to my sleeping-place and dressed in the +best garments that the Babyan Kraals could furnish. But when I looked +at the reflection of my face, I was horrified. It was covered with +scratches inflicted by the nails of Hendrika. I doctored them up as +best I could, then went out for a walk to calm my nerves, which, what +between the events of the past night, and of those pending that day, +were not a little disturbed. + +When I returned it was breakfast time. I went into the dining hut, and +there Stella was waiting to greet me, dressed in simple white and with +orange flowers on her breast. She came forward to me shyly enough; +then, seeing the condition of my face, started back. + +"Why, Allan! what have you been doing to yourself?" she asked. + +As I was about to answer, her father came in leaning on his stick, +and, catching sight of me, instantly asked the same question. + +Then I told them everything, both of Hendrika's threats and of her +fierce attempt to carry them into execution. But I did not tell my +horrid dream. + +Stella's face grew white as the flowers on her breast, but that of her +father became very stern. + +"You should have spoken of this before, Allan," he said. "I now see +that I did wrong to attempt to civilize this wicked and revengeful +creature, who, if she is human, has all the evil passions of the +brutes that reared her. Well, I will make an end of it this very day." + +"Oh, father," said Stella, "don't have her killed. It is all dreadful +enough, but that would be more dreadful still. I have been very fond +of her, and, bad as she is, she has loved me. Do not have her killed +on my marriage day." + +"No," her father answered, "she shall not be killed, for though she +deserves to die, I will not have her blood upon our hands. She is a +brute, and has followed the nature of brutes. She shall go back whence +she came." + +No more was said on the matter at the time, but when breakfast--which +was rather a farce--was done, Mr. Carson sent for his headman and gave +him certain orders. + +We were to be married after the service which Mr. Carson held every +Sunday morning in the large marble hut set apart for that purpose. The +service began at ten o'clock, but long before that hour all the +natives on the place came up in troops, singing as they came, to be +present at the wedding of the "Star." It was a pretty sight to see +them, the men dressed in all their finery, and carrying shields and +sticks in their hands, and the women and children bearing green +branches of trees, ferns, and flowers. At length, about half-past +nine, Stella rose, pressed my hand, and left me to my reflections. A +few minutes to ten she reappeared again with her father, dressed in a +white veil, a wreath of orange flowers on her dark curling hair, a +bouquet of orange flowers in her hand. To me she seemed like a dream +of loveliness. With her came little Tota in a high state of glee and +excitement. She was Stella's only bridesmaid. Then we all passed out +towards the church hut. The bare space in front of it was filled with +hundreds of natives, who set up a song as we came. But we went on into +the hut, which was crowded with such of the natives as usually +worshipped there. Here Mr. Carson, as usual, read the service, though +he was obliged to sit down in order to do so. When it was done--and to +me it seemed interminable--Mr. Carson whispered that he meant to marry +us outside the hut in sight of all the people. So we went out and took +our stand under the shade of a large tree that grew near the hut +facing the bare space where the natives were gathered. + +Mr. Carson held up his hand to enjoin silence. Then, speaking in the +native dialect, he told them that he was about to make us man and wife +after the Christian fashion and in the sight of all men. This done, he +proceeded to read the marriage service over us, and very solemnly and +beautifully he did it. We said the words, I placed the ring--it was +her father's signet ring, for we had no other--upon Stella's finger, +and it was done. + +Then Mr. Carson spoke. "Allan and Stella," he said, "I believe that +the ceremony which has been performed makes you man and wife in the +sight of God and man, for all that is necessary to make a marriage +binding is, that it should be celebrated according to the custom of +the country where the parties to it reside. It is according to the +custom that has been in force here for fifteen years or more that you +have been married in the face of all the people, and in token of it +you will both sign the register that I have kept of such marriages, +among those of my people who have adopted the Christian Faith. Still, +in case there should be any legal flaw I again demand the solemn +promise of you both that on the first opportunity you will cause this +marriage to be re-celebrated in some civilized land. Do you promise?" + +"We do," we answered. + +Then the book was brought out and we signed our names. At first my +wife signed hers "Stella" only, but her father bade her write it +Stella Carson for the first and last time in her life. Then several of +the indunas, or headmen, including old Indaba-zimbi, put their marks +in witness. Indaba-zimbi drew his mark in the shape of a little star, +in humorous allusion to Stella's native name. That register is before +me now as I write. That, with a lock of my darling's hair which lies +between its leaves, is my dearest possession. There are all the names +and marks as they were written many years ago beneath the shadow of +the tree at Babyan Kraals in the wilderness, but alas! and alas! where +are those who wrote them? + +"My people," said Mr. Carson, when the signing was done, and we had +kissed each other before them all--"My people, Macumazahn and the +Star, my daughter, are now man and wife, to live in one kraal, to eat +of one bowl, to share one fortune till they reach the grave. Hear now, +my people, you know this woman," and turning he pointed to Hendrika, +who, unseen by us, had been led out of the prison hut. + +"Yes, yes, we know her," said a little ring of headmen, who formed the +primitive court of justice, and after the fashion of natives had +squatted themselves in a circle on the ground in front of us. "We know +her, she is the white Babyan-woman, she is Hendrika, the body servant +of the Star." + +"You know her," said Mr. Carson, "but you do not know her altogether. +Stand forward, Indaba-zimbi, and tell the people what came about last +night in the hut of Macumazahn." + +Accordingly old Indaba-zimbi came forward, and, squatting down, told +his moving tale with much descriptive force and many gestures, +finishing up by producing the great knife from which his watchfulness +had saved me. + +Then I was called upon, and in a few brief words substantiated his +story: indeed my face did that in the sight of all men. + +Then Mr. Carson turned to Hendrika, who stood in sullen silence, her +eyes fixed upon the ground, and asked her if she had anything to say. + +She looked up boldly and answered-- + +"Macumazahn has robbed me of the love of my mistress. I would have +robbed him of his life, which is a little thing compared to that which +I have lost at his hands. I have failed, and I am sorry for it, for +had I killed him and left no trace the Star would have forgotten him +and shone on me again." + +"Never," murmured Stella in my ear; but Mr. Carson turned white with +wrath. + +"My people," he said, "you hear the words of this