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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/2842-0.txt b/2842-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85ae2d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/2842-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2720 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Black Heart and White Heart, 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: Black Heart and White Heart + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: October, 2001 [eBook #2842] +[Most recently updated: May 26, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + + + + +Black Heart and White Heart + +by H. Rider Haggard + + +Contents + + DEDICATION + AUTHOR’S NOTE + + CHAPTER I. PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + CHAPTER II. THE BEE PROPHESIES + CHAPTER III. THE END OF THE HUNT + CHAPTER IV. NANEA + CHAPTER V. THE DOOM POOL + CHAPTER VI. THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + + + + +DEDICATION + + +To the Memory of the Child +Nada Burnham, + +who “bound all to her” and, while her father cut his way through the +hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at +Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more +particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery +and death. + +H. Rider Haggard. + +Ditchingham. + + + + +AUTHOR’S NOTE + + +Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, “The Wizard,” a +tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a Christmas +Annual. Another, “Elissa,” is an attempt, difficult enough owing to the +scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate the life of +the ancient Phoenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in Rhodesia, +and, with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest +circumstances such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall +at the hands of the surrounding savage tribes. The third, “Black Heart +and White Heart,” is a story of the courtship, trials and final union +of a pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. + +[*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 titled +“Black Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories.”— JB. + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART +A ZULU IDYLL + + + + +CHAPTER I +PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + + +At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a +transport-rider and trader in “the Zulu.” Still on the right side of +forty, in appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, +with keen eyes, short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut +features. His life had been varied, and there were passages in it which +he did not narrate even to his most intimate friends. He was of gentle +birth, however, and it was said that he had received a public school +and university education in England. At any rate he could quote the +classics with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, coupled +with his refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild +places of the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the +_soubriquet_ of “The Prince.” + +However these things may have been, it is certain that he had emigrated +to Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his relatives at home +were content to take no further interest in his fortunes. During the +fifteen or sixteen years which he had spent in or about the colony, +Hadden followed many trades, and did no good at any of them. A clever +man, of agreeable and prepossessing manner, he always found it easy to +form friendships and to secure a fresh start in life. But, by degrees, +the friends were seized with a vague distrust of him; and, after a +period of more or less application, he himself would close the opening +that he had made by a sudden disappearance from the locality, leaving +behind him a doubtful reputation and some bad debts. + +Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes in +his life, Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in +transport-riding—that is, in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban +or Maritzburg to various points in the interior. A difficulty such as +had more than once confronted him in the course of his career, led to +his temporary abandonment of this means of earning a livelihood. On +arriving at the little frontier town of Utrecht in the Transvaal, in +charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods consigned to a storekeeper +there, it was discovered that out of six cases of brandy five were +missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter by throwing the +blame upon his Kaffir “boys,” but the storekeeper, a rough-tongued man, +openly called him a thief and refused to pay the freight on any of the +load. From words the two men came to blows, knives were drawn, and +before anybody could interfere the storekeeper received a nasty wound +in his side. That night, without waiting till the matter could be +inquired into by the landdrost or magistrate, Hadden slipped away, and +trekked back into Natal as quickly as his oxen would travel. Feeling +that even here he was not safe, he left one of his waggons at +Newcastle, loaded up the other with Kaffir goods—such as blankets, +calico, and hardware—and crossed into Zululand, where in those days no +sheriff’s officer would be likely to follow him. + +Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he +did good trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some cash +and a small herd of cattle, which he received in exchange for his +wares. Meanwhile news reached him that the man whom he had injured +still vowed vengeance against him, and was in communication with the +authorities in Natal. These reasons making his return to civilisation +undesirable for the moment, and further business being impossible until +he could receive a fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a wise man +turned his thoughts to pleasure. Sending his cattle and waggon over the +border to be left in charge of a native headman with whom he was +friendly, he went on foot to Ulundi to obtain permission from the king, +Cetywayo, to hunt game in his country. Somewhat to his surprise, the +Indunas or headmen, received him courteously—for Hadden’s visit took +place within a few months of the outbreak of the Zulu war in 1878, when +Cetywayo was already showing unfriendliness to the English traders and +others, though why the king did so they knew not. + +On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden +got a hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning after +his arrival at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him that +“the Elephant whose tread shook the earth” had signified that it was +his pleasure to see him. Accordingly he was led through the thousands +of huts and across the Great Place to the little enclosure where +Cetywayo, a royal-looking Zulu seated on a stool, and wearing a kaross +of leopard skins, was holding an _indaba_, or conference, surrounded by +his counsellors. The Induna who had conducted him to the august +presence went down upon his hands and knees, and, uttering the royal +salute of _Bayéte_, crawled forward to announce that the white man was +waiting. + +“Let him wait,” said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued the +discussion with his counsellors. + +Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when +from time to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he spoke +reached his ear. + +“What!” Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be +pleading with him earnestly; “am I a dog that these white hyenas should +hunt me thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father’s before +me? Are not the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that I will +stamp out these little white men; my _impis_ shall eat them up. I have +said!” + +Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of a +peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed +towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien, +he seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of action +be followed. + +For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his +eyes literally ablaze with rage. + +“Hearken,” he cried to the counsellor; “I have guessed it for long, and +now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu’s[*] dog, and +the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man’s dog +to bite me in my own house. Take him away!” + +[*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone’s. + + +A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of _indunas_, but the +old man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would +murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps +five, he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then +he looked up and spoke to the king in a clear voice. + +“O King,” he said, “I am a very old man; as a youth I served under +Chaka the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the +white man. Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the +battle of the Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was +the counsellor of Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the +battle of the Tugela, when its grey waters were turned to red with the +blood of Umbulazi your brother, and of the tens of thousands of his +people. Afterwards I became your counsellor, O King, and I was with you +when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made promises to +Sompseu—promises that you have not kept. Now you are weary of me, and +it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is foolish, as it +chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka, your +great-uncle, will come true, and that the white men will prevail +against you and that through them you shall find your death. I would +that I might have stood in one more battle and fought for you, O King, +since fight you will, but the end which you choose is for me the best +end. Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. _Bayéte!_”[*] + +[*] The royal salute of the Zulus. + + +For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men +waited to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please +him to be merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. + +“Take him away,” he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face and +one word, “Good-night,” upon his lips, supported by the arm of a +soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of +death. + +Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. “If he +treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?” he +reflected. “We English must have fallen out of favour since I left +Natal. I wonder whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this +isn’t my place.” + +Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced +to look up. “Bring the stranger here,” he said. + +Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as +cool and nonchalant a manner as he could command. + +Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. “At least, White Man,” said +the king, glancing at his visitor’s tall spare form and cleanly cut +face, “you are no ‘_umfagozan_’ (low fellow); you are of the blood of +chiefs.” + +“Yes, King,” answered Hadden, with a little sigh, “I am of the blood of +chiefs.” + +“What do you want in my country, White Man?” + +“Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have +heard, and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt +buffalo, and other big game, for a while before I return to Natal.” + +“I cannot grant it,” answered Cetywayo, “you are a spy sent by Sompseu, +or by the Queen’s Induna in Natal. Get you gone.” + +“Indeed,” said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; “then I hope that +Sompseu, or the Queen’s Induna, or both of them, will pay me when I +return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, but +I should first like to make you a present.” + +“What present?” asked the king. “I want no presents. We are rich here, +White Man.” + +“So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle.” + +“A rifle, White Man? Where is it?” + +“Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is +death to come armed before the ‘Elephant who shakes the Earth.’” + +Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick ear. + +“Let this white man’s offering be brought; I will consider the thing.” + +Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, +running with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every +step he must fall upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon +in his hand and presented it to the king, holding it so that the muzzle +was pointed straight at the royal breast. + +“I crave leave to say, O Elephant,” remarked Hadden in a drawling +voice, “that it might be well to command your servant to lift the mouth +of that gun from your heart.” + +“Why?” asked the king. + +“Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably +desires to continue to shake the Earth.” + +At these words the “Elephant” uttered a sharp exclamation, and rolled +from his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, +springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and +discharge a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had been +occupied by his monarch’s head. + +“Let him be taken away,” shouted the incensed king from the ground, but +long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry that +the gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed through +the gate. + +“He has already taken himself away,” suggested Hadden, while the +audience tittered. “No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a repeating +rifle. Look——” and lifting the Winchester, he fired the four remaining +shots in quick succession into the air, striking the top of a tree at +which he aimed with every one of them. + +“_Wow_, it is wonderful!” said the company in astonishment. + +“Has the thing finished?” asked the king. + +“For the present it has,” answered Hadden. “Look at it.” + +Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, +swinging the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of +some of his most eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as +the barrel was brought to bear on them. + +“See what cowards they are, White Man,” said the king with indignation; +“they fear lest there should be another bullet in this gun.” + +“Yes,” answered Hadden, “they are cowards indeed. I believe that if +they were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it +chanced to your Majesty to do just now.” + +“Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?” asked the king +hastily, while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and +contemplated the fence behind them. + +“No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them.” + +“If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and +mend guns for me?” asked Cetywayo anxiously. + +“It might depend on the pay,” answered Hadden; “but for awhile I am +tired of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the permission to +hunt for which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return +perhaps we can bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king +farewell, and journey to Natal.” + +“In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here,” +muttered Cetywayo. + +At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led +away the old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves before +the king. + +“Is he dead?” he asked. + +“He has travelled the king’s bridge,” they answered grimly; “he died +singing a song of praise of the king.” + +“Good,” said Cetywayo, “that stone shall hurt my feet no more. Go, tell +the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen’s Induna in +Natal,” he added with bitter emphasis. + +“_Baba!_ Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the +Elephant,” said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than the +rest added: “Soon we will tell them another tale, the white Talking +Ones, a red tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall sing it in +their ears.” + +At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden +flame catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them +were seated on their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground +in unison, repeated:— + +_Indaba ibomwu—indaba ye mikonto +Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho._ +(A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears, +And the _impis_ shall sing it in their ears.) + + +One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden +and shaking his fist before his eyes—fortunately being in the royal +presence he had no assegai—shouted the sentences at him. + +The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. + +“Silence,” he thundered in the deep voice for which he was remarkable, +and instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only the +echoes still answered back: “And the _impis_ shall sing it in their +ears—in their ears.” + +“I am growing certain that this is no place for me,” thought Hadden; +“if that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily forgotten +himself. Hullo! who’s this?” + +Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid +specimen of the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years of +age, was arrayed in a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu +regiment. From the circlet of otter skin on his brow rose his crest of +plumes, round his middle, arms and knees hung the long fringes of black +oxtails, and in one hand he bore a little dancing shield, also black in +colour. The other was empty, since he might not appear before the king +bearing arms. In countenance the man was handsome, and though just now +they betrayed some anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, and his +mouth sensitive. In height he must have measured six foot two inches, +yet he did not strike the observer as being tall, perhaps because of +his width of chest and the solidity of his limbs, that were in curious +contrast to the delicate and almost womanish hands and feet which so +often mark the Zulu of noble blood. In short the man was what he seemed +to be, a savage gentleman of birth, dignity and courage. + +In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a +blanket, whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. +His face also was pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were +timorous, and the mouth lacked character. + +“Who are these?” asked the king. + +The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their +foreheads touched the ground—the while giving him his _sibonga_ or +titles of praise. + +“Speak,” he said impatiently. + +“O King,” said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, “I am +Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my +uncle Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father’s youngest +wife.” + +Cetywayo frowned. “What do you here away from your regiment, Nahoon?” + +“May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head +captains, and I come to ask a boon of the king’s bounty.” + +“Be swift, then, Nahoon.” + +“It is this, O King,” said the captain with some embarrassment: “A +while ago the king was pleased to make a _keshla_ of me because of +certain service that I did out yonder——” and he touched the black ring +which he wore in the hair of his head. “Being now a ringed man and a +captain, I crave the right of a man at the hands of the king—the right +to marry.” + +“Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle have +no rights.” + +Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. + +“Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a +fair daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me to +husband. Awaiting the king’s leave I am betrothed to her and in earnest +of it I have paid to Umgona a _lobola_ of fifteen head of cattle, cows +and calves together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, an old chief +named Maputa, the warden of the Crocodile Drift, who doubtless is known +to the king, and this chief also seeks Nanea in marriage and harries +Umgona, threatening him with many evils if he will not give the girl to +him. But Umgona’s heart is white towards me, and towards Maputa it is +black, therefore together we come to crave this boon of the king.” + +“It is so; he speaks the truth,” said Umgona. + +“Cease,” answered Cetywayo angrily. “Is this a time that my soldiers +should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? +Know that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls +who had dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, +should be strangled and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and with +them the bodies of their fathers, that all might know their sin and be +warned thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is well for you and for your daughter +that you sought my word before she was given in marriage to this man. +Now this is my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, and since you, +Umgona, are troubled with one whom you would not take as son-in-law, +the old chief Maputa, I will free you from his importunity. The girl, +says Nahoon, is fair—good, I myself will be gracious to her, and she +shall be numbered among the wives of the royal house. Within thirty +days from now, in the week of the next new moon, let her be delivered +to the _Sigodhla_, the royal house of the women, and with her those +cattle, the cows and the calves together, that Nahoon has given you, of +which I fine him because he has dared to think of marriage without the +leave of the king.” + + + + +CHAPTER II +THE BEE PROPHESIES + + +“‘A Daniel come to judgment’ indeed,” reflected Hadden, who had been +watching this savage comedy with interest; “our love-sick friend has +got more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to +Cæsar,” and he turned to look at the two suppliants. + +The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences +of conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and +condescension. Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he +had done answered by reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not appear +at the date named, both she and he, her father, would in due course +certainly decorate a cross-road in their own immediate neighbourhood. + +The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal words +crossed the king’s lips, his face took an expression of absolute +astonishment, which was presently replaced by one of fury—the just fury +of a man who suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His whole +frame quivered, the veins stood out in knots on his neck and forehead, +and his fingers closed convulsively as though they were grasping the +handle of a spear. Presently the rage passed away—for as well might a +man be wroth with fate as with a Zulu despot—to be succeeded by a look +of the most hopeless misery. The proud dark eyes grew dull, the +copper-coloured face sank in and turned ashen, the mouth drooped, and +down one corner of it there trickled a little line of blood springing +from the lip bitten through in the effort to keep silence. Lifting his +hand in salute to the king, the great man rose and staggered rather +than walked towards the gate. + +As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. “Stay,” +he said, “I have a service for you, Nahoon, that shall drive out of +your head these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this white man +here; he is my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush +country. I put him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he +comes to no hurt. See also that you bring him before me within a month, +or your life shall answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in +the first week of the new moon—when Nanea comes—and then I will tell +you whether or no I agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, +and you, White Man, go also; those who are to accompany you shall be +with you at the dawn. Farewell, but remember we meet again at the new +moon, when we will settle what pay you shall receive as keeper of my +guns. Do not fail me, White Man, or I shall send after you, and my +messengers are sometimes rough.” + +“This means that I am a prisoner,” thought Hadden, “but it will go hard +if I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don’t intend to +stay in this country if war is declared, to be pounded into _mouti_ +(medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that sort.” + + +Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were +encamped in a wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the +Blood and Unvunyana Rivers, not more than eight miles from that “Place +of the Little Hand” which within a few weeks was to become famous +throughout the world by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days +they had been tracking the spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still +inhabited the district, but as yet they had not come up with them. The +Zulu hunters had suggested that they should follow the Unvunyana down +towards the sea where game was more plentiful, but this neither Hadden, +nor the captain, Nahoon, had been anxious to do, for reasons which each +of them kept secret to himself. Hadden’s object was to work gradually +down to the Buffalo River across which he hoped to effect a retreat +into Natal. That of Nahoon was to linger in the neighbourhood of the +kraal of Umgona, which was situated not very far from their present +camping place, in the vague hope that he might find an opportunity of +speaking with or at least of seeing Nanea, the girl to whom he was +affianced, who within a few weeks must be taken from him, and given +over to the king. + +A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden had +never seen. Behind them lay a tract of land—half-swamp and half-bush—in +which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in lonely +grandeur, rose the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was an +amphitheatre of the most gloomy forest, ringed round in the distance by +sheer-sided hills. Into this forest there ran a river which drained the +swamp, placidly enough upon the level. But it was not always level, for +within three hundred yards of them it dashed suddenly over a precipice, +of no great height but very steep, falling into a boiling rock-bound +pool that the light of the sun never seemed to reach. + +“What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. + +“It is named _Emagudu_, The Home of the Dead,” the Zulu replied +absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was +situated at an hour’s walk away over the ridge to the right. + +“The Home of the Dead! Why?” + +“Because the dead live there, those whom we name the _Esemkofu_, the +Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the _Amahlosi_, from whom +the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on.” + +“Indeed,” said Hadden, “and have you ever seen these ghosts?” + +“Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead +enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make +offerings to the dead.” + +Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked +over it. To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while +close to the bank of it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between the +cliff and the commencement of the forest, was a hut. + +“Who lives there?” asked Hadden. + +“The great _Isanusi_—she who is named _Inyanga_ or Doctoress; she who +is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom from the dead who +grow in the forest.” + +“Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I +am going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?” + +“Mayhap, White Man, but,” he added with a little smile, “those who +visit the Bee’s hive may hear nothing, or they may hear more than they +wish for. The words of that Bee have a sting.” + +“Good; I will see if she can sting me.” + +“So be it,” said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the cliff +till he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. + +By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of +the descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low +fence of reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth +beaten hard and polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool +being placed almost at the mouth of the round opening that served as a +doorway to the hut. At first all that Hadden could see of her, crouched +as she was in the shadow, was a huddled shape wrapped round with a +greasy and tattered catskin kaross, above the edge of which appeared +two eyes, fierce and quick as those of a leopard. At her feet +smouldered a little fire, and ranged around it in a semi-circle were a +number of human skulls, placed in pairs as though they were talking +together, whilst other bones, to all appearance also human, were +festooned about the hut and the fence of the courtyard. + +“I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties,” thought +Hadden, but he said nothing. + +Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes +upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all +his might, till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this +curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that +the woman before him had shifted shape into the likeness of a colossal +and horrid spider sitting at the mouth of her trap, and that these +bones were the relics of her victims. + +“Why do you not speak, White Man?” she said at last in a slow clear +voice. “Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You are +thinking that I who am called the Bee should be better named the +Spider. Have no fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit me +when the dead are so many? I suck the souls of men, not their bodies, +White Man. It is their living hearts I love to look on, for therein I +read much and thereby I grow wise. Now what would you of the Bee, White +Man, the Bee that labours in this Garden of Death, and—what brings +_you_ here, son of Zomba? Why are you not with the Umcityu now that +they doctor themselves for the great war—the last war—the war of the +white and the black—or if you have no stomach for fighting, why are you +not at the side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the fair?” + +Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:— + +“A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my hunting.” + +“In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of +money, or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; +that is your nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the +wound of that trader who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of the +Maboon (Boers)? No need to answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, for +the poor witch-doctoress whose skill you seek,” she added in a whining +voice. “Surely you would not that an old woman should work without a +fee?” + +“I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going,” said Hadden, +who began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the Bee’s +powers of observation and thought-reading. + +“Nay,” she answered with an unpleasant laugh, “would you ask a +question, and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at +present, White Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again,” and +once more she laughed. “Let me look in your face, let me look in your +face,” she continued, rising and standing before him. + +Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, +and the next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her +thumb and finger a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. +The action was so instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor +to resent it, but stood still staring at her stupidly. + +“That is all I need,” she cried, “for like my heart my magic is white. +Stay—son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who visit the +Bee must listen to her humming.” + +Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge +of his assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not because +he wished to do so, but because he feared to refuse. + +Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire +before them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was +bound about her middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she +wore none of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see +upon the persons of witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a +curious ornament, a small live snake, red and grey in hue, which her +visitors recognised as one of the most deadly to be found in that part +of the country. It is not unusual for Bantu witch-doctors thus to +decorate themselves with snakes, though whether or not their fangs have +first been extracted no one seems to know. + +Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up in +a thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, clung +about her head enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. Then +of a sudden she stretched out her hands, and let fall the two locks of +hair upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themselves to ashes +like things alive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to draw the +fumes of the hair and herbs into her lungs in great gulps; while the +snake, feeling the influence of the medicine, hissed and, uncoiling +itself from about her neck, crept upwards and took refuge among the +black _saccaboola_ feathers of her head-dress. + +Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro +muttering, then sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her +head rested. Now the Bee’s face was turned upwards towards the light, +and it was ghastly to behold, for it had become blue in colour, and the +open eyes were sunken like the eyes of one dead, whilst above her +forehead the red snake wavered and hissed, reminding Hadden of the +Uraeus crest on the brow of statues of Egyptian kings. For ten seconds +or more she remained thus, then she spoke in a hollow and unnatural +voice:— + +“O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your +heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. +Beautiful white body with black heart, you shall find your game and +hunt it, and it shall lead you into the House of the Homeless, into the +Home of the Dead, and it shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be shaped +as a tiger, it shall be shaped as a woman whom kings and waters cannot +harm. Beautiful white body and black heart, you shall be paid your +wages, money for money, and blow for blow. Think of my word when the +spotted cat purrs above your breast; think of it when the battle roars +about you; think of it when you grasp your great reward, and for the +last time stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the Home of +the Dead. + +“O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white +as milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you +strike that blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love +is as the love of a tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow +it, follow it, O swift of foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that +has lied will never plead for mercy, and the hand that can betray is +strong in war. White Heart, what is death? In death life lives, and +among the dead you shall find the life you lost, for there awaits you +she whom kings and waters cannot harm.” + +As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it was +almost inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass from +trance to sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an amused +and cynical smile, now laughed aloud. + +“Why do you laugh, White Man?” asked Nahoon angrily. + +“I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of +that lying fraud.” + +“It is no nonsense, White Man.” + +“Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?” + +“I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a +woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate.” + +Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further +argument, and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red +snake from her head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped +herself again in the greasy kaross. + +“Are you satisfied with my wisdom, _Inkoos_?” she asked of Hadden. + +“I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, +mother,” he answered coolly. “Now, what is there to pay?” + +The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or two +the look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen in +those of the snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. + +“If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so,” she answered, +“for he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that +I ask no fee;—yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch.” + +Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from +it, gave it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the +gold ring that was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a snake +with two little rubies set in the head to represent the eyes. + +“I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, +_Inkoos_. I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so that +the snake about my neck may be less lonely there.” + +“Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead,” said Hadden. + +“Yes, yes,” she answered in a pleased voice, “it is a good word. I will +wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none can say +that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness that you +gave me permission to do so.” + +For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about the +Bee’s tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her +professional manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her +cupidity she had become natural, and it was evident that she spoke from +conviction, believing her own words. + +She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. + +“Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old witch-doctoress,” +she said in a whining voice. “I have so much to do with Death that his +name leaps to my lips,” and she glanced first at the circle of skulls +about her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy pool upon +whose banks her hut was placed. + +“Look,” she said simply. + +Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden’s eyes fell upon two +withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right angles +to its rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude platform +made of logs of wood lashed down with _riems_ of hide. Upon this +platform stood three figures; notwithstanding the distance and the +spray of the fall, he could see that they were those of two men and a +girl, for their shapes stood out distinctly against the fiery red of +the sunset sky. One instant there were three, the next there were +two—for the girl had gone, and something dark rushing down the face of +the fall, struck the surface of the pool with a heavy thud, while a +faint and piteous cry broke upon his ear. + +“What is the meaning of that?” he asked, horrified and amazed. + +“Nothing,” answered the Bee with a laugh. “Do you not know, then, that +this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved +without the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and +with them their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I +watch them die and keep the count of the number of them,” and drawing a +tally-stick from the thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a +notch to the many that appeared upon it, looking at Nahoon the while +with a half-questioning, half-warning gaze. + +“Yes, yes, it is a place of death,” she muttered. “Up yonder the quick +die day by day and down there”—and she pointed along the course of the +river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred yards +from her hut—“the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!” + +As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from the +dim skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it is +impossible to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed +beastlike, and almost inarticulate. + +“Listen,” repeated the Bee, “they are merry yonder.” + +“Who?” asked Hadden; “the baboons?” + +“No, _Inkoos_, the _Amatongo_—the ghosts that welcome her who has just +become of their number.” + +“Ghosts,” said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, “I +should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard a +troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be +going while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell.” + +“Farewell _Inkoos_, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. Go +in peace _Inkoos_—to sleep in peace.” + + + + +CHAPTER III +THE END OF THE HUNT + + +The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that +night. He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not +troubling him more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he +closed his eyes, his mind conjured up a picture of the grim +witch-doctoress, so strangely named the Bee, and the sound of her +evil-omened words as he had heard them that afternoon. He was neither a +superstitious nor a timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that might +linger in his mind were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what +he might, he could not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, +lest there should be some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this +hag. What if it were a fact that he was near his death, and that the +heart which beat so strongly in his breast must soon be still for +ever—no, he would not think of it. This gloomy place, and the dreadful +sight which he saw that day, had upset his nerves. The domestic customs +of these Zulus were not pleasant, and for his part he was determined to +be clear of them so soon as he was able to escape the country. + +In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make +a dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a good +prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a +buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he knew well, the hunters +with him would feast upon meat until they could scarcely stir, and that +would be his opportunity. Nahoon, however, might not succumb to this +temptation; therefore he must trust to luck to be rid of him. If it +came to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, which he +considered he would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the +man was his jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that he +could face it without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked +Nahoon; at times he even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, +and he knew that the great Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, +and to be looked down upon by a savage “nigger” was more than his pride +could stomach. + +At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were +still stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in his +kaross or blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking gigantic +in the shadows of the morning. + +“What is your will, _Umlungu_ (white man), that you are up before the +sun?” + +“My will, _Muntumpofu_ (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo,” answered +Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no +title of any sort. + +“Your pardon,” said the Zulu reading his thoughts, “but I cannot call +you _Inkoos_ because you are not my chief, or any man’s; still if the +title ‘white man’ offends you, we will give you a name.” + +“As you wish,” answered Hadden briefly. + +Accordingly they gave him a name, _Inhlizin-mgama_, by which he was +known among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he +found that the meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was “Black +Heart.” That was how the _inyanga_ had addressed him—only she used +different words. + +An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay behind +the encampment searching for their game. Within a very little while +Nahoon held up his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden looked; +there, pressed deep in the marshy soil, and to all appearance not ten +minutes old, was the spoor of a small herd of buffalo. + +“I knew that we should find game to-day,” whispered Nahoon, “because +the Bee said so.” + +“Curse the Bee,” answered Hadden below his breath. “Come on.” + +For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick +reeds, till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden’s +arm. He looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding on +some higher ground among a patch of mimosa trees, were the +buffaloes—six of them—an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a +heifer and a calf about four months old. Neither the wind nor the +nature of the veldt were favourable for them to stalk the game from +their present position, so they made a detour of half a mile and very +carefully crept towards them up the wind, slipping from trunk to trunk +of the mimosas and when these failed them, crawling on their stomachs +under cover of the tall _tambuti_ grass. At last they were within forty +yards, and a further advance seemed impracticable; for although he +could not smell them, it was evident from his movements that the old +bull heard some unusual sound and was growing suspicious. Nearest to +Hadden, who alone of the party had a rifle, stood the heifer broadside +on—a beautiful shot. Remembering that she would make the best beef, he +lifted his Martini, and aiming at her immediately behind the shoulder, +gently squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and the heifer fell +dead, shot through the heart. Strangely enough the other buffaloes did +not at once run away. On the contrary, they seemed puzzled to account +for the sudden noise; and, not being able to wind anything, lifted +their heads and stared round them. + +The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim +again, this time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in +the neck or shoulder, for he came to his knees, but in another second +was up and having caught sight of the cloud of smoke he charged +straight at it. Because of this smoke, or for some other reason, Hadden +did not see him coming, and in consequence would most certainly have +been trampled or gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the imminent +risk of his own life, and dragged him down behind an ant-heap. A moment +more and the great beast had thundered by, taking no further notice of +them. + +“Forward,” said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the +heifer and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the +blood spoor. + +For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the trail +on a patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and exhausted by +the heat, sat down to rest and to eat some _biltong_ or sun-dried flesh +which they had with them. They finished their meal, and were preparing +to return to the camp, when one of the four Zulus who were with them +went to drink at a little stream that ran at a distance of not more +than ten paces away. Half a minute later they heard a hideous grunting +noise and a splashing of water, and saw the Zulu fly into the air. All +the while that they were eating, the wounded buffalo had been lying in +wait for them under a thick bush on the banks of the streamlet, +knowing—cunning brute that he was—that sooner or later his turn would +come. With a shout of consternation they rushed forward to see the bull +vanish over the rise before Hadden could get a chance of firing at him, +and to find their companion dying, for the great horn had pierced his +lung. + +“It is not a buffalo, it is a devil,” the poor fellow gasped, and +expired. + +“Devil or not, I mean to kill it,” exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the +others to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on +accompanied by Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase +easier, for they sighted their quarry frequently, though they could not +come near enough to fire. Presently they travelled down a steep cliff. + +“Do you know where we are?” asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of forest +opposite. “That is _Emagudu_, the Home of the Dead—and look, the bull +heads thither.” + +Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the +Fall, the Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. + +“Very well,” he answered; “then we must head for it too.” + +Nahoon halted. “Surely you would not enter there,” he exclaimed. + +“Surely I will,” replied Hadden, “but there is no need for you to do so +if you are afraid.” + +“I am afraid—of ghosts,” said the Zulu, “but I will come.” + +So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It was +a gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick there +shutting out the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which no +breeze stirred, was heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. +There seemed to be no life here and no sound—only now and again a +loathsome spotted snake would uncoil itself and glide away, and now and +again a heavy rotten bough fell with a crash. + +Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed +by his surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for +shooting, and went on. + +They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the +sudden increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull’s wound +was proving fatal to him. + +“Run now,” said Hadden cheerfully. + +“Nay, _hamba gachle_—go softly—” answered Nahoon, “the devil is dying, +but he will try to play us another trick before he dies.” And he went +on peering ahead of him cautiously. + +“It is all right here, anyway,” said Hadden, pointing to the spoor that +ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. + +Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees a +few paces in front of them and to their right. “Look,” he whispered. + +Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown +that was crouched behind the trees. + +“He is dead,” he exclaimed. + +“No,” answered Nahoon, “he has come back on his own path and is waiting +for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you stand +there, I think that you can shoot him through the back between the tree +trunks.” + +Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the +bull’s spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next instant +the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, which sank +deep into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The buffalo +stood still for a moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its head +down, looking first after the one and then the other, till of a sudden +it uttered a low moaning sound and rolled over dead, smashing Nahoon’s +assegai to fragments as it fell. + +“There! he’s finished,” said Hadden, “and I believe it was your assegai +that killed him. Hullo! what’s that noise?” + +Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far +away it was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of +people calling to each other in fear but in no articulate language. +Nahoon shivered. + +“It is the _Esemkofu_,” he said, “the ghosts who have no tongue, and +who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad for +mortals.” + +“And worse for buffaloes,” said Hadden, giving the dead bull a kick, +“but I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the +_Esemkofu_, as we have got meat enough, and can’t carry his head.” + +So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their +way slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden’s head. +Once out of this forest, he was within an hour’s run of the Zulu +border, and once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man than +he did at that moment. As has been said, he had intended to attempt to +escape in the darkness, but the plan was risky. All the Zulus might not +over-eat themselves and go to sleep, especially after the death of +their comrade; Nahoon, who watched him day and night, certainly would +not. This was his opportunity—there remained the question of Nahoon. + +Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy—he had +a loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only a +kerry. He did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to him, +seeing that his own safety was at stake, that he would be amply +justified in so doing. Why should he not put it to him—and then be +guided by circumstances? + +Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten paces ahead of +him where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was under +the shadow of a large tree with low horizontal branches running out +from the trunk. + +“Nahoon,” he said. + +The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. + +“No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged to +shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire without +warning. I am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me back to the +king to be his servant. But I believe that a war is going to break out +between your people and mine; and this being so, you will understand +that I do not wish to go to Cetywayo’s kraal, because I should either +come to a violent death there, or my own brothers will believe that I +am a traitor and treat me accordingly. The Zulu border is not much more +than an hour’s journey away—let us say an hour and a half’s: I mean to +be across it before the moon is up. Now, Nahoon, will you lose me in +the forest and give me this hour and a half’s start—or will you stop +here with that ghost people of whom you talk? Do you understand? No, +please do not move.” + +“I understand you,” answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed voice, +“and I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, +though, Black Heart, there is some justice in your words and more +wisdom. Your opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are +should not let fall.” + +“I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And +now will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for +me till the moon is up?” + +“What do you mean, Black Heart?” + +“What I say. Come, I have no time to spare.” + +“You are a strange man,” said the Zulu reflectively. “You heard the +king’s order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the king?” + +“Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does +not matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns +there. If you think that he will be angry because I am missing, you had +better cross the border also; we can go together.” + +“And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black Heart, +you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a soldier, and +the king’s word is the king’s word. I hoped to have died fighting, but +I am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will not reach the +border before moonrise,” and he opened his arms and smiled. + +“If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a +brave man, but every one of us must cherish his own life,” answered +Hadden calmly. + +Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu’s +breast. + +Already—whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a +twitching of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can +banish—already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a +sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden +went down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted +beast that waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his +eyes. + +It was a leopard—a tiger as they call it in Africa—which, crouched upon +a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the temptation of +satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a second or two +there was silence, broken only by the purring, or rather the snoring +sound made by the leopard. In those seconds, strangely enough, there +sprang up before Hadden’s mental vision a picture of the _inyanga_ +called _Inyosi_ or the Bee, her death-like head resting against the +thatch of the hut, and her death-like lips muttering “think of my word +when the great cat purrs above your face.” + +Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove deep +into the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it scratched at +his breast, tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the flesh +beneath. The sight of the white skin seemed to madden it, and in its +fierce desire for blood it drooped its square muzzle and buried its +fangs in its victim’s shoulder. Next moment there was a sound of +running feet and of a club falling heavily. Up reared the leopard with +an angry snarl, up till it stood as high as the attacking Zulu. At him +it came, striking out savagely and tearing the black man as it had torn +the white. Again the kerry fell full on its jaws, and down it went +backwards. Before it could rise again, or rather as it was in the act +of rising, the heavy knob-stick struck it once more, and with fearful +force, this time as it chanced, full on the nape of the neck, and +paralysing the brute. It writhed and bit and twisted, throwing up the +earth and leaves, while blow after blow was rained upon it, till at +length with a convulsive struggle and a stifled roar it lay still—the +brains oozing from its shattered skull. + +Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. + +“You have saved my life, Nahoon,” he said faintly, “and I thank you.” + +“Do not thank me, Black Heart,” answered the Zulu, “it was the king’s +word that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been hardly +dealt with, for certainly _he_ has saved _my_ life,” and lifting the +Martini he unloaded the rifle. + +At this juncture Hadden swooned away. + + +Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but +a little time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could +hear voices without understanding what they said, and feel himself +borne he knew not whither, Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a +kaross in a large and beautifully clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of +furs for a pillow. There was a bowl of milk at his side and tortured as +he was by thirst, he tried to stretch out his arm to lift it to his +lips, only to find to his astonishment that his hand fell back to his +side like that of a dead man. Looking