woman. You hear how +she pays me back, me and my daughter whom she swears she loves. She +says that she would have murdered a man who has done her no evil, the +man who is the husband of her mistress. We saved her from the babyans, +we tamed her, we fed her, we taught her, and this is how she pays us +back. Say, my people, what reward should be given to her?" + +"Death," said the circle of indunas, pointing their thumbs downwards, +and all the multitude beyond echoed the word "Death." + +"Death," repeated the head induna, adding, "If you save her, my +father, we will slay her with our own hands. She is a Babyan-woman, a +devil-woman; ah, yes, we have heard of such before; let her be slain +before she works more evil." + +Then it was that Stella stepped forward and begged for Hendrika's life +in moving terms. She pleaded the savagery of the woman's nature, her +long service, and the affection that she had always shown towards +herself. She said that I, whose life had been attempted, forgave her, +and she, my wife, who had nearly been left a widow before she was made +a bride, forgave her; let them forgive her also, let her be sent away, +not slain, let not her marriage day be stained with blood. + +Now her father listened readily enough, for he had no intention of +killing Hendrika--indeed, he had already promised not to do so. But +the people were in a different humour, they looked upon Hendrika as a +devil, and would have torn her to pieces there and then, could they +have had their way. Nor were matters mended by Indaba-zimbi, who had +already gained a great reputation for wisdom and magic in the place. +Suddenly the old man rose and made quite an impassioned speech, urging +them to kill Hendrika at once or mischief would come of it. + +At last matters got very bad, for two of the Indunas came forward to +drag her off to execution, and it was not until Stella burst into +tears that the sight of her grief, backed by Mr. Carson's orders and +my own remonstrances, carried the day. + +All this while Hendrika had been standing quite unmoved. At last the +tumult ceased, and the leading induna called to her to go, promising +that if ever she showed her face near the kraals again she should be +stabbed like a jackal. Then Hendrika spoke to Stella in a low voice +and in English-- + +"Better let them kill me, mistress, better for all. Without you to +love I shall go mad and become a babyan again." + +Stella did not answer, and they loosed her. She stepped forward and +looked at the natives with a stare of hate. Then she turned and walked +past me, and as she passed whispered a native phrase in my ear, that, +being literally translated, means, "Till another moon," but which has +the same significance as the French "au revoir." + +It frightened me, for I knew she meant that she had not done with me, +and saw that our mercy was misplaced. Seeing my face change she ran +swiftly from me, and as she passed Indaba-zimbi, with a sudden +movement snatched her great knife from his hand. When she had gone +about twenty paces she halted, looked long and earnestly on Stella, +gave one loud cry of anguish, and fled. A few minutes later we saw her +far away, bounding up the face of an almost perpendicular cliff--a +cliff that nobody except herself and the baboons could possibly climb. + +"Look," said Indaba-zimbi in my ear--"Look, Macumazahn, there goes the +Babyan-frau. But, Macumazahn, /she will come back again/. Ah, why will +you not listen to my words. Have they not always been true words, +Macumazahn?" and he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. + +For a while I was much disturbed, but at any rate Hendrika was gone +for the present, and Stella, my dear and lovely wife, was there at my +side, and in her smiles I forgot my fears. + +For the rest of that day, why should I write of it?--there are things +too happy and too sacred to be written of. + +At last I had, if only for a little while, found that rest, that +perfect joy which we seek so continually and so rarely clasp. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GONE! + +I wonder if many married couples are quite as happy as we found +ourselves. Cynics, a growing class, declare that few illusions can +survive a honeymoon. Well, I do not know about it, for I only married +once, and can but speak from my limited experience. But certainly our +illusion, or rather the great truth of which it is the shadow, did +survive, as to this day it survives in my heart across all the years +of utter separation, and across the unanswering gulf of gloom. + +But complete happiness is not allowed in this world even for an hour. +As our marriage day had been shadowed by the scene which has been +described, so our married life was shadowed by its own sorrow. + +Three days after our wedding Mr. Carson had a stroke. It had been long +impending, now it fell. We came into the centre hut to dinner and +found him lying speechless on the couch. At first I thought that he +was dying, but this was not so. On the contrary, within four days he +recovered his speech and some power of movement. But he never +recovered his memory, though he still knew Stella, and sometimes +myself. Curiously enough he remembered little Tota best of all three, +though occasionally he thought that she was his own daughter in her +childhood, and would ask her where her mother was. This state of +affairs lasted for some seven months. The old man gradually grew +weaker, but he did not die. Of course his condition quite precluded +the idea of our leaving Babyan Kraals till all was over. This was the +more distressing to me because I had a nervous presentiment that +Stella was incurring danger by staying there, and also because the +state of her health rendered it desirable that we should reach a +civilized region as soon as possible. However, it could not be helped. + +At length the end came very suddenly. We were sitting one evening by +Mr. Carson's bedside in his hut, when to our astonishment he sat up +and spoke in a strong, full voice. + +"I hear you," he said. "Yes, yes, I forgive you. Poor woman! you too +have suffered," and he fell back dead. + +I have little doubt that he was addressing his lost wife, some vision +of whom had flashed across his dying sense. Stella, of course, was +overwhelmed with grief at her loss. Till I came her father had been +her sole companion, and therefore, as may be imagined, the tie between +them was much closer than is usual even in the case of father and +daughter. So deeply did she mourn that I began to fear for the effect +upon her health. Nor were we the only ones to grieve; all the natives +on the settlement called Mr. Carson "father," and as a father they +lamented him. The air resounded with the wailing of women, and the men +went about with bowed heads, saying that "the sun had set in the +heavens, now only the Star (Stella) remained." Indaba-zimbi alone did +not mourn. He said that it was best that the Inkoos should die, for +what was life worth when one lay like a log?