round the hut impatiently, he +found that there was nobody in it to assist him, so he did the only +thing which remained for him to do—he lay still. He did not fall +asleep, but his eyes closed, and a kind of gentle torpor crept over +him, half obscuring his recovered senses. Presently he heard a soft +voice speaking; it seemed far away, but he could clearly distinguish +the words. + +“Black Heart still sleeps,” the voice said, “but there is colour in his +face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts again.” + +“Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not +dangerous,” answered another voice, that of Nahoon. “He fell heavily +with the weight of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses +have been shaken for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he +will not die.” + +“It would have been a pity if he had died,” answered the soft voice, +“he is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so +beautiful.” + +“I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at +my heart,” answered Nahoon sulkily. + +“Well, there is this to be said,” she replied, “he wished to escape +from Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at,” and she sighed. +“Moreover he asked you to come with him, and it might have been well if +you had done so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!” + +“How could I have done it, girl?” he asked angrily. “Would you have me +set at nothing the order of the king?” + +“The king!” she replied raising her voice. “What do you owe to this +king? You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a +few days he will take me from you—me, who should have been your wife, +and I must—I must——” And she began to weep softly, adding between her +sobs, “if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and of +yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, +Nahoon, let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me.” + +“Weep not, Nanea,” he said; “why do you tear my heart in two between my +duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must walk +the path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall be +dead, for I seek death, and then it will matter nothing.” + +“Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are +right, and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a +woman who must also obey—the will of the king.” And she cast her arms +about his neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +NANEA + + +Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, +Nahoon left Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. +Then Hadden opened his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking +and a ray of its red light streaming through the little opening filled +the place with a soft and crimson glow. In the centre of the +hut—supporting it—stood a thorn-wood roof-tree coloured black by the +smoke of the fire; and against this, the rich light falling full upon +her, leaned the girl Nanea—a very picture of gentle despair. + +As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful—so +beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man’s heart, +for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her dress was +very simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a mantle of +soft white stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was a +buck-skin moocha, also embroidered with blue beads, while round her +forehead and left knee were strips of grey fur, and on her right wrist +a shining bangle of copper. Her naked bronze-hued figure was tall and +perfect in its proportions; while her face had little in common with +that of the ordinary native girl, showing as it did strong traces of +the ancestral Arabian or Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, with +delicate aquiline features, arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that drooped +a little at the corners, tiny ears, behind which the wavy coal-black +hair hung down to the shoulders, and the very loveliest pair of dark +and liquid eyes that it is possible to imagine. + +For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the +sunbeam, while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing +heavily, she turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her +mantle over her breast and came, or rather glided, towards him. + +“The chief is awake,” she said in her soft Zulu accents. “Does he need +aught?” + +“Yes, Lady,” he answered; “I need to drink, but alas! I am too weak.” + +She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with +her right held the gourd to his lips. + +How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was +finished a change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl’s +touch, or her strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in +her eyes, matters not—the issue was the same. She struck some cord in +his turbulent uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with +passion for her—a passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. He +did not for a moment mistake the significance of the flood of feeling +that surged through his veins. Hadden never shirked facts. + +“By Heaven!” he said to himself, “I have fallen in love with a black +beauty at first sight—more in love than I have ever been before. It’s +awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for Nahoon, +or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always get rid +of her if she becomes a nuisance.” + +Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of his +blood, he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea’s face while +with a native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself dressing the +wounds that the leopard had made. + +It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind +communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a +little at her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, +she rose from her knees with a courteous “It is finished, _Inkoos_,” +and once more took up her position by the roof-tree. + +“I thank you, Lady,” he said; “your hand is kind.” + +“You must not call me lady, _Inkoos_,” she answered, “I am no +chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona.” + +“And named Nanea,” he said. “Nay, do not be surprised, I have heard of +you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess—up at the +king’s kraal yonder.” + +“Alas! and alas!” she said, covering her face with her hands. + +“Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it +cannot be climbed or crept through.” + +She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not pursue +the subject. + +“Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?” + +“Nahoon and his companions carried you, _Inkoos_.” + +“Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. +Well, Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I +trust that I may be able to repay it—to you, Nanea.” + + +This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did +not seek them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation +brought about many another. Never for a moment did the white man waver +in his determination to get into his keeping the native girl who had +captivated him, and to attain his end he brought to bear all his powers +and charm to detach her from Nahoon, and win her affections for +himself. He was no rough wooer, however, but proceeded warily, weaving +her about with a web of flattery and attention that must, he thought, +produce the desired effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it +would have done so—for she was but a woman, and an untutored one—had it +not been for a simple fact which dominated her whole nature. She loved +Nahoon, and there was no room in her heart for any other man, white or +black. To Hadden she was courteous and kindly but no more, nor did she +appear to notice any of the subtle advances by which he attempted to +win a foothold in her heart. For a while this puzzled him, but he +remembered that the Zulu women do not usually permit themselves to show +feeling towards an undeclared suitor. Therefore it became necessary +that he should speak out. + +His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He +was now quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the +neighbourhood of the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona’s huts +rose a spring, and thither it was Nanea’s habit to resort in the +evening to bring back drinking-water for the use of her father’s +household. The path between this spring and the kraal ran through a +patch of bush, where on a certain afternoon towards sundown Hadden took +his seat under a tree, having first seen Nanea go down to the little +stream as was her custom. A quarter of an hour later she reappeared +carrying a large gourd upon her head. She wore no garment now except +her moocha, for she had but one mantle and was afraid lest the water +should splash it. He watched her advancing along the path, her hands +resting on her hips, her splendid naked figure outlined against the +westering sun, and wondered what excuse he could make to talk with her. +As it chanced fortune favoured him, for when she was near him a snake +glided across the path in front of the girl’s feet, causing her to +spring backwards in alarm and overset the gourd of water. He came +forward, and picked it up. + +“Wait here,” he said laughing; “I will bring it to you full.” + +“Nay, _Inkoos_,” she remonstrated, “that is a woman’s work.” + +“Among my people,” he said, “the men love to work for the women,” and +he started for the spring, leaving her wondering. + +Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was +necessary to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the +contents of it spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he +said nothing to Nanea. + +“There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the kraal?” + +“Nay, _Inkoos_, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with its +weight.” + +“Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, and +had it not been for you I think that I should be dead.” + +“It was Nahoon who saved you—not I, _Inkoos_.” + +“Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my heart.” + +“You talk darkly, _Inkoos_.” + +“Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you.” + +She opened her brown eyes wide. + +“You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?” + +“I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would +have seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife.” + +“Nay, _Inkoos_, it is impossible. I am already betrothed.” + +“Ay,” he answered, “betrothed to the king.” + +“No, betrothed to Nahoon.” + +“But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And +would you not rather that I should take you than the king?” + +“It seems to be so, _Inkoos_, and I would rather go with you than with +the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I +shall not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will +never become one of the king’s women.” + +“How will you prevent it, Nanea?” + +“There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she +can hang,” she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. + +“That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die.” + +“Fair or foul, yet I die, _Inkoos_.” + +“No, no, come with me—I will find a way—and be my wife,” and he put his +arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. + +Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, +the girl disengaged herself from his embrace. + +“You have honoured me, and I thank you, _Inkoos_,” she said quietly, +“but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon—I belong to Nahoon; +therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. It is not +our custom, _Inkoos_, for we are not as the white women, but ignorant +and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by that vow +till death.” + +“Indeed,” said Hadden; “and so now you go to tell Nahoon that I have +offered to make you my wife.” + +“No, _Inkoos_, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said ‘nay’ +to you, not ‘yea,’ therefore he has no right to know,” and she stooped +to lift the gourd of water. + +Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made him +the more determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency he +conceived a scheme, or rather its rough outline. It was not a nice +scheme, and some men might have shrunk from it, but as he had no +intention of suffering himself to be defeated by a Zulu girl, he +decided—with regret, it is true—that having failed to attain his ends +by means which he considered fair, he must resort to others of more +doubtful character. + +“Nanea,” he said, “you are a good and honest woman, and I respect you. +As I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen to me +there is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be +better that you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you +will never marry him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not +give you to some other man, either you will become one of his +‘sisters,’ or to be free of him, as you say, you will die. Now hear me, +for it is because I love you and wish your welfare that I speak thus. +Why do you not escape into Natal, taking Nahoon with you, for there as +you know you may live in peace out of reach of the arm of Cetywayo?” + +“That is my desire, _Inkoos_, but Nahoon will not consent. He says that +there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not break +the command of the king and desert from his army.” + +“Then he cannot love you much, Nanea, and at least you have to think of +yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for be +sure that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly with +you, for I too believe that there must be war, and then a white man in +this country will be as a lamb among the eagles.” + +“If Nahoon will come, I will go, _Inkoos_, but I cannot fly without +Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself.” + +“Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him to +forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days’ time we must +start for the king’s kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be easy +for us to turn our faces southwards and across the river that lies +between the land of the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of us, +but most of all for your own sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I have +loved and whom I now would save. See him and plead with him as you know +how, but as yet do not tell him that I dream of flight, for then I +should be watched.” + +“In truth, I will, _Inkoos_,” she answered earnestly, “and oh! I thank +you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray you—first would I +die. Farewell.” + +“Farewell, Nanea,” and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. + + +Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for +sleep, he heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the entrance +to his hut. + +“Enter,” he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light of +the little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the +hut, followed by the great form of Nahoon. + +“_Inkoos_,” she said in a whisper when the door was closed again, “I +have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; moreover, my +father will come also.” + +“Is it so, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. + +“It is so,” answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; “to save this +girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my heart, I +have bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, White +Man, as I told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come of this +flight, and if we are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed every one +of us.” + +“Caught we can scarcely be,” broke in Nanea anxiously, “for who could +betray us, except the _Inkoos_ here——” + +“Which he is not likely to do,” said Hadden quietly, “seeing that he +desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake.” + +“That is so, Black Heart,” said Nahoon, “otherwise I tell you that I +should not have trusted you.” + +Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late +that night they sat there together making their plans. + + +On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent +altercation. Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were +Umgona and a fat and evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the +kraal on a pony. This chief, he soon discovered, was named Maputa, +being none other than the man who had sought Nanea in marriage and +brought about Nahoon’s and Umgona’s unfortunate appeal to the king. At +present he was engaged in abusing Umgona furiously, charging him with +having stolen certain of his oxen and bewitched his cows so that they +would not give milk. The alleged theft it was comparatively easy to +disprove, but the wizardry remained a matter of argument. + +“You are a dog, and a son of a dog,” shouted Maputa, shaking his fat +fist in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. “You promised +me your daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that +_umfagozan_—that low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of Zomba—you +went, the two of you, and poisoned the king’s ear against me, bringing +me into trouble with the king, and now you have bewitched my cattle. +Well, wait, I will be even with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up in +the cold morning to find your fence red with fire, and the slayers +standing outside your gates to eat up you and yours with spears——” + +At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, +intervened with effect. + +“Good,” he said, “we will wait, but not in your company, Chief Maputa. +_Hamba!_ (go)——” and seizing the fat old ruffian by the scruff of his +neck, he flung him backwards with such violence that he rolled over and +over down the little slope. + +Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to +bathe. Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along +the footpath, his head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his +black face livid with rage. + +“There goes an angry man,” he said to himself. “Now, how would it be——” +and he looked upwards like one seeking an inspiration. It seemed to +come; perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in his ear, at any +rate—in a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was walking through +the bush to meet Maputa. + +“Go in peace, Chief,” he said; “they seem to have treated you roughly +up yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not +bear the sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of +rank should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with +beer.” + +“Shameful, White Man!” gasped Maputa; “your words are true indeed. But +wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that +bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that +neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather +it.” + +“And how will you manage that, Maputa?” + +“I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be +found.” + +Hadden patted the pony’s neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he +looked the chief in the eyes and said:— + +“What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and +certain one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, whose +violence I also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft brought +sore sickness upon me?” + +“What reward do you seek, White Man?” asked Maputa eagerly. + +“A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to +whom as it chances I have taken a fancy.” + +“I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has laid +his hand upon her.” + +“That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who ‘sits at Ulundi.’ +It is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. Listen: +if you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your foes, +but when the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you this rifle +and a hundred rounds of cartridges.” + +Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. + +“It is good,” he said; “it is very good. Often have I wished for such a +gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies from +far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the girl if I +can give her to you.” + +“You swear it, Maputa?” + +“I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers.” + +“Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, +his daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the +drift that is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them and +flying from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they know +that I have learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried to +leave them. Now you who are chief of the border and guardian of that +drift, must hide at night with some men among the rocks in the shallows +of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will cross driving the +cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help her; then will +follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On these two you +must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will +give you the rifle.” + +“What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?” + +“Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not +recognise her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first +you feared to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and +they should escape you.” + +“Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are +across the river?” + +“Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon +a stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them +when I have driven over the cattle.” + +“It is well, White Man; I will not fail you.” + +So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points +of detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. + +“That ought to come off all right,” reflected Hadden to himself as he +plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, “but somehow I don’t +quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could +have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle—a +couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder +and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery +to justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military +country. Also personal interference upon my part might turn the girl +against me; while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out by +Maputa, she _must_ accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but in +every walk of life the most cautious have to take risks at times.” + +As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his +coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own kraal, +he had come to the conclusion that the white man’s plan, though +attractive in some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that +if the girl Nanea escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the +men he took with him to do the killing in the drift would suspect +something and talk. On the other hand he would earn much credit with +his majesty by revealing the plot, saying that he had learned it from +the lips of the white hunter, whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to +participate in it, and of whose coveted rifle he must trust to chance +to possess himself. + + +An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, +bearing words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the +“great Black Elephant” at Ulundi. + + + + +CHAPTER V +THE DOOM POOL + + +Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and +Nanea. One of the Zulu captain’s perplexities was as to how he should +lull the suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who +together with himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden in +his hunting and to guard against his escape. As it chanced, however, on +the day after the incident of the visit of Maputa, a messenger arrived +from no less a person than the great military Induna, Tvingwayo ka +Marolo, who afterwards commanded the Zulu army at Isandhlwana, ordering +these men to return to their regiment, the Umcityu Corps, which was to +be placed upon full war footing. Accordingly Nahoon sent them, saying +that he himself would follow with Black Heart in the course of a few +days, as at present the white man was not sufficiently recovered from +his hurts to allow of his travelling fast and far. So the soldiers +went, doubting nothing. + +Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king he +was about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea to be +delivered over into the _Sigodhla_, and also those fifteen head of +cattle that had been _lobola’d_ by Nahoon in consideration of his +forthcoming marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under +pretence that they required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle +he sent away in charge of a Basuto herd who knew nothing of their +plans, telling him to keep them by the Crocodile Drift, as there the +grass was good and sweet. + +All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, +heading straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, +however, they left the road and turning sharp to the right, passed +unobserved of any through a great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their +path now lay not far from the Pool of Doom, which, indeed, was close to +Umgona’s kraal, and the forest that was called Home of the Dead, but +out of sight of these. It was their plan to travel by night, reaching +the broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following morning. +Here they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; then, +having first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to cross the +river at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least this was the +plan of his companions; but, as we know, Hadden had another programme, +whereon after one last appearance two of the party would play no part. + +During that long afternoon’s journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the +country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his +hand a long travelling stick of black and white _umzimbeet_ wood, for +in truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey’s end. Next +came Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his +moocha and necklet of baboon’s teeth, and with him Nanea in her white +bead-bordered mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the +girl seemed to be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for from +time to time she clasped her lover’s arm, and looking up into his face, +addressed him with vehemence, almost with passion. + +Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was +shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in +this tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel +the web of death which he himself had woven. But ever that evil voice +was whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the white _Inkoos_, +had been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he found a way to +save him, within some few hours she would be the wife of the savage +gentleman at her side, the man who had named him Black Heart and who +despised him, the man whom he had meant to murder and who immediately +repaid his treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard at +the risk of his own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden’s existence +never to deny himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his +power to take it—a law which had led him always deeper into sin. In +other respects, indeed, it had not carried him far, for in the past he +had not desired much, and he had won little; but this particular flower +was to his hand, and he would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and +the flower, so much the worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in +his grasp, so much the worse for the flower; it could always be thrown +away. Thus it came about that, not for the first time in his life, +Philip Hadden discarded the somewhat spasmodic prickings of conscience +and listened to that evil whispering at his ear. + +About half-past five o’clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed +the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into +the Doom Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further +side, walked straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who +were beguiling the tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the +smoking of _dakka_ or native hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his +pony, for he was too fat to walk, waited the Chief Maputa. + +Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out +the _dakka_ pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the +lobes of their ears, and secured the four of them. + +“What is the meaning of this, O King’s soldiers?” asked Umgona in a +quavering voice. “We journey to the kraal of U’Cetywayo; why do you +molest us?” + +“Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south? Does the +Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal +presently,” answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a +callous laugh. + +“I do not understand,” stammered Umgona. + +“Then I will explain while you rest,” said the captain. “The Chief +Maputa yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned +of your intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who +had warned him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to +catch you and make an end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, +and let us finish the matter. As the Doom Pool is near, your deaths +will be easy.” + +Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; +but he did not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard +them also, and turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said +nothing, she only looked, but he could never forget that look. The +white man for his part was filled with a fiery indignation against +Maputa. + +“You wicked villain,” he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a sickly +fashion, and turned away. + +Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached +the waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. + +Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he +gazed into that abyss. + +“Are you going to throw me in there?” he asked of the Zulu captain in a +thick voice. + +“You, White Man?” replied the soldier unconcernedly. “No, our orders +are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not +know. There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he +means to pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or +to peg you over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men.” + +Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his +brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of +escape. + +By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the +waters of the pool. + +“Who dives first,” asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. + +“The old wizard,” he replied, nodding at Umgona; “then his daughter +after him, and last of all this fellow,” and he struck Nahoon in the +face with his open hand. + +“Come on, Wizard,” said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, “and +let us see how you can swim.” + +At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after +the fashion of his race. + +“No need to lead me, soldier,” he said, shaking himself loose, “who am +old and ready to die.” Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung +Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt +walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here he +stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and +without a sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. + +“That was a brave one,” said the captain with admiration. “Can you +spring too, girl, or must we throw you?” + +“I can walk my father’s path,” Nanea answered faintly, “but first I +crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the +king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart here +who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he +has betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and +this is the vengeance that he takes—a white man’s vengeance.” + +“_Wow!_” broke in the chief Maputa, “this pretty one speaks truth, for +the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona, the +wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile +Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him +softly and said ‘yes,’ and then like a loyal man I reported to the +king.” + +“You hear,” sighed Nanea. “Nahoon, fare you well, though presently +perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your +duty. For my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, my +husband, it is better to die with you than to enter the house of the +king’s women,” and Nanea stepped on to the platform. + +Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and +addressed Hadden, saying:— + +“Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose +and—the sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black Heart, +and in that night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be given to +drink of my blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the blood of +Nahoon my husband, who saved your life, and whom you have murdered. +Perchance, Black Heart, we may yet meet yonder—in the House of the +Dead.” + +Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and +outwards from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to +look. They saw her rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike +the water fifty feet below. A few seconds, and for the last time, they +caught sight of her white garment glimmering on the surface of the +gloomy pool. Then the shadows and mist-wreaths hid it, and she was +gone. + +“Now, husband,” cried the cheerful voice of the captain, “yonder is +your marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so ready to +lead the way. _Wow!_ but you are good people to kill; never have I had +to do with any who gave less trouble. You——” and he stopped, for mental +agony had done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad before his eyes. + +With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held +him and seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all +his terrible strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he +hurled him over the edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks of +the Pool of Doom. Then crying:— + +“Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!” he rushed at Hadden, +his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed striking +the chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his hand. Ill +would it have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught him. But he +could not come at him, for the soldiers sprang upon him and +notwithstanding his fearful struggles they pulled him to the ground, as +at certain festivals the Zulu regiments with their naked hands pull +down a bull in the presence of the king. + +“Cast him over before he can work more mischief,” said a voice. But the +captain cried out, “Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven has +fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would overtake +us all. Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to where he can +be cared for. Surely I thought that these evil-doers were giving us too +little trouble, and thus it has proved.” + +So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon’s hands and wrists, using as +much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is +accounted holy. It was no easy task, and it took time. + +Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground close +beside him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed it, and +about a dozen yards away Maputa’s pony was grazing. With a swift +movement, he seized the Martini and five seconds later he was on the +back of the pony, heading for the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So +quickly indeed did he execute this masterly retreat, that occupied as +they all were in binding Nahoon, for half a minute or more none of the +soldiers noticed what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to see, and +waddled after him to the top of the rise, screaming:— + +“The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun that +he promised to give me.” + +Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, +and a rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of him; +more, he had been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose sake +he had dipped his hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his +shoulder; Maputa was still running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at +any rate he would risk it. + +Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping his +arm through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it +chanced, and as he had hoped would be the case, the animal was a +trained shooting horse, and stood still. Hadden planted his feet firmly +on the ground and drawing a deep breath, he cocked the rifle and +covered the advancing chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose and with a yell +of terror turned to fly. Hadden waited a second to get the sight fair +on his broad back, then just as the soldiers appeared above the rise he +pressed the trigger. He was a noted shot, and in this instance his +skill did not fail him; for, before he heard the bullet tell, Maputa +flung his arms wide and plunged to the ground dead. + +Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the +pony and was riding for his life towards the river, which a while later +he crossed in safety. + + + + +CHAPTER VI +THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + + +When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of +Doom, a strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were many +jagged rocks, and on these the waters of the fall fell and thundered, +bounding from them in spouts of spray into the troubled depths of the +foss beyond. It was on these stones that the life was dashed out from +the bodies of the wretched victims who were hurled from above. But +Nanea, it will be remembered, had not waited to be treated thus, and as +it chanced the strong spring with which she had leapt to death carried +her clear of the rocks. By a very little she missed the edge of them +and striking the deep water head first like some practised diver, she +sank down and down till she thought that she would never rise again. +Yet she did rise, at the end of the pool in the mouth of the rapid, +along which she sped swiftly, carried down by the rush of the water. +Fortunately there were no rocks here; and, since she was a skilful +swimmer, she escaped the danger of being thrown against the banks. + +For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she +was in a forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their +drooping branches swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with her +hand, and by the help of it she dragged herself from the River of Death +whence none had escaped before. Now she stood upon the bank gasping but +quite unharmed; there was not a scratch on her body; even her white +garment was still fast about her neck. + +But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so +exhausted was Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was +that of night, and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find +some refuge. Close to the water’s edge grew an enormous yellow-wood +tree, and to this she staggered—thinking to climb it, and seek shelter +in its boughs where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. +Again fortune befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet from the +ground there was a great hole in the tree which, she discovered, was +hollow. Into this hole she crept, taking her chance of its being the +home of snakes or other evil creatures, to find that the interior was +wide and warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the cavity lay a +foot or more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by rats or birds. +Upon this tinder she lay down, and covering herself with the moss and +leaves soon sank into sleep or stupor. + +How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened +by a sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she +could not understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in +the tree. It was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their +light fell upon an open circle of ground close by the edge of the +river. In this circle there burned a great fire, and at a little +distance from the fire were gathered eight or ten horrible-looking +beings, who appeared to be rejoicing over something that lay upon the +ground. They were small in stature, men and women together, but no +children, and all of them were nearly naked. Their hair was long and +thin, growing down almost to the eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded +and the girth of their black bodies was out of all proportion to their +height. In their hands they held sticks with sharp stones lashed on to +them, or rude hatchet-like knives of the same material. + +Now Nanea’s heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, +for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt +these were the _Esemkofu_, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, +that was what they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off +them—the sight of them held her with a horrible fascination. But if +they were ghosts, why did they sing and dance like men? Why did they +wave those sharp stones aloft, and quarrel and strike each other? And +why did they make a fire as men do when they wish to cook food? More, +what was it that they rejoiced over, that long dark thing which lay so +quiet upon the ground? It did not look like a head of game, and it +could scarcely be a crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, +for they were sharpening the stone knives in order to cut it up. + +While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures +advanced to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over +the thing that lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who +was about to do something to it with the stone knife. Next instant +Nanea drew back her head from the hole, a stifled shriek upon her lips. +She saw what it was now—it was the body of a man. Yes, and these were +no ghosts; they were cannibals of whom when she was little, her mother +had told her tales to keep her from wandering away from home. + +But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of +themselves, for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it must +be Nahoon, who had been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the +waters had brought down to the haunted forest as they had brought her +alive. Yes, it must be Nahoon, and she would be forced to see her +husband devoured before her eyes. The thought of it overwhelmed her. +That he should die by order of the king was natural, but that he should +be buried thus! Yet what could she do to prevent it? Well, if it cost +her her life, it should be prevented. At the worst they could only kill +and eat her also, and now that Nahoon and her father were gone, being +untroubled by any religious or spiritual hopes and fears, she was not +greatly concerned to keep her own breath in her. + +Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards the +cannibals—not knowing in the least what she should do when she reached +them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of programme came +home to her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. Just then one of +the cannibals looked up to see a tall and stately figure wrapped in a +white garment which, as the flame-light flickered on it, seemed now to +advance from the dense background of shadow, and now to recede into it. +The poor savage wretch was holding a stone knife in his teeth when he +beheld her, but it did not remain there long, for opening his great +jaws he uttered the most terrified and piercing yell that Nanea had +ever heard. Then the others saw her also, and presently the forest was +ringing with shrieks of fear. For a few seconds the outcasts stood and +gazed, then they were gone this way and that, bursting their path +through the undergrowth like startled jackals. The _Esemkofu_ of Zulu +tradition had been routed in their own haunted home by what they took +to be a spirit. + +Poor _Esemkofu!_ they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, +driven into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this +means, the only one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched +bodies. Here at least they were unmolested, and as there was little +other food to be found amid that wilderness of trees, they took what +the river brought them. When executions were few in the Pool of Doom, +times were hard for them indeed—for then they were driven to eat each +other. That is why there were no children. + +As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran +forward to look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back +with a sigh of relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face +for that of one of the party of executioners. How did he come here? Had +Nahoon killed him? Had Nahoon escaped? She could not tell, and at the +best it was improbable, but still the sight of this dead soldier lit +her heart with a faint ray of hope, for how did he come to be dead if +Nahoon had no hand in his death? She could not bear to leave him lying +so near her hiding-place, however; therefore, with no small toil, she +rolled the corpse back into the water, which carried it swiftly away. +Then she returned to the tree, having first replenished the fire, and +awaited the light. + +At last it came—so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome den—and +Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the tree to +search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till +towards sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest there +was a flat rock where it was the custom of those who had been in any +way afflicted, or who considered themselves or their belongings to be +bewitched, to place propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the +_Esemkofu_ and _Amalhosi_ were supposed to satisfy their spiritual +cravings. Urged by the pinch of starvation, to this spot Nanea +journeyed rapidly, and found to her joy that some neighbouring kraal +had evidently been in recent trouble, for the Rock of Offering was +laden with cobs of corn, gourds of milk, porridge and even meat. +Helping herself to as much as she could carry, she returned to her +lair, where she drank of the milk and cooked meat and mealies at the +fire. Then she crept back into the tree, and slept. + +For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could +not venture out of it—fearing lest she should be seized, and for a +second time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least +she was safe, for none dared enter there, nor did the _Esemkofu_ give +her further trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion +they fled from her presence—seeking some distant retreat, where they +hid themselves or perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that it +was taken, the pious givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of +Offering. + +But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled +with her sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she lived +on, though often she desired to die, for if her father was dead, the +corpse she had found was not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her heart +there still shone that spark of hope. Yet what she hoped for she could +not tell. + + +When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was +about to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the +Amazulu; also that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure +with the Utrecht store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was +the owner of two good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at +that time vehicles were much in request to carry military stores for +the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport +authorities were glad to pay £90 a month for the hire of each waggon +and to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he was +not desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much for +Hadden, who accordingly leased out his waggons to the Commissariat, +together with his own services as conductor and interpreter. + +He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be +remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on +the 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs +from Rorke’s Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night +beneath the shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as +Isandhlwana. + +That day also a great army of King Cetywayo’s, numbering twenty +thousand men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon +the stony plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. +No fires were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors +were “sleeping on their spears.” + +With that _impi_ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred +strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu +looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he +had covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man +standing before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man +who held a rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made +no answer; he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right +along the dense array of innumerable shields. + +“Who is this _Silwana_ (wild creature)?” asked the Induna of his +captains wondering. + +The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, “This is +Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in +this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona, +was killed together with her father by order of the Black One, and +Nahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven +entered his brain, and mad he has wandered ever since.” + +“What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?” asked the Induna. + +Then Nahoon spoke slowly. “My regiment goes down to war against the +white men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I +may fight with my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle.” + +So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away one +whose brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. + + +When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks +of the Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, +company by company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, +breast and horns together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed +British camp, a moving sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the +shields, the shells tore long lines through their array, but they never +halted or wavered. Forward on either side shot out the horns of armed +men, clasping the camp in an embrace of steel. Then as these began to +close, out burst the war cry of the Zulus, and with the roar of a +torrent and the rush of a storm, with a sound like the humming of a +billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast of the _impi_ rolled down +upon the white men. With it went the black-shielded Umcityu and with +them went Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A bullet struck him in the side, +glancing from his ribs, he did not heed; a white man fell from his +horse before him, he did not stab, for he sought but one face in the +battle. + +He sought—and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the +spears were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly was +Black Heart, he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three +soldiers stood between them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he +brushed aside; then he rushed straight at Hadden. + +But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his +madness he knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing +away his empty rifle, for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his +horse and drove his spurs into its flanks. Away it went among the +carnage, springing over the dead and bursting through the lines of +shields, and after it came Nahoon, running long and low with head +stretched forward and trailing spear, running as a hound runs when the +buck is at view. + +Hadden’s first plan was to head for Rorke’s Drift, but a glance to the +left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he fled +straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was over a +ridge, and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten all +sounds of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread race +to Fugitive’s Drift, and the assegai makes no noise. In some strange +fashion, even at this moment, the contrast between the dreadful scene +of blood and turmoil that he had left, and the peaceful face of Nature +over which he was passing, came home to his brain vividly. Here birds +sang and cattle grazed; here the sun shone undimmed by the smoke of +cannon, only high up in the blue and silent air long streams of +vultures could be seen winging their way to the Plain of Isandhlwana. + +The ground was very rough, and Hadden’s horse began to tire. He looked +over his shoulder—there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, +grim as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; +there was but one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been +fired and the pouch was empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for +one savage: the question was should he stop and use it now? No, he +might miss or fail to kill the man; he was on horseback and his foe on +foot, surely he could tire him out. + +A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed +familiar to Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when +he was the guest of Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the knoll +to his right were the huts, or rather the remains of them, for they had +been burnt with fire. What chance had brought him to this place, he +wondered; then again he looked behind him at Nahoon, who seemed to read +his thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to the ruined kraal. + +On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost +sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, +and when it was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was once more in +his old place. His horse’s strength was almost spent, but Hadden +spurred it forward blindly, whither he knew not. Now he was travelling +along a strip of turf and ahead of him he heard the music of a river, +while to his left rose a high bank. Presently the turf bent inwards and +there, not twenty yards away from him, was a Kaffir hut standing on the +brink of a river. He looked at it, yes, it was the hut of that accursed +_inyanga_, the Bee, and standing by the fence of it was none other than +the Bee herself. At the sight of her the exhausted horse swerved +violently, stumbled and came to the ground, where it lay panting. +Hadden was thrown from the saddle but sprang to his feet unhurt. + +“Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?” +cried the Bee in a mocking voice. + +“Help me, mother, I am pursued,” he gasped. + +“What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and +face him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You +will not? Then away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who +await you there. Tell me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw +beneath the waters a while ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when you +two meet in the House of the Dead.” + +Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, so +followed by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the +forest. After him came Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like +the tongue of a wolf. + +Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following +the course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he +halted on the further side of a little glade, beyond which a great tree +grew. Nahoon was more than a spear’s throw behind him; therefore he had +time to draw his pistol and make ready. + +“Halt, Nahoon,” he cried, as once before he had cried; “I would speak +with you.” + +The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. + +“Listen,” said Hadden. “We have run a long race and fought a long +fight, you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you +come on, one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am +armed and as you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?” + +Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his +wild and glowering eyes fixed on the white man’s face and his breath +coming in short gasps. + +“Will you let me go, if _I_ let _you_ go?” Hadden asked once more. “I +know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor can the dead +be brought to earth again.” + +Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and +more crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so +terrible in Hadden’s ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai he +stalked grimly toward his foe. + +When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon +sprang aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right arm +dropped, and the stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it +harmlessly over the white man’s head. But still making no sound, the +Zulu came on and gripped him by the throat with his left hand. For a +space they struggled terribly, swaying to and fro, but Hadden was +unhurt and fought with the fury of despair, while Nahoon had been twice +wounded, and there remained to him but one sound arm wherewith to +strike. Presently forced to earth by the white man’s iron strength, the +soldier was down, nor could he rise again. + +“Now we will make an end,” muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned to +seek the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and +reeling gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a +spear in her hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! + +“Think of it,” he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of the +_inyanga_, “when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in +the Home of the Dead.” + +There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards him +to bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently Black +Heart clasped that great reward which the word of the Bee had promised +Him. + + +“Nahoon! Nahoon!” murmured a soft voice, “awake, it is no ghost, but +I—Nanea—I, your living wife, to whom my _Ehlose_[*] has given it me to +save you.” + +[*] Guardian Spirit. + + +Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. + +“Welcome, wife,” he said faintly, “now I will live since Death has +brought you back to me in the House of the Dead.” + + +To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in +Zululand, and there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips +of none other than Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard +its substance. + +The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the +white man’s rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a +snake with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + +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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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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: Black Heart and White Heart</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: October, 2001 [eBook #2842]<br /> +[Most recently updated: May 26, 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 BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART ***</div> + +<h1>Black Heart and White Heart</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">DEDICATION</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref02">AUTHOR’S NOTE</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. THE BEE PROPHESIES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. THE END OF THE HUNT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. NANEA</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. THE DOOM POOL</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. THE GHOST OF THE DEAD</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>DEDICATION</h2> + +<p class="center"> +To the Memory of the Child<br /> +Nada Burnham, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +who “bound all to her” and, while her father cut his way through +the hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at Buluwayo +on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more particularly the last, +that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and death. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +H. Rider Haggard. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Ditchingham. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref02"></a>AUTHOR’S NOTE</h2> + +<p> +Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, “The +Wizard,” a tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a +Christmas Annual. Another, “Elissa,” is an attempt, difficult +enough owing to the scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate +the life of the ancient Phoenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in +Rhodesia, and, with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest +circumstances such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall at the +hands of the surrounding savage tribes. The third, “Black Heart and White +Heart,” is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of a pair of +Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 titled “Black +Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories.”— JB. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART<br /> +A ZULU IDYLL</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO</h2> + +<p> +At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a transport-rider and +trader in “the Zulu.” Still on the right side of forty, in +appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, with keen eyes, +short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut features. His life had been +varied, and there were passages in it which he did not narrate even to his most +intimate friends. He was of gentle birth, however, and it was said that he had +received a public school and university education in England. At any rate he +could quote the classics with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, +coupled with his refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild +places of the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the +<i>soubriquet</i> of “The Prince.” +</p> + +<p> +However these things may have been, it is certain that he had emigrated to +Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his relatives at home were +content to take no further interest in his fortunes. During the fifteen or +sixteen years which he had spent in or about the colony, Hadden followed many +trades, and did no good at any of them. A clever man, of agreeable and +prepossessing manner, he always found it easy to form friendships and to secure +a fresh start in life. But, by degrees, the friends were seized with a vague +distrust of him; and, after a period of more or less application, he himself +would close the opening that he had made by a sudden disappearance from the +locality, leaving behind him a doubtful reputation and some bad debts. +</p> + +<p> +Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes in his life, +Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in transport-riding—that is, +in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban or Maritzburg to various points in +the interior. A difficulty such as had more than once confronted him in the +course of his career, led to his temporary abandonment of this means of earning +a livelihood. On arriving at the little frontier town of Utrecht in the +Transvaal, in charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods consigned to a +storekeeper there, it was discovered that out of six cases of brandy five were +missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter by throwing the blame upon +his Kaffir “boys,” but the storekeeper, a rough-tongued man, openly +called him a thief and refused to pay the freight on any of the load. From +words the two men came to blows, knives were drawn, and before anybody could +interfere the storekeeper received a nasty wound in his side. That night, +without waiting till the matter could be inquired into by the landdrost or +magistrate, Hadden slipped away, and trekked back into Natal as quickly as his +oxen would travel. Feeling that even here he was not safe, he left one of his +waggons at Newcastle, loaded up the other with Kaffir goods—such as +blankets, calico, and hardware—and crossed into Zululand, where in those +days no sheriff’s officer would be likely to follow him. +</p> + +<p> +Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he did good +trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some cash and a small herd +of cattle, which he received in exchange for his wares. Meanwhile news reached +him that the man whom he had injured still vowed vengeance against him, and was +in communication with the authorities in Natal. These reasons making his return +to civilisation undesirable for the moment, and further business being +impossible until he could receive a fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a +wise man turned his thoughts to pleasure. Sending his cattle and waggon over +the border to be left in charge of a native headman with whom he was friendly, +he went on foot to Ulundi to obtain permission from the king, Cetywayo, to hunt +game in his country. Somewhat to his surprise, the Indunas or headmen, received +him courteously—for Hadden’s visit took place within a few months +of the outbreak of the Zulu war in 1878, when Cetywayo was already showing +unfriendliness to the English traders and others, though why the king did so +they knew not. +</p> + +<p> +On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden got a +hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning after his arrival +at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him that “the Elephant +whose tread shook the earth” had signified that it was his pleasure to +see him. Accordingly he was led through the thousands of huts and across the +Great Place to the little enclosure where Cetywayo, a royal-looking Zulu seated +on a stool, and wearing a kaross of leopard skins, was holding an +<i>indaba</i>, or conference, surrounded by his counsellors. The Induna who had +conducted him to the august presence went down upon his hands and knees, and, +uttering the royal salute of <i>Bayéte</i>, crawled forward to announce that +the white man was waiting. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him wait,” said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued +the discussion with his counsellors. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when from time +to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he spoke reached his ear. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be +pleading with him earnestly; “am I a dog that these white hyenas should +hunt me thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father’s before me? +Are not the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that I will stamp out +these little white men; my <i>impis</i> shall eat them up. I have said!” +</p> + +<p> +Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of a +peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed towards the +sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien, he seemed to be +prophesying disaster should a certain course of action be followed. +</p> + +<p> +For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his eyes +literally ablaze with rage. +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken,” he cried to the counsellor; “I have guessed it for +long, and now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu’s[*] +dog, and the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another +man’s dog to bite me in my own house. Take him away!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone’s. +</p> + +<p> +A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of <i>indunas</i>, but the old +man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would murder him, +came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps five, he covered his +face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then he looked up and spoke to the +king in a clear voice. +</p> + +<p> +“O King,” he said, “I am a very old man; as a youth I served +under Chaka the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the white +man. Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the battle of the +Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was the counsellor of +Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the battle of the Tugela, when +its grey waters were turned to red with the blood of Umbulazi your brother, and +of the tens of thousands of his people. Afterwards I became your counsellor, O +King, and I was with you when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made +promises to Sompseu—promises that you have not kept. Now you are weary of +me, and it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is foolish, as it +chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka, your great-uncle, +will come true, and that the white men will prevail against you and that +through them you shall find your death. I would that I might have stood in one +more battle and fought for you, O King, since fight you will, but the end which +you choose is for me the best end. Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. +<i>Bayéte!</i>”[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] The royal salute of the Zulus. +</p> + +<p> +For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men waited to +hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please him to be merciful, +or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. +</p> + +<p> +“Take him away,” he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face +and one word, “Good-night,” upon his lips, supported by the arm of +a soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of death. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. “If he +treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?” he reflected. +“We English must have fallen out of favour since I left Natal. I wonder +whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this isn’t my +place.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced to look +up. “Bring the stranger here,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as cool and +nonchalant a manner as he could command. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. “At least, White Man,” +said the king, glancing at his visitor’s tall spare form and cleanly cut +face, “you are no ‘<i>umfagozan</i>’ (low fellow); you are of +the blood of chiefs.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, King,” answered Hadden, with a little sigh, “I am of +the blood of chiefs.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you want in my country, White Man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have +heard, and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt buffalo, and +other big game, for a while before I return to Natal.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot grant it,” answered Cetywayo, “you are a spy sent +by Sompseu, or by the Queen’s Induna in Natal. Get you gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; “then I +hope that Sompseu, or the Queen’s Induna, or both of them, will pay me +when I return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, but +I should first like to make you a present.” +</p> + +<p> +“What present?” asked the king. “I want no presents. We are +rich here, White Man.” +</p> + +<p> +“So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a +rifle.” +</p> + +<p> +“A rifle, White Man? Where is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is +death to come armed before the ‘Elephant who shakes the +Earth.’” +</p> + +<p> +Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Let this white man’s offering be brought; I will consider the +thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, running +with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every step he must fall +upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon in his hand and presented +it to the king, holding it so that the muzzle was pointed straight at the royal +breast. +</p> + +<p> +“I crave leave to say, O Elephant,” remarked Hadden in a drawling +voice, “that it might be well to command your servant to lift the mouth +of that gun from your heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” asked the king. +</p> + +<p> +“Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably +desires to continue to shake the Earth.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words the “Elephant” uttered a sharp exclamation, and +rolled from his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, +springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and discharge +a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had been occupied by his +monarch’s head. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him be taken away,” shouted the incensed king from the ground, +but long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry that the +gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed through the gate. +</p> + +<p> +“He has already taken himself away,” suggested Hadden, while the +audience tittered. “No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a repeating +rifle. Look——” and lifting the Winchester, he fired the four +remaining shots in quick succession into the air, striking the top of a tree at +which he aimed with every one of them. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Wow</i>, it is wonderful!” said the company in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Has the thing finished?” asked the king. +</p> + +<p> +“For the present it has,” answered Hadden. “Look at +it.” +</p> + +<p> +Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, swinging +the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of some of his most +eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as the barrel was brought to +bear on them. +</p> + +<p> +“See what cowards they are, White Man,” said the king with +indignation; “they fear lest there should be another bullet in this +gun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered Hadden, “they are cowards indeed. I believe +that if they were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it +chanced to your Majesty to do just now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?” asked the king +hastily, while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and contemplated the +fence behind them. +</p> + +<p> +“No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them.” +</p> + +<p> +“If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and mend +guns for me?” asked Cetywayo anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“It might depend on the pay,” answered Hadden; “but for +awhile I am tired of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the +permission to hunt for which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return +perhaps we can bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king farewell, and +journey to Natal.” +</p> + +<p> +“In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here,” +muttered Cetywayo. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led away the +old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves before the king. +</p> + +<p> +“Is he dead?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“He has travelled the king’s bridge,” they answered grimly; +“he died singing a song of praise of the king.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said Cetywayo, “that stone shall hurt my feet no +more. Go, tell the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen’s +Induna in Natal,” he added with bitter emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Baba!</i> Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the +Elephant,” said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than the +rest added: “Soon we will tell them another tale, the white Talking Ones, +a red tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall sing it in their +ears.” +</p> + +<p> +At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden flame +catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them were seated on +their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground in unison, +repeated:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<i>Indaba ibomwu—indaba ye mikonto<br /> +Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho.</i><br /> +(A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears,<br /> +And the <i>impis</i> shall sing it in their ears.) +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden and +shaking his fist before his eyes—fortunately being in the royal presence +he had no assegai—shouted the sentences at him. +</p> + +<p> +The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. +</p> + +<p> +“Silence,” he thundered in the deep voice for which he was +remarkable, and instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only +the echoes still answered back: “And the <i>impis</i> shall sing it in +their ears—in their ears.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am growing certain that this is no place for me,” thought +Hadden; “if that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily +forgotten himself. Hullo! who’s this?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid specimen of +the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years of age, was arrayed in +a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu regiment. From the circlet of +otter skin on his brow rose his crest of plumes, round his middle, arms and +knees hung the long fringes of black oxtails, and in one hand he bore a little +dancing shield, also black in colour. The other was empty, since he might not +appear before the king bearing arms. In countenance the man was handsome, and +though just now they betrayed some anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, +and his mouth sensitive. In height he must have measured six foot two inches, +yet he did not strike the observer as being tall, perhaps because of his width +of chest and the solidity of his limbs, that were in curious contrast to the +delicate and almost womanish hands and feet which so often mark the Zulu of +noble blood. In short the man was what he seemed to be, a savage gentleman of +birth, dignity and courage. +</p> + +<p> +In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a blanket, +whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. His face also was +pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were timorous, and the mouth lacked +character. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are these?” asked the king. +</p> + +<p> +The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their foreheads +touched the ground—the while giving him his <i>sibonga</i> or titles of +praise. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak,” he said impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“O King,” said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, +“I am Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my +uncle Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father’s youngest +wife.” +</p> + +<p> +Cetywayo frowned. “What do you here away from your regiment, +Nahoon?” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head captains, +and I come to ask a boon of the king’s bounty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be swift, then, Nahoon.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is this, O King,” said the captain with some embarrassment: +“A while ago the king was pleased to make a <i>keshla</i> of me because +of certain service that I did out yonder——” and he touched +the black ring which he wore in the hair of his head. “Being now a ringed +man and a captain, I crave the right of a man at the hands of the +king—the right to marry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle have +no rights.” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a fair +daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me to husband. +Awaiting the king’s leave I am betrothed to her and in earnest of it I +have paid to Umgona a <i>lobola</i> of fifteen head of cattle, cows and calves +together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, an old chief named Maputa, the +warden of the Crocodile Drift, who doubtless is known to the king, and this +chief also seeks Nanea in marriage and harries Umgona, threatening him with +many evils if he will not give the girl to him. But Umgona’s heart is +white towards me, and towards Maputa it is black, therefore together we come to +crave this boon of the king.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so; he speaks the truth,” said Umgona. +</p> + +<p> +“Cease,” answered Cetywayo angrily. “Is this a time that my +soldiers should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? +Know that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls who had +dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, should be strangled +and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and with them the bodies of their +fathers, that all might know their sin and be warned thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is +well for you and for your daughter that you sought my word before she was given +in marriage to this man. Now this is my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, +and since you, Umgona, are troubled with one whom you would not take as +son-in-law, the old chief Maputa, I will free you from his importunity. The +girl, says Nahoon, is fair—good, I myself will be gracious to her, and +she shall be numbered among the wives of the royal house. Within thirty days +from now, in the week of the next new moon, let her be delivered to the +<i>Sigodhla</i>, the royal house of the women, and with her those cattle, the +cows and the calves together, that Nahoon has given you, of which I fine him +because he has dared to think of marriage without the leave of the king.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +THE BEE PROPHESIES</h2> + +<p> +“‘A Daniel come to judgment’ indeed,” reflected Hadden, +who had been watching this savage comedy with interest; “our love-sick +friend has got more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to +Cæsar,” and he turned to look at the two suppliants. +</p> + +<p> +The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences of +conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and condescension. +Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he had done answered by +reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not appear at the date named, both she +and he, her father, would in due course certainly decorate a cross-road in +their own immediate neighbourhood. +</p> + +<p> +The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal words crossed +the king’s lips, his face took an expression of absolute astonishment, +which was presently replaced by one of fury—the just fury of a man who +suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His whole frame quivered, the veins +stood out in knots on his neck and forehead, and his fingers closed +convulsively as though they were grasping the handle of a spear. Presently the +rage passed away—for as well might a man be wroth with fate as with a +Zulu despot—to be succeeded by a look of the most hopeless misery. The +proud dark eyes grew dull, the copper-coloured face sank in and turned ashen, +the mouth drooped, and down one corner of it there trickled a little line of +blood springing from the lip bitten through in the effort to keep silence. +Lifting his hand in salute to the king, the great man rose and staggered rather +than walked towards the gate. +</p> + +<p> +As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. +“Stay,” he said, “I have a service for you, Nahoon, that +shall drive out of your head these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this +white man here; he is my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush +country. I put him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he comes to +no hurt. See also that you bring him before me within a month, or your life +shall answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in the first week of the +new moon—when Nanea comes—and then I will tell you whether or no I +agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, and you, White Man, go also; +those who are to accompany you shall be with you at the dawn. Farewell, but +remember we meet again at the new moon, when we will settle what pay you shall +receive as keeper of my guns. Do not fail me, White Man, or I shall send after +you, and my messengers are sometimes rough.” +</p> + +<p> +“This means that I am a prisoner,” thought Hadden, “but it +will go hard if I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don’t +intend to stay in this country if war is declared, to be pounded into +<i>mouti</i> (medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that +sort.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were encamped in a +wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the Blood and Unvunyana +Rivers, not more than eight miles from that “Place of the Little +Hand” which within a few weeks was to become famous throughout the world +by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days they had been tracking the +spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still inhabited the district, but as yet +they had not come up with them. The Zulu hunters had suggested that they should +follow the Unvunyana down towards the sea where game was more plentiful, but +this neither Hadden, nor the captain, Nahoon, had been anxious to do, for +reasons which each of them kept secret to himself. Hadden’s object was to +work gradually down to the Buffalo River across which he hoped to effect a +retreat into Natal. That of Nahoon was to linger in the neighbourhood of the +kraal of Umgona, which was situated not very far from their present camping +place, in the vague hope that he might find an opportunity of speaking with or +at least of seeing Nanea, the girl to whom he was affianced, who within a few +weeks must be taken from him, and given over to the king. +</p> + +<p> +A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden had never +seen. Behind them lay a tract of land—half-swamp and half-bush—in +which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in lonely grandeur, rose +the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was an amphitheatre of the most +gloomy forest, ringed round in the distance by sheer-sided hills. Into this +forest there ran a river which drained the swamp, placidly enough upon the +level. But it was not always level, for within three hundred yards of them it +dashed suddenly over a precipice, of no great height but very steep, falling +into a boiling rock-bound pool that the light of the sun never seemed to reach. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +“It is named <i>Emagudu</i>, The Home of the Dead,” the Zulu +replied absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was +situated at an hour’s walk away over the ridge to the right. +</p> + +<p> +“The Home of the Dead! Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because the dead live there, those whom we name the <i>Esemkofu</i>, the +Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the <i>Amahlosi</i>, from whom +the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Hadden, “and have you ever seen these +ghosts?” +</p> + +<p> +“Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead +enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make +offerings to the dead.” +</p> + +<p> +Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked over it. +To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while close to the bank of +it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between the cliff and the commencement +of the forest, was a hut. +</p> + +<p> +“Who lives there?” asked Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +“The great <i>Isanusi</i>—she who is named <i>Inyanga</i> or +Doctoress; she who is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom from +the dead who grow in the forest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I am +going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap, White Man, but,” he added with a little smile, +“those who visit the Bee’s hive may hear nothing, or they may hear +more than they wish for. The words of that Bee have a sting.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good; I will see if she can sting me.” +</p> + +<p> +“So be it,” said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the +cliff till he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. +</p> + +<p> +By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of the +descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low fence of +reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth beaten hard and +polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool being placed almost at the +mouth of the round opening that served as a doorway to the hut. At first all +that Hadden could see of her, crouched as she was in the shadow, was a huddled +shape wrapped round with a greasy and tattered catskin kaross, above the edge +of which appeared two eyes, fierce and quick as those of a leopard. At her feet +smouldered a little fire, and ranged around it in a semi-circle were a number +of human skulls, placed in pairs as though they were talking together, whilst +other bones, to all appearance also human, were festooned about the hut and the +fence of the courtyard. +</p> + +<p> +“I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties,” +thought Hadden, but he said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes upon +his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all his might, +till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this curious duel. His +brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that the woman before him had +shifted shape into the likeness of a colossal and horrid spider sitting at the +mouth of her trap, and that these bones were the relics of her victims. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you not speak, White Man?” she said at last in a slow clear +voice. “Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You are +thinking that I who am called the Bee should be better named the Spider. Have +no fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit me when the dead are so +many? I suck the souls of men, not their bodies, White Man. It is their living +hearts I love to look on, for therein I read much and thereby I grow wise. Now +what would you of the Bee, White Man, the Bee that labours in this Garden of +Death, and—what brings <i>you</i> here, son of Zomba? Why are you not +with the Umcityu now that they doctor themselves for the great war—the +last war—the war of the white and the black—or if you have no +stomach for fighting, why are you not at the side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the +fair?” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:— +</p> + +<p> +“A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my +hunting.” +</p> + +<p> +“In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of money, +or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; that is your +nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the wound of that trader +who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of the Maboon (Boers)? No need to +answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, for the poor witch-doctoress whose +skill you seek,” she added in a whining voice. “Surely you would +not that an old woman should work without a fee?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going,” said +Hadden, who began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the +Bee’s powers of observation and thought-reading. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay,” she answered with an unpleasant laugh, “would you ask +a question, and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at +present, White Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again,” and +once more she laughed. “Let me look in your face, let me look in your +face,” she continued, rising and standing before him. +</p> + +<p> +Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, and the +next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her thumb and finger +a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. The action was so +instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor to resent it, but stood +still staring at her stupidly. +</p> + +<p> +“That is all I need,” she cried, “for like my heart my magic +is white. Stay—son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who +visit the Bee must listen to her humming.” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge of his +assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not because he wished to +do so, but because he feared to refuse. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire before +them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was bound about her +middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she wore none of the +abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see upon the persons of +witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a curious ornament, a small +live snake, red and grey in hue, which her visitors recognised as one of the +most deadly to be found in that part of the country. It is not unusual for +Bantu witch-doctors thus to decorate themselves with snakes, though whether or +not their fangs have first been extracted no one seems to know. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up in a thin, +straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, clung about her head +enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. Then of a sudden she +stretched out her hands, and let fall the two locks of hair upon the burning +herbs, where they writhed themselves to ashes like things alive. Next she +opened her mouth, and began to draw the fumes of the hair and herbs into her +lungs in great gulps; while the snake, feeling the influence of the medicine, +hissed and, uncoiling itself from about her neck, crept upwards and took refuge +among the black <i>saccaboola</i> feathers of her head-dress. +</p> + +<p> +Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro muttering, then +sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her head rested. Now the +Bee’s face was turned upwards towards the light, and it was ghastly to +behold, for it had become blue in colour, and the open eyes were sunken like +the eyes of one dead, whilst above her forehead the red snake wavered and +hissed, reminding Hadden of the Uraeus crest on the brow of statues of Egyptian +kings. For ten seconds or more she remained thus, then she spoke in a hollow +and unnatural voice:— +</p> + +<p> +“O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your +heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. Beautiful +white body with black heart, you shall find your game and hunt it, and it shall +lead you into the House of the Homeless, into the Home of the Dead, and it +shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be shaped as a tiger, it shall be shaped as +a woman whom kings and waters cannot harm. Beautiful white body and black +heart, you shall be paid your wages, money for money, and blow for blow. Think +of my word when the spotted cat purrs above your breast; think of it when the +battle roars about you; think of it when you grasp your great reward, and for +the last time stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the Home of the +Dead. +</p> + +<p> +“O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white as +milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you strike that +blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love is as the love of a +tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow it, follow it, O swift of +foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that has lied will never plead for +mercy, and the hand that can betray is strong in war. White Heart, what is +death? In death life lives, and among the dead you shall find the life you +lost, for there awaits you she whom kings and waters cannot harm.” +</p> + +<p> +As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it was almost +inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass from trance to +sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an amused and cynical smile, +now laughed aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you laugh, White Man?” asked Nahoon angrily. +</p> + +<p> +“I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of +that lying fraud.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is no nonsense, White Man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a +woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further argument, +and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red snake from her +head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped herself again in the greasy +kaross. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you satisfied with my wisdom, <i>Inkoos</i>?” she asked of +Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +“I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, +mother,” he answered coolly. “Now, what is there to pay?” +</p> + +<p> +The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or two the +look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen in those of the +snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. +</p> + +<p> +“If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so,” she answered, +“for he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that I +ask no fee;—yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from it, gave +it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the gold ring that +was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a snake with two little rubies +set in the head to represent the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, +<i>Inkoos</i>. I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so that +the snake about my neck may be less lonely there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead,” said +Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” she answered in a pleased voice, “it is a good +word. I will wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none can +say that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness that you gave +me permission to do so.” +</p> + +<p> +For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about the +Bee’s tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her +professional manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her cupidity +she had become natural, and it was evident that she spoke from conviction, +believing her own words. +</p> + +<p> +She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. +</p> + +<p> +“Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old +witch-doctoress,” she said in a whining voice. “I have so much to +do with Death that his name leaps to my lips,” and she glanced first at +the circle of skulls about her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy +pool upon whose banks her hut was placed. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” she said simply. +</p> + +<p> +Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden’s eyes fell upon two +withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right angles to its +rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude platform made of logs of +wood lashed down with <i>riems</i> of hide. Upon this platform stood three +figures; notwithstanding the distance and the spray of the fall, he could see +that they were those of two men and a girl, for their shapes stood out +distinctly against the fiery red of the sunset sky. One instant there were +three, the next there were two—for the girl had gone, and something dark +rushing down the face of the fall, struck the surface of the pool with a heavy +thud, while a faint and piteous cry broke upon his ear. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the meaning of that?” he asked, horrified and amazed. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” answered the Bee with a laugh. “Do you not know, +then, that this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved +without the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and with them +their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I watch them die and +keep the count of the number of them,” and drawing a tally-stick from the +thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a notch to the many that appeared +upon it, looking at Nahoon the while with a half-questioning, half-warning +gaze. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, it is a place of death,” she muttered. “Up yonder +the quick die day by day and down there”—and she pointed along the +course of the river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred +yards from her hut—“the ghosts of them have their home. +Listen!” +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from the dim +skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it is impossible to +define more accurately than by saying that it seemed beastlike, and almost +inarticulate. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” repeated the Bee, “they are merry yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who?” asked Hadden; “the baboons?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, <i>Inkoos</i>, the <i>Amatongo</i>—the ghosts that welcome her +who has just become of their number.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ghosts,” said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, +“I should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard +a troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be going +while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell <i>Inkoos</i>, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. +Go in peace <i>Inkoos</i>—to sleep in peace.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +THE END OF THE HUNT</h2> + +<p> +The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that night. He +felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not troubling him more than +usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he closed his eyes, his mind conjured up +a picture of the grim witch-doctoress, so strangely named the Bee, and the +sound of her evil-omened words as he had heard them that afternoon. He was +neither a superstitious nor a timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that +might linger in his mind were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what he +might, he could not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, lest there +should be some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this hag. What if it were +a fact that he was near his death, and that the heart which beat so strongly in +his breast must soon be still for ever—no, he would not think of it. This +gloomy place, and the dreadful sight which he saw that day, had upset his +nerves. The domestic customs of these Zulus were not pleasant, and for his part +he was determined to be clear of them so soon as he was able to escape the +country. +</p> + +<p> +In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make a dash +for the border on the following night. To do this with a good prospect of +success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a buffalo, or some other +head of game. Then, as he knew well, the hunters with him would feast upon meat +until they could scarcely stir, and that would be his opportunity. Nahoon, +however, might not succumb to this temptation; therefore he must trust to luck +to be rid of him. If it came to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, +which he considered he would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the +man was his jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that he could +face it without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked Nahoon; at times he +even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, and he knew that the great +Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, and to be looked down upon by a +savage “nigger” was more than his pride could stomach. +</p> + +<p> +At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were still +stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in his kaross or +blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking gigantic in the shadows of +the morning. +</p> + +<p> +“What is your will, <i>Umlungu</i> (white man), that you are up before +the sun?” +</p> + +<p> +“My will, <i>Muntumpofu</i> (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo,” +answered Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no +title of any sort. +</p> + +<p> +“Your pardon,” said the Zulu reading his thoughts, “but I +cannot call you <i>Inkoos</i> because you are not my chief, or any man’s; +still if the title ‘white man’ offends you, we will give you a +name.” +</p> + +<p> +“As you wish,” answered Hadden briefly. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly they gave him a name, <i>Inhlizin-mgama</i>, by which he was known +among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he found that the +meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was “Black Heart.” That +was how the <i>inyanga</i> had addressed him—only she used different +words. +</p> + +<p> +An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay behind the +encampment searching for their game. Within a very little while Nahoon held up +his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden looked; there, pressed deep in the +marshy soil, and to all appearance not ten minutes old, was the spoor of a +small herd of buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew that we should find game to-day,” whispered Nahoon, +“because the Bee said so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Curse the Bee,” answered Hadden below his breath. “Come +on.” +</p> + +<p> +For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick reeds, +till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden’s arm. He +looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding on some higher +ground among a patch of mimosa trees, were the buffaloes—six of +them—an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a heifer and a calf +about four months old. Neither the wind nor the nature of the veldt were +favourable for them to stalk the game from their present position, so they made +a detour of half a mile and very carefully crept towards them up the wind, +slipping from trunk to trunk of the mimosas and when these failed them, +crawling on their stomachs under cover of the tall <i>tambuti</i> grass. At +last they were within forty yards, and a further advance seemed impracticable; +for although he could not smell them, it was evident from his movements that +the old bull heard some unusual sound and was growing suspicious. Nearest to +Hadden, who alone of the party had a rifle, stood the heifer broadside +on—a beautiful shot. Remembering that she would make the best beef, he +lifted his Martini, and aiming at her immediately behind the shoulder, gently +squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and the heifer fell dead, shot +through the heart. Strangely enough the other buffaloes did not at once run +away. On the contrary, they seemed puzzled to account for the sudden noise; +and, not being able to wind anything, lifted their heads and stared round them. +</p> + +<p> +The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim again, this +time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in the neck or shoulder, +for he came to his knees, but in another second was up and having caught sight +of the cloud of smoke he charged straight at it. Because of this smoke, or for +some other reason, Hadden did not see him coming, and in consequence would most +certainly have been trampled or gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the +imminent risk of his own life, and dragged him down behind an ant-heap. A +moment more and the great beast had thundered by, taking no further notice of +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Forward,” said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the +heifer and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the blood spoor. +</p> + +<p> +For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the trail on a +patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and exhausted by the heat, sat +down to rest and to eat some <i>biltong</i> or sun-dried flesh which they had +with them. They finished their meal, and were preparing to return to the camp, +when one of the four Zulus who were with them went to drink at a little stream +that ran at a distance of not more than ten paces away. Half a minute later +they heard a hideous grunting noise and a splashing of water, and saw the Zulu +fly into the air. All the while that they were eating, the wounded buffalo had +been lying in wait for them under a thick bush on the banks of the streamlet, +knowing—cunning brute that he was—that sooner or later his turn +would come. With a shout of consternation they rushed forward to see the bull +vanish over the rise before Hadden could get a chance of firing at him, and to +find their companion dying, for the great horn had pierced his lung. +</p> + +<p> +“It is not a buffalo, it is a devil,” the poor fellow gasped, and +expired. +</p> + +<p> +“Devil or not, I mean to kill it,” exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the +others to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on accompanied by +Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase easier, for they +sighted their quarry frequently, though they could not come near enough to +fire. Presently they travelled down a steep cliff. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know where we are?” asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of +forest opposite. “That is <i>Emagudu</i>, the Home of the Dead—and +look, the bull heads thither.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the Fall, the +Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” he answered; “then we must head for it +too.” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon halted. “Surely you would not enter there,” he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely I will,” replied Hadden, “but there is no need for +you to do so if you are afraid.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid—of ghosts,” said the Zulu, “but I will +come.” +</p> + +<p> +So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It was a +gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick there shutting out +the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which no breeze stirred, was +heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. There seemed to be no life here +and no sound—only now and again a loathsome spotted snake would uncoil +itself and glide away, and now and again a heavy rotten bough fell with a +crash. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed by his +surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for shooting, and +went on. +</p> + +<p> +They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the sudden +increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull’s wound was +proving fatal to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Run now,” said Hadden cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, <i>hamba gachle</i>—go softly—” answered Nahoon, +“the devil is dying, but he will try to play us another trick before he +dies.” And he went on peering ahead of him cautiously. +</p> + +<p> +“It is all right here, anyway,” said Hadden, pointing to the spoor +that ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees a few +paces in front of them and to their right. “Look,” he whispered. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown that was +crouched behind the trees. +</p> + +<p> +“He is dead,” he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Nahoon, “he has come back on his own path and +is waiting for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you stand +there, I think that you can shoot him through the back between the tree +trunks.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the +bull’s spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next instant +the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, which sank deep +into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The buffalo stood still for a +moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its head down, looking first after the +one and then the other, till of a sudden it uttered a low moaning sound and +rolled over dead, smashing Nahoon’s assegai to fragments as it fell. +</p> + +<p> +“There! he’s finished,” said Hadden, “and I believe it +was your assegai that killed him. Hullo! what’s that noise?” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far away it +was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of people calling to +each other in fear but in no articulate language. Nahoon shivered. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the <i>Esemkofu</i>,” he said, “the ghosts who have no +tongue, and who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad +for mortals.” +</p> + +<p> +“And worse for buffaloes,” said Hadden, giving the dead bull a +kick, “but I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the +<i>Esemkofu</i>, as we have got meat enough, and can’t carry his +head.” +</p> + +<p> +So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their way +slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden’s head. Once +out of this forest, he was within an hour’s run of the Zulu border, and +once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man than he did at that +moment. As has been said, he had intended to attempt to escape in the darkness, +but the plan was risky. All the Zulus might not over-eat themselves and go to +sleep, especially after the death of their comrade; Nahoon, who watched him day +and night, certainly would not. This was his opportunity—there remained +the question of Nahoon. +</p> + +<p> +Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy—he had a +loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only a kerry. He +did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to him, seeing that his own +safety was at stake, that he would be amply justified in so doing. Why should +he not put it to him—and then be guided by circumstances? +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten paces ahead of him +where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was under the shadow of +a large tree with low horizontal branches running out from the trunk. +</p> + +<p> +“Nahoon,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged to +shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire without warning. I +am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me back to the king to be his +servant. But I believe that a war is going to break out between your people and +mine; and this being so, you will understand that I do not wish to go to +Cetywayo’s kraal, because I should either come to a violent death there, +or my own brothers will believe that I am a traitor and treat me accordingly. +The Zulu border is not much more than an hour’s journey away—let us +say an hour and a half’s: I mean to be across it before the moon is up. +Now, Nahoon, will you lose me in the forest and give me this hour and a +half’s start—or will you stop here with that ghost people of whom +you talk? Do you understand? No, please do not move.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand you,” answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed +voice, “and I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, +though, Black Heart, there is some justice in your words and more wisdom. Your +opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are should not let +fall.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And now +will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for me till the +moon is up?” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean, Black Heart?” +</p> + +<p> +“What I say. Come, I have no time to spare.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are a strange man,” said the Zulu reflectively. “You +heard the king’s order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the +king?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does not +matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns there. If you +think that he will be angry because I am missing, you had better cross the +border also; we can go together.” +</p> + +<p> +“And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black Heart, +you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a soldier, and the +king’s word is the king’s word. I hoped to have died fighting, but +I am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will not reach the border +before moonrise,” and he opened his arms and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a brave +man, but every one of us must cherish his own life,” answered Hadden +calmly. +</p> + +<p> +Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu’s +breast. +</p> + +<p> +Already—whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a twitching +of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can +banish—already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a +sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden went +down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted beast that +waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +It was a leopard—a tiger as they call it in Africa—which, crouched +upon a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the temptation of +satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a second or two there was +silence, broken only by the purring, or rather the snoring sound made by the +leopard. In those seconds, strangely enough, there sprang up before +Hadden’s mental vision a picture of the <i>inyanga</i> called +<i>Inyosi</i> or the Bee, her death-like head resting against the thatch of the +hut, and her death-like lips muttering “think of my word when the great +cat purrs above your face.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove deep into +the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it scratched at his breast, +tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the flesh beneath. The sight of the +white skin seemed to madden it, and in its fierce desire for blood it drooped +its square muzzle and buried its fangs in its victim’s shoulder. Next +moment there was a sound of running feet and of a club falling heavily. Up +reared the leopard with an angry snarl, up till it stood as high as the +attacking Zulu. At him it came, striking out savagely and tearing the black man +as it had torn the white. Again the kerry fell full on its jaws, and down it +went backwards. Before it could rise again, or rather as it was in the act of +rising, the heavy knob-stick struck it once more, and with fearful force, this +time as it chanced, full on the nape of the neck, and paralysing the brute. It +writhed and bit and twisted, throwing up the earth and leaves, while blow after +blow was rained upon it, till at length with a convulsive struggle and a +stifled roar it lay still—the brains oozing from its shattered skull. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. +</p> + +<p> +“You have saved my life, Nahoon,” he said faintly, “and I +thank you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do not thank me, Black Heart,” answered the Zulu, “it was +the king’s word that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been +hardly dealt with, for certainly <i>he</i> has saved <i>my</i> life,” and +lifting the Martini he unloaded the rifle. +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture Hadden swooned away. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but a little +time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could hear voices without +understanding what they said, and feel himself borne he knew not whither, +Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a kaross in a large and beautifully +clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of furs for a pillow. There was a bowl of milk +at his side and tortured as he was by thirst, he tried to stretch out his arm +to lift it to his lips, only to find to his astonishment that his hand fell +back to his side like that of a dead man. Looking round the hut impatiently, he +found that there was nobody in it to assist him, so he did the only thing which +remained for him to do—he lay still. He did not fall asleep, but his eyes +closed, and a kind of gentle torpor crept over him, half obscuring his +recovered senses. Presently he heard a soft voice speaking; it seemed far away, +but he could clearly distinguish the words. +</p> + +<p> +“Black Heart still sleeps,” the voice said, “but there is +colour in his face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts +again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not +dangerous,” answered another voice, that of Nahoon. “He fell +heavily with the weight of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses +have been shaken for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he will not +die.” +</p> + +<p> +“It would have been a pity if he had died,” answered the soft +voice, “he is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so +beautiful.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at my +heart,” answered Nahoon sulkily. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, there is this to be said,” she replied, “he wished to +escape from Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at,” and she sighed. +“Moreover he asked you to come with him, and it might have been well if +you had done so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!” +</p> + +<p> +“How could I have done it, girl?” he asked angrily. “Would +you have me set at nothing the order of the king?” +</p> + +<p> +“The king!” she replied raising her voice. “What do you owe +to this king? You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a +few days he will take me from you—me, who should have been your wife, and +I must—I must——” And she began to weep softly, adding +between her sobs, “if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and +of yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, Nahoon, +let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Weep not, Nanea,” he said; “why do you tear my heart in two +between my duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must walk +the path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall be dead, for I +seek death, and then it will matter nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are right, +and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a woman who must +also obey—the will of the king.” And she cast her arms about his +neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +NANEA</h2> + +<p> +Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, Nahoon left +Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. Then Hadden opened +his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking and a ray of its red light +streaming through the little opening filled the place with a soft and crimson +glow. In the centre of the hut—supporting it—stood a thorn-wood +roof-tree coloured black by the smoke of the fire; and against this, the rich +light falling full upon her, leaned the girl Nanea—a very picture of +gentle despair. +</p> + +<p> +As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful—so +beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man’s heart, +for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her dress was very +simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a mantle of soft white +stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was a buck-skin moocha, also +embroidered with blue beads, while round her forehead and left knee were strips +of grey fur, and on her right wrist a shining bangle of copper. Her naked +bronze-hued figure was tall and perfect in its proportions; while her face had +little in common with that of the ordinary native girl, showing as it did +strong traces of the ancestral Arabian or Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, +with delicate aquiline features, arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that drooped a +little at the corners, tiny ears, behind which the wavy coal-black hair hung +down to the shoulders, and the very loveliest pair of dark and liquid eyes that +it is possible to imagine. +</p> + +<p> +For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the sunbeam, +while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing heavily, she +turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her mantle over her breast +and came, or rather glided, towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“The chief is awake,” she said in her soft Zulu accents. +“Does he need aught?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Lady,” he answered; “I need to drink, but alas! I am +too weak.” +</p> + +<p> +She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with her right +held the gourd to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was finished a +change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl’s touch, or her +strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in her eyes, matters +not—the issue was the same. She struck some cord in his turbulent +uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with passion for +her—a passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. He did not for a +moment mistake the significance of the flood of feeling that surged through his +veins. Hadden never shirked facts. +</p> + +<p> +“By Heaven!” he said to himself, “I have fallen in love with +a black beauty at first sight—more in love than I have ever been before. +It’s awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for +Nahoon, or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always get rid +of her if she becomes a nuisance.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of his blood, +he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea’s face while with a +native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself dressing the wounds that the +leopard had made. +</p> + +<p> +It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind +communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a little at +her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, she rose from her +knees with a courteous “It is finished, <i>Inkoos</i>,” and once +more took up her position by the roof-tree. +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you, Lady,” he said; “your hand is kind.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must not call me lady, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she answered, “I +am no chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona.” +</p> + +<p> +“And named Nanea,” he said. “Nay, do not be surprised, I have +heard of you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess—up +at the king’s kraal yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! and alas!” she said, covering her face with her hands. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it +cannot be climbed or crept through.” +</p> + +<p> +She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not pursue the +subject. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nahoon and his companions carried you, <i>Inkoos</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. Well, +Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I trust that I may +be able to repay it—to you, Nanea.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did not seek +them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation brought about many +another. Never for a moment did the white man waver in his determination to get +into his keeping the native girl who had captivated him, and to attain his end +he brought to bear all his powers and charm to detach her from Nahoon, and win +her affections for himself. He was no rough wooer, however, but proceeded +warily, weaving her about with a web of flattery and attention that must, he +thought, produce the desired effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it +would have done so—for she was but a woman, and an untutored +one—had it not been for a simple fact which dominated her whole nature. +She loved Nahoon, and there was no room in her heart for any other man, white +or black. To Hadden she was courteous and kindly but no more, nor did she +appear to notice any of the subtle advances by which he attempted to win a +foothold in her heart. For a while this puzzled him, but he remembered that the +Zulu women do not usually permit themselves to show feeling towards an +undeclared suitor. Therefore it became necessary that he should speak out. +</p> + +<p> +His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He was now +quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the neighbourhood of +the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona’s huts rose a spring, and +thither it was Nanea’s habit to resort in the evening to bring back +drinking-water for the use of her father’s household. The path between +this spring and the kraal ran through a patch of bush, where on a certain +afternoon towards sundown Hadden took his seat under a tree, having first seen +Nanea go down to the little stream as was her custom. A quarter of an hour +later she reappeared carrying a large gourd upon her head. She wore no garment +now except her moocha, for she had but one mantle and was afraid lest the water +should splash it. He watched her advancing along the path, her hands resting on +her hips, her splendid naked figure outlined against the westering sun, and +wondered what excuse he could make to talk with her. As it chanced fortune +favoured him, for when she was near him a snake glided across the path in front +of the girl’s feet, causing her to spring backwards in alarm and overset +the gourd of water. He came forward, and picked it up. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait here,” he said laughing; “I will bring it to you +full.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she remonstrated, “that is a +woman’s work.” +</p> + +<p> +“Among my people,” he said, “the men love to work for the +women,” and he started for the spring, leaving her wondering. +</p> + +<p> +Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was necessary +to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the contents of it +spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he said nothing to Nanea. +</p> + +<p> +“There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the +kraal?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with +its weight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, and +had it not been for you I think that I should be dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was Nahoon who saved you—not I, <i>Inkoos</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my +heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“You talk darkly, <i>Inkoos</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you.” +</p> + +<p> +She opened her brown eyes wide. +</p> + +<p> +“You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would +have seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>, it is impossible. I am already betrothed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” he answered, “betrothed to the king.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, betrothed to Nahoon.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And +would you not rather that I should take you than the king?” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems to be so, <i>Inkoos</i>, and I would rather go with you than +with the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I shall +not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will never become one +of the king’s women.” +</p> + +<p> +“How will you prevent it, Nanea?” +</p> + +<p> +“There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she can +hang,” she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fair or foul, yet I die, <i>Inkoos</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, come with me—I will find a way—and be my +wife,” and he put his arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. +</p> + +<p> +Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, the girl +disengaged herself from his embrace. +</p> + +<p> +“You have honoured me, and I thank you, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she said +quietly, “but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon—I +belong to Nahoon; therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. +It is not our custom, <i>Inkoos</i>, for we are not as the white women, but +ignorant and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by that vow +till death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Hadden; “and so now you go to tell Nahoon that +I have offered to make you my wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, <i>Inkoos</i>, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said +‘nay’ to you, not ‘yea,’ therefore he has no right to +know,” and she stooped to lift the gourd of water. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made him the more +determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency he conceived a scheme, +or rather its rough outline. It was not a nice scheme, and some men might have +shrunk from it, but as he had no intention of suffering himself to be defeated +by a Zulu girl, he decided—with regret, it is true—that having +failed to attain his ends by means which he considered fair, he must resort to +others of more doubtful character. +</p> + +<p> +“Nanea,” he said, “you are a good and honest woman, and I +respect you. As I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen +to me there is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be +better that you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you will never +marry him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not give you to some +other man, either you will become one of his ‘sisters,’ or to be +free of him, as you say, you will die. Now hear me, for it is because I love +you and wish your welfare that I speak thus. Why do you not escape into Natal, +taking Nahoon with you, for there as you know you may live in peace out of +reach of the arm of Cetywayo?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is my desire, <i>Inkoos</i>, but Nahoon will not consent. He says +that there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not break the +command of the king and desert from his army.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he cannot love you much, Nanea, and at least you have to think of +yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for be sure +that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly with you, for I too +believe that there must be war, and then a white man in this country will be as +a lamb among the eagles.” +</p> + +<p> +“If Nahoon will come, I will go, <i>Inkoos</i>, but I cannot fly without +Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him to +forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days’ time we must start +for the king’s kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be easy for us +to turn our faces southwards and across the river that lies between the land of +the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of us, but most of all for your own +sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I have loved and whom I now would save. See +him and plead with him as you know how, but as yet do not tell him that I dream +of flight, for then I should be watched.” +</p> + +<p> +“In truth, I will, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she answered earnestly, +“and oh! I thank you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray +you—first would I die. Farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell, Nanea,” and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for sleep, he +heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the entrance to his hut. +</p> + +<p> +“Enter,” he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light +of the little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the hut, +followed by the great form of Nahoon. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Inkoos</i>,” she said in a whisper when the door was closed +again, “I have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; +moreover, my father will come also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it so, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +“It is so,” answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; “to +save this girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my heart, I +have bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, White Man, as I +told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come of this flight, and if we +are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed every one of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Caught we can scarcely be,” broke in Nanea anxiously, “for +who could betray us, except the <i>Inkoos</i> here——” +</p> + +<p> +“Which he is not likely to do,” said Hadden quietly, “seeing +that he desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is so, Black Heart,” said Nahoon, “otherwise I tell you +that I should not have trusted you.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late that night +they sat there together making their plans. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent altercation. +Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were Umgona and a fat and +evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the kraal on a pony. This chief, +he soon discovered, was named Maputa, being none other than the man who had +sought Nanea in marriage and brought about Nahoon’s and Umgona’s +unfortunate appeal to the king. At present he was engaged in abusing Umgona +furiously, charging him with having stolen certain of his oxen and bewitched +his cows so that they would not give milk. The alleged theft it was +comparatively easy to disprove, but the wizardry remained a matter of argument. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a dog, and a son of a dog,” shouted Maputa, shaking his +fat fist in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. “You promised +me your daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that +<i>umfagozan</i>—that low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of +Zomba—you went, the two of you, and poisoned the king’s ear against +me, bringing me into trouble with the king, and now you have bewitched my +cattle. Well, wait, I will be even with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up in +the cold morning to find your fence red with fire, and the slayers standing +outside your gates to eat up you and yours with spears——” +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, intervened +with effect. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” he said, “we will wait, but not in your company, +Chief Maputa. <i>Hamba!</i> (go)——” and seizing the fat old +ruffian by the scruff of his neck, he flung him backwards with such violence +that he rolled over and over down the little slope. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to bathe. +Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along the footpath, his +head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his black face livid with rage. +</p> + +<p> +“There goes an angry man,” he said to himself. “Now, how +would it be——” and he looked upwards like one seeking an +inspiration. It seemed to come; perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in +his ear, at any rate—in a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was +walking through the bush to meet Maputa. +</p> + +<p> +“Go in peace, Chief,” he said; “they seem to have treated you +roughly up yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not +bear the sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of rank +should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with beer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shameful, White Man!” gasped Maputa; “your words are true +indeed. But wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw +that bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that +neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how will you manage that, Maputa?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be +found.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden patted the pony’s neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he +looked the chief in the eyes and said:— +</p> + +<p> +“What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and +certain one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, whose +violence I also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft brought sore +sickness upon me?” +</p> + +<p> +“What reward do you seek, White Man?” asked Maputa eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to +whom as it chances I have taken a fancy.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has laid +his hand upon her.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who ‘sits at +Ulundi.’ It is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. +Listen: if you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your foes, +but when the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you this rifle and a +hundred rounds of cartridges.” +</p> + +<p> +Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. +</p> + +<p> +“It is good,” he said; “it is very good. Often have I wished +for such a gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies +from far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the girl if I +can give her to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You swear it, Maputa?” +</p> + +<p> +“I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, +his daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the drift that +is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them and flying from the +king. I also shall be of their company, for they know that I have learned their +secret, and would murder me if I tried to leave them. Now you who are chief of +the border and guardian of that drift, must hide at night with some men among +the rocks in the shallows of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will +cross driving the cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help her; +then will follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On these two you +must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will give +you the rifle.” +</p> + +<p> +“What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not recognise +her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first you feared to +seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and they should escape +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are +across the river?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon a +stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them when I have +driven over the cattle.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well, White Man; I will not fail you.” +</p> + +<p> +So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points of +detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. +</p> + +<p> +“That ought to come off all right,” reflected Hadden to himself as +he plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, “but somehow I +don’t quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could +have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle—a +couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder and +murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery to justice +of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military country. Also personal +interference upon my part might turn the girl against me; while after Umgona +and Nahoon have been wiped out by Maputa, she <i>must</i> accept my escort. Of +course there is a risk, but in every walk of life the most cautious have to +take risks at times.” +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his coadjutor, +Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own kraal, he had come to the +conclusion that the white man’s plan, though attractive in some ways, was +too dangerous, since it was certain that if the girl Nanea escaped, the king +would be indignant. Moreover, the men he took with him to do the killing in the +drift would suspect something and talk. On the other hand he would earn much +credit with his majesty by revealing the plot, saying that he had learned it +from the lips of the white hunter, whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to +participate in it, and of whose coveted rifle he must trust to chance to +possess himself. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, bearing +words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the “great +Black Elephant” at Ulundi. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +THE DOOM POOL</h2> + +<p> +Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and Nanea. +One of the Zulu captain’s perplexities was as to how he should lull the +suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who together with +himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden in his hunting and to +guard against his escape. As it chanced, however, on the day after the incident +of the visit of Maputa, a messenger arrived from no less a person than the +great military Induna, Tvingwayo ka Marolo, who afterwards commanded the Zulu +army at Isandhlwana, ordering these men to return to their regiment, the +Umcityu Corps, which was to be placed upon full war footing. Accordingly Nahoon +sent them, saying that he himself would follow with Black Heart in the course +of a few days, as at present the white man was not sufficiently recovered from +his hurts to allow of his travelling fast and far. So the soldiers went, +doubting nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king he was +about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea to be delivered +over into the <i>Sigodhla</i>, and also those fifteen head of cattle that had +been <i>lobola’d</i> by Nahoon in consideration of his forthcoming +marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under pretence that they +required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle he sent away in charge of a +Basuto herd who knew nothing of their plans, telling him to keep them by the +Crocodile Drift, as there the grass was good and sweet. +</p> + +<p> +All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, heading +straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, however, they left +the road and turning sharp to the right, passed unobserved of any through a +great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their path now lay not far from the Pool of +Doom, which, indeed, was close to Umgona’s kraal, and the forest that was +called Home of the Dead, but out of sight of these. It was their plan to travel +by night, reaching the broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following +morning. Here they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; then, +having first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to cross the river +at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least this was the plan of his +companions; but, as we know, Hadden had another programme, whereon after one +last appearance two of the party would play no part. +</p> + +<p> +During that long afternoon’s journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the +country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his hand a +long travelling stick of black and white <i>umzimbeet</i> wood, for in truth +the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey’s end. Next came Nahoon, +armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his moocha and necklet of +baboon’s teeth, and with him Nanea in her white bead-bordered mantle. +Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the girl seemed to be under the +spell of an imminent apprehension, for from time to time she clasped her +lover’s arm, and looking up into his face, addressed him with vehemence, +almost with passion. +</p> + +<p> +Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was shaken by +so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in this tragedy, that he +cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel the web of death which he +himself had woven. But ever that evil voice was whispering at his ear. It +reminded him that he, the white <i>Inkoos</i>, had been refused by this dusky +beauty, and that if he found a way to save him, within some few hours she would +be the wife of the savage gentleman at her side, the man who had named him +Black Heart and who despised him, the man whom he had meant to murder and who +immediately repaid his treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard +at the risk of his own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden’s existence +never to deny himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his power to +take it—a law which had led him always deeper into sin. In other +respects, indeed, it had not carried him far, for in the past he had not +desired much, and he had won little; but this particular flower was to his +hand, and he would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so +much the worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in his grasp, so much the +worse for the flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it came about that, +not for the first time in his life, Philip Hadden discarded the somewhat +spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil whispering at his +ear. +</p> + +<p> +About half-past five o’clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed +the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into the Doom +Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further side, walked straight +into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who were beguiling the tedium of +expectancy by the taking of snuff and the smoking of <i>dakka</i> or native +hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his pony, for he was too fat to walk, +waited the Chief Maputa. +</p> + +<p> +Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out the +<i>dakka</i> pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the lobes of +their ears, and secured the four of them. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the meaning of this, O King’s soldiers?” asked +Umgona in a quavering voice. “We journey to the kraal of +U’Cetywayo; why do you molest us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south? Does the +Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal +presently,” answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a +callous laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not understand,” stammered Umgona. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I will explain while you rest,” said the captain. “The +Chief Maputa yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned of +your intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who had warned +him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to catch you and make an +end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, and let us finish the matter. As +the Doom Pool is near, your deaths will be easy.” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; but he did +not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard them also, and +turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said nothing, she only looked, but +he could never forget that look. The white man for his part was filled with a +fiery indignation against Maputa. +</p> + +<p> +“You wicked villain,” he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a +sickly fashion, and turned away. +</p> + +<p> +Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached the +waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he gazed +into that abyss. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you going to throw me in there?” he asked of the Zulu captain +in a thick voice. +</p> + +<p> +“You, White Man?” replied the soldier unconcernedly. “No, our +orders are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know. +There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to pound +you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you over an +ant-heap as a warning to other white men.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his brain was +bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of escape. +</p> + +<p> +By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the waters +of the pool. +</p> + +<p> +“Who dives first,” asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. +</p> + +<p> +“The old wizard,” he replied, nodding at Umgona; “then his +daughter after him, and last of all this fellow,” and he struck Nahoon in +the face with his open hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, Wizard,” said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, +“and let us see how you can swim.” +</p> + +<p> +At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after the +fashion of his race. +</p> + +<p> +“No need to lead me, soldier,” he said, shaking himself loose, +“who am old and ready to die.” Then he kissed his daughter at his +side, wrung Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of +contempt walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here he +stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and without a +sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“That was a brave one,” said the captain with admiration. +“Can you spring too, girl, or must we throw you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can walk my father’s path,” Nanea answered faintly, +“but first I crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were +escaping from the king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black +Heart here who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he +has betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and this is +the vengeance that he takes—a white man’s vengeance.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Wow!</i>” broke in the chief Maputa, “this pretty one +speaks truth, for the white man would have made a bargain with me under which +Umgona, the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile +Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him softly and +said ‘yes,’ and then like a loyal man I reported to the +king.” +</p> + +<p> +“You hear,” sighed Nanea. “Nahoon, fare you well, though +presently perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from +your duty. For my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, my +husband, it is better to die with you than to enter the house of the +king’s women,” and Nanea stepped on to the platform. +</p> + +<p> +Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and addressed +Hadden, saying:— +</p> + +<p> +“Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose +and—the sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black Heart, +and in that night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be given to drink +of my blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the blood of Nahoon my +husband, who saved your life, and whom you have murdered. Perchance, Black +Heart, we may yet meet yonder—in the House of the Dead.” +</p> + +<p> +Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and outwards +from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to look. They saw her +rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike the water fifty feet below. A +few seconds, and for the last time, they caught sight of her white garment +glimmering on the surface of the gloomy pool. Then the shadows and mist-wreaths +hid it, and she was gone. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, husband,” cried the cheerful voice of the captain, +“yonder is your marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so +ready to lead the way. <i>Wow!</i> but you are good people to kill; never have +I had to do with any who gave less trouble. You——” and he +stopped, for mental agony had done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad +before his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held him and +seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all his terrible +strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he hurled him over the +edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks of the Pool of Doom. Then +crying:— +</p> + +<p> +“Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!” he rushed at +Hadden, his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed striking +the chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his hand. Ill would it +have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught him. But he could not come at +him, for the soldiers sprang upon him and notwithstanding his fearful struggles +they pulled him to the ground, as at certain festivals the Zulu regiments with +their naked hands pull down a bull in the presence of the king. +</p> + +<p> +“Cast him over before he can work more mischief,” said a voice. But +the captain cried out, “Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven has +fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would overtake us all. +Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to where he can be cared for. +Surely I thought that these evil-doers were giving us too little trouble, and +thus it has proved.” +</p> + +<p> +So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon’s hands and wrists, using as +much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is accounted holy. +It was no easy task, and it took time. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground close beside +him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed it, and about a dozen +yards away Maputa’s pony was grazing. With a swift movement, he seized +the Martini and five seconds later he was on the back of the pony, heading for +the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So quickly indeed did he execute this masterly +retreat, that occupied as they all were in binding Nahoon, for half a minute or +more none of the soldiers noticed what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to +see, and waddled after him to the top of the rise, screaming:— +</p> + +<p> +“The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun that +he promised to give me.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, and a +rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of him; more, he had +been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose sake he had dipped his +hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his shoulder; Maputa was still +running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at any rate he would risk it. +</p> + +<p> +Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping his arm +through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it chanced, and as he +had hoped would be the case, the animal was a trained shooting horse, and stood +still. Hadden planted his feet firmly on the ground and drawing a deep breath, +he cocked the rifle and covered the advancing chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose +and with a yell of terror turned to fly. Hadden waited a second to get the +sight fair on his broad back, then just as the soldiers appeared above the rise +he pressed the trigger. He was a noted shot, and in this instance his skill did +not fail him; for, before he heard the bullet tell, Maputa flung his arms wide +and plunged to the ground dead. +</p> + +<p> +Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the pony and +was riding for his life towards the river, which a while later he crossed in +safety. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +THE GHOST OF THE DEAD</h2> + +<p> +When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of Doom, a +strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were many jagged rocks, +and on these the waters of the fall fell and thundered, bounding from them in +spouts of spray into the troubled depths of the foss beyond. It was on these +stones that the life was dashed out from the bodies of the wretched victims who +were hurled from above. But Nanea, it will be remembered, had not waited to be +treated thus, and as it chanced the strong spring with which she had leapt to +death carried her clear of the rocks. By a very little she missed the edge of +them and striking the deep water head first like some practised diver, she sank +down and down till she thought that she would never rise again. Yet she did +rise, at the end of the pool in the mouth of the rapid, along which she sped +swiftly, carried down by the rush of the water. Fortunately there were no rocks +here; and, since she was a skilful swimmer, she escaped the danger of being +thrown against the banks. +</p> + +<p> +For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she was in a +forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their drooping branches +swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with her hand, and by the help of +it she dragged herself from the River of Death whence none had escaped before. +Now she stood upon the bank gasping but quite unharmed; there was not a scratch +on her body; even her white garment was still fast about her neck. +</p> + +<p> +But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so exhausted was +Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was that of night, and +shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find some refuge. Close to the +water’s edge grew an enormous yellow-wood tree, and to this she +staggered—thinking to climb it, and seek shelter in its boughs where, as +she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. Again fortune befriended her, +for at a distance of a few feet from the ground there was a great hole in the +tree which, she discovered, was hollow. Into this hole she crept, taking her +chance of its being the home of snakes or other evil creatures, to find that +the interior was wide and warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the +cavity lay a foot or more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by rats or +birds. Upon this tinder she lay down, and covering herself with the moss and +leaves soon sank into sleep or stupor. +</p> + +<p> +How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened by a +sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she could not +understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in the tree. It was +night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their light fell upon an open +circle of ground close by the edge of the river. In this circle there burned a +great fire, and at a little distance from the fire were gathered eight or ten +horrible-looking beings, who appeared to be rejoicing over something that lay +upon the ground. They were small in stature, men and women together, but no +children, and all of them were nearly naked. Their hair was long and thin, +growing down almost to the eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded and the girth +of their black bodies was out of all proportion to their height. In their hands +they held sticks with sharp stones lashed on to them, or rude hatchet-like +knives of the same material. +</p> + +<p> +Now Nanea’s heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, +for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt these were +the <i>Esemkofu</i>, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, that was what +they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off them—the sight of them +held her with a horrible fascination. But if they were ghosts, why did they +sing and dance like men? Why did they wave those sharp stones aloft, and +quarrel and strike each other? And why did they make a fire as men do when they +wish to cook food? More, what was it that they rejoiced over, that long dark +thing which lay so quiet upon the ground? It did not look like a head of game, +and it could scarcely be a crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, for +they were sharpening the stone knives in order to cut it up. +</p> + +<p> +While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures advanced +to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over the thing that +lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who was about to do something +to it with the stone knife. Next instant Nanea drew back her head from the +hole, a stifled shriek upon her lips. She saw what it was now—it was the +body of a man. Yes, and these were no ghosts; they were cannibals of whom when +she was little, her mother had told her tales to keep her from wandering away +from home. +</p> + +<p> +But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of themselves, +for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it must be Nahoon, who had +been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the waters had brought down to the +haunted forest as they had brought her alive. Yes, it must be Nahoon, and she +would be forced to see her husband devoured before her eyes. The thought of it +overwhelmed her. That he should die by order of the king was natural, but that +he should be buried thus! Yet what could she do to prevent it? Well, if it cost +her her life, it should be prevented. At the worst they could only kill and eat +her also, and now that Nahoon and her father were gone, being untroubled by any +religious or spiritual hopes and fears, she was not greatly concerned to keep +her own breath in her. +</p> + +<p> +Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards the +cannibals—not knowing in the least what she should do when she reached +them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of programme came home to +her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. Just then one of the cannibals +looked up to see a tall and stately figure wrapped in a white garment which, as +the flame-light flickered on it, seemed now to advance from the dense +background of shadow, and now to recede into it. The poor savage wretch was +holding a stone knife in his teeth when he beheld her, but it did not remain +there long, for opening his great jaws he uttered the most terrified and +piercing yell that Nanea had ever heard. Then the others saw her also, and +presently the forest was ringing with shrieks of fear. For a few seconds the +outcasts stood and gazed, then they were gone this way and that, bursting their +path through the undergrowth like startled jackals. The <i>Esemkofu</i> of Zulu +tradition had been routed in their own haunted home by what they took to be a +spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Poor <i>Esemkofu!</i> they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, driven +into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this means, the only +one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched bodies. Here at least they +were unmolested, and as there was little other food to be found amid that +wilderness of trees, they took what the river brought them. When executions +were few in the Pool of Doom, times were hard for them indeed—for then +they were driven to eat each other. That is why there were no children. +</p> + +<p> +As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran forward to +look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back with a sigh of +relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face for that of one of the +party of executioners. How did he come here? Had Nahoon killed him? Had Nahoon +escaped? She could not tell, and at the best it was improbable, but still the +sight of this dead soldier lit her heart with a faint ray of hope, for how did +he come to be dead if Nahoon had no hand in his death? She could not bear to +leave him lying so near her hiding-place, however; therefore, with no small +toil, she rolled the corpse back into the water, which carried it swiftly away. +Then she returned to the tree, having first replenished the fire, and awaited +the light. +</p> + +<p> +At last it came—so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome +den—and Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the +tree to search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till +towards sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest there was a +flat rock where it was the custom of those who had been in any way afflicted, +or who considered themselves or their belongings to be bewitched, to place +propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the <i>Esemkofu</i> and +<i>Amalhosi</i> were supposed to satisfy their spiritual cravings. Urged by the +pinch of starvation, to this spot Nanea journeyed rapidly, and found to her joy +that some neighbouring kraal had evidently been in recent trouble, for the Rock +of Offering was laden with cobs of corn, gourds of milk, porridge and even +meat. Helping herself to as much as she could carry, she returned to her lair, +where she drank of the milk and cooked meat and mealies at the fire. Then she +crept back into the tree, and slept. +</p> + +<p> +For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could not +venture out of it—fearing lest she should be seized, and for a second +time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least she was safe, +for none dared enter there, nor did the <i>Esemkofu</i> give her further +trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion they fled from her +presence—seeking some distant retreat, where they hid themselves or +perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that it was taken, the pious +givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of Offering. +</p> + +<p> +But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled with her +sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she lived on, though often +she desired to die, for if her father was dead, the corpse she had found was +not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her heart there still shone that spark of +hope. Yet what she hoped for she could not tell. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was about to be +declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the Amazulu; also that in the +prevailing excitement his little adventure with the Utrecht store-keeper had +been overlooked or forgotten. He was the owner of two good buck-waggons with +spans of salted oxen, and at that time vehicles were much in request to carry +military stores for the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the +transport authorities were glad to pay £90 a month for the hire of each waggon +and to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he was not +desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much for Hadden, who +accordingly leased out his waggons to the Commissariat, together with his own +services as conductor and interpreter. +</p> + +<p> +He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be +remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on the 20th +of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs from Rorke’s +Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night beneath the shadow of the +steep and desolate mountain known as Isandhlwana. +</p> + +<p> +That day also a great army of King Cetywayo’s, numbering twenty thousand +men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon the stony plain +that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. No fires were lit, and +it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were “sleeping on their +spears.” +</p> + +<p> +With that <i>impi</i> was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred +strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu looked +up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had covered his +body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man standing before him, +clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who held a rough club in his +hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no answer; he only leaned upon his +club looking from left to right along the dense array of innumerable shields. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is this <i>Silwana</i> (wild creature)?” asked the Induna of +his captains wondering. +</p> + +<p> +The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, “This is +Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in this +regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona, was killed +together with her father by order of the Black One, and Nahoon went mad with +grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven entered his brain, and mad he +has wandered ever since.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?” asked the Induna. +</p> + +<p> +Then Nahoon spoke slowly. “My regiment goes down to war against the white +men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I may fight with +my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle.” +</p> + +<p> +So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away one whose +brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks of the +Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, company by +company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, breast and horns +together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed British camp, a moving +sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the shields, the shells tore long +lines through their array, but they never halted or wavered. Forward on either +side shot out the horns of armed men, clasping the camp in an embrace of steel. +Then as these began to close, out burst the war cry of the Zulus, and with the +roar of a torrent and the rush of a storm, with a sound like the humming of a +billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast of the <i>impi</i> rolled down +upon the white men. With it went the black-shielded Umcityu and with them went +Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A bullet struck him in the side, glancing from his +ribs, he did not heed; a white man fell from his horse before him, he did not +stab, for he sought but one face in the battle. +</p> + +<p> +He sought—and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the spears +were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly was Black Heart, +he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three soldiers stood between +them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he brushed aside; then he rushed +straight at Hadden. +</p> + +<p> +But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his madness he +knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing away his empty rifle, +for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his horse and drove his spurs into +its flanks. Away it went among the carnage, springing over the dead and +bursting through the lines of shields, and after it came Nahoon, running long +and low with head stretched forward and trailing spear, running as a hound runs +when the buck is at view. +</p> + +<p> +Hadden’s first plan was to head for Rorke’s Drift, but a glance to +the left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he fled +straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was over a ridge, +and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten all sounds of it had +died away, for few guns were fired in the dread race to Fugitive’s Drift, +and the assegai makes no noise. In some strange fashion, even at this moment, +the contrast between the dreadful scene of blood and turmoil that he had left, +and the peaceful face of Nature over which he was passing, came home to his +brain vividly. Here birds sang and cattle grazed; here the sun shone undimmed +by the smoke of cannon, only high up in the blue and silent air long streams of +vultures could be seen winging their way to the Plain of Isandhlwana. +</p> + +<p> +The ground was very rough, and Hadden’s horse began to tire. He looked +over his shoulder—there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, grim +as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; there was but +one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been fired and the pouch was +empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for one savage: the question was +should he stop and use it now? No, he might miss or fail to kill the man; he +was on horseback and his foe on foot, surely he could tire him out. +</p> + +<p> +A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed familiar to +Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when he was the guest of +Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the knoll to his right were the huts, +or rather the remains of them, for they had been burnt with fire. What chance +had brought him to this place, he wondered; then again he looked behind him at +Nahoon, who seemed to read his thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to +the ruined kraal. +</p> + +<p> +On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost sight +of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, and when it +was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was once more in his old place. His +horse’s strength was almost spent, but Hadden spurred it forward blindly, +whither he knew not. Now he was travelling along a strip of turf and ahead of +him he heard the music of a river, while to his left rose a high bank. +Presently the turf bent inwards and there, not twenty yards away from him, was +a Kaffir hut standing on the brink of a river. He looked at it, yes, it was the +hut of that accursed <i>inyanga</i>, the Bee, and standing by the fence of it +was none other than the Bee herself. At the sight of her the exhausted horse +swerved violently, stumbled and came to the ground, where it lay panting. +Hadden was thrown from the saddle but sprang to his feet unhurt. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?” +cried the Bee in a mocking voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Help me, mother, I am pursued,” he gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and face +him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You will not? Then +away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who await you there. Tell +me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw beneath the waters a while +ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when you two meet in the House of the +Dead.” +</p> + +<p> +Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, so followed +by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the forest. After him came +Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like the tongue of a wolf. +</p> + +<p> +Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following the +course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he halted on the +further side of a little glade, beyond which a great tree grew. Nahoon was more +than a spear’s throw behind him; therefore he had time to draw his pistol +and make ready. +</p> + +<p> +“Halt, Nahoon,” he cried, as once before he had cried; “I +would speak with you.” +</p> + +<p> +The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” said Hadden. “We have run a long race and fought a +long fight, you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you +come on, one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am armed and +as you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?” +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his wild and +glowering eyes fixed on the white man’s face and his breath coming in +short gasps. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you let me go, if <i>I</i> let <i>you</i> go?” Hadden asked +once more. “I know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor +can the dead be brought to earth again.” +</p> + +<p> +Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and more +crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so terrible in +Hadden’s ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai he stalked +grimly toward his foe. +</p> + +<p> +When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon sprang +aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right arm dropped, and the +stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it harmlessly over the white +man’s head. But still making no sound, the Zulu came on and gripped him +by the throat with his left hand. For a space they struggled terribly, swaying +to and fro, but Hadden was unhurt and fought with the fury of despair, while +Nahoon had been twice wounded, and there remained to him but one sound arm +wherewith to strike. Presently forced to earth by the white man’s iron +strength, the soldier was down, nor could he rise again. +</p> + +<p> +“Now we will make an end,” muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned +to seek the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and reeling +gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a spear in her hand, +stood the spirit of Nanea! +</p> + +<p> +“Think of it,” he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of +the <i>inyanga</i>, “when you stand face to face with the ghost of the +dead in the Home of the Dead.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards him to bury +itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently Black Heart clasped +that great reward which the word of the Bee had promised Him. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“Nahoon! Nahoon!” murmured a soft voice, “awake, it is no +ghost, but I—Nanea—I, your living wife, to whom my <i>Ehlose</i>[*] +has given it me to save you.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] Guardian Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. +</p> + +<p> +“Welcome, wife,” he said faintly, “now I will live since +Death has brought you back to me in the House of the Dead.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in Zululand, and +there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips of none other than +Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard its substance. +</p> + +<p> +The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the white +man’s rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a snake +with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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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..e95b8ec --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2842 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2842) diff --git a/old/2842-8.txt b/old/2842-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd9b394 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2842-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2705 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Black Heart and White Heart, 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: Black Heart and White Heart + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + +To the Memory of the Child + +Nada Burnham, + +who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through the +hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war +at Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales--and more +particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and +death. + +H. Rider Haggard. + +Ditchingham. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, "The Wizard," a +tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a Christmas +Annual. Another, "Elissa," is an attempt, difficult enough owing to the +scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate the life of +the ancient Phoenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in Rhodesia, +and, with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest +circumstances such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall +at the hands of the surrounding savage tribes. The third, "Black Heart +and White Heart," is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of +a pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. + + [*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 + titled "Black Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories."-- + JB. + + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + +A ZULU IDYLL + + + +CHAPTER I + +PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + +At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a +transport-rider and trader in "the Zulu." Still on the right side of +forty, in appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, +with keen eyes, short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut +features. His life had been varied, and there were passages in it which +he did not narrate even to his most intimate friends. He was of gentle +birth, however, and it was said that he had received a public school and +university education in England. At any rate he could quote the classics +with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, coupled with his +refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild places +of the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the +_soubriquet_ of "The Prince." + +However these things may have been, it is certain that he had emigrated +to Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his relatives at home +were content to take no further interest in his fortunes. During the +fifteen or sixteen years which he had spent in or about the colony, +Hadden followed many trades, and did no good at any of them. A clever +man, of agreeable and prepossessing manner, he always found it easy to +form friendships and to secure a fresh start in life. But, by degrees, +the friends were seized with a vague distrust of him; and, after a +period of more or less application, he himself would close the opening +that he had made by a sudden disappearance from the locality, leaving +behind him a doubtful reputation and some bad debts. + +Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes +in his life, Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in +transport-riding--that is, in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban +or Maritzburg to various points in the interior. A difficulty such as +had more than once confronted him in the course of his career, led to +his temporary abandonment of this means of earning a livelihood. On +arriving at the little frontier town of Utrecht in the Transvaal, in +charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods consigned to a storekeeper +there, it was discovered that out of six cases of brandy five were +missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter by throwing the +blame upon his Kaffir "boys," but the storekeeper, a rough-tongued man, +openly called him a thief and refused to pay the freight on any of +the load. From words the two men came to blows, knives were drawn, and +before anybody could interfere the storekeeper received a nasty wound in +his side. That night, without waiting till the matter could be inquired +into by the landdrost or magistrate, Hadden slipped away, and trekked +back into Natal as quickly as his oxen would travel. Feeling that even +here he was not safe, he left one of his waggons at Newcastle, loaded up +the other with Kaffir goods--such as blankets, calico, and hardware--and +crossed into Zululand, where in those days no sheriff's officer would be +likely to follow him. + +Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he +did good trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some cash +and a small herd of cattle, which he received in exchange for his wares. +Meanwhile news reached him that the man whom he had injured still vowed +vengeance against him, and was in communication with the authorities in +Natal. These reasons making his return to civilisation undesirable for +the moment, and further business being impossible until he could +receive a fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a wise man turned his +thoughts to pleasure. Sending his cattle and waggon over the border to +be left in charge of a native headman with whom he was friendly, he went +on foot to Ulundi to obtain permission from the king, Cetywayo, to hunt +game in his country. Somewhat to his surprise, the Indunas or headmen, +received him courteously--for Hadden's visit took place within a few +months of the outbreak of the Zulu war in 1878, when Cetywayo was +already showing unfriendliness to the English traders and others, though +why the king did so they knew not. + +On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden +got a hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning after +his arrival at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him that +"the Elephant whose tread shook the earth" had signified that it was +his pleasure to see him. Accordingly he was led through the thousands of +huts and across the Great Place to the little enclosure where Cetywayo, +a royal-looking Zulu seated on a stool, and wearing a kaross of leopard +skins, was holding an _indaba_, or conference, surrounded by his +counsellors. The Induna who had conducted him to the august presence +went down upon his hands and knees, and, uttering the royal salute of +_Bayte_, crawled forward to announce that the white man was waiting. + +"Let him wait," said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued the +discussion with his counsellors. + +Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when +from time to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he spoke +reached his ear. + +"What!" Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be +pleading with him earnestly; "am I a dog that these white hyenas should +hunt me thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father's before +me? Are not the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that I will +stamp out these little white men; my _impis_ shall eat them up. I have +said!" + +Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of +a peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed +towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien, +he seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of action +be followed. + +For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his +eyes literally ablaze with rage. + +"Hearken," he cried to the counsellor; "I have guessed it for long, and +now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu's[*] dog, and +the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man's dog +to bite me in my own house. Take him away!" + + [*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone's. + +A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of _indunas_, but the +old man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would +murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps +five, he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then he +looked up and spoke to the king in a clear voice. + +"O King," he said, "I am a very old man; as a youth I served under Chaka +the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the white man. +Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the battle of the +Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was the counsellor +of Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the battle of the +Tugela, when its grey waters were turned to red with the blood of +Umbulazi your brother, and of the tens of thousands of his people. +Afterwards I became your counsellor, O King, and I was with you +when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made promises to +Sompseu--promises that you have not kept. Now you are weary of me, and +it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is foolish, as +it chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka, your +great-uncle, will come true, and that the white men will prevail against +you and that through them you shall find your death. I would that I +might have stood in one more battle and fought for you, O King, since +fight you will, but the end which you choose is for me the best end. +Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. _Bayte!_"[*] + + [*] The royal salute of the Zulus. + +For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men waited +to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please him to be +merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. + +"Take him away," he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face +and one word, "Good-night," upon his lips, supported by the arm of a +soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of +death. + +Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. "If +he treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?" he +reflected. "We English must have fallen out of favour since I left +Natal. I wonder whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this +isn't my place." + +Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced +to look up. "Bring the stranger here," he said. + +Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as +cool and nonchalant a manner as he could command. + +Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. "At least, White Man," said +the king, glancing at his visitor's tall spare form and cleanly cut +face, "you are no '_umfagozan_' (low fellow); you are of the blood of +chiefs." + +"Yes, King," answered Hadden, with a little sigh, "I am of the blood of +chiefs." + +"What do you want in my country, White Man?" + +"Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have +heard, and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt buffalo, +and other big game, for a while before I return to Natal." + +"I cannot grant it," answered Cetywayo, "you are a spy sent by Sompseu, +or by the Queen's Induna in Natal. Get you gone." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; "then I hope that +Sompseu, or the Queen's Induna, or both of them, will pay me when I +return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, but +I should first like to make you a present." + +"What present?" asked the king. "I want no presents. We are rich here, +White Man." + +"So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle." + +"A rifle, White Man? Where is it?" + +"Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is +death to come armed before the 'Elephant who shakes the Earth.'" + +Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick ear. + +"Let this white man's offering be brought; I will consider the thing." + +Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, +running with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every step +he must fall upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon in +his hand and presented it to the king, holding it so that the muzzle was +pointed straight at the royal breast. + +"I crave leave to say, O Elephant," remarked Hadden in a drawling voice, +"that it might be well to command your servant to lift the mouth of that +gun from your heart." + +"Why?" asked the king. + +"Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably +desires to continue to shake the Earth." + +At these words the "Elephant" uttered a sharp exclamation, and rolled +from his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, +springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and +discharge a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had been +occupied by his monarch's head. + +"Let him be taken away," shouted the incensed king from the ground, but +long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry that +the gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed through +the gate. + +"He has already taken himself away," suggested Hadden, while the +audience tittered. "No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a repeating +rifle. Look----" and lifting the Winchester, he fired the four remaining +shots in quick succession into the air, striking the top of a tree at +which he aimed with every one of them. + +"_Wow_, it is wonderful!" said the company in astonishment. + +"Has the thing finished?" asked the king. + +"For the present it has," answered Hadden. "Look at it." + +Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, +swinging the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of +some of his most eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as +the barrel was brought to bear on them. + +"See what cowards they are, White Man," said the king with indignation; +"they fear lest there should be another bullet in this gun." + +"Yes," answered Hadden, "they are cowards indeed. I believe that if they +were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it chanced to +your Majesty to do just now." + +"Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?" asked the king +hastily, while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and +contemplated the fence behind them. + +"No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them." + +"If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and +mend guns for me?" asked Cetywayo anxiously. + +"It might depend on the pay," answered Hadden; "but for awhile I am +tired of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the permission +to hunt for which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return +perhaps we can bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king +farewell, and journey to Natal." + +"In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here," muttered +Cetywayo. + +At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led +away the old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves before +the king. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"He has travelled the king's bridge," they answered grimly; "he died +singing a song of praise of the king." + +"Good," said Cetywayo, "that stone shall hurt my feet no more. Go, tell +the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen's Induna in +Natal," he added with bitter emphasis. + +"_Baba!_ Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the Elephant," +said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than the rest added: +"Soon we will tell them another tale, the white Talking Ones, a red +tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall sing it in their ears." + +At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden +flame catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them +were seated on their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground +in unison, repeated:-- + + _Indaba ibomwu--indaba ye mikonto + Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho._ + (A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears, + And the _impis_ shall sing it in their ears.) + +One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden +and shaking his fist before his eyes--fortunately being in the royal +presence he had no assegai--shouted the sentences at him. + +The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. + +"Silence," he thundered in the deep voice for which he was remarkable, +and instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only the +echoes still answered back: "And the _impis_ shall sing it in their +ears--in their ears." + +"I am growing certain that this is no place for me," thought Hadden; +"if that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily forgotten +himself. Hullo! who's this?" + +Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid +specimen of the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years +of age, was arrayed in a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu +regiment. From the circlet of otter skin on his brow rose his crest of +plumes, round his middle, arms and knees hung the long fringes of black +oxtails, and in one hand he bore a little dancing shield, also black in +colour. The other was empty, since he might not appear before the king +bearing arms. In countenance the man was handsome, and though just now +they betrayed some anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, and his +mouth sensitive. In height he must have measured six foot two inches, +yet he did not strike the observer as being tall, perhaps because of +his width of chest and the solidity of his limbs, that were in curious +contrast to the delicate and almost womanish hands and feet which so +often mark the Zulu of noble blood. In short the man was what he seemed +to be, a savage gentleman of birth, dignity and courage. + +In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a +blanket, whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. +His face also was pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were timorous, +and the mouth lacked character. + +"Who are these?" asked the king. + +The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their +foreheads touched the ground--the while giving him his _sibonga_ or +titles of praise. + +"Speak," he said impatiently. + +"O King," said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, "I am +Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my uncle +Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father's youngest wife." + +Cetywayo frowned. "What do you here away from your regiment, Nahoon?" + +"May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head captains, +and I come to ask a boon of the king's bounty." + +"Be swift, then, Nahoon." + +"It is this, O King," said the captain with some embarrassment: "A while +ago the king was pleased to make a _keshla_ of me because of certain +service that I did out yonder----" and he touched the black ring which +he wore in the hair of his head. "Being now a ringed man and a captain, +I crave the right of a man at the hands of the king--the right to +marry." + +"Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle have +no rights." + +Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. + +"Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a +fair daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me to +husband. Awaiting the king's leave I am betrothed to her and in earnest +of it I have paid to Umgona a _lobola_ of fifteen head of cattle, cows +and calves together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, an old chief +named Maputa, the warden of the Crocodile Drift, who doubtless is known +to the king, and this chief also seeks Nanea in marriage and harries +Umgona, threatening him with many evils if he will not give the girl to +him. But Umgona's heart is white towards me, and towards Maputa it is +black, therefore together we come to crave this boon of the king." + +"It is so; he speaks the truth," said Umgona. + +"Cease," answered Cetywayo angrily. "Is this a time that my soldiers +should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? Know +that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls who +had dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, should be +strangled and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and with them the +bodies of their fathers, that all might know their sin and be warned +thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is well for you and for your daughter that you +sought my word before she was given in marriage to this man. Now this +is my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, and since you, Umgona, are +troubled with one whom you would not take as son-in-law, the old chief +Maputa, I will free you from his importunity. The girl, says Nahoon, is +fair--good, I myself will be gracious to her, and she shall be numbered +among the wives of the royal house. Within thirty days from now, in the +week of the next new moon, let her be delivered to the _Sigodhla_, the +royal house of the women, and with her those cattle, the cows and the +calves together, that Nahoon has given you, of which I fine him because +he has dared to think of marriage without the leave of the king." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BEE PROPHESIES + +"'A Daniel come to judgment' indeed," reflected Hadden, who had been +watching this savage comedy with interest; "our love-sick friend has got +more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to Csar," and +he turned to look at the two suppliants. + +The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences +of conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and +condescension. Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he had +done answered by reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not appear +at the date named, both she and he, her father, would in due course +certainly decorate a cross-road in their own immediate neighbourhood. + +The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal +words crossed the king's lips, his face took an expression of absolute +astonishment, which was presently replaced by one of fury--the just fury +of a man who suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His whole frame +quivered, the veins stood out in knots on his neck and forehead, and his +fingers closed convulsively as though they were grasping the handle of a +spear. Presently the rage passed away--for as well might a man be wroth +with fate as with a Zulu despot--to be succeeded by a look of the most +hopeless misery. The proud dark eyes grew dull, the copper-coloured face +sank in and turned ashen, the mouth drooped, and down one corner of +it there trickled a little line of blood springing from the lip bitten +through in the effort to keep silence. Lifting his hand in salute to the +king, the great man rose and staggered rather than walked towards the +gate. + +As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. "Stay," +he said, "I have a service for you, Nahoon, that shall drive out of your +head these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this white man here; +he is my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush country. +I put him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he comes to no +hurt. So also that you bring him before me within a month, or your life +shall answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in the first week +of the new moon--when Nanea comes--and then I will tell you whether or +no I agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, and you, White +Man, go also; those who are to accompany you shall be with you at the +dawn. Farewell, but remember we meet again at the new moon, when we will +settle what pay you shall receive as keeper of my guns. Do not fail me, +White Man, or I shall send after you, and my messengers are sometimes +rough." + +"This means that I am a prisoner," thought Hadden, "but it will go hard +if I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don't intend to +stay in this country if war is declared, to be pounded into _mouti_ +(medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that sort." + +***** + +Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were encamped +in a wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the Blood and +Unvunyana Rivers, not more than eight miles from that "Place of the +Little Hand" which within a few weeks was to become famous throughout +the world by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days they had +been tracking the spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still inhabited +the district, but as yet they had not come up with them. The Zulu +hunters had suggested that they should follow the Unvunyana down towards +the sea where game was more plentiful, but this neither Hadden, nor the +captain, Nahoon, had been anxious to do, for reasons which each of them +kept secret to himself. Hadden's object was to work gradually down to +the Buffalo River across which he hoped to effect a retreat into Natal. +That of Nahoon was to linger in the neighbourhood of the kraal of +Umgona, which was situated not very far from their present camping +place, in the vague hope that he might find an opportunity of speaking +with or at least of seeing Nanea, the girl to whom he was affianced, who +within a few weeks must be taken from him, and given over to the king. + +A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden +had never seen. Behind them lay a tract of land--half-swamp and +half-bush--in which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in +lonely grandeur, rose the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was an +amphitheatre of the most gloomy forest, ringed round in the distance by +sheer-sided hills. Into this forest there ran a river which drained the +swamp, placidly enough upon the level. But it was not always level, for +within three hundred yards of them it dashed suddenly over a precipice, +of no great height but very steep, falling into a boiling rock-bound +pool that the light of the sun never seemed to reach. + +"What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is named _Emagudu_, The Home of the Dead," the Zulu replied +absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was +situated at an hour's walk away over the ridge to the right. + +"The Home of the Dead! Why?" + +"Because the dead live there, those whom we name the _Esemkofu_, the +Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the _Amahlosi_, from whom +the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, "and have you ever seen these ghosts?" + +"Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead +enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make +offerings to the dead." + +Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked +over it. To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while close +to the bank of it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between the cliff +and the commencement of the forest, was a hut. + +"Who lives there?" asked Hadden. + +"The great _Isanusi_--she who is named _Inyanga_ or Doctoress; she who +is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom from the dead who +grow in the forest." + +"Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I +am going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?" + +"Mayhap, White Man, but," he added with a little smile, "those who visit +the Bee's hive may hear nothing, or they may hear more than they wish +for. The words of that Bee have a sting." + +"Good; I will see if she can sting me." + +"So be it," said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the cliff +till he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. + +By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of the +descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low fence +of reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth beaten +hard and polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool being +placed almost at the mouth of the round opening that served as a doorway +to the hut. At first all that Hadden could see of her, crouched as she +was in the shadow, was a huddled shape wrapped round with a greasy and +tattered catskin kaross, above the edge of which appeared two eyes, +fierce and quick as those of a leopard. At her feet smouldered a little +fire, and ranged around it in a semi-circle were a number of human +skulls, placed in pairs as though they were talking together, whilst +other bones, to all appearance also human, were festooned about the hut +and the fence of the courtyard. + +"I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties," thought +Hadden, but he said nothing. + +Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes +upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all +his might, till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this +curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that +the woman before him had shifted shape into the likeness of colossal +and horrid spider sitting at the mouth of her trap, and that these bones +were the relics of her victims. + +"Why do you not speak, White Man?" she said at last in a slow clear +voice. "Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You are +thinking that I who am called the Bee should be better named the Spider. +Have no fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit me when the +dead are so many? I suck the souls of men, not their bodies, White Man. +It is their living hearts I love to look on, for therein I read much and +thereby I grow wise. Now what would you of the Bee, White Man, the Bee +that labours in this Garden of Death, and--what brings _you_ here, +son of Zomba? Why are you not with the Umcityu now that they doctor +themselves for the great war--the last war--the war of the white and the +black--or if you have no stomach for fighting, why are you not at the +side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the fair?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:-- + +"A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my hunting." + +"In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of +money, or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; +that is your nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the +wound of that trader who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of the +Maboon (Boers)? No need to answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, for +the poor witch-doctoress whose skill you seek," she added in a whining +voice. "Surely you would not that an old woman should work without a +fee?" + +"I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going," said Hadden, who +began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the Bee's powers of +observation and thought-reading. + +"Nay," she answered with an unpleasant laugh, "would you ask a question, +and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at present, +White Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again," and once more +she laughed. "Let me look in your face, let me look in your face," she +continued, rising and standing before him. + +Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, and +the next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her thumb +and finger a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. The +action was so instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor to +resent it, but stood still staring at her stupidly. + +"That is all I need," she cried, "for like my heart my magic is white. +Stay--son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who visit the +Bee must listen to her humming." + +Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge +of his assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not because +he wished to do so, but because he feared to refuse. + +Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire +before them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was +bound about her middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she +wore none of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see +upon the persons of witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a +curious ornament, a small live snake, red and grey in hue, which her +visitors recognised as one of the most deadly to be found in that +part of the country. It is not unusual for Bantu witch-doctors thus to +decorate themselves with snakes, though whether or not their fangs have +first been extracted no one seems to know. + +Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up in +a thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, clung +about her head enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. Then of +a sudden she stretched out her hands, and let fall the two locks of +hair upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themselves to ashes like +things alive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to draw the fumes +of the hair and herbs into her lungs in great gulps; while the snake, +feeling the influence of the medicine, hissed and, uncoiling itself +from about her neck, crept upwards and took refuge among the black +_saccaboola_ feathers of her head-dress. + +Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro +muttering, then sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her +head rested. Now the Bee's face was turned upwards towards the light, +and it was ghastly to behold, for it had become blue in colour, and +the open eyes were sunken like the eyes of one dead, whilst above her +forehead the red snake wavered and hissed, reminding Hadden of the +Uraeus crest on the brow of statues of Egyptian kings. For ten seconds +or more she remained thus, then she spoke in a hollow and unnatural +voice:-- + +"O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your +heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. +Beautiful white body with black heart, you shall find your game and hunt +it, and it shall lead you into the House of the Homeless, into the Home +of the Dead, and it shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be shaped as a +tiger, it shall be shaped as a woman whom kings and waters cannot harm. +Beautiful white body and black heart, you shall be paid your wages, +money for money, and blow for blow. Think of my word when the spotted +cat purrs above your breast; think of it when the battle roars about +you; think of it when you grasp your great reward, and for the last time +stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the Home of the Dead. + +"O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white as +milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you strike +that blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love is as +the love of a tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow it, +follow it, O swift of foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that has +lied will never plead for mercy, and the hand that can betray is strong +in war. White Heart, what is death? In death life lives, and among the +dead you shall find the life you lost, for there awaits you she whom +kings and waters cannot harm." + +As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it was +almost inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass from +trance to sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an amused +and cynical smile, now laughed aloud. + +"Why do you laugh, White Man?" asked Nahoon angrily. + +"I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of +that lying fraud." + +"It is no nonsense, White Man." + +"Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?" + +"I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a +woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate." + +Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further +argument, and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red +snake from her head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped +herself again in the greasy kaross. + +"Are you satisfied with my wisdom, _Inkoos_?" she asked of Hadden. + +"I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, +mother," he answered coolly. "Now, what is there to pay?" + +The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or two +the look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen in +those of the snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. + +"If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so," she answered, "for +he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that I ask +no fee;--yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch." + +Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from it, +gave it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the gold +ring that was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a snake with +two little rubies set in the head to represent the eyes. + +"I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, +_Inkoos_. I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so that +the snake about my neck may be less lonely there." + +"Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead," said Hadden. + +"Yes, yes," she answered in a pleased voice, "it is a good word. I will +wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none can say +that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness that you +gave me permission to do so." + +For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about +the Bee's tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her +professional manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her +cupidity she had become natural, and it was evident that she spoke from +conviction, believing her own words. + +She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. + +"Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old witch-doctoress," she +said in a whining voice. "I have so much to do with Death that his name +leaps to my lips," and she glanced first at the circle of skulls about +her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy pool upon whose +banks her hut was placed. + +"Look," she said simply. + +Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden's eyes fell upon two +withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right angles to +its rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude platform made +of logs of wood lashed down with _riems_ of hide. Upon this platform +stood three figures; notwithstanding the distance and the spray of the +fall, he could see that they were those of two men and a girl, for their +shapes stood out distinctly against the fiery red of the sunset sky. +One instant there were three, the next there were two--for the girl had +gone, and something dark rushing down the face of the fall, struck the +surface of the pool with a heavy thud, while a faint and piteous cry +broke upon his ear. + +"What is the meaning of that?" he asked, horrified and amazed. + +"Nothing," answered the Bee with a laugh. "Do you not know, then, that +this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved without +the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and with them +their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I watch them +die and keep the count of the number of them," and drawing a tally-stick +from the thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a notch to +the many that appeared upon it, looking at Nahoon the while with a +half-questioning, half-warning gaze. + +"Yes, yes, it is a place of death," she muttered. "Up yonder the quick +die day by day and down there"--and she pointed along the course of the +river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred yards +from her hut--"the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!" + +As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from +the dim skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it +is impossible to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed +beastlike, and almost inarticulate. + +"Listen," repeated the Bee, "they are merry yonder." + +"Who?" asked Hadden; "the baboons?" + +"No, _Inkoos_, the _Amatongo_--the ghosts that welcome her who has just +become of their number." + +"Ghosts," said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, "I +should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard +a troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be +going while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell." + +"Farewell _Inkoos_, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. Go +in peace _Inkoos_--to sleep in peace." + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE END OF THE HUNT + +The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that +night. He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not +troubling him more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he closed +his eyes, his mind conjured up a picture of the grim witch-doctoress, +so strangely named the Bee, and the sound of her evil-omened words as +he had heard them that afternoon. He was neither a superstitious nor a +timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that might linger in his mind +were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what he might, he could +not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, lest there should be +some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this hag. What if it were +a fact that he was near his death, and that the heart which beat so +strongly in his breast must soon be still for ever--no, he would not +think of it. This gloomy place, and the dreadful sight which he saw that +day, had upset his nerves. The domestic customs of these Zulus were not +pleasant, and for his part he was determined to be clear of them so soon +as he was able to escape the country. + +In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make +a dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a good +prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a +buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he knew well, the hunters +with him would feast upon meat until they could scarcely stir, and that +would be his opportunity. Nahoon, however, might not succumb to this +temptation; therefore he must trust to luck to be rid of him. If it came +to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, which he considered +he would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the man was his +jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that he could face +it without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked Nahoon; at times +he even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, and he knew that the +great Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, and to be looked down +upon by a savage "nigger" was more than his pride could stomach. + +At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were +still stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in his +kaross or blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking gigantic +in the shadows of the morning. + +"What is your will, _Umlungu_ (white man), that you are up before the +sun?" + +"My will, _Muntumpofu_ (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo," answered +Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no +title of any sort. + +"Your pardon," said the Zulu reading his thoughts, "but I cannot call +you _Inkoos_ because you are not my chief, or any man's; still if the +title 'white man' offends you, we will give you a name." + +"As you wish," answered Hadden briefly. + +Accordingly they gave him a name, _Inhlizin-mgama_, by which he was +known among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he +found that the meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was "Black +Heart." That was how the _inyanga_ had addressed him--only she used +different words. + +An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay behind +the encampment searching for their game. Within a very little while +Nahoon held up his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden looked; +there, pressed deep in the marshy soil, and to all appearance not ten +minutes old, was the spoor of a small herd of buffalo. + +"I knew that we should find game to-day," whispered Nahoon, "because the +Bee said so." + +"Curse the Bee," answered Hadden below his breath. "Come on." + +For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick +reeds, till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden's +arm. He looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding +on some higher ground among a patch if mimosa trees, were the +buffaloes--six of them--an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a +heifer and a calf about four months old. Neither the wind nor the nature +of the veldt were favourable for them to stalk the game from their +present position, so they made a detour of half a mile and very +carefully crept towards them up the wind, slipping from trunk to trunk +of the mimosas and when these failed them, crawling on their stomachs +under cover of the tall _tambuti_ grass. At last they were within forty +yards, and a further advance seemed impracticable; for although he could +not smell them, it was evident from his movements that the old bull +heard some unusual sound and was growing suspicious. Nearest to Hadden, +who alone of the party had a rifle, stood the heifer broadside on--a +beautiful shot. Remembering that she would make the best beef, he lifted +his Martini, and aiming at her immediately behind the shoulder, gently +squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and the heifer fell dead, shot +through the heart. Strangely enough the other buffaloes did not at once +run away. On the contrary, they seemed puzzled to account for the sudden +noise; and, not being able to wind anything, lifted their heads and +stared round them. + +The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim +again, this time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in the +neck or shoulder, for he came to his knees, but in another second was up +and having caught sight of the cloud of smoke he charged straight at it. +Because of this smoke, or for some other reason, Hadden did not see him +coming, and in consequence would most certainly have been trampled or +gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the imminent risk of his own +life, and dragged him down behind an ant-heap. A moment more and the +great beast had thundered by, taking no further notice of them. + +"Forward," said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the heifer +and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the blood spoor. + +For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the trail +on a patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and exhausted by +the heat, sat down to rest and to eat some _biltong_ or sun-dried flesh +which they had with them. They finished their meal, and were preparing +to return to the camp, when one of the four Zulus who were with them +went to drink at a little stream that ran at a distance of not more than +ten paces away. Half a minute later they heard a hideous grunting noise +and a splashing of water, and saw the Zulu fly into the air. All the +while that they were eating, the wounded buffalo had been lying in +wait for them under a thick bush on the banks of the streamlet, +knowing--cunning brute that he was--that sooner or later his turn would +come. With a shout of consternation they rushed forward to see the bull +vanish over the rise before Hadden could get a chance of firing at him, +and to find their companion dying, for the great horn had pierced his +lung. + +"It is not a buffalo, it is a devil," the poor fellow gasped, and +expired. + +"Devil or not, I mean to kill it," exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the +others to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on +accompanied by Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase +easier, for they sighted their quarry frequently, though they could not +come near enough to fire. Presently they travelled down a steep cliff. + +"Do you know where we are?" asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of forest +opposite. "That is _Emagudu_, the Home of the Dead--and look, the bull +heads thither." + +Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the Fall, +the Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. + +"Very well," he answered; "then we must head for it too." + +Nahoon halted. "Surely you would not enter there," he exclaimed. + +"Surely I will," replied Hadden, "but there is no need for you to do so +if you are afraid." + +"I am afraid--of ghosts," said the Zulu, "but I will come." + +So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It +was a gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick there +shutting out the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which no +breeze stirred, was heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. There +seemed to be no life here and no sound--only now and again a loathsome +spotted snake would uncoil itself and glide away, and now and again a +heavy rotten bough fell with a crash. + +Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed +by his surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for +shooting, and went on. + +They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the sudden +increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull's wound was +proving fatal to him. + +"Run now," said Hadden cheerfully. + +"Nay, _hamba gachle_--go softly--" answered Nahoon, "the devil is dying, +but he will try to play us another trick before he dies." And he went on +peering ahead of him cautiously. + +"It is all right here, anyway," said Hadden, pointing to the spoor that +ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. + +Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees a +few paces in front of them and to their right. "Look," he whispered. + +Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown +that was crouched behind the trees. + +"He is dead," he exclaimed. + +"No," answered Nahoon, "he has come back on his own path and is waiting +for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you stand +there, I think that you can shoot him through the back between the tree +trunks." + +Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the +bull's spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next instant +the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, which sank +deep into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The buffalo stood +still for a moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its head down, +looking first after the one and then the other, till of a sudden it +uttered a low moaning sound and rolled over dead, smashing Nahoon's +assegai to fragments as it fell. + +"There! he's finished," said Hadden, "and I believe it was