--moreover, that it would +have been well for all if he had died sooner. + +On the following day we buried him in the little graveyard near the +waterfall. It was a sad business, and Stella cried very much, in spite +of all I could do to comfort her. + +That night as I sat outside the hut smoking--for the weather was hot, +and Stella was lying down inside--old Indaba-zimbi came up, saluted, +and squatted at my feet. + +"What is it, Indaba-zimbi?" I said. + +"This, Macumazahn. When are you going to trek towards the coast?" + +"I don't know," I answered. "The Star is not fit to travel now, we +must wait awhile." + +"No, Macumazahn, you must not wait, you must go, and the Star must +take her chance. She is strong. It is nothing. All will be well." + +"Why do you say so? why must we go?" + +"For this reason, Macumazahn," and he looked cautiously round and +spoke low. "The baboons have come back in thousands. All the mountain +is full of them." + +"I did not know that they had gone," I said. + +"Yes," he answered, "they went after the marriage, all but one or two; +now they are back, all the baboons in the world, I think. I saw a +whole cliff back with them." + +"Is that all?" I said, for I saw that he had something behind. "I am +not afraid of a pack of baboons." + +"No, Macumazahn, it is not all. The Babyan-frau, Hendrika, is with +them." + +Now nothing had been heard or seen of Hendrika since her expulsion, +and though at first she and her threats had haunted me somewhat, by +degrees she to a great extent had passed out of my mind, which was +fully preoccupied with Stella and my father-in-law's illness. I +started violently. "How do you know this?" I asked. + +"I know it because I saw her, Macumazahn. She is disguised, she is +dressed up in baboon skins, and her face is stained dark. But though +she was a long way off, I knew her by her size, and I saw the white +flesh of her arm when the skins slipped aside. She has come back, +Macumazahn, with all the baboons in the world, and she has come back +to do evil. Now do you understand why you should trek?" + +"Yes," I said, "though I don't see how she and the baboons can harm +us, I think that it will be better to go. If necessary we can camp the +waggons somewhere for a while on the journey. Hearken, Indaba-zimbi: +say nothing of this to the Star; I will not have her frightened. And +hearken again. Speak to the headmen, and see that watchers are set all +round the huts and gardens, and kept there night and day. To-morrow we +will get the waggons ready, and next day we will trek." + +He nodded his white lock and went to do my bidding, leaving me not a +little disturbed--unreasonably so, indeed. It was a strange story. +That this woman had the power of conversing with baboons I knew.[*] +That was not so very wonderful, seeing that the Bushmen claim to be +able to do the same thing, and she had been nurtured by them. But that +she had been able to muster them, and by the strength of her human +will and intelligence muster them in order to forward her ends of +revenge, seemed to me so incredible that after reflection my fears +grew light. Still I determined to trek. After all, a journey in an ox +waggon would not be such a very terrible thing to a strong woman +accustomed to roughing it, whatever her state of health. And when all +was said and done I did not like this tale of the presence of Hendrika +with countless hosts of baboons. + +[*] For an instance of this, see Anderson's "Twenty-five Years in a + Waggon," vol. i. p. 262.--Editor. + +So I went in to Stella, and without saying a word to her of the baboon +story, told her I had been thinking matters over, and had come to the +conclusion that it was our duty to follow her father's instructions to +the letter, and leave Babyan Kraals at once. Into all our talk I need +not enter, but the end of it was that she agreed with me, and declared +that she could quite well manage the journey, saying, moreover, that +now that her dear father was dead she would be glad to get away. + +Nothing happened to disturb us that night, and on the following +morning I was up early making preparations. The despair of the people +when they learned that we were going to leave them was something quite +pitiable. I could only console them by declaring that we were but on a +journey, and would return the following year. + +"They had lived in the shadow of their father, who was dead," they +declared; "ever since they were little they had lived in his shadow. +He had received them when they were outcasts and wanderers without a +mat to lie on, or a blanket to cover them, and they had grown fat in +his shadow. Then he had died, and the Star, their father's daughter, +had married me, Macumazahn, and they had believed that I should take +their father's place, and let them live in my shadow. What should they +do when there was no one to protect them? The tribes were kept from +attacking them by fear of the white man. If we went they would be +eaten up," and so on. Alas! there was but too much foundation for +their fears. + +I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said that +she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it +necessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to +allude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged +to. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon as +I could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out +such cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to +the Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd, +and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little before +sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got +on my horse and rode homewards. + +Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into +the central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she +had been packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping +hut, thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of +her. Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him +if he had seen his mistress. + +He answered "yes." He had seen her carrying flowers and walking +towards the graveyard, holding the little white girl--my daughter--as +he called her, by the hand, when the sun stood "there," and he pointed +to a spot on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a +half before. "The two dogs were with them," he added. I turned and ran +towards the graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the +huts. Of course there was no reason to be anxious--evidently she had +gone to lay the flowers on her father's grave. And yet I was anxious. + +When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my +orders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed +that he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. +I asked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had +not, which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping +to reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the +graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson's grave, lay the drooping flowers +which Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the +spoor of Tota's veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they? + +I ran from the graveyard and called aloud at the top of my voice, but +no answer came. Meanwhile the native was more profitably engaged in +tracing their spoor. He followed it for about a hundred yards till he +came to a clump of mimosa bush that was situated between the stream +and the ancient marble quarries just over the waterfall, and at the +mouth of the ravine. Here he stopped, and I heard him give a startled +cry. I rushed to the spot, passed through the trees, and saw this. The +little open space in the centre of the glade had been the scene of a +struggle. There, in the soft earth, were the marks of three pairs of +human feet--two shod, one naked--Stella's, Tota's, and /Hendrika's/. +Nor was this all. There, close by, lay the fragments of the two dogs-- +they were nothing more--and one baboon, not yet quite dead, which had +been bitten in the throat by the dogs. All round was the spoor of +numberless baboons. The full horror of what had happened flashed into +my mind. + +My wife and Tota had been carried off by the baboons. As yet they had +not been killed, for if so their remains would have been found with +those of the dogs. They had been carried off. The brutes, acting under +the direction of that woman-monkey, Hendrika, had dragged them away to +some secret den, there to keep them till they died--or kill them! + +For a moment I literally staggered beneath the terror of the shock. +Then I roused myself from my despair. I bade the native run and alarm +the people at the kraals, telling them to come armed, and bring me +guns and ammunition. He went like the wind, and I turned to follow the +spoor. For a few yards it was plain enough--Stella had been dragged +along. I could see where her heels had struck the ground; the child +had, I presumed, been carried--at least there were no marks of her +feet. At the water's edge the spoor vanished. The water was shallow, +and they had gone along in it, or at least Hendrika and her victim +had, in order to obliterate the trail. I could see where a moss-grown +stone had been freshly turned over in the water-bed. I ran along the +bank some way up the ravine, in the vain hope of catching a sight of +them. Presently I heard a bark in the cliffs above me; it was answered +by another, and then I saw that scores of baboons were hidden about +among the rocks on either side, and were softly swinging themselves +down to bar the path. To go on unarmed as I was would be useless. I +should only be torn to pieces as the dogs had been. So I turned and +fled back towards the huts. As I drew near I could see that my +messenger had roused the settlement, for natives with spears and +kerries in their hands were running up towards the kraals. When I +reached the hut I met old Indaba-zimbi, who wore a very serious face. + +"So the evil has fallen, Macumazahn," he said. + +"It has fallen," I answered. + +"Keep a good heart, Macumazahn," he said again. "She is not dead, nor +is the little maid, and before they die we shall find them. Remember +this, Hendrika loves her. She will not harm her, or allow the babyans +to harm her. She will try to hide her away from you, that is all." + +"Pray God that we may find her," I groaned. "The light is going fast." + +"The moon rises in three hours," he answered; "we will search by +moonlight. It is useless to start now; see, the sun sinks. Let us get +the men together, eat, and make things ready. /Hamba gachla/. Hasten +slowly, Macumazahn." + +As there was no help, I took his advice. I could eat no food, but I +packed some up to take with us, and made ready ropes, and a rough kind +of litter. If we found them they would scarcely be able to walk. Ah! +if we found them! How slowly the time passed! It seemed hours before +the moon rose. But at last it did rise. + +Then we started. In all we were about a hundred men, but we only +mustered five guns between us, my elephant roer and four that had +belonged to Mr. Carson. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAGIC OF INDABA-ZIMBI + +We gained the spot by the stream where Stella had been taken. The +natives looked at the torn fragments of the dogs, and at the marks of +violence, and I heard them swearing to each other, that whether the +Star lived or died they would not rest till they had exterminated +every baboon on Babyan's Peak. I echoed the oath, and, as shall be +seen, we kept it. + +We started on along the stream, following the spoor of the baboons as +we best could. But the stream left no spoor, and the hard, rocky banks +very little. Still we wandered on. All night we wandered through the +lonely moonlit valleys, startling the silence into a thousand echoes +with our cries. But no answer came to them. In vain our eyes searched +the sides of precipices formed of water-riven rocks fantastically +piled one upon another; in vain we searched through endless dells and +fern-clad crannies. There was nothing to be found. How could we expect +to find two human beings hidden away in the recesses of this vast +stretch of mountain ground, which no man yet had ever fully explored. +They were lost, and in all human probability lost for ever. + +To and fro we wandered hopelessly, till at last dawn found us footsore +and weary nearly at the spot whence we had started. We sat down +waiting for the sun to rise, and the men ate of such food as they had +brought with them, and sent to the kraals for more. + +I sat upon a stone with a breaking heart. I cannot describe my +feelings. Let the reader put himself in my position and perhaps he may +get some idea of them. Near me was old Indaba-zimbi, who sat staring +straight before him as though he were looking into space, and taking +note of what went on there. An idea struck me. This man had some +occult power. Several times during our adventures he had prophesied, +and in every case his prophecies had proved true. He it was who, when +we escaped from the Zulu Impi, had told me to steer north, because +there we should find the place of a white man who lived under the +shadow of a great peak that was full of baboons. Perhaps he could help +in this extremity--at any rate it was worth trying. + +"Indaba-zimbi," I said, "you say that you can send your spirit through +the doors of space and see what we cannot see. At the least I know +that you can do strange things. Can you not help me now? If you can, +and will save her, I will give you half the cattle that we have here." + +"I never said anything of the sort, Macumazahn," he answered. "I do +things, I do not talk about them. Neither do I seek reward for what I +do like a common witch-doctor. It is well that you have asked me to +use my wisdom, Macumazahn, for I should not have used it again without +being asked--no, not even for the sake of the Star and yourself, whom +I love, for if so my Spirit would have been angry. In the other +matters I had a part, for my life was concerned as well as yours; but +in this matter I have no part, and therefore I might not use my wisdom +unless you thought well to call upon my Spirit. However, it would have +been no good to ask me before, for I have only just found the herb I +want," and he produced a handful of the leaves of a plant that was +unfamiliar to me. It had prickly leaves, shaped very much like those +of the common English nettle. + +"Now, Macumazahn," he went on, "bid the men leave us alone, and then +follow me presently to the little glade down there by the water." + +I did so. When I reached the glade I found Indaba-zimbi kindling a +small fire under the shadow of a tree by the edge of the water. + +"Sit there, Macumazahn," he said, pointing to a stone near the fire, +"and do not be surprised or frightened at anything you see. If you +move or call out we shall learn nothing." + +I sat down and watched. When the fire was alight and burning brightly, +the old fellow stripped himself stark naked, and, going to the foot of +the pool, dipped himself in the water. Then he came back shivering +with the cold, and, leaning over the little fire, thrust leaves of the +plant I have mentioned into his mouth and began to chew them, +muttering as he chewed. Most of the remaining leaves he threw on to +the fire. A dense smoke rose from them, but he held his head in this +smoke and drew it down his lungs till I saw that he was exhibiting +every sign of suffocation. The veins in his throat and chest swelled, +he gasped loudly, and his eyes, from which tears were streaming, +seemed as though they were going to start from his head. Presently he +fell over on his side, and lay senseless. I was terribly alarmed, and +my first impulse was to run to his assistance, but fortunately I +remembered his caution, and sat quiet. + +Indaba-zimbi lay on the ground like a person quite dead. His limbs had +all the utter relaxation of death. But as I watched I saw them begin +to stiffen, exactly as though /rigor mortis/ had set in. Then, to my +astonishment, I perceived them once more relax, and this time there +appeared upon his chest the stain of decomposition. It spread and +spread; in three minutes the man, to all appearance, was a livid +corpse. + +I sat amazed watching this uncanny sight, and wondering if any further +natural process was about to be enacted. Perhaps Indaba-zimbi was +going to fall to dust before my eyes. As I watched I observed that the +discoloration was beginning to fade. First it vanished from the +extremities, then from the larger limbs, and lastly from the trunk. +Then in turn came the third stage of relaxation, the second stage of +stiffness or /rigor/, and the first stage of after-death collapse. +When all these had rapidly succeeded each other, Indaba-zimbi quietly +woke up. + +I was too astonished to speak; I simply looked at him with my mouth +open. + +"Well, Macumazahn," he said, putting his head on one side like a bird, +and nodding his white lock in a comical fashion, "it is all right; I +have seen her." + +"Seen who?" I said. + +"The Star, your wife, and the little maid. They are much frightened, +but unharmed. The Babyan-frau watches them. She is mad, but the +baboons obey her, and do not hurt them. The Star was sleeping from +weariness, so I whispered in her ear and told her not to be +frightened, for you would soon rescue her, and that meanwhile she must +seem to be pleased to have Hendrika near her." + +"You whispered in her ear?" I said. "How could you whisper in her +ear?" + +"Bah! Macumazahn. How could I seem to die and go rotten before your +eyes? You don't know, do you? Well, I will tell you one thing. I had +to die to pass the doors of space, as you call them. I had to draw all +the healthy strength and life from my body in order to gather power to +speak with the Star. It was a dangerous business, Macumazahn, for if I +had let things go a little further they must have stopped so, and +there would have been an end of Indaba-zimbi. Ah, you white men, you +know so much that you think you know everything. But you don't! You +are always staring at the clouds and can't see the things that lie at +your feet. You hardly believe me now, do you, Macumazahn? Well, I will +show you. Have you anything on you that the Star has touched or worn?" + +I thought for a moment, and said that I had a lock of her hair in my +pocket-book. He told me to give it him. I did so. Going to the fire, +he lit the lock of hair in the flame, and let it burn to ashes, which +he caught in his left hand. These ashes he mixed up in a paste with +the juice of one of the leaves of the plant I have spoken of. + +"Now, Macumazahn, shut your eyes," he said. + +I did so, and he rubbed his paste on to my eyelids. At first it burnt +me, then my head swam strangely. Presently this effect passed off, and +my brain was perfectly clear again, but I could not feel the ground +with my feet. Indaba-zimbi led me to the side of the stream. Beneath +us was a pool of beautifully clear water. + +"Look into the pool, Macumazahn," said Indaba-zimbi, and his voice +sounded hollow and far away in my ears. + +I looked. The water grew dark; it cleared, and in it was a picture. I +saw a cave with a fire burning in it. Against the wall of the cave +rested Stella. Her dress was torn almost off her, she looked +dreadfully pale and weary, and her eyelids were red as though with +weeping. But she slept, and I could almost think that I saw her lips +shape my name in her sleep. Close to her, her head upon Stella's +breast, was little Tota; she had a skin thrown over her to keep out +the night cold. The child was awake, and appeared to be moaning with +fear. By the fire, and in such a position that the light fell full +upon her face, and engaged in cooking something in a rough pot shaped +from wood, sat the Baboon-woman, Hendrika. She was clothed in baboon +skins, and her face had been rubbed with some dark stain, which was, +however, wearing off it. In the intervals of her cooking she would +turn on Stella her wild eyes, in which glared visible madness, with an +expression of tenderness that amounted to worship. Then she would +stare at the child and gnash her teeth as though with hate. Clearly +she was jealous of it. Round the entrance arch of the cave peeped and +peered the heads of many baboons. Presently Hendrika made a sign to +one of them; apparently she did not speak, or rather grunt, in order +not to wake Stella. The brute hopped forward, and she gave it a second +rude wooden pot which was lying by her. It took it and went. The last +thing that I saw, as the vision slowly vanished from the pool, was the +dim shadow of the baboon returning with the pot full of water. + +Presently everything had gone. I ceased to feel strange. There beneath +me was the pool, and at my side stood Indaba-zimbi, smiling. + +"You have seen things," he said. + +"I have," I answered, and made no further remark on the matter. What +was there to say?[*] "Do you know the path to the cave?" I added. + +[*] For some almost equally remarkable instances of Kaffir magic the + reader is referred to a work named "Among the Zulus," by David + Leslie.--Editor. + +He nodded his head. "I did not follow it all just now, because it +winds," he said. "But I know it. We shall want the ropes." + +"Then let us be starting; the men have eaten." + +He nodded his head again, and going to the men I told them to make +ready, adding that Indaba-zimbi knew the way. They said that was all +right, if Indaba-zimbi had "smelt her out," they should soon find the +Star. So we started cheerfully enough, and my spirits were so much +improved that I was able to eat a boiled mealie cob or two as we +walked. + +We went up the valley, following the course of the stream for about a +mile; then Indaba-zimbi made a sudden turn to the right, along another +kloof, of which there were countless numbers in the base of the great +hill. + +On we went through kloof after kloof. Indaba-zimbi, who led us, was +never at a loss, he turned up gulleys and struck across necks of hills +with the certainty of a hound on a hot scent. At length, after about +three hours' march, we came to a big silent valley on the northern +slope of the great peak. On one side of this valley was a series of +stony koppies, on the other rose a sheer wall of rock. We marched +along the wall for a distance of some two miles. Then suddenly Indaba- +zimbi halted. + +"There is the place," he said, pointing to an opening in the cliff. +This opening was about forty feet from the ground, and ellipse-shaped. +It cannot have been more than twenty feet high by ten wide, and was +partially hidden by ferns and bushes that grew about it in the surface +of the cliff. Keen as my eyes were, I doubt if I should ever