your assegai +that killed him. Hullo! what's that noise?" + +Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far +away it was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of people +calling to each other in fear but in no articulate language. Nahoon +shivered. + +"It is the _Esemkofu_," he said, "the ghosts who have no tongue, and +who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad for +mortals." + +"And worse for buffaloes," said Hadden, giving the dead bull a kick, +"but I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the +_Esemkofu_, as we have got meat enough, and can't carry his head." + +So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their +way slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden's head. +Once out of this forest, he was within an hour's run of the Zulu border, +and once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man than he did +at that moment. As has been said, he had intended to attempt to escape +in the darkness, but the plan was risky. All the Zulus might not +over-eat themselves and go to sleep, especially after the death of their +comrade; Nahoon, who watched him day and night, certainly would not. +This was his opportunity--there remained the question of Nahoon. + +Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy--he +had a loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only +a kerry. He did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to +him, seeing that his own safety was at stake, that he would be amply +justified in so doing. Why should he not put it to him--and then be +guided by circumstances? + +Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten spaces ahead of +him where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was under +the shadow of a large tree with low horizontal branches running out from +the trunk. + +"Nahoon," he said. + +The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. + +"No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged +to shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire without +warning. I am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me back to the +king to be his servant. But I believe that a war is going to break out +between your people and mine; and this being so, you will understand +that I do not wish to go to Cetywayo's kraal, because I should either +come to a violent death there, or my own brothers will believe that I +am a traitor and treat me accordingly. The Zulu border is not much more +than an hour's journey away--let us say an hour and a half's: I mean to +be across it before the moon is up. Now, Nahoon, will you lose me in the +forest and give me this hour and a half's start--or will you stop here +with that ghost people of whom you talk? Do you understand? No, please +do not move." + +"I understand you," answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed voice, +"and I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, +though, Black Heart, there is some justice in your words and more +wisdom. Your opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are +should not let fall." + +"I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And +now will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for me +till the moon is up?" + +"What do you mean, Black Heart?" + +"What I say. Come, I have no time to spare." + +"You are a strange man," said the Zulu reflectively. "You heard the +king's order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the king?" + +"Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does +not matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns +there. If you think that he will be angry because I am missing, you had +better cross the border also; we can go together." + +"And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black Heart, +you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a soldier, and +the king's word is the king's word. I hoped to have died fighting, but I +am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will not reach the border +before moonrise," and he opened his arms and smiled. + +"If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a brave +man, but every one of us must cherish his own life," answered Hadden +calmly. + +Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu's +breast. + +Already--whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a +twitching of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can +banish--already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a +sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden +went down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted +beast that waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his eyes. + +It was a leopard--a tiger as they call it in Africa--which, crouched +upon a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the temptation +of satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a second or two +there was silence, broken only by the purring, or rather the snoring +sound made by the leopard. In those seconds, strangely enough, there +sprang up before Hadden's mental vision a picture of the _inyanga_ +called _Inyosi_ or the Bee, her death-like head resting against the +thatch of the hut, and her death-like lips muttering "think of my word +when the great cat purrs above your face." + +Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove deep +into the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it scratched at +his breast, tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the flesh beneath. +The sight of the white skin seemed to madden it, and in its fierce +desire for blood it drooped its square muzzle and buried its fangs in +its victim's shoulder. Next moment there was a sound of running feet and +of a club falling heavily. Up reared the leopard with an angry snarl, +up till it stood as high as the attacking Zulu. At him it came, striking +out savagely and tearing the black man as it had torn the white. Again +the kerry fell full on its jaws, and down it went backwards. Before it +could rise again, or rather as it was in the act of rising, the heavy +knob-stick struck it once more, and with fearful force, this time as +it chanced, full on the nape of the neck, and paralysing the brute. It +writhed and bit and twisted, throwing up the earth and leaves, while +blow after blow was rained upon it, till at length with a convulsive +struggle and a stifled roar it lay still--the brains oozing from its +shattered skull. + +Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. + +"You have saved my life, Nahoon," he said faintly, "and I thank you." + +"Do not thank me, Black Heart," answered the Zulu, "it was the king's +word that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been hardly +dealt with, for certainly _he_ has saved _my_ life," and lifting the +Martini he unloaded the rifle. + +At this juncture Hadden swooned away. + +***** + +Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but a +little time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could hear +voices without understanding what they said, and feel himself borne he +knew not whither, Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a kaross in +a large and beautifully clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of furs for a +pillow. There was a bowl of milk at his side and tortured as he was by +thirst, he tried to stretch out his arm to lift it to his lips, only to +find to his astonishment that his hand fell back to his side like that +of a dead man. Looking round the hut impatiently, he found that there +was nobody in it to assist him, so he did the only thing which remained +for him to do--he lay still. He did not fall asleep, but his eyes +closed, and a kind of gentle torpor crept over him, half obscuring his +recovered senses. Presently he heard a soft voice speaking; it seemed +far away, but he could clearly distinguish the words. + +"Black Heart still sleeps," the voice said, "but there is colour in his +face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts again." + +"Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not dangerous," +answered another voice, that of Nahoon. "He fell heavily with the weight +of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses have been shaken +for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he will not die." + +"It would have been a pity if he had died," answered the soft voice, "he +is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so beautiful." + +"I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at +my heart," answered Nahoon sulkily. + +"Well, there is this to be said," she replied, "he wished to escape from +Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at," and she sighed. "Moreover +he asked you to come with him, and it might have been well if you had +done so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!" + +"How could I have done it, girl?" he asked angrily. "Would you have me +set at nothing the order of the king?" + +"The king!" she replied raising her voice. "What do you owe to this +king? You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a +few days he will take me from you--me, who should have been your wife, +and I must--I must----" And she began to weep softly, adding between +her sobs, "if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and of +yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, +Nahoon, let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me." + +"Weep not, Nanea," he said; "why do you tear my heart in two between my +duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must walk the +path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall be dead, for +I seek death, and then it will matter nothing." + +"Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are +right, and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a +woman who must also obey--the will of the king." And she cast her arms +about his neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NANEA + +Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, Nahoon +left Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. Then +Hadden opened his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking and +a ray of its red light streaming through the little opening filled the +place with a soft and crimson glow. In the centre of the hut--supporting +it--stood a thorn-wood roof-tree coloured black by the smoke of the +fire; and against this, the rich light falling full upon her, leaned the +girl Nanea--a very picture of gentle despair. + +As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful--so +beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man's heart, +for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her dress was +very simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a mantle of +soft white stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was a buck-skin +moocha, also embroidered with blue beads, while round her forehead and +left knee were strips of grey fur, and on her right wrist a shining +bangle of copper. Her naked bronze-hued figure was tall and perfect in +its proportions; while her face had little in common with that of the +ordinary native girl, showing as it did strong traces of the ancestral +Arabian or Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, with delicate aquiline +features, arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that drooped a little at the +corners, tiny ears, behind which the wavy coal-black hair hung down to +the shoulders, and the very loveliest pair of dark and liquid eyes that +it is possible to imagine. + +For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the +sunbeam, while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing +heavily, she turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her +mantle over her breast and came, or rather glided, towards him. + +"The chief is awake," she said in her soft Zulu accents. "Does he need +aught?" + +"Yes, Lady," he answered; "I need to drink, but alas! I am too weak." + +She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with +her right held the gourd to his lips. + +How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was +finished a change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl's +touch, or her strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in +her eyes, matters not--the issue was the same. She struck some cord in +his turbulent uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with +passion for her--a passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. +He did not for a moment mistake the significance of the flood of feeling +that surged through his veins. Hadden never shirked facts. + +"By Heaven!" he said to himself, "I have fallen in love with a black +beauty at first sight--more in love than I have ever been before. It's +awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for Nahoon, +or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always get rid of +her if she becomes a nuisance." + +Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of his +blood, he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea's face while +with a native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself dressing the +wounds that the leopard had made. + +It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind +communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a +little at her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, +she rose from her knees with a courteous "It is finished, _Inkoos_," and +once more took up her position by the roof-tree. + +"I thank you, Lady," he said; "your hand is kind." + +"You must not call me lady, _Inkoos_," she answered, "I am no +chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona." + +"And named Nanea," he said. "Nay, do not be surprised, I have heard of +you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess--up at the +king's kraal yonder." + +"Alas! and alas!" she said, covering her face with her hands. + +"Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it +cannot be climbed or crept through." + +She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not pursue +the subject. + +"Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?" + +"Nahoon and his companions carried you, _Inkoos_." + +"Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. +Well, Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I trust +that I may be able to repay it--to you, Nanea." + +***** + +This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did +not seek them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation +brought about many another. Never for a moment did the white man waver +in his determination to get into his keeping the native girl who had +captivated him, and to attain his end he brought to bear all his powers +and charm to detach her from Nahoon, and win her affections for himself. +He was no rough wooer, however, but proceeded warily, weaving her about +with a web of flattery and attention that must, he thought, produce the +desired effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it would have +done so--for she was but a woman, and an untutored one--had it not been +for a simple fact which dominated her whole nature. She loved Nahoon, +and there was no room in her heart for any other man, white or black. To +Hadden she was courteous and kindly but no more, nor did she appear +to notice any of the subtle advances by which he attempted to win a +foothold in her heart. For a while this puzzled him, but he remembered +that the Zulu women do not usually permit themselves to show feeling +towards an undeclared suitor. Therefore it became necessary that he +should speak out. + +His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He +was now quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the +neighbourhood of the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona's huts +rose a spring, and thither it was Nanea's habit to resort in the evening +to bring back drinking-water for the use of her father's household. +The path between this spring and the kraal ran through a patch of bush, +where on a certain afternoon towards sundown Hadden took his seat under +a tree, having first seen Nanea go down to the little stream as was her +custom. A quarter of an hour later she reappeared carrying a large gourd +upon her head. She wore no garment now except her moocha, for she +had but one mantle and was afraid lest the water should splash it. He +watched her advancing along the path, her hands resting on her hips, her +splendid naked figure outlined against the westering sun, and wondered +what excuse he could make to talk with her. As it chanced fortune +favoured him, for when she was near him a snake glided across the path +in front of the girl's feet, causing her to spring backwards in alarm +and overset the gourd of water. He came forward, and picked it up. + +"Wait here," he said laughing; "I will bring it to you full." + +"Nay, _Inkoos_," she remonstrated, "that is a woman's work." + +"Among my people," he said, "the men love to work for the women," and he +started for the spring, leaving her wondering. + +Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was +necessary to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the +contents of it spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he +said nothing to Nanea. + +"There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the kraal?" + +"Nay, _Inkoos_, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with its +weight." + +"Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, and +had it not been for you I think that I should be dead." + +"It was Nahoon who saved you--not I, _Inkoos_." + +"Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my heart." + +"You talk darkly, _Inkoos_." + +"Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you." + +She opened her brown eyes wide. + +"You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?" + +"I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would +have seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife." + +"Nay, _Inkoos_, it is impossible. I am already betrothed." + +"Ay," he answered, "betrothed to the king." + +"No, betrothed to Nahoon." + +"But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And +would you not rather that I should take you than the king?" + +"It seems to be so, _Inkoos_, and I would rather go with you than with +the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I +shall not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will never +become one of the king's women." + +"How will you prevent it, Nanea?" + +"There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she +can hang," she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. + +"That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die." + +"Fair or foul, yet I die, _Inkoos_." + +"No, no, come with me--I will find a way--and be my wife," and he put +her arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. + +Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, the +girl disengaged herself from his embrace. + +"You have honoured me, and I thank you, _Inkoos_," she said quietly, +"but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon--I belong to Nahoon; +therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. It is not +our custom, _Inkoos_, for we are not as the white women, but ignorant +and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by that vow +till death." + +"Indeed," said Hadden; "and so now you go to tell Nahoon that I have +offered to make you my wife." + +"No, _Inkoos_, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said 'nay' +to you, not 'yea,' therefore he has no right to know," and she stooped +to lift the gourd of water. + +Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made +him the more determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency +he conceived a scheme, or rather its rough outline. It was not a +nice scheme, and some men might have shrunk from it, but as he had +no intention of suffering himself to be defeated by a Zulu girl, he +decided--with regret, it is true--that having failed to attain his ends +by means which he considered fair, he must resort to others of more +doubtful character. + +"Nanea," he said, "you are a good and honest woman, and I respect you. +As I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen to me +there is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be +better that you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you +will never marry him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not +give you to some other man, either you will become one of his 'sisters,' +or to be free of him, as you say, you will die. Now hear me, for it is +because I love you and wish your welfare that I speak thus. Why do you +not escape into Natal, taking Nahoon with you, for there as you know you +may live in peace out of reach of the arm of Cetywayo?" + +"That is my desire, _Inkoos_, but Nahoon will not consent. He says that +there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not break +the command of the king and desert from his army." + +"Then he cannot love you much, Nahoon, and at least you have to think of +yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for be +sure that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly with +you, for I too believe that there must be war, and then a white man in +this country will be as a lamb among the eagles." + +"If Nahoon will come, I will go, _Inkoos_, but I cannot fly without +Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself." + +"Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him +to forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days' time we must +start for the king's kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be +easy for us to turn our faces southwards and across the river that lies +between the land of the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of us, +but most of all for your own sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I have +loved and whom I now would save. See him and plead with him as you +know how, but as yet do not tell him that I dream of flight, for then I +should be watched." + +"In truth, I will, _Inkoos_," she answered earnestly, "and oh! I thank +you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray you--first would I +die. Farewell." + +"Farewell, Nanea," and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. + +***** + +Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for +sleep, he heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the entrance +to his hut. + +"Enter," he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light of +the little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the +hut, followed by the great form of Nahoon. + +"_Inkoos_," she said in a whisper when the door was closed again, "I +have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; moreover, my +father will come also." + +"Is it so, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is so," answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; "to save this +girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my heart, I +have bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, White +Man, as I told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come of this +flight, and if we are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed every one +of us." + +"Caught we can scarcely be," broke in Nanea anxiously, "for who could +betray us, except the _Inkoos_ here----" + +"Which he is not likely to do," said Hadden quietly, "seeing that he +desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake." + +"That is so, Black Heart," said Nahoon, "otherwise I tell you that I +should not have trusted you." + +Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late that +night they sat there together making their plans. + +***** + +On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent +altercation. Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were +Umgona and a fat and evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the +kraal on a pony. This chief, he soon discovered, was named Maputa, being +none other than the man who had sought Nanea in marriage and brought +about Nahoon's and Umgona's unfortunate appeal to the king. At present +he was engaged in abusing Umgona furiously, charging him with having +stolen certain of his oxen and bewitched his cows so that they would not +give milk. The alleged theft it was comparatively easy to disprove, but +the wizardry remained a matter of argument. + +"You are a dog, and a son of a dog," shouted Maputa, shaking his fat +fist in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. "You promised +me your daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that +_umfagozan_--that low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of Zomba--you +went, the two of you, and poisoned the king's ear against me, bringing +me into trouble with the king, and now you have bewitched my cattle. +Well, wait, I will be even with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up +in the cold morning to find your fence red with fire, and the slayers +standing outside your gates to eat up you and yours with spears----" + +At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, +intervened with effect. + +"Good," he said, "we will wait, but not in your company, Chief Maputa. +_Hamba!_ (go)----" and seizing the fat old ruffian by the scruff of his +neck, he flung him backwards with such violence that he rolled over and +over down the little slope. + +Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to +bathe. Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along the +footpath, his head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his black +face livid with rage. + +"There goes an angry man," he said to himself. "Now, how would it +be----" and he looked upwards like one seeking an inspiration. It seemed +to come; perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in his ear, at any +rate--in a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was walking through +the bush to meet Maputa. + +"Go in peace, Chief," he said; "they seem to have treated you roughly up +yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not bear +the sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of rank +should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with +beer." + +"Shameful, White Man!" gasped Maputa; "your words are true indeed. But +wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that +bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that +neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather +it." + +"And how will you manage that, Maputa?" + +"I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be +found." + +Hadden patted the pony's neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he +looked the chief in the eyes and said:-- + +"What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and +certain one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, whose +violence I also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft brought +sore sickness upon me?" + +"What reward do you seek, White Man?" asked Maputa eagerly. + +"A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to +whom as it chances I have taken a fancy." + +"I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has laid +his hand upon her." + +"That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who 'sits at Ulundi.' It +is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. Listen: if +you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your foes, but +when the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you this rifle and +a hundred rounds of cartridges." + +Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. + +"It is good," he said; "it is very good. Often have I wished for such a +gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies from +far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the girl if I +can give her to you." + +"You swear it, Maputa?" + +"I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers." + +"Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, +his daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the +drift that is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them and +flying from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they know +that I have learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried to +leave them. Now you who are chief of the border and guardian of that +drift, must hide at night with some men among the rocks in the shallows +of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will cross driving the +cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help her; then will +follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On these two you +must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will +give you the rifle." + +"What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?" + +"Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not recognise +her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first you feared +to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and they should +escape you." + +"Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are +across the river?" + +"Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon +a stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them +when I have driven over the cattle." + +"It is well, White Man; I will not fail you." + +So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points of +detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. + +"That ought to come off all right," reflected Hadden to himself as he +plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, "but somehow I don't +quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could +have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle--a +couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder +and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery +to justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military +country. Also personal interference upon my part might turn the girl +against me; while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out by Maputa, +she _must_ accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but in every +walk of life the most cautious have to take risks at times." + +As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his +coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own +kraal, he had come to the conclusion that the white man's plan, though +attractive in some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that if +the girl Nanea escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the men +he took with him to do the killing in the drift would suspect something +and talk. On the other hand he would earn much credit with his majesty +by revealing the plot, saying that he had learned it from the lips of +the white hunter, whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to participate +in it, and of whose coveted rifle he must trust to chance to possess +himself. + +***** + +An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, +bearing words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the +"great Black Elephant" at Ulundi. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DOOM POOL + +Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and +Nanea. One of the Zulu captain's perplexities was as to how he should +lull the suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who +together with himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden in +his hunting and to guard against his escape. As it chanced, however, on +the day after the incident of the visit of Maputa, a messenger arrived +from no less a person than the great military Induna, Tvingwayo ka +Marolo, who afterwards commanded the Zulu army at Isandhlwana, ordering +these men to return to their regiment, the Umcityu Corps, which was to +be placed upon full war footing. Accordingly Nahoon sent them, saying +that he himself would follow with Black Heart in the course of a few +days, as at present the white man was not sufficiently recovered from +his hurts to allow of his travelling fast and far. So the soldiers went, +doubting nothing. + +Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king he +was about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea to +be delivered over into the _Sigodhla_, and also those fifteen head +of cattle that had been _lobola'd_ by Nahoon in consideration of his +forthcoming marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under +pretence that they required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle +he sent away in charge of a Basuto herd who knew nothing of their plans, +telling him to keep them by the Crocodile Drift, as there the grass was +good and sweet. + +All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, +heading straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, +however, they left the road and turning sharp to the right, passed +unobserved of any through a great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their +path now lay not far from the Pool of Doom, which, indeed, was close to +Umgona's kraal, and the forest that was called Home of the Dead, but out +of sight of these. It was their plan to travel by night, reaching the +broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following morning. Here +they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; then, having +first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to cross the river +at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least this was the +plan of his companions; but, as we know, Hadden had another programme, +whereon after one last appearance two of the party would play no part. + +During that long afternoon's journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the +country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his +hand a long travelling stick of black and white _umzimbeet_ wood, for in +truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey's end. Next came +Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his moocha and +necklet of baboon's teeth, and with him Nanea in her white bead-bordered +mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the girl seemed +to be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for from time to time +she clasped her lover's arm, and looking up into his face, addressed him +with vehemence, almost with passion. + +Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was +shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in this +tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel the +web of death which he himself had woven. But ever that evil voice was +whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the white _Inkoos_, had +been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he found a way to save +him, within some few hours she would be the wife of the savage gentleman +at her side, the man who had named him Black Heart and who despised +him, the man whom he had meant to murder and who immediately repaid his +treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard at the risk of +his own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden's existence never to deny +himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his power to take +it--a law which had led him always deeper into sin. In other respects, +indeed, it had not carried him far, for in the past he had not desired +much, and he had won little; but this particular flower was to his hand, +and he would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so +much the worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in his grasp, so much +the worse for the flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it came +about that, not for the first time in his life, Philip Hadden discarded +the somewhat spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil +whispering at his ear. + +About half-past five o'clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed +the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into +the Doom Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further side, +walked straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who were +beguiling the tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the +smoking of _dakka_ or native hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his +pony, for he was too fat to walk, waited the Chief Maputa. + +Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out +the _dakka_ pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the +lobes of their ears, and secured the four of them. + +"What is the meaning of this, O King's soldiers?" asked Umgona in a +quavering voice. "We journey to the kraal of U'Cetywayo; why do you +molest us?" + +"Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south. Does the +Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal +presently," answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a +callous laugh. + +"I do not understand," stammered Umgona. + +"Then I will explain while you rest," said the captain. "The Chief +Maputa yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned +of your intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who +had warned him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to +catch you and make an end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, and +let us finish the matter. As the Doom Pool is near, your deaths will be +easy." + +Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; but +he did not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard them +also, and turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said nothing, she +only looked, but he could never forget that look. The white man for his +part was filled with a fiery indignation against Maputa. + +"You wicked villain," he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a sickly +fashion, and turned away. + +Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached +the waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. + +Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he +gazed into that abyss. + +"Are you going to throw me in there?" he asked of the Zulu captain in a +thick voice. + +"You, White Man?" replied the soldier unconcernedly. "No, our orders +are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know. +There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to +pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you +over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men." + +Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his +brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of +escape. + +By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the +waters of the pool. + +"Who dives first," asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. + +"The old wizard," he replied, nodding at Umgona; "then his daughter +after him, and last of all this fellow," and he struck Nahoon in the +face with his open hand. + +"Come on, Wizard," said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, "and +let us see how you can swim." + +At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after +the fashion of his race. + +"No need to lead me, soldier," he said, shaking himself loose, "who am +old and ready to die." Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung +Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt +walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here +he stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and +without a sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. + +"That was a brave one," said the captain with admiration. "Can you +spring too, girl, or must we throw you?" + +"I can walk my father's path," Nanea answered faintly, "but first I +crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the +king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart here +who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he has +betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and this is +the vengeance that he takes--a white man's vengeance." + +"_Wow!_" broke in the chief Maputa, "this pretty one speaks truth, for +the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona, +the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile +Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him +softly and said 'yes,' and then like a loyal man I reported to the +king." + +"You hear," sighed Nanea. "Nahoon, fare you well, though presently +perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your +duty. For my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, +my husband, it is better to die with you than to enter the house of the +king's women," and Nanea stepped on to the platform. + +Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and +addressed Hadden, saying:-- + +"Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose +and--the sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black Heart, +and in that night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be given to +drink of my blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the blood of +Nahoon my husband, who saved your life, and whom you have murdered. +Perchance, Black Heart, we may yet meet yonder--in the House of the +Dead." + +Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and +outwards from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to +look. They saw her rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike +the water fifty feet below. A few seconds, and for the last time, they +caught sight of her white garment glimmering on the surface of the +gloomy pool. Then the shadows and mist-wreaths hid it, and she was gone. + +"Now, husband," cried the cheerful voice of the captain, "yonder is your +marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so ready to lead the +way. _Wow!_ but you are good people to kill; never have I had to do with +any who gave less trouble. You----" and he stopped, for mental agony had +done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad before his eyes. + +With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held +him and seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all +his terrible strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he +hurled him over the edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks of +the Pool of Doom. Then crying:-- + +"Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!" he rushed at Hadden, +his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed striking +the chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his hand. Ill +would it have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught him. But +he could not come at him, for the soldiers sprang upon him and +notwithstanding his fearful struggles they pulled him to the ground, as +at certain festivals the Zulu regiments with their naked hands pull down +a bull in the presence of the king. + +"Cast him over before he can work more mischief," said a voice. But the +captain cried out, "Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven has +fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would overtake +us all. Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to where he can +be cared for. Surely I thought that these evil-doers were giving us too +little trouble, and thus it has proved." + +So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon's hands and wrists, using +as much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is +accounted holy. It was no easy task, and it took time. + +Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground close +beside him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed it, +and about a dozen yards away Maputa's pony was grazing. With a swift +movement, he seized the Martini and five seconds later he was on the +back of the pony, heading for the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So +quickly indeed did he execute this masterly retreat, that occupied as +they all were in binding Nahoon, for half a minute or more none of the +soldiers noticed what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to see, and +waddled after him to the top of the rise, screaming:-- + +"The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun that +he promised to give me." + +Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, +and a rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of him; +more, he had been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose sake he +had dipped his hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his shoulder; +Maputa was still running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at any rate he +would risk it. + +Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping +his arm through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it +chanced, and as he had hoped would be the case, the animal was a trained +shooting horse, and stood still. Hadden planted his feet firmly on the +ground and drawing a deep breath, he cocked the rifle and covered the +advancing chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose and with a yell of terror +turned to fly. Hadden waited a second to get the sight fair on his broad +back, then just as the soldiers appeared above the rise he pressed the +trigger. He was a noted shot, and in this instance his skill did not +fail him; for, before he heard the bullet tell, Maputa flung his arms +wide and plunged to the ground dead. + +Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the +pony and was riding for his life towards the river, which a while later +he crossed in safety. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + +When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of Doom, +a strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were many jagged +rocks, and on these the waters of the fall fell and thundered, bounding +from them in spouts of spray into the troubled depths of the foss +beyond. It was on these stones that the life was dashed out from the +bodies of the wretched victims who were hurled from above. But Nanea, it +will be remembered, had not waited to be treated thus, and as it chanced +the strong spring with which she had leapt to death carried her clear of +the rocks. By a very little she missed the edge of them and striking the +deep water head first like some practised diver, she sank down and down +till she thought that she would never rise again. Yet she did rise, +at the end of the pool in the mouth of the rapid, along which she sped +swiftly, carried down by the rush of the water. Fortunately there were +no rocks here; and, since she was a skilful swimmer, she escaped the +danger of being thrown against the banks. + +For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she +was in a forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their +drooping branches swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with her +hand, and by the help of it she dragged herself from the River of Death +whence none had escaped before. Now she stood upon the bank gasping +but quite unharmed; there was not a scratch on her body; even her white +garment was still fast about her neck. + +But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so exhausted +was Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was that of +night, and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find some +refuge. Close to the water's edge grew an enormous yellow-wood tree, +and to this she staggered--thinking to climb it, and seek shelter in its +boughs where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. Again +fortune befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet from the ground +there was a great hole in the tree which, she discovered, was hollow. +Into this hole she crept, taking her chance of its being the home of +snakes or other evil creatures, to find that the interior was wide and +warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the cavity lay a foot or +more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by rats or birds. Upon this +tinder she lay down, and covering herself with the moss and leaves soon +sank into sleep or stupor. + +How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened by +a sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she could +not understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in the +tree. It was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their light +fell upon an open circle of ground close by the edge of the river. In +this circle there burned a great fire, and at a little distance from the +fire were gathered eight or ten horrible-looking beings, who appeared to +be rejoicing over something that lay upon the ground. They were small in +stature, men and women together, but no children, and all of them were +nearly naked. Their hair was long and thin, growing down almost to the +eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded and the girth of their black bodies +was out of all proportion to their height. In their hands they held +sticks with sharp stones lashed on to them, or rude hatchet-like knives +of the same material. + +Now Nanea's heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, +for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt +these were the _Esemkofu_, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, that +was what they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off them--the +sight of them held her with a horrible fascination. But if they were +ghosts, why did they sing and dance like men? Why did they wave those +sharp stones aloft, and quarrel and strike each other? And why did they +make a fire as men do when they wish to cook food? More, what was it +that they rejoiced over, that long dark thing which lay so quiet upon +the ground? It did not look like a head of game, and it could scarcely +be a crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, for they were +sharpening the stone knives in order to cut it up. + +While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures +advanced to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over +the thing that lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who +was about to do something to it with the stone knife. Next instant Nanea +drew back her head from the hole, a stifled shriek upon her lips. She +saw what it was now--it was the body of a man. Yes, and these were no +ghosts; they were cannibals of whom when she was little, her mother had +told her tales to keep her from wandering away from home. + +But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of +themselves, for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it must +be Nahoon, who had been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the waters +had brought down to the haunted forest as they had brought her alive. +Yes, it must be Nahoon, and she would be forced to see her husband +devoured before her eyes. The thought of it overwhelmed her. That he +should die by order of the king was natural, but that he should be +buried thus! Yet what could she do to prevent it? Well, if it cost her +her life, it should be prevented. At the worst they could only kill +and eat her also, and now that Nahoon and her father were gone, being +untroubled by any religious or spiritual hopes and fears, she was not +greatly concerned to keep her own breath in her. + +Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards the +cannibals--not knowing in the least what she should do when she reached +them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of programme came +home to her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. Just then one of +the cannibals looked up to see a tall and stately figure wrapped in a +white garment which, as the flame-light flickered on it, seemed now to +advance from the dense background of shadow, and now to recede into it. +The poor savage wretch was holding a stone knife in his teeth when he +beheld her, but it did not remain there long, for opening his great +jaws he uttered the most terrified and piercing yell that Nanea had +ever heard. Then the others saw her also, and presently the forest was +ringing with shrieks of fear. For a few seconds the outcasts stood +and gazed, then they were gone this way and that, bursting their path +through the undergrowth like startled jackals. The _Esemkofu_ of Zulu +tradition had been routed in their own haunted home by what they took to +be a spirit. + +Poor _Esemkofu!_ they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, +driven into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this +means, the only one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched +bodies. Here at least they were unmolested, and as there was little +other food to be found amid that wilderness of trees, they took what the +river brought them. When executions were few in the Pool of Doom, times +were hard for them indeed--for then they were driven to eat each other. +That is why there were no children. + +As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran +forward to look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back +with a sigh of relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face +for that of one of the party of executioners. How did he come here? Had +Nahoon killed him? Had Nahoon escaped? She could not tell, and at the +best it was improbable, but still the sight of this dead soldier lit her +heart with a faint ray of hope, for how did he come to be dead if Nahoon +had no hand in his death? She could not bear to leave him lying so near +her hiding-place, however; therefore, with no small toil, she rolled +the corpse back into the water, which carried it swiftly away. Then she +returned to the tree, having first replenished the fire, and awaited the +light. + +At last it came--so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome den--and +Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the tree +to search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till +towards sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest there +was a flat rock where it was the custom of those who had been in any +way afflicted, or who considered themselves or their belongings to +be bewitched, to place propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the +_Esemkofu_ and _Amalhosi_ were supposed to satisfy their spiritual +cravings. Urged by the pinch of starvation, to this spot Nanea journeyed +rapidly, and found to her joy that some neighbouring kraal had evidently +been in recent trouble, for the Rock of Offering was laden with cobs of +corn, gourds of milk, porridge and even meat. Helping herself to as much +as she could carry, she returned to her lair, where she drank of the +milk and cooked meat and mealies at the fire. Then she crept back into +the tree, and slept. + +For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could +not venture out of it--fearing lest she should be seized, and for a +second time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least +she was safe, for none dared enter there, nor did the _Esemkofu_ give +her further trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion +they fled from her presence--seeking some distant retreat, where they +hid themselves or perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that +it was taken, the pious givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of +Offering. + +But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled +with her sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she lived +on, though often she desired to die, for if her father was dead, the +corpse she had found was not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her heart +there still shone that spark of home. Yet what she hoped for she could +not tell. + +***** + +When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was +about to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the +Amazulu; also that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure +with the Utrecht store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was +the owner of two good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at +that time vehicles were much in request to carry military stores for +the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport +authorities were glad to pay 90 a month for the hire of each waggon and +to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he was not +desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much for Hadden, +who accordingly leased out his waggons to the Commissariat, together +with his own services as conductor and interpreter. + +He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be +remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on +the 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs from +Rorke's Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night beneath the +shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as Isandhlwana. + +That day also a great army of King Cetywayo's, numbering twenty thousand +men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon the stony +plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. No fires +were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were +"sleeping on their spears." + +With that _impi_ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred +strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu +looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had +covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man standing +before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who held a +rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no answer; +he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right along the dense +array of innumerable shields. + +"Who is this _Silwana_ (wild creature)?" asked the Induna of his +captains wondering. + +The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, "This is +Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in +this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona, +was killed together with her father by order of the Black One, and +Nahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven +entered his brain, and mad he has wandered ever since." + +"What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?" asked the Induna. + +Then Nahoon spoke slowly. "My regiment goes down to war against the +white men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I +may fight with my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle." + +So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away one +whose brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. + +***** + +When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks +of the Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, +company by company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, +breast and horns together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed +British camp, a moving sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the +shields, the shells tore long lines through their array, but they never +halted or wavered. Forward on either side shot out the horns of armed +men, clasping the camp in an embrace of steel. Then as these began +to close, out burst the war cry of the Zulus, and with the roar of a +torrent and the rush of a storm, with a sound like the humming of a +billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast of the _impi_ rolled down +upon the white men. With it went the black-shielded Umcityu and with +them went Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A bullet struck him in the side, +glancing from his ribs, he did not heed; a white man fell from his horse +before him, he did not stab, for he sought but one face in the battle. + +He sought--and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the +spears were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly +was Black Heart, he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three +soldiers stood between them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he +brushed aside; then he rushed straight at Hadden. + +But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his madness +he knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing away his +empty rifle, for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his horse +and drove his spurs into its flanks. Away it went among the carnage, +springing over the dead and bursting through the lines of shields, and +after it came Nahoon, running long and low with head stretched forward +and trailing spear, running as a hound runs when the buck is at view. + +Hadden's first plan was to head for Rorke's Drift, but a glance to the +left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he fled +straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was over a +ridge, and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten all +sounds of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread race +to Fugitive's Drift, and the assegai makes no noise. In some strange +fashion, even at this moment, the contrast between the dreadful scene of +blood and turmoil that he had left, and the peaceful face of Nature over +which he was passing, came home to his brain vividly. Here birds sang +and cattle grazed; here the sun shone undimmed by the smoke of cannon, +only high up in the blue and silent air long streams of vultures could +be seen winging their way to the Plain of Isandhlwana. + +The ground was very rough, and Hadden's horse began to tire. He looked +over his shoulder--there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, +grim as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; +there was but one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been +fired and the pouch was empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for +one savage: the question was should he stop and use it now? No, he might +miss or fail to kill the man; he was on horseback and his foe on foot, +surely he could tire him out. + +A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed +familiar to Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when +he was the guest of Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the knoll +to his right were the huts, or rather the remains of them, for they +had been burnt with fire. What chance had brought him to this place, he +wondered; then again he looked behind him at Nahoon, who seemed to read +his thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to the ruined kraal. + +On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost +sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, +and when it was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was once more in +his old place. His horse's strength was almost spent, but Hadden spurred +it forward blindly, whither he knew not. Now he was travelling along a +strip of turf and ahead of him he heard the music of a river, while to +his left rose a high bank. Presently the turf bent inwards and there, +not twenty yards away from him, was a Kaffir hut standing on the brink +of a river. He looked at it, yes, it was the hut of that accursed +_inyanga_, the Bee, and standing by the fence of it was none other +than the Bee herself. At the sight of her the exhausted horse swerved +violently, stumbled and came to the ground, where it lay panting. Hadden +was thrown from the saddle but sprang to his feet unhurt. + +"Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?" +cried the Bee in a mocking voice. + +"Help me, mother, I am pursued," he gasped. + +"What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and +face him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You +will not? Then away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who +await you there. Tell me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw +beneath the waters a while ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when you +two meet in the House of the Dead." + +Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, +so followed by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the +forest. After him came Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like the +tongue of a wolf. + +Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following +the course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he halted +on the further side of a little glade, beyond which a great tree grew. +Nahoon was more than a spear's throw behind him; therefore he had time +to draw his pistol and make ready. + +"Halt, Nahoon," he cried, as once before he had cried; "I would speak +with you." + +The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. + +"Listen," said Hadden. "We have run a long race and fought a long fight, +you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you come on, +one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am armed and +as you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his +wild and glowering eyes fixed on the white man's face and his breath +coming in short gasps. + +"Will you let me go, if _I_ let _you_ go?" Hadden asked once more. "I +know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor can the dead be +brought to earth again." + +Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and +more crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so +terrible in Hadden's ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai he +stalked grimly toward his foe. + +When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon +sprang aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right +arm dropped, and the stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it +harmlessly over the white man's head. But still making no sound, the +Zulu came on and gripped him by the throat with his left hand. For a +space they struggled terribly, swaying to and fro, but Hadden was +unhurt and fought with the fury of despair, while Nahoon had been +twice wounded, and there remained to him but one sound arm wherewith to +strike. Presently forced to earth by the white man's iron strength, the +soldier was down, nor could he rise again. + +"Now we will make an end," muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned to +seek the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and +reeling gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a +spear in her hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! + +"Think of it," he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of the +_inyanga_, "when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in +the Home of the Dead." + +There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards him +to bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently Black +Heart clasped that great reward which the word of the Bee had promised +Him. + +***** + +"Nahoon! Nahoon!" murmured a soft voice, "awake, it is no ghost, but +I--Nanea--I, your living wife, to whom my _Ehlose_[*] has given it me to +save you." + + [*] Guardian Spirit. + +Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. + +"Welcome, wife," he said faintly, "now I will live since Death has +brought you back to me in the House of the Dead." + +***** + +To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in +Zululand, and there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips +of none other than Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard its +substance. + +The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the +white man's rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a +snake with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Black Heart and White Heart, 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/2842-8.zip b/old/2842-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f50da62 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2842-8.zip diff --git a/old/2842-h.htm.2016-09-22 b/old/2842-h.htm.2016-09-22 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe5ec02 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2842-h.htm.2016-09-22 @@ -0,0 +1,3242 @@ +<?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> + Black Heart and White Heart, by H. Rider Haggard + </title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + 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: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + 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%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + 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 {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + --> +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Black Heart and White Heart, 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: Black Heart and White Heart + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2842] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + </h1> + <h2> + by H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2H_4_0001"> DEDICATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2H_4_0002"> AUTHOR’S NOTE </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2H_4_0003"> <big><b>BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART</b></big> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + DEDICATION + </h2> + <h3> + To the Memory of the Child<br /> Nada Burnham, + </h3> + <p> + who “bound all to her” and, while her father cut his way through the + hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at + Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more + particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and + death. + </p> + <p> + H. Rider Haggard. + </p> + <p> + Ditchingham. + </p> + <p> + <a name="2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR’S NOTE + </h2> + <p> + Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, “The Wizard,” a + tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a Christmas + Annual. Another, “Elissa,” is an attempt, difficult enough owing to the + scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate the life of the + ancient Phoenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in Rhodesia, and, + with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest circumstances + such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall at the hands of + the surrounding savage tribes. The third, “Black Heart and White Heart,” + is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of a pair of Zulu + lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 + titled “Black Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories.”— + JB. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + </h2> + <h3> + A ZULU IDYLL + </h3> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + </h3> + <p> + At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a + transport-rider and trader in “the Zulu.” Still on the right side of + forty, in appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, with + keen eyes, short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut features. His + life had been varied, and there were passages in it which he did not + narrate even to his most intimate friends. He was of gentle birth, + however, and it was said that he had received a public school and + university education in England. At any rate he could quote the classics + with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, coupled with his + refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild places of + the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the <i>soubriquet</i> + of “The Prince.” + </p> + <p> + However these things may have been, it is certain that he had emigrated to + Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his relatives at home were + content to take no further interest in his fortunes. During the fifteen or + sixteen years which he had spent in or about the colony, Hadden followed + many trades, and did no good at any of them. A clever man, of agreeable + and prepossessing manner, he always found it easy to form friendships and + to secure a fresh start in life. But, by degrees, the friends were seized + with a vague distrust of him; and, after a period of more or less + application, he himself would close the opening that he had made by a + sudden disappearance from the locality, leaving behind him a doubtful + reputation and some bad debts. + </p> + <p> + Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes in his + life, Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in transport-riding—that + is, in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban or Maritzburg to various + points in the interior. A difficulty such as had more than once confronted + him in the course of his career, led to his temporary abandonment of this + means of earning a livelihood. On arriving at the little frontier town of + Utrecht in the Transvaal, in charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods + consigned to a storekeeper there, it was discovered that out of six cases + of brandy five were missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter + by throwing the blame upon his Kaffir “boys,” but the storekeeper, a + rough-tongued man, openly called him a thief and refused to pay the + freight on any of the load. From words the two men came to blows, knives + were drawn, and before anybody could interfere the storekeeper received a + nasty wound in his side. That night, without waiting till the matter could + be inquired into by the landdrost or magistrate, Hadden slipped away, and + trekked back into Natal as quickly as his oxen would travel. Feeling that + even here he was not safe, he left one of his waggons at Newcastle, loaded + up the other with Kaffir goods—such as blankets, calico, and + hardware—and crossed into Zululand, where in those days no sheriff’s + officer would be likely to follow him. + </p> + <p> + Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he did + good trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some cash and a + small herd of cattle, which he received in exchange for his wares. + Meanwhile news reached him that the man whom he had injured still vowed + vengeance against him, and was in communication with the authorities in + Natal. These reasons making his return to civilisation undesirable for the + moment, and further business being impossible until he could receive a + fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a wise man turned his thoughts to + pleasure. Sending his cattle and waggon over the border to be left in + charge of a native headman with whom he was friendly, he went on foot to + Ulundi to obtain permission from the king, Cetywayo, to hunt game in his + country. Somewhat to his surprise, the Indunas or headmen, received him + courteously—for Hadden’s visit took place within a few months of the + outbreak of the Zulu war in 1878, when Cetywayo was already showing + unfriendliness to the English traders and others, though why the king did + so they knew not. + </p> + <p> + On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden got + a hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning after his + arrival at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him that “the + Elephant whose tread shook the earth” had signified that it was his + pleasure to see him. Accordingly he was led through the thousands of huts + and across the Great Place to the little enclosure where Cetywayo, a + royal-looking Zulu seated on a stool, and wearing a kaross of leopard + skins, was holding an <i>indaba</i>, or conference, surrounded by his + counsellors. The Induna who had conducted him to the august presence went + down upon his hands and knees, and, uttering the royal salute of <i>Bayéte</i>, + crawled forward to announce that the white man was waiting. + </p> + <p> + “Let him wait,” said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued the + discussion with his counsellors. + </p> + <p> + Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when from + time to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he spoke reached + his ear. + </p> + <p> + “What!” Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be pleading + with him earnestly; “am I a dog that these white hyenas should hunt me + thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father’s before me? Are not + the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that I will stamp out these + little white men; my <i>impis</i> shall eat them up. I have said!” + </p> + <p> + Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of a + peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed + towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien, he + seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of action be + followed. + </p> + <p> + For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his + eyes literally ablaze with rage. + </p> + <p> + “Hearken,” he cried to the counsellor; “I have guessed it for long, and + now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu’s[*] dog, and the + dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man’s dog to bite + me in my own house. Take him away!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone’s. +</pre> + <p> + A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of <i>indunas</i>, but the + old man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would + murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps five, + he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then he looked + up and spoke to the king in a clear voice. + </p> + <p> + “O King,” he said, “I am a very old man; as a youth I served under Chaka + the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the white man. + Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the battle of the + Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was the counsellor of + Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the battle of the Tugela, + when its grey waters were turned to red with the blood of Umbulazi your + brother, and of the tens of thousands of his people. Afterwards I became + your counsellor, O King, and I was with you when Sompseu set the crown + upon your head and you made promises to Sompseu—promises that you + have not kept. Now you are weary of me, and it is well; for I am very old, + and doubtless my talk is foolish, as it chances to the old. Yet I think + that the prophecy of Chaka, your great-uncle, will come true, and that the + white men will prevail against you and that through them you shall find + your death. I would that I might have stood in one more battle and fought + for you, O King, since fight you will, but the end which you choose is for + me the best end. Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. <i>Bayéte!</i>”[*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] The royal salute of the Zulus. +</pre> + <p> + For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men waited + to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please him to be + merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. + </p> + <p> + “Take him away,” he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face and one + word, “Good-night,” upon his lips, supported by the arm of a soldier, the + old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of death. + </p> + <p> + Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. “If he + treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?” he reflected. + “We English must have fallen out of favour since I left Natal. I wonder + whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this isn’t my place.” + </p> + <p> + Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced to + look up. “Bring the stranger here,” he said. + </p> + <p> + Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as cool + and nonchalant a manner as he could command. + </p> + <p> + Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. “At least, White Man,” said the + king, glancing at his visitor’s tall spare form and cleanly cut face, “you + are no ‘<i>umfagozan</i>’ (low fellow); you are of the blood of chiefs.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, King,” answered Hadden, with a little sigh, “I am of the blood of + chiefs.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you want in my country, White Man?” + </p> + <p> + “Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have heard, + and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt buffalo, and + other big game, for a while before I return to Natal.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot grant it,” answered Cetywayo, “you are a spy sent by Sompseu, or + by the Queen’s Induna in Natal. Get you gone.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed,” said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; “then I hope that + Sompseu, or the Queen’s Induna, or both of them, will pay me when I return + to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, but I should + first like to make you a present.” + </p> + <p> + “What present?” asked the king. “I want no presents. We are rich here, + White Man.” + </p> + <p> + “So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle.” + </p> + <p> + “A rifle, White Man? Where is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is + death to come armed before the ‘Elephant who shakes the Earth.’” + </p> + <p> + Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick ear. + </p> + <p> + “Let this white man’s offering be brought; I will consider the thing.” + </p> + <p> + Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, + running with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every step + he must fall upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon in his + hand and presented it to the king, holding it so that the muzzle was + pointed straight at the royal breast. + </p> + <p> + “I crave leave to say, O Elephant,” remarked Hadden in a drawling voice, + “that it might be well to command your servant to lift the mouth of that + gun from your heart.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” asked the king. + </p> + <p> + “Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably + desires to continue to shake the Earth.” + </p> + <p> + At these words the “Elephant” uttered a sharp exclamation, and rolled from + his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, + springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and + discharge a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had been + occupied by his monarch’s head. + </p> + <p> + “Let him be taken away,” shouted the incensed king from the ground, but + long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry that the + gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed through the + gate. + </p> + <p> + “He has already taken himself away,” suggested Hadden, while the audience + tittered. “No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a repeating rifle. Look——” + and lifting the Winchester, he fired the four remaining shots in quick + succession into the air, striking the top of a tree at which he aimed with + every one of them. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Wow</i>, it is wonderful!” said the company in astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “Has the thing finished?” asked the king. + </p> + <p> + “For the present it has,” answered Hadden. “Look at it.” + </p> + <p> + Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, + swinging the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of + some of his most eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as the + barrel was brought to bear on them. + </p> + <p> + “See what cowards they are, White Man,” said the king with indignation; + “they fear lest there should be another bullet in this gun.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered Hadden, “they are cowards indeed. I believe that if they + were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it chanced to + your Majesty to do just now.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?” asked the king hastily, + while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and contemplated the + fence behind them. + </p> + <p> + “No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them.” + </p> + <p> + “If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and mend + guns for me?” asked Cetywayo anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “It might depend on the pay,” answered Hadden; “but for awhile I am tired + of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the permission to hunt for + which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return perhaps we can + bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king farewell, and journey + to Natal.” + </p> + <p> + “In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here,” muttered + Cetywayo. + </p> + <p> + At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led away + the old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves before the + king. + </p> + <p> + “Is he dead?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “He has travelled the king’s bridge,” they answered grimly; “he died + singing a song of praise of the king.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” said Cetywayo, “that stone shall hurt my feet no more. Go, tell + the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen’s Induna in + Natal,” he added with bitter emphasis. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Baba!</i> Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the + Elephant,” said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than the + rest added: “Soon we will tell them another tale, the white Talking Ones, + a red tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall sing it in their + ears.” + </p> + <p> + At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden + flame catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them were + seated on their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground in + unison, repeated:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + <i>Indaba ibomwu—indaba ye mikonto + Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho.</i> + (A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears, + And the <i>impis</i> shall sing it in their ears.) +</pre> + <p> + One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden and + shaking his fist before his eyes—fortunately being in the royal + presence he had no assegai—shouted the sentences at him. + </p> + <p> + The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. + </p> + <p> + “Silence,” he thundered in the deep voice for which he was remarkable, and + instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only the echoes + still answered back: “And the <i>impis</i> shall sing it in their ears—in + their ears.” + </p> + <p> + “I am growing certain that this is no place for me,” thought Hadden; “if + that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily forgotten himself. + Hullo! who’s this?” + </p> + <p> + Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid specimen + of the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years of age, was + arrayed in a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu regiment. From the + circlet of otter skin on his brow rose his crest of plumes, round his + middle, arms and knees hung the long fringes of black oxtails, and in one + hand he bore a little dancing shield, also black in colour. The other was + empty, since he might not appear before the king bearing arms. In + countenance the man was handsome, and though just now they betrayed some + anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, and his mouth sensitive. In + height he must have measured six foot two inches, yet he did not strike + the observer as being tall, perhaps because of his width of chest and the + solidity of his limbs, that were in curious contrast to the delicate and + almost womanish hands and feet which so often mark the Zulu of noble + blood. In short the man was what he seemed to be, a savage gentleman of + birth, dignity and courage. + </p> + <p> + In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a + blanket, whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. His + face also was pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were timorous, and + the mouth lacked character. + </p> + <p> + “Who are these?” asked the king. + </p> + <p> + The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their foreheads + touched the ground—the while giving him his <i>sibonga</i> or titles + of praise. + </p> + <p> + “Speak,” he said impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “O King,” said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, “I am + Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my uncle + Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father’s youngest wife.” + </p> + <p> + Cetywayo frowned. “What do you here away from your regiment, Nahoon?” + </p> + <p> + “May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head captains, + and I come to ask a boon of the king’s bounty.” + </p> + <p> + “Be swift, then, Nahoon.” + </p> + <p> + “It is this, O King,” said the captain with some embarrassment: “A while + ago the king was pleased to make a <i>keshla</i> of me because of certain + service that I did out yonder——” and he touched the black ring + which he wore in the hair of his head. “Being now a ringed man and a + captain, I crave the right of a man at the hands of the king—the + right to marry.” + </p> + <p> + “Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle have no + rights.” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. + </p> + <p> + “Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a fair + daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me to + husband. Awaiting the king’s leave I am betrothed to her and in earnest of + it I have paid to Umgona a <i>lobola</i> of fifteen head of cattle, cows + and calves together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, an old chief + named Maputa, the warden of the Crocodile Drift, who doubtless is known to + the king, and this chief also seeks Nanea in marriage and harries Umgona, + threatening him with many evils if he will not give the girl to him. But + Umgona’s heart is white towards me, and towards Maputa it is black, + therefore together we come to crave this boon of the king.” + </p> + <p> + “It is so; he speaks the truth,” said Umgona. + </p> + <p> + “Cease,” answered Cetywayo angrily. “Is this a time that my soldiers + should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? Know + that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls who had + dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, should be + strangled and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and with them the + bodies of their fathers, that all might know their sin and be warned + thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is well for you and for your daughter that you + sought my word before she was given in marriage to this man. Now this is + my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, and since you, Umgona, are + troubled with one whom you would not take as son-in-law, the old chief + Maputa, I will free you from his importunity. The girl, says Nahoon, is + fair—good, I myself will be gracious to her, and she shall be + numbered among the wives of the royal house. Within thirty days from now, + in the week of the next new moon, let her be delivered to the <i>Sigodhla</i>, + the royal house of the women, and with her those cattle, the cows and the + calves together, that Nahoon has given you, of which I fine him because he + has dared to think of marriage without the leave of the king.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE BEE PROPHESIES + </h3> + <p> + “‘A Daniel come to judgment’ indeed,” reflected Hadden, who had been + watching this savage comedy with interest; “our love-sick friend has got + more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to Cæsar,” and + he turned to look at the two suppliants. + </p> + <p> + The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences of + conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and + condescension. Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he had + done answered by reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not appear at the + date named, both she and he, her father, would in due course certainly + decorate a cross-road in their own immediate neighbourhood. + </p> + <p> + The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal words + crossed the king’s lips, his face took an expression of absolute + astonishment, which was presently replaced by one of fury—the just + fury of a man who suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His whole + frame quivered, the veins stood out in knots on his neck and forehead, and + his fingers closed convulsively as though they were grasping the handle of + a spear. Presently the rage passed away—for as well might a man be + wroth with fate as with a Zulu despot—to be succeeded by a look of + the most hopeless misery. The proud dark eyes grew dull, the + copper-coloured face sank in and turned ashen, the mouth drooped, and down + one corner of it there trickled a little line of blood springing from the + lip bitten through in the effort to keep silence. Lifting his hand in + salute to the king, the great man rose and staggered rather than walked + towards the gate. + </p> + <p> + As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. “Stay,” he + said, “I have a service for you, Nahoon, that shall drive out of your head + these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this white man here; he is + my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush country. I put + him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he comes to no hurt. + So also that you bring him before me within a month, or your life shall + answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in the first week of the + new moon—when Nanea comes—and then I will tell you whether or + no I agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, and you, White + Man, go also; those who are to accompany you shall be with you at the + dawn. Farewell, but remember we meet again at the new moon, when we will + settle what pay you shall receive as keeper of my guns. Do not fail me, + White Man, or I shall send after you, and my messengers are sometimes + rough.” + </p> + <p> + “This means that I am a prisoner,” thought Hadden, “but it will go hard if + I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don’t intend to stay in + this country if war is declared, to be pounded into <i>mouti</i> + (medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that sort.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were encamped + in a wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the Blood and + Unvunyana Rivers, not more than eight miles from that “Place of the Little + Hand” which within a few weeks was to become famous throughout the world + by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days they had been tracking + the spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still inhabited the district, + but as yet they had not come up with them. The Zulu hunters had suggested + that they should follow the Unvunyana down towards the sea where game was + more plentiful, but this neither Hadden, nor the captain, Nahoon, had been + anxious to do, for reasons which each of them kept secret to himself. + Hadden’s object was to work gradually down to the Buffalo River across + which he hoped to effect a retreat into Natal. That of Nahoon was to + linger in the neighbourhood of the kraal of Umgona, which was situated not + very far from their present camping place, in the vague hope that he might + find an opportunity of speaking with or at least of seeing Nanea, the girl + to whom he was affianced, who within a few weeks must be taken from him, + and given over to the king. + </p> + <p> + A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden had + never seen. Behind them lay a tract of land—half-swamp and half-bush—in + which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in lonely grandeur, + rose the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was an amphitheatre of + the most gloomy forest, ringed round in the distance by sheer-sided hills. + Into this forest there ran a river which drained the swamp, placidly + enough upon the level. But it was not always level, for within three + hundred yards of them it dashed suddenly over a precipice, of no great + height but very steep, falling into a boiling rock-bound pool that the + light of the sun never seemed to reach. + </p> + <p> + “What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. + </p> + <p> + “It is named <i>Emagudu</i>, The Home of the Dead,” the Zulu replied + absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was + situated at an hour’s walk away over the ridge to the right. + </p> + <p> + “The Home of the Dead! Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because the dead live there, those whom we name the <i>Esemkofu</i>, the + Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the <i>Amahlosi</i>, from + whom the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed,” said Hadden, “and have you ever seen these ghosts?” + </p> + <p> + “Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead + enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make + offerings to the dead.” + </p> + <p> + Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked over + it. To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while close to the + bank of it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between the cliff and the + commencement of the forest, was a hut. + </p> + <p> + “Who lives there?” asked Hadden. + </p> + <p> + “The great <i>Isanusi</i>—she who is named <i>Inyanga</i> or + Doctoress; she who is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom + from the dead who grow in the forest.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I am + going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?” + </p> + <p> + “Mayhap, White Man, but,” he added with a little smile, “those who visit + the Bee’s hive may hear nothing, or they may hear more than they wish for. + The words of that Bee have a sting.” + </p> + <p> + “Good; I will see if she can sting me.” + </p> + <p> + “So be it,” said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the cliff till + he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. + </p> + <p> + By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of the + descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low fence + of reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth beaten + hard and polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool being placed + almost at the mouth of the round opening that served as a doorway to the + hut. At first all that Hadden could see of her, crouched as she was in the + shadow, was a huddled shape wrapped round with a greasy and tattered + catskin kaross, above the edge of which appeared two eyes, fierce and + quick as those of a leopard. At her feet smouldered a little fire, and + ranged around it in a semi-circle were a number of human skulls, placed in + pairs as though they were talking together, whilst other bones, to all + appearance also human, were festooned about the hut and the fence of the + courtyard. + </p> + <p> + “I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties,” thought + Hadden, but he said nothing. + </p> + <p> + Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes + upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all his + might, till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this + curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that the + woman before him had shifted shape into the likeness of colossal and + horrid spider sitting at the mouth of her trap, and that these bones were + the relics of her victims. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you not speak, White Man?” she said at last in a slow clear voice. + “Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You are thinking + that I who am called the Bee should be better named the Spider. Have no + fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit me when the dead are + so many? I suck the souls of men, not their bodies, White Man. It is their + living hearts I love to look on, for therein I read much and thereby I + grow wise. Now what would you of the Bee, White Man, the Bee that labours + in this Garden of Death, and—what brings <i>you</i> here, son of + Zomba? Why are you not with the Umcityu now that they doctor themselves + for the great war—the last war—the war of the white and the + black—or if you have no stomach for fighting, why are you not at the + side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the fair?” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:— + </p> + <p> + “A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my hunting.” + </p> + <p> + “In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of money, + or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; that is + your nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the wound of + that trader who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of the Maboon + (Boers)? No need to answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, for the poor + witch-doctoress whose skill you seek,” she added in a whining voice. + “Surely you would not that an old woman should work without a fee?” + </p> + <p> + “I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going,” said Hadden, who + began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the Bee’s powers of + observation and thought-reading. + </p> + <p> + “Nay,” she answered with an unpleasant laugh, “would you ask a question, + and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at present, White + Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again,” and once more she + laughed. “Let me look in your face, let me look in your face,” she + continued, rising and standing before him. + </p> + <p> + Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, and + the next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her thumb + and finger a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. The action + was so instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor to resent it, + but stood still staring at her stupidly. + </p> + <p> + “That is all I need,” she cried, “for like my heart my magic is white. + Stay—son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who visit + the Bee must listen to her humming.” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge of + his assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not because he + wished to do so, but because he feared to refuse. + </p> + <p> + Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire + before them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was bound + about her middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she wore none + of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see upon the + persons of witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a curious + ornament, a small live snake, red and grey in hue, which her visitors + recognised as one of the most deadly to be found in that part of the + country. It is not unusual for Bantu witch-doctors thus to decorate + themselves with snakes, though whether or not their fangs have first been + extracted no one seems to know. + </p> + <p> + Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up in a + thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, clung + about her head enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. Then of a + sudden she stretched out her hands, and let fall the two locks of hair + upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themselves to ashes like things + alive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to draw the fumes of the hair + and herbs into her lungs in great gulps; while the snake, feeling the + influence of the medicine, hissed and, uncoiling itself from about her + neck, crept upwards and took refuge among the black <i>saccaboola</i> + feathers of her head-dress. + </p> + <p> + Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro muttering, + then sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her head rested. + Now the Bee’s face was turned upwards towards the light, and it was + ghastly to behold, for it had become blue in colour, and the open eyes + were sunken like the eyes of one dead, whilst above her forehead the red + snake wavered and hissed, reminding Hadden of the Uraeus crest on the brow + of statues of Egyptian kings. For ten seconds or more she remained thus, + then she spoke in a hollow and unnatural voice:— + </p> + <p> + “O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your + heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. + Beautiful white body with black heart, you shall find your game and hunt + it, and it shall lead you into the House of the Homeless, into the Home of + the Dead, and it shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be shaped as a tiger, + it shall be shaped as a woman whom kings and waters cannot harm. Beautiful + white body and black heart, you shall be paid your wages, money for money, + and blow for blow. Think of my word when the spotted cat purrs above your + breast; think of it when the battle roars about you; think of it when you + grasp your great reward, and for the last time stand face to face with the + ghost of the dead in the Home of the Dead. + </p> + <p> + “O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white as + milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you strike + that blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love is as the + love of a tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow it, follow + it, O swift of foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that has lied will + never plead for mercy, and the hand that can betray is strong in war. + White Heart, what is death? In death life lives, and among the dead you + shall find the life you lost, for there awaits you she whom kings and + waters cannot harm.” + </p> + <p> + As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it was + almost inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass from + trance to sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an amused and + cynical smile, now laughed aloud. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you laugh, White Man?” asked Nahoon angrily. + </p> + <p> + “I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of that + lying fraud.” + </p> + <p> + “It is no nonsense, White Man.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a + woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further + argument, and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red snake + from her head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped herself again + in the greasy kaross. + </p> + <p> + “Are you satisfied with my wisdom, <i>Inkoos</i>?” she asked of Hadden. + </p> + <p> + “I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, + mother,” he answered coolly. “Now, what is there to pay?” + </p> + <p> + The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or two + the look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen in those + of the snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. + </p> + <p> + “If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so,” she answered, “for + he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that I ask no + fee;—yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from it, + gave it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the gold + ring that was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a snake with + two little rubies set in the head to represent the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, <i>Inkoos</i>. + I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so that the snake + about my neck may be less lonely there.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead,” said Hadden. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” she answered in a pleased voice, “it is a good word. I will + wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none can say + that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness that you gave + me permission to do so.” + </p> + <p> + For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about the + Bee’s tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her professional + manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her cupidity she had + become natural, and it was evident that she spoke from conviction, + believing her own words. + </p> + <p> + She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. + </p> + <p> + “Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old witch-doctoress,” she + said in a whining voice. “I have so much to do with Death that his name + leaps to my lips,” and she glanced first at the circle of skulls about + her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy pool upon whose banks + her hut was placed. + </p> + <p> + “Look,” she said simply. + </p> + <p> + Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden’s eyes fell upon two + withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right angles to + its rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude platform made + of logs of wood lashed down with <i>riems</i> of hide. Upon this platform + stood three figures; notwithstanding the distance and the spray of the + fall, he could see that they were those of two men and a girl, for their + shapes stood out distinctly against the fiery red of the sunset sky. One + instant there were three, the next there were two—for the girl had + gone, and something dark rushing down the face of the fall, struck the + surface of the pool with a heavy thud, while a faint and piteous cry broke + upon his ear. + </p> + <p> + “What is the meaning of that?” he asked, horrified and amazed. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” answered the Bee with a laugh. “Do you not know, then, that + this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved without + the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and with them + their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I watch them die + and keep the count of the number of them,” and drawing a tally-stick from + the thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a notch to the many that + appeared upon it, looking at Nahoon the while with a half-questioning, + half-warning gaze. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, it is a place of death,” she muttered. “Up yonder the quick die + day by day and down there”—and she pointed along the course of the + river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred yards + from her hut—“the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!” + </p> + <p> + As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from the dim + skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it is impossible + to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed beastlike, and + almost inarticulate. + </p> + <p> + “Listen,” repeated the Bee, “they are merry yonder.” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” asked Hadden; “the baboons?” + </p> + <p> + “No, <i>Inkoos</i>, the <i>Amatongo</i>—the ghosts that welcome her + who has just become of their number.” + </p> + <p> + “Ghosts,” said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, “I + should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard a + troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be going + while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell <i>Inkoos</i>, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. + Go in peace <i>Inkoos</i>—to sleep in peace.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + THE END OF THE HUNT + </h3> + <p> + The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that night. + He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not troubling him + more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he closed his eyes, his + mind conjured up a picture of the grim witch-doctoress, so strangely named + the Bee, and the sound of her evil-omened words as he had heard them that + afternoon. He was neither a superstitious nor a timid man, and any + supernatural beliefs that might linger in his mind were, to say the least + of it, dormant. But do what he might, he could not shake off a certain + eerie sensation of fear, lest there should be some grains of truth in the + prophesyings of this hag. What if it were a fact that he was near his + death, and that the heart which beat so strongly in his breast must soon + be still for ever—no, he would not think of it. This gloomy place, + and the dreadful sight which he saw that day, had upset his nerves. The + domestic customs of these Zulus were not pleasant, and for his part he was + determined to be clear of them so soon as he was able to escape the + country. + </p> + <p> + In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make a + dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a good + prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a + buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he knew well, the hunters + with him would feast upon meat until they could scarcely stir, and that + would be his opportunity. Nahoon, however, might not succumb to this + temptation; therefore he must trust to luck to be rid of him. If it came + to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, which he considered he + would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the man was his + jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that he could face it + without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked Nahoon; at times he + even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, and he knew that the + great Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, and to be looked down upon + by a savage “nigger” was more than his pride could stomach. + </p> + <p> + At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were + still stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in his + kaross or blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking gigantic in + the shadows of the morning. + </p> + <p> + “What is your will, <i>Umlungu</i> (white man), that you are up before the + sun?” + </p> + <p> + “My will, <i>Muntumpofu</i> (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo,” answered + Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no title + of any sort. + </p> + <p> + “Your pardon,” said the Zulu reading his thoughts, “but I cannot call you + <i>Inkoos</i> because you are not my chief, or any man’s; still if the + title ‘white man’ offends you, we will give you a name.” + </p> + <p> + “As you wish,” answered Hadden briefly. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly they gave him a name, <i>Inhlizin-mgama</i>, by which he was + known among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he found + that the meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was “Black Heart.” That + was how the <i>inyanga</i> had addressed him—only she used different + words. + </p> + <p> + An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay behind + the encampment searching for their game. Within a very little while Nahoon + held up his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden looked; there, + pressed deep in the marshy soil, and to all appearance not ten minutes + old, was the spoor of a small herd of buffalo. + </p> + <p> + “I knew that we should find game to-day,” whispered Nahoon, “because the + Bee said so.” + </p> + <p> + “Curse the Bee,” answered Hadden below his breath. “Come on.” + </p> + <p> + For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick + reeds, till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden’s arm. + He looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding on some + higher ground among a patch if mimosa trees, were the buffaloes—six + of them—an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a heifer and a + calf about four months old. Neither the wind nor the nature of the veldt + were favourable for them to stalk the game from their present position, so + they made a detour of half a mile and very carefully crept towards them up + the wind, slipping from trunk to trunk of the mimosas and when these + failed them, crawling on their stomachs under cover of the tall <i>tambuti</i> + grass. At last they were within forty yards, and a further advance seemed + impracticable; for although he could not smell them, it was evident from + his movements that the old bull heard some unusual sound and was growing + suspicious. Nearest to Hadden, who alone of the party had a rifle, stood + the heifer broadside on—a beautiful shot. Remembering that she would + make the best beef, he lifted his Martini, and aiming at her immediately + behind the shoulder, gently squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and + the heifer fell dead, shot through the heart. Strangely enough the other + buffaloes did not at once run away. On the contrary, they seemed puzzled + to account for the sudden noise; and, not being able to wind anything, + lifted their heads and stared round them. + </p> + <p> + The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim again, + this time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in the neck or + shoulder, for he came to his knees, but in another second was up and + having caught sight of the cloud of smoke he charged straight at it. + Because of this smoke, or for some other reason, Hadden did not see him + coming, and in consequence would most certainly have been trampled or + gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the imminent risk of his own + life, and dragged him down behind an ant-heap. A moment more and the great + beast had thundered by, taking no further notice of them. + </p> + <p> + “Forward,” said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the heifer + and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the blood spoor. + </p> + <p> + For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the trail on + a patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and exhausted by the + heat, sat down to rest and to eat some <i>biltong</i> or sun-dried flesh + which they had with them. They finished their meal, and were preparing to + return to the camp, when one of the four Zulus who were with them went to + drink at a little stream that ran at a distance of not more than ten paces + away. Half a minute later they heard a hideous grunting noise and a + splashing of water, and saw the Zulu fly into the air. All the while that + they were eating, the wounded buffalo had been lying in wait for them + under a thick bush on the banks of the streamlet, knowing—cunning + brute that he was—that sooner or later his turn would come. With a + shout of consternation they rushed forward to see the bull vanish over the + rise before Hadden could get a chance of firing at him, and to find their + companion dying, for the great horn had pierced his lung. + </p> + <p> + “It is not a buffalo, it is a devil,” the poor fellow gasped, and expired. + </p> + <p> + “Devil or not, I mean to kill it,” exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the others + to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on accompanied by + Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase easier, for they + sighted their quarry frequently, though they could not come near enough to + fire. Presently they travelled down a steep cliff. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know where we are?” asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of forest + opposite. “That is <i>Emagudu</i>, the Home of the Dead—and look, + the bull heads thither.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the Fall, + the Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” he answered; “then we must head for it too.” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon halted. “Surely you would not enter there,” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Surely I will,” replied Hadden, “but there is no need for you to do so if + you are afraid.” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid—of ghosts,” said the Zulu, “but I will come.” + </p> + <p> + So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It was a + gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick there shutting + out the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which no breeze stirred, + was heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. There seemed to be no + life here and no sound—only now and again a loathsome spotted snake + would uncoil itself and glide away, and now and again a heavy rotten bough + fell with a crash. + </p> + <p> + Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed by + his surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for + shooting, and went on. + </p> + <p> + They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the sudden + increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull’s wound was + proving fatal to him. + </p> + <p> + “Run now,” said Hadden cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “Nay, <i>hamba gachle</i>—go softly—” answered Nahoon, “the + devil is dying, but he will try to play us another trick before he dies.” + And he went on peering ahead of him cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “It is all right here, anyway,” said Hadden, pointing to the spoor that + ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. + </p> + <p> + Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees a + few paces in front of them and to their right. “Look,” he whispered. + </p> + <p> + Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown that + was crouched behind the trees. + </p> + <p> + “He is dead,” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Nahoon, “he has come back on his own path and is waiting + for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you stand there, + I think that you can shoot him through the back between the tree trunks.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the + bull’s spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next instant + the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, which sank + deep into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The buffalo stood + still for a moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its head down, + looking first after the one and then the other, till of a sudden it + uttered a low moaning sound and rolled over dead, smashing Nahoon’s + assegai to fragments as it fell. + </p> + <p> + “There! he’s finished,” said Hadden, “and I believe it was your assegai + that killed him. Hullo! what’s that noise?” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far away + it was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of people + calling to each other in fear but in no articulate language. Nahoon + shivered. + </p> + <p> + “It is the <i>Esemkofu</i>,” he said, “the ghosts who have no tongue, and + who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad for + mortals.” + </p> + <p> + “And worse for buffaloes,” said Hadden, giving the dead bull a kick, “but + I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the <i>Esemkofu</i>, + as we have got meat enough, and can’t carry his head.” + </p> + <p> + So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their way + slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden’s head. Once + out of this forest, he was within an hour’s run of the Zulu border, and + once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man than he did at that + moment. As has been said, he had intended to attempt to escape in the + darkness, but the plan was risky. All the Zulus might not over-eat + themselves and go to sleep, especially after the death of their comrade; + Nahoon, who watched him day and night, certainly would not. This was his + opportunity—there remained the question of Nahoon. + </p> + <p> + Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy—he + had a loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only a + kerry. He did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to him, seeing + that his own safety was at stake, that he would be amply justified in so + doing. Why should he not put it to him—and then be guided by + circumstances? + </p> + <p> + Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten spaces ahead of + him where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was under the + shadow of a large tree with low horizontal branches running out from the + trunk. + </p> + <p> + “Nahoon,” he said. + </p> + <p> + The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. + </p> + <p> + “No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged to + shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire without + warning. I am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me back to the + king to be his servant. But I believe that a war is going to break out + between your people and mine; and this being so, you will understand that + I do not wish to go to Cetywayo’s kraal, because I should either come to a + violent death there, or my own brothers will believe that I am a traitor + and treat me accordingly. The Zulu border is not much more than an hour’s + journey away—let us say an hour and a half’s: I mean to be across it + before the moon is up. Now, Nahoon, will you lose me in the forest and + give me this hour and a half’s start—or will you stop here with that + ghost people of whom you talk? Do you understand? No, please do not move.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand you,” answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed voice, “and + I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, though, Black + Heart, there is some justice in your words and more wisdom. Your + opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are should not let + fall.” + </p> + <p> + “I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And now + will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for me till + the moon is up?” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, Black Heart?” + </p> + <p> + “What I say. Come, I have no time to spare.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a strange man,” said the Zulu reflectively. “You heard the king’s + order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the king?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does not + matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns there. If + you think that he will be angry because I am missing, you had better cross + the border also; we can go together.” + </p> + <p> + “And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black Heart, + you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a soldier, and + the king’s word is the king’s word. I hoped to have died fighting, but I + am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will not reach the border + before moonrise,” and he opened his arms and smiled. + </p> + <p> + “If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a brave + man, but every one of us must cherish his own life,” answered Hadden + calmly. + </p> + <p> + Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu’s + breast. + </p> + <p> + Already—whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a + twitching of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can + banish—already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a + sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden + went down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted + beast that waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his eyes. + </p> + <p> + It was a leopard—a tiger as they call it in Africa—which, + crouched upon a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the + temptation of satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a + second or two there was silence, broken only by the purring, or rather the + snoring sound made by the leopard. In those seconds, strangely enough, + there sprang up before Hadden’s mental vision a picture of the <i>inyanga</i> + called <i>Inyosi</i> or the Bee, her death-like head resting against the + thatch of the hut, and her death-like lips muttering “think of my word + when the great cat purrs above your face.” + </p> + <p> + Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove deep + into the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it scratched at his + breast, tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the flesh beneath. The + sight of the white skin seemed to madden it, and in its fierce desire for + blood it drooped its square muzzle and buried its fangs in its victim’s + shoulder. Next moment there was a sound of running feet and of a club + falling heavily. Up reared the leopard with an angry snarl, up till it + stood as high as the attacking Zulu. At him it came, striking out savagely + and tearing the black man as it had torn the white. Again the kerry fell + full on its jaws, and down it went backwards. Before it could rise again, + or rather as it was in the act of rising, the heavy knob-stick struck it + once more, and with fearful force, this time as it chanced, full on the + nape of the neck, and paralysing the brute. It writhed and bit and + twisted, throwing up the earth and leaves, while blow after blow was + rained upon it, till at length with a convulsive struggle and a stifled + roar it lay still—the brains oozing from its shattered skull. + </p> + <p> + Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. + </p> + <p> + “You have saved my life, Nahoon,” he said faintly, “and I thank you.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not thank me, Black Heart,” answered the Zulu, “it was the king’s word + that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been hardly dealt + with, for certainly <i>he</i> has saved <i>my</i> life,” and lifting the + Martini he unloaded the rifle. + </p> + <p> + At this juncture Hadden swooned away. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but a + little time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could hear + voices without understanding what they said, and feel himself borne he + knew not whither, Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a kaross in a + large and beautifully clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of furs for a pillow. + There was a bowl of milk at his side and tortured as he was by thirst, he + tried to stretch out his arm to lift it to his lips, only to find to his + astonishment that his hand fell back to his side like that of a dead man. + Looking round the hut impatiently, he found that there was nobody in it to + assist him, so he did the only thing which remained for him to do—he + lay still. He did not fall asleep, but his eyes closed, and a kind of + gentle torpor crept over him, half obscuring his recovered senses. + Presently he heard a soft voice speaking; it seemed far away, but he could + clearly distinguish the words. + </p> + <p> + “Black Heart still sleeps,” the voice said, “but there is colour in his + face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts again.” + </p> + <p> + “Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not dangerous,” + answered another voice, that of Nahoon. “He fell heavily with the weight + of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses have been shaken + for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he will not die.” + </p> + <p> + “It would have been a pity if he had died,” answered the soft voice, “he + is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so beautiful.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at my + heart,” answered Nahoon sulkily. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there is this to be said,” she replied, “he wished to escape from + Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at,” and she sighed. “Moreover he + asked you to come with him, and it might have been well if you had done + so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!” + </p> + <p> + “How could I have done it, girl?” he asked angrily. “Would you have me set + at nothing the order of the king?” + </p> + <p> + “The king!” she replied raising her voice. “What do you owe to this king? + You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a few days + he will take me from you—me, who should have been your wife, and I + must—I must——” And she began to weep softly, adding + between her sobs, “if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and + of yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, + Nahoon, let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me.” + </p> + <p> + “Weep not, Nanea,” he said; “why do you tear my heart in two between my + duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must walk the + path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall be dead, for I + seek death, and then it will matter nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are right, + and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a woman who + must also obey—the will of the king.” And she cast her arms about + his neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. + </p> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + NANEA + </h3> + <p> + Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, Nahoon + left Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. Then Hadden + opened his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking and a ray of its + red light streaming through the little opening filled the place with a + soft and crimson glow. In the centre of the hut—supporting it—stood + a thorn-wood roof-tree coloured black by the smoke of the fire; and + against this, the rich light falling full upon her, leaned the girl Nanea—a + very picture of gentle despair. + </p> + <p> + As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful—so + beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man’s heart, + for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her dress was very + simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a mantle of soft + white stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was a buck-skin + moocha, also embroidered with blue beads, while round her forehead and + left knee were strips of grey fur, and on her right wrist a shining bangle + of copper. Her naked bronze-hued figure was tall and perfect in its + proportions; while her face had little in common with that of the ordinary + native girl, showing as it did strong traces of the ancestral Arabian or + Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, with delicate aquiline features, + arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that drooped a little at the corners, tiny + ears, behind which the wavy coal-black hair hung down to the shoulders, + and the very loveliest pair of dark and liquid eyes that it is possible to + imagine. + </p> + <p> + For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the + sunbeam, while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing + heavily, she turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her + mantle over her breast and came, or rather glided, towards him. + </p> + <p> + “The chief is awake,” she said in her soft Zulu accents. “Does he need + aught?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Lady,” he answered; “I need to drink, but alas! I am too weak.” + </p> + <p> + She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with her + right held the gourd to his lips. + </p> + <p> + How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was finished + a change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl’s touch, or her + strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in her eyes, matters + not—the issue was the same. She struck some cord in his turbulent + uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with passion for her—a + passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. He did not for a moment + mistake the significance of the flood of feeling that surged through his + veins. Hadden never shirked facts. + </p> + <p> + “By Heaven!” he said to himself, “I have fallen in love with a black + beauty at first sight—more in love than I have ever been before. + It’s awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for + Nahoon, or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always get + rid of her if she becomes a nuisance.” + </p> + <p> + Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of his + blood, he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea’s face while + with a native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself dressing the + wounds that the leopard had made. + </p> + <p> + It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind + communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a little + at her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, she rose + from her knees with a courteous “It is finished, <i>Inkoos</i>,” and once + more took up her position by the roof-tree. + </p> + <p> + “I thank you, Lady,” he said; “your hand is kind.” + </p> + <p> + “You must not call me lady, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she answered, “I am no + chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona.” + </p> + <p> + “And named Nanea,” he said. “Nay, do not be surprised, I have heard of + you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess—up at + the king’s kraal yonder.” + </p> + <p> + “Alas! and alas!” she said, covering her face with her hands. + </p> + <p> + “Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it + cannot be climbed or crept through.” + </p> + <p> + She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not pursue + the subject. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?” + </p> + <p> + “Nahoon and his companions carried you, <i>Inkoos</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. Well, + Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I trust that I + may be able to repay it—to you, Nanea.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did not + seek them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation brought + about many another. Never for a moment did the white man waver in his + determination to get into his keeping the native girl who had captivated + him, and to attain his end he brought to bear all his powers and charm to + detach her from Nahoon, and win her affections for himself. He was no + rough wooer, however, but proceeded warily, weaving her about with a web + of flattery and attention that must, he thought, produce the desired + effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it would have done so—for + she was but a woman, and an untutored one—had it not been for a + simple fact which dominated her whole nature. She loved Nahoon, and there + was no room in her heart for any other man, white or black. To Hadden she + was courteous and kindly but no more, nor did she appear to notice any of + the subtle advances by which he attempted to win a foothold in her heart. + For a while this puzzled him, but he remembered that the Zulu women do not + usually permit themselves to show feeling towards an undeclared suitor. + Therefore it became necessary that he should speak out. + </p> + <p> + His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He was + now quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the + neighbourhood of the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona’s huts + rose a spring, and thither it was Nanea’s habit to resort in the evening + to bring back drinking-water for the use of her father’s household. The + path between this spring and the kraal ran through a patch of bush, where + on a certain afternoon towards sundown Hadden took his seat under a tree, + having first seen Nanea go down to the little stream as was her custom. A + quarter of an hour later she reappeared carrying a large gourd upon her + head. She wore no garment now except her moocha, for she had but one + mantle and was afraid lest the water should splash it. He watched her + advancing along the path, her hands resting on her hips, her splendid + naked figure outlined against the westering sun, and wondered what excuse + he could make to talk with her. As it chanced fortune favoured him, for + when she was near him a snake glided across the path in front of the + girl’s feet, causing her to spring backwards in alarm and overset the + gourd of water. He came forward, and picked it up. + </p> + <p> + “Wait here,” he said laughing; “I will bring it to you full.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she remonstrated, “that is a woman’s work.” + </p> + <p> + “Among my people,” he said, “the men love to work for the women,” and he + started for the spring, leaving her wondering. + </p> + <p> + Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was + necessary to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the + contents of it spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he + said nothing to Nanea. + </p> + <p> + “There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the kraal?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with + its weight.” + </p> + <p> + “Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, and + had it not been for you I think that I should be dead.” + </p> + <p> + “It was Nahoon who saved you—not I, <i>Inkoos</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my heart.” + </p> + <p> + “You talk darkly, <i>Inkoos</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you.” + </p> + <p> + She opened her brown eyes wide. + </p> + <p> + “You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would have + seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, <i>Inkoos</i>, it is impossible. I am already betrothed.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay,” he answered, “betrothed to the king.” + </p> + <p> + “No, betrothed to Nahoon.” + </p> + <p> + “But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And + would you not rather that I should take you than the king?” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to be so, <i>Inkoos</i>, and I would rather go with you than + with the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I + shall not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will never + become one of the king’s women.” + </p> + <p> + “How will you prevent it, Nanea?” + </p> + <p> + “There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she can + hang,” she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. + </p> + <p> + “That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die.” + </p> + <p> + “Fair or foul, yet I die, <i>Inkoos</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, come with me—I will find a way—and be my wife,” and + he put her arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. + </p> + <p> + Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, the + girl disengaged herself from his embrace. + </p> + <p> + “You have honoured me, and I thank you, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she said quietly, + “but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon—I belong to + Nahoon; therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. It + is not our custom, <i>Inkoos</i>, for we are not as the white women, but + ignorant and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by that + vow till death.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed,” said Hadden; “and so now you go to tell Nahoon that I have + offered to make you my wife.” + </p> + <p> + “No, <i>Inkoos</i>, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said + ‘nay’ to you, not ‘yea,’ therefore he has no right to know,” and she + stooped to lift the gourd of water. + </p> + <p> + Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made him the + more determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency he conceived a + scheme, or rather its rough outline. It was not a nice scheme, and some + men might have shrunk from it, but as he had no intention of suffering + himself to be defeated by a Zulu girl, he decided—with regret, it is + true—that having failed to attain his ends by means which he + considered fair, he must resort to others of more doubtful character. + </p> + <p> + “Nanea,” he said, “you are a good and honest woman, and I respect you. As + I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen to me there + is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be better that + you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you will never marry + him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not give you to some + other man, either you will become one of his ‘sisters,’ or to be free of + him, as you say, you will die. Now hear me, for it is because I love you + and wish your welfare that I speak thus. Why do you not escape into Natal, + taking Nahoon with you, for there as you know you may live in peace out of + reach of the arm of Cetywayo?” + </p> + <p> + “That is my desire, <i>Inkoos</i>, but Nahoon will not consent. He says + that there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not + break the command of the king and desert from his army.” + </p> + <p> + “Then he cannot love you much, Nahoon, and at least you have to think of + yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for be + sure that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly with you, + for I too believe that there must be war, and then a white man in this + country will be as a lamb among the eagles.” + </p> + <p> + “If Nahoon will come, I will go, <i>Inkoos</i>, but I cannot fly without + Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him to + forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days’ time we must start + for the king’s kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be easy for us + to turn our faces southwards and across the river that lies between the + land of the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of us, but most of all + for your own sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I have loved and whom I now + would save. See him and plead with him as you know how, but as yet do not + tell him that I dream of flight, for then I should be watched.” + </p> + <p> + “In truth, I will, <i>Inkoos</i>,” she answered earnestly, “and oh! I + thank you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray you—first + would I die. Farewell.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell, Nanea,” and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for + sleep, he heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the entrance to + his hut. + </p> + <p> + “Enter,” he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light of the + little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the hut, + followed by the great form of Nahoon. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Inkoos</i>,” she said in a whisper when the door was closed again, “I + have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; moreover, my father + will come also.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it so, Nahoon?” asked Hadden. + </p> + <p> + “It is so,” answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; “to save this + girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my heart, I have + bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, White Man, as I + told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come of this flight, and + if we are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed every one of us.” + </p> + <p> + “Caught we can scarcely be,” broke in Nanea anxiously, “for who could + betray us, except the <i>Inkoos</i> here——” + </p> + <p> + “Which he is not likely to do,” said Hadden quietly, “seeing that he + desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so, Black Heart,” said Nahoon, “otherwise I tell you that I + should not have trusted you.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late that + night they sat there together making their plans. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent + altercation. Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were Umgona + and a fat and evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the kraal on a + pony. This chief, he soon discovered, was named Maputa, being none other + than the man who had sought Nanea in marriage and brought about Nahoon’s + and Umgona’s unfortunate appeal to the king. At present he was engaged in + abusing Umgona furiously, charging him with having stolen certain of his + oxen and bewitched his cows so that they would not give milk. The alleged + theft it was comparatively easy to disprove, but the wizardry remained a + matter of argument. + </p> + <p> + “You are a dog, and a son of a dog,” shouted Maputa, shaking his fat fist + in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. “You promised me your + daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that <i>umfagozan</i>—that + low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of Zomba—you went, the two of + you, and poisoned the king’s ear against me, bringing me into trouble with + the king, and now you have bewitched my cattle. Well, wait, I will be even + with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up in the cold morning to find your + fence red with fire, and the slayers standing outside your gates to eat up + you and yours with spears——” + </p> + <p> + At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, + intervened with effect. + </p> + <p> + “Good,” he said, “we will wait, but not in your company, Chief Maputa. <i>Hamba!</i> + (go)——” and seizing the fat old ruffian by the scruff of his + neck, he flung him backwards with such violence that he rolled over and + over down the little slope. + </p> + <p> + Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to + bathe. Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along the + footpath, his head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his black + face livid with rage. + </p> + <p> + “There goes an angry man,” he said to himself. “Now, how would it be——” + and he looked upwards like one seeking an inspiration. It seemed to come; + perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in his ear, at any rate—in + a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was walking through the bush to + meet Maputa. + </p> + <p> + “Go in peace, Chief,” he said; “they seem to have treated you roughly up + yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not bear the + sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of rank should + be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with beer.” + </p> + <p> + “Shameful, White Man!” gasped Maputa; “your words are true indeed. But + wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that bull + upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that neither + Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather it.” + </p> + <p> + “And how will you manage that, Maputa?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be + found.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden patted the pony’s neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he + looked the chief in the eyes and said:— + </p> + <p> + “What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and certain + one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, whose violence I + also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft brought sore sickness + upon me?” + </p> + <p> + “What reward do you seek, White Man?” asked Maputa eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to + whom as it chances I have taken a fancy.” + </p> + <p> + “I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has laid + his hand upon her.” + </p> + <p> + “That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who ‘sits at Ulundi.’ It + is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. Listen: if + you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your foes, but when + the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you this rifle and a + hundred rounds of cartridges.” + </p> + <p> + Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. + </p> + <p> + “It is good,” he said; “it is very good. Often have I wished for such a + gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies from + far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the girl if I + can give her to you.” + </p> + <p> + “You swear it, Maputa?” + </p> + <p> + “I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers.” + </p> + <p> + “Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, his + daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the drift + that is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them and flying + from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they know that I have + learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried to leave them. Now + you who are chief of the border and guardian of that drift, must hide at + night with some men among the rocks in the shallows of the drift and await + our coming. First Nanea will cross driving the cows and calves, for so it + is arranged, and I shall help her; then will follow Umgona and Nahoon with + the oxen and heifers. On these two you must fall, killing them and + capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will give you the rifle.” + </p> + <p> + “What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?” + </p> + <p> + “Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not recognise + her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first you feared + to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and they should + escape you.” + </p> + <p> + “Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are + across the river?” + </p> + <p> + “Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon a + stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them when I + have driven over the cattle.” + </p> + <p> + “It is well, White Man; I will not fail you.” + </p> + <p> + So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points of + detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. + </p> + <p> + “That ought to come off all right,” reflected Hadden to himself as he + plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, “but somehow I don’t + quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could have + relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle—a + couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder + and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery to + justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military country. + Also personal interference upon my part might turn the girl against me; + while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out by Maputa, she <i>must</i> + accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but in every walk of life the + most cautious have to take risks at times.” + </p> + <p> + As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his + coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own kraal, he + had come to the conclusion that the white man’s plan, though attractive in + some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that if the girl Nanea + escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the men he took with him + to do the killing in the drift would suspect something and talk. On the + other hand he would earn much credit with his majesty by revealing the + plot, saying that he had learned it from the lips of the white hunter, + whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to participate in it, and of whose + coveted rifle he must trust to chance to possess himself. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, + bearing words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the + “great Black Elephant” at Ulundi. + </p> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + THE DOOM POOL + </h3> + <p> + Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and + Nanea. One of the Zulu captain’s perplexities was as to how he should lull + the suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who together + with himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden in his hunting + and to guard against his escape. As it chanced, however, on the day after + the incident of the visit of Maputa, a messenger arrived from no less a + person than the great military Induna, Tvingwayo ka Marolo, who afterwards + commanded the Zulu army at Isandhlwana, ordering these men to return to + their regiment, the Umcityu Corps, which was to be placed upon full war + footing. Accordingly Nahoon sent them, saying that he himself would follow + with Black Heart in the course of a few days, as at present the white man + was not sufficiently recovered from his hurts to allow of his travelling + fast and far. So the soldiers went, doubting nothing. + </p> + <p> + Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king he + was about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea to be + delivered over into the <i>Sigodhla</i>, and also those fifteen head of + cattle that had been <i>lobola’d</i> by Nahoon in consideration of his + forthcoming marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under + pretence that they required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle he + sent away in charge of a Basuto herd who knew nothing of their plans, + telling him to keep them by the Crocodile Drift, as there the grass was + good and sweet. + </p> + <p> + All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, + heading straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, however, + they left the road and turning sharp to the right, passed unobserved of + any through a great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their path now lay not + far from the Pool of Doom, which, indeed, was close to Umgona’s kraal, and + the forest that was called Home of the Dead, but out of sight of these. It + was their plan to travel by night, reaching the broken country near the + Crocodile Drift on the following morning. Here they proposed to lie hid + that day and through the night; then, having first collected the cattle + which had preceded them, to cross the river at the break of dawn and + escape into Natal. At least this was the plan of his companions; but, as + we know, Hadden had another programme, whereon after one last appearance + two of the party would play no part. + </p> + <p> + During that long afternoon’s journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the + country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his hand + a long travelling stick of black and white <i>umzimbeet</i> wood, for in + truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey’s end. Next came + Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his moocha and + necklet of baboon’s teeth, and with him Nanea in her white bead-bordered + mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the girl seemed to + be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for from time to time she + clasped her lover’s arm, and looking up into his face, addressed him with + vehemence, almost with passion. + </p> + <p> + Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was + shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in this + tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel the web + of death which he himself had woven. But ever that evil voice was + whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the white <i>Inkoos</i>, + had been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he found a way to save + him, within some few hours she would be the wife of the savage gentleman + at her side, the man who had named him Black Heart and who despised him, + the man whom he had meant to murder and who immediately repaid his + treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard at the risk of his + own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden’s existence never to deny + himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his power to take it—a + law which had led him always deeper into sin. In other respects, indeed, + it had not carried him far, for in the past he had not desired much, and + he had won little; but this particular flower was to his hand, and he + would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so much the + worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in his grasp, so much the worse + for the flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it came about that, + not for the first time in his life, Philip Hadden discarded the somewhat + spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil whispering at + his ear. + </p> + <p> + About half-past five o’clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed the + stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into the Doom + Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further side, walked + straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who were beguiling the + tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the smoking of <i>dakka</i> + or native hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his pony, for he was too + fat to walk, waited the Chief Maputa. + </p> + <p> + Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out the + <i>dakka</i> pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the lobes + of their ears, and secured the four of them. + </p> + <p> + “What is the meaning of this, O King’s soldiers?” asked Umgona in a + quavering voice. “We journey to the kraal of U’Cetywayo; why do you molest + us?” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south. Does the + Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal + presently,” answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a + callous laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I do not understand,” stammered Umgona. + </p> + <p> + “Then I will explain while you rest,” said the captain. “The Chief Maputa + yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned of your + intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who had warned + him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to catch you and + make an end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, and let us finish + the matter. As the Doom Pool is near, your deaths will be easy.” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; but + he did not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard them + also, and turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said nothing, she + only looked, but he could never forget that look. The white man for his + part was filled with a fiery indignation against Maputa. + </p> + <p> + “You wicked villain,” he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a sickly + fashion, and turned away. + </p> + <p> + Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached the + waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. + </p> + <p> + Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he + gazed into that abyss. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to throw me in there?” he asked of the Zulu captain in a + thick voice. + </p> + <p> + “You, White Man?” replied the soldier unconcernedly. “No, our orders are + to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know. There + is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to pound + you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you over an + ant-heap as a warning to other white men.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his brain + was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of escape. + </p> + <p> + By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the + waters of the pool. + </p> + <p> + “Who dives first,” asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. + </p> + <p> + “The old wizard,” he replied, nodding at Umgona; “then his daughter after + him, and last of all this fellow,” and he struck Nahoon in the face with + his open hand. + </p> + <p> + “Come on, Wizard,” said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, “and let + us see how you can swim.” + </p> + <p> + At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after the + fashion of his race. + </p> + <p> + “No need to lead me, soldier,” he said, shaking himself loose, “who am old + and ready to die.” Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung Nahoon + by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt walked out + upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here he stood for a + moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and without a sound, he + hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. + </p> + <p> + “That was a brave one,” said the captain with admiration. “Can you spring + too, girl, or must we throw you?” + </p> + <p> + “I can walk my father’s path,” Nanea answered faintly, “but first I crave + leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the king, and + therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart here who made the + plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he has betrayed us? + Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and this is the vengeance + that he takes—a white man’s vengeance.” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Wow!</i>” broke in the chief Maputa, “this pretty one speaks truth, + for the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona, + the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile + Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him softly + and said ‘yes,’ and then like a loyal man I reported to the king.” + </p> + <p> + “You hear,” sighed Nanea. “Nahoon, fare you well, though presently perhaps + we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your duty. For + my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, my husband, it + is better to die with you than to enter the house of the king’s women,” + and Nanea stepped on to the platform. + </p> + <p> + Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and + addressed Hadden, saying:— + </p> + <p> + “Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose and—the + sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black Heart, and in that + night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be given to drink of my + blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the blood of Nahoon my + husband, who saved your life, and whom you have murdered. Perchance, Black + Heart, we may yet meet yonder—in the House of the Dead.” + </p> + <p> + Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and + outwards from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to look. + They saw her rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike the water + fifty feet below. A few seconds, and for the last time, they caught sight + of her white garment glimmering on the surface of the gloomy pool. Then + the shadows and mist-wreaths hid it, and she was gone. + </p> + <p> + “Now, husband,” cried the cheerful voice of the captain, “yonder is your + marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so ready to lead the + way. <i>Wow!</i> but you are good people to kill; never have I had to do + with any who gave less trouble. You——” and he stopped, for + mental agony had done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad before his + eyes. + </p> + <p> + With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held him + and seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all his + terrible strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he hurled + him over the edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks of the Pool + of Doom. Then crying:— + </p> + <p> + “Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!” he rushed at Hadden, + his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed striking the + chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his hand. Ill would it + have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught him. But he could not + come at him, for the soldiers sprang upon him and notwithstanding his + fearful struggles they pulled him to the ground, as at certain festivals + the Zulu regiments with their naked hands pull down a bull in the presence + of the king. + </p> + <p> + “Cast him over before he can work more mischief,” said a voice. But the + captain cried out, “Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven has + fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would overtake us + all. Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to where he can be + cared for. Surely I thought that these evil-doers were giving us too + little trouble, and thus it has proved.” + </p> + <p> + So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon’s hands and wrists, using as + much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is accounted + holy. It was no easy task, and it took time. + </p> + <p> + Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground close + beside him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed it, and + about a dozen yards away Maputa’s pony was grazing. With a swift movement, + he seized the Martini and five seconds later he was on the back of the + pony, heading for the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So quickly indeed did + he execute this masterly retreat, that occupied as they all were in + binding Nahoon, for half a minute or more none of the soldiers noticed + what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to see, and waddled after him to + the top of the rise, screaming:— + </p> + <p> + “The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun that he + promised to give me.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, and + a rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of him; more, + he had been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose sake he had + dipped his hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his shoulder; Maputa + was still running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at any rate he would + risk it. + </p> + <p> + Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping his arm + through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it chanced, and + as he had hoped would be the case, the animal was a trained shooting + horse, and stood still. Hadden planted his feet firmly on the ground and + drawing a deep breath, he cocked the rifle and covered the advancing + chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose and with a yell of terror turned to fly. + Hadden waited a second to get the sight fair on his broad back, then just + as the soldiers appeared above the rise he pressed the trigger. He was a + noted shot, and in this instance his skill did not fail him; for, before + he heard the bullet tell, Maputa flung his arms wide and plunged to the + ground dead. + </p> + <p> + Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the pony + and was riding for his life towards the river, which a while later he + crossed in safety. + </p> + <p> + <a name="2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + </h3> + <p> + When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of Doom, a + strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were many jagged + rocks, and on these the waters of the fall fell and thundered, bounding + from them in spouts of spray into the troubled depths of the foss beyond. + It was on these stones that the life was dashed out from the bodies of the + wretched victims who were hurled from above. But Nanea, it will be + remembered, had not waited to be treated thus, and as it chanced the + strong spring with which she had leapt to death carried her clear of the + rocks. By a very little she missed the edge of them and striking the deep + water head first like some practised diver, she sank down and down till + she thought that she would never rise again. Yet she did rise, at the end + of the pool in the mouth of the rapid, along which she sped swiftly, + carried down by the rush of the water. Fortunately there were no rocks + here; and, since she was a skilful swimmer, she escaped the danger of + being thrown against the banks. + </p> + <p> + For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she was + in a forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their + drooping branches swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with her + hand, and by the help of it she dragged herself from the River of Death + whence none had escaped before. Now she stood upon the bank gasping but + quite unharmed; there was not a scratch on her body; even her white + garment was still fast about her neck. + </p> + <p> + But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so exhausted + was Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was that of night, + and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find some refuge. Close + to the water’s edge grew an enormous yellow-wood tree, and to this she + staggered—thinking to climb it, and seek shelter in its boughs + where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. Again fortune + befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet from the ground there was + a great hole in the tree which, she discovered, was hollow. Into this hole + she crept, taking her chance of its being the home of snakes or other evil + creatures, to find that the interior was wide and warm. It was dry also, + for at the bottom of the cavity lay a foot or more of rotten tinder and + moss brought there by rats or birds. Upon this tinder she lay down, and + covering herself with the moss and leaves soon sank into sleep or stupor. + </p> + <p> + How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened by a + sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she could not + understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in the tree. It + was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their light fell upon an + open circle of ground close by the edge of the river. In this circle there + burned a great fire, and at a little distance from the fire were gathered + eight or ten horrible-looking beings, who appeared to be rejoicing over + something that lay upon the ground. They were small in stature, men and + women together, but no children, and all of them were nearly naked. Their + hair was long and thin, growing down almost to the eyes, their jaws and + teeth protruded and the girth of their black bodies was out of all + proportion to their height. In their hands they held sticks with sharp + stones lashed on to them, or rude hatchet-like knives of the same + material. + </p> + <p> + Now Nanea’s heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, for + she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt these + were the <i>Esemkofu</i>, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, that + was what they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off them—the + sight of them held her with a horrible fascination. But if they were + ghosts, why did they sing and dance like men? Why did they wave those + sharp stones aloft, and quarrel and strike each other? And why did they + make a fire as men do when they wish to cook food? More, what was it that + they rejoiced over, that long dark thing which lay so quiet upon the + ground? It did not look like a head of game, and it could scarcely be a + crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, for they were sharpening + the stone knives in order to cut it up. + </p> + <p> + While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures + advanced to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over the + thing that lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who was about + to do something to it with the stone knife. Next instant Nanea drew back + her head from the hole, a stifled shriek upon her lips. She saw what it + was now—it was the body of a man. Yes, and these were no ghosts; + they were cannibals of whom when she was little, her mother had told her + tales to keep her from wandering away from home. + </p> + <p> + But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of + themselves, for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it must be + Nahoon, who had been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the waters had + brought down to the haunted forest as they had brought her alive. Yes, it + must be Nahoon, and she would be forced to see her husband devoured before + her eyes. The thought of it overwhelmed her. That he should die by order + of the king was natural, but that he should be