have +noticed it, for there were many such cracks and crannies in the rocky +face of the great mountain. + +We drew near and looked carefully at the place. The first thing I +noticed was that the rock, which was not quite perpendicular, had been +worn by the continual passage of baboons; the second, that something +white was hanging on a bush near the top of the ascent. + +It was a pocket-handkerchief. + +Now there was no more doubt about the matter. With a beating heart I +began the ascent. For the first twenty feet it was comparatively easy, +for the rock shelved; the next ten feet was very difficult, but still +possible to an active man, and I achieved it, followed by Indaba- +zimbi. But the last twelve or fifteen feet could only be scaled by +throwing a rope over the trunk of a stunted tree, which grew at the +bottom of the opening. This we accomplished with some trouble, and the +rest was easy. A foot or two above my head the handkerchief fluttered +in the wind. Hanging to the rope, I grasped it. It was my wife's. As I +did so I noticed the face of a baboon peering at me over the edge of +the cleft, the first baboon we had seen that morning. The brute gave a +bark and vanished. Thrusting the handkerchief into my breast, I set my +feet against the cliff and scrambled up as hard as I could go. I knew +that we had no time to lose, for the baboon would quickly alarm the +others. I gained the cleft. It was a mere arched passage cut by water, +ending in a gulley, which led to a wide open space of some sort. I +looked through the passage and saw that the gulley was black with +baboons. On they came by the hundred. I unslung my elephant gun from +my shoulders and waited, calling to the men below to come up with all +possible speed. The brutes streamed on down the gloomy gulf towards +me, barking, grunting, and showing their huge teeth. I waited till +they were within fifteen yards. Then I fired the elephant gun, which +was loaded with slugs, right into the thick of them. In that narrow +place the report echoed like a cannon shot, but its sound was quickly +swallowed in the volley of piercing human-sounding groans and screams +that followed. The charge of heavy slugs had ploughed through the host +of baboons, of which at least a dozen lay dead or dying in the +passage. For a moment they hesitated, then they came on again with a +hideous clamour. Fortunately by this time Indaba-zimbi, who also had a +gun, was standing by my side, otherwise I should have been torn to +pieces before I could re-load. He fired both barrels into them, and +again checked the rush. But they came on again, and notwithstanding +the appearance of two other natives with guns, which they let off with +more or less success, we should have been overwhelmed by the great and +ferocious apes had I not by this time succeeded in re-loading the +elephant gun. When they were right on us, I fired, with even more +deadly effect than before, for at that distance every slug told on +their long line. The howls and screams of pain and rage were now +something inconceivable. One might have thought that we were doing +battle with a host of demons; indeed in that light--for the +overhanging arch of rock made it very dark--the gnashing snouts and +sombre glowing eyes of the apes looked like those of devils as they +are represented by monkish fancy. But the last shot was too much for +them; they withdrew, dragging some of their wounded with them, and +thus gave us time to get our men up the cliff. In a few minutes all +were there, and we advanced down the passage, which presently opened +into a rocky gulley with shelving sides. This gulley had a water-way +at the bottom of it; it was about a hundred yards long, and the slopes +on either side were topped by precipitous cliffs. I looked at these +slopes; they literally swarmed with baboons, grunting, barking, +screaming, and beating their breasts with their long arms, in fury. I +looked up the water-way; along it, accompanied by a mob, or, as it +were, a guard of baboons, ran Hendrika, her long hair flying, madness +written on her face, and in her arms was the senseless form of little +Tota. + +She saw us, and a foam of rage burst from her lips. She screamed +aloud. To me the sound was a mere inarticulate cry, but the baboons +clearly understood it, for they began to roll rocks down on to us. One +boulder leaped past me and struck down a Kaffir behind; another fell +from the roof of the arch on to a man's head and killed him. Indaba- +zimbi lifted his gun to shoot Hendrika; I knocked it up, so that the +shot went over her, crying that he would kill the child. Then I +shouted to the men to open out and form a line from side to side of +the shelving gulley. Furious at the loss of their two comrades, they +obeyed me, and keeping in the water-way myself, together with Indaba- +zimbi and the other guns, I gave the word to charge. + +Then the real battle began. It is difficult to say who fought the most +fiercely, the natives or the baboons. The Kaffirs charged along the +slopes, and as they came, encouraged by the screams of Hendrika, who +rushed to and fro holding the wretched Tota before her as a shield, +the apes bounded at them in fury. Scores were killed by the assegais, +and many more fell beneath our gun-shots; but still they came on. Nor +did we go scathless. Occasionally a man would slip, or be pulled over +in the grip of a baboon. Then the others would fling themselves upon +him like dogs on a rat, and worry him to death. We lost five men in +this way, and I myself received a bite through the fleshy part of the +left arm, but fortunately a native near me assegaied the animal before +I was pulled down. + +At length, and all of a sudden, the baboons gave up. A panic seemed to +seize them. Notwithstanding the cries of Hendrika they thought no more +of fight, but only of escape; some even did not attempt to get away +from the assegais of the Kaffirs, they simply hid their horrible faces +in their paws, and, moaning piteously, waited to be slain. + +Hendrika saw that the battle was lost. Dropping the child from her +arms, she rushed straight at us, a very picture of horrible insanity. +I lifted my gun, but could not bear to shoot. After all she was but a +mad thing, half ape, half woman. So I sprang to one side, and she +landed full on Indaba-zimbi, knocking him down. But she did not stay +to do any more. Wailing terribly, she rushed down the gulley and +through the arch, followed by a few of the surviving baboons, and +vanished from our sight. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +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 +knock 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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER + +Both Stella and Tota were too weary to be moved, so we camped that +night in the baboons' home, but were troubled by no baboons. Stella +would not sleep in the cave; she said the place terrified her, so I +made her up a kind of bed under a thorn-tree. As this rock-bound +valley was one of the hottest places I ever was in, I thought that +this would not matter; but when at sunrise on the following morning I +saw a veil of miasmatic mist hanging over the surface of the ground, I +changed my opinion. However, neither Stella nor Tota seemed the worse, +so as soon as was practical we started homewards. I had already on the +previous day sent some of the men back to the kraals to fetch a +ladder, and when we reached the cliff we found them waiting for us +beneath. With the help of the ladder the descent was easy. Stella +simply got out of her rough litter at the top of the cliff, for we +found it necessary to carry her, climbed down the ladder, and got into +it again at the bottom. + +Well, we reached the kraals safely enough, seeing nothing more of +Hendrika, and, were this a story, doubtless I should end it here with +--"and lived happily ever after." But alas! it is not so. How am I to +write it? + +My dearest wife's vital energy seemed completely to fail her now that +the danger was past, and within twelve hours of our return I saw that +her state was such as to necessitate the abandonment of any idea of +leaving Babyan Kraals at present. The bodily exertion, the anguish of +mind, and the terror which she had endured during that dreadful night, +combined with her delicate state of health, had completely broken her +down. To make matters worse, also, she was taken with an attack of +fever, contracted no doubt in the unhealthy atmosphere of that +accursed valley. In time she shook the fever off, but it left her +dreadfully weak, and quite unfit to face the trial before her. + +I think she knew that she was going to die; she always spoke of my +future, never of /our/ future. It is impossible for me to tell how +sweet she was; how gentle, how patient and resigned. Nor, indeed, do I +wish to tell it, it is too sad. But this I will say, I believe that if +ever a woman drew near to perfection while yet living on the earth, +Stella Quatermain did so. + +The fatal hour drew on. My boy Harry was born, and his mother lived to +kiss and bless him. Then she sank. We did what we could, but we had +little skill, and might not hold her back from death. All through one +weary night I watched her with a breaking heart. + +The dawn came, the sun rose in the east. His rays falling on the peak +behind were reflected in glory upon the bosom of the western sky. +Stella awoke from her swoon and saw the light. She whispered to me to +open the door of the hut. I did so, and she fixed her dying eyes on +the splendour of the morning sky. She looked on me and smiled as an +angel might smile. Then with a last effort she lifted her hand, and, +pointing to the radiant heavens, whispered: + +"/There, Allan, there!/" + +It was done, and I was broken-hearted, and broken-hearted I must +wander to the end. Those who have endured my loss will know my sorrow; +it cannot be written. In such peace and at such an hour may I also +die! + +Yes, it is a sad story, but wander where we will about the world we +can never go beyond the sound of the passing bell. For me, as for my +father before me, and for the millions who have been and who shall be, +there is but one word of comfort. "The Lord hath given, and the Lord +hath taken away." Let us, then, bow our heads in hope, and add with a +humble heart, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." + + + +I buried her by her father's side, and the weeping of the people who +had loved her went up to heaven. Even Indaba-zimbi wept, but I could +weep no more. + +On the second night from her burial I could not sleep. I rose, dressed +myself, and went out into the night. The moon was shining brightly, +and by its rays I shaped my course towards the graveyard. I drew near +silently, and as I came I thought that I heard a sound of moaning on +the further side of the wall. I looked over it. Crouched by Stella's +grave, and tearing at its sods with her hands, as though she would +unearth that which lay within, was /Hendrika/. Her face was wild and +haggard, her form was so emaciated that when the pelts she wore +slipped aside, the shoulder-blades seemed to project almost through +her skin. Suddenly she looked up and saw me. Laughing a dreadful +maniac laugh, she put her hand to her girdle and drew her great knife +from it. I thought that she was about to attack me, and prepared to +defend myself as I best could, for I was unarmed. But she made no +effort to do so. Lifting the knife on high, for a moment she held it +glittering in the moonlight, then plunged it into her own breast, and +fell headlong to the ground. + +I sprang over the wall and ran to her. She was not yet dead. Presently +she opened her eyes, and I saw that the madness had gone out of them. + +"Macumazahn," she said, speaking in English and in an thick difficult +voice like one who half forgot and half remembered--"Macumazahn, I +remember now. I have been mad. Is she really dead, Macumazahn?" + +"Yes," I said, "she is dead, and you killed her." + +"I killed her!" the dying woman faltered, "and I loved her. Yes, yes, +I know now. I became a brute again and dragged her to the brutes, and +now once more I am a woman, and she is dead, and I killed her--because +I loved her so. I killed her who saved me from the brutes. I am not +dead yet, Macumazahn. Take me and torture me to death, slowly, very +slowly. It was jealousy of you that drove me mad, and I have killed +her, and now she never can forgive me." + +"Ask forgiveness from above," I said, for Hendrika had been a +Christian, and the torment of her remorse touched me. + +"I ask no forgiveness," she said. "May God torture me for ever, +because I killed her; may I become a brute for ever till she comes to +find me and forgives me! I only want her forgiveness." And wailing in +an anguish of the heart so strong that her bodily suffering seemed to +be forgotten, Hendrika, the Baboon-woman, died. + +I went back to the kraals, and, waking Indaba-zimbi, told him what had +happened, asking him to send some one to watch the body, as I proposed +to give it burial. But next morning it was gone, and I found that the +natives, hearing of the event, had taken the corpse and thrown it to +the vultures with every mark of hate. Such, then, was the end of +Hendrika. + + + +A week after Hendrika's death I left Babyan Kraals. The place was +hateful to me now; it was a haunted place. I sent for old Indaba-zimbi +and told him that I was going. He answered that it was well. "The +place has served your turn," he said; "here you have won that joy +which it was fated you should win, and have suffered those things that +it was fated you should suffer. Yes, and though you know it not now, +the joy and the suffering, like the sunshine and the storm, are the +same thing, and will rest at last in the same heaven, the heaven from +which they came. Now go, Macumazahn." + +I asked him if he was coming with me. + +"No," he answered, "our paths lie apart henceforth, Macumazahn. We met +together for certain ends. Those ends are fulfilled. Now each one goes +his own way. You have still many years before you, Macumazahn; my +years are few. When we shake hands here it will be for the last time. +Perhaps we may meet again, but it will not be in this world. +Henceforth we have each of us a friend the less." + +"Heavy words," I said. + +"True words," he answered. + +Well, I have little heart to write the rest of it. I went, leaving +Indaba-zimbi in charge of the place, and making him a present of such +cattle and goods as I did not want. + +Tota, I of course took with me. Fortunately by this time she had +almost recovered the shock to her nerves. The baby Harry, as he was +afterwards named, was a fine healthy child, and I was lucky in getting +a respectable native woman, whose husband had been killed in the fight +with the baboons, to accompany me as his nurse. + +Slowly, and followed for a distance by all the people, I trekked away +from Babyan Kraals. My route towards Natal was along the edge of the +Bad Lands, and my first night's outspan was beneath that very tree +where Stella, my lost wife, had found us as we lay dying of thirst. + +I did not sleep much that night. And yet I was glad that I had not +died in the desert about eleven months before. I felt then, as from +year to year I have continued to feel while I wander through the +lonely wilderness of life, that I had been preserved to an end. I had +won my darling's love, and for a little while we had been happy +together. Our happiness was too perfect to endure. She is lost to me +now, but she is lost to be found again. + +Here on the following morning I bade farewell to Indaba-zimbi. + +"Good-bye, Macumazahn," he said, nodding his white lock at me. "Good- +bye for a while. I am not a Christian; your father could not make me +that. But he was a wise man, and when he said that those who loved +each other shall meet again, he did not lie. And I too am a wise man +in my way, Macumazahn, and I say it is true that we shall meet again. +All my prophecies to you have come true, Macumazahn, and this one +shall come true also. I tell you that you shall return to Babyan +Kraals and shall not find me. I tell you that you shall journey to a +further land than Babyan Kraals and shall find me. Farewell!" and he +took a pinch of snuff, turned, and went. + + + +Of my journey down to Natal there is little to tell. I met with many +adventures, but they were of an every-day kind, and in the end arrived +safely at Port Durban, which I now visited for the first time. Both +Tota and my baby boy bore the journey well. And here I may as well +chronicle the destiny of Tota. For a year she remained under my +charge. Then she was adopted by a lady, the wife of an English +colonel, who was stationed at the Cape. She was taken by her adopted +parents to England, where she grew up a very charming and pretty girl, +and ultimately married a clergyman in Norfolk. But I never saw her +again, though we often wrote to each other. + +Before I returned to the country of my birth, she too had been +gathered to the land of shadows, leaving three children behind her. Ah +me! all this took place so long ago, when I was young who now am old. + +Perhaps it may interest the reader to know the fate of Mr. Carson's +property, which should of course have gone to his grandson Harry. I +wrote to England to claim the estate on his behalf, but the lawyer to +whom the matter was submitted said that my marriage to Stella, not +having been celebrated by an ordained priest, was not legal according +to English law, and therefore Harry could not inherit. Foolishly +enough I acquiesced in this, and the property passed to a cousin of my +father-in-law's; but since I have come to live in England I have been +informed that this opinion is open to great suspicion, and that there +is every probability that the courts would have declared the marriage +perfectly binding as having been solemnly entered into in accordance +with the custom of the place where it was contracted. But I am now so +rich that it is not worth while to move in the matter. The cousin is +dead, his son is in possession, so let him keep it. + +Once, and once only, did I revisit Babyan Kraals. Some fifteen years +after my darling's death, when I was a man in middle life, I undertook +an expedition to the Zambesi, and one night outspanned at the mouth of +the well-known valley beneath the shadow of the great peak. I mounted +my horse, and, quite alone, rode up the valley, noticing with a +strange prescience of evil that the road was overgrown, and, save for +the music of the waterfalls, the place silent as death. The kraals +that used to be to the left of the road by the river had vanished. I +rode towards their site; the mealie fields were choked with weeds, the +paths were dumb with grass. Presently I reached the place. There, +overgrown with grass, were the burnt ashes of the kraals, and there +among the ashes, gleaming in the moonlight, lay the white bones of +men. Now it was clear to me. The settlement had been fallen on by some +powerful foe, and its inhabitants put to the assegai. The forebodings +of the natives had come true; Babyan Kraals were peopled by memories +alone. + +I passed on up the terraces. There shone the roofs of the marble huts. +They would not burn, and were too strong to be easily pulled down. I +entered one of them--it had been our sleeping hut--and lit a candle +which I had with me. The huts had been sacked; leaves of books and +broken mouldering fragments of the familiar furniture lay about. Then +I remembered that there was a secret place hollowed in the floor and +concealed by a stone, where Stella used to hide her little treasures. +I went to the stone and dragged it up. There was something within +wrapped in rotting native cloth. I undid it. It was the dress my wife +had been married in. In the centre of the dress were the withered +wreath and flowers she had worn, and with them a little paper packet. +I opened it; it contained a lock of my own hair! + +I remembered then that I had searched for this dress when I came away +and could not find it, for I had forgotten the secret recess in the +floor. + +Taking the dress with me, I left the hut for the last time. Leaving my +horse tied to a tree, I walked to the graveyard, through the ruined +garden. There it was a mass of weeds, but over my darling's grave grew +a self-sown orange bush, of which the scented petals fell in showers +on to the mound beneath. As I drew near, there was a crash and a rush. +A great baboon leapt from the centre of the graveyard and vanished +into the trees. I could almost believe that it was the wraith of +Hendrika doomed to keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman +her jealous rage had done to death. + +I tarried there a while, filled with such thoughts as may not be +written. Then, leaving my dead wife to her long sleep where the waters +fall in melancholy music beneath the shadow of the everlasting +mountain, I turned and sought that spot where first we had told our +love. Now the orange grove was nothing but a tangled thicket; many of +the trees were dead, choked with creepers, but some still flourished. +There stood the one beneath which we had lingered, there was the rock +that had been our seat, and there on the rock sat the wraith of +/Stella/, the Stella whom I had wed! Ay! there she sat, and on her +upturned face was that same spiritual look which I saw upon it in the +hour when we first had kissed. The moonlight shone in her dark eyes, +the breeze wavered in her curling hair, her breast rose and fell, a +gentle smile played about her parted lips. I stood transfixed with awe +and joy, gazing on that lost loveliness which once was mine. I could +not speak, and she spoke no word; she did not even seem to see me. Now +her eyes fell. For a moment they met mine, and their message entered +into me. + +Then she was gone. She was gone; nothing was left but the tremulous +moonlight falling where she had been, the melancholy music of the +waters, the shadow of the everlasting mountain, and, in my heart, the +sorrow and the hope. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Allan's Wife, by H. Rider Haggard + diff --git a/old/awife10.zip b/old/awife10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..976de1d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/awife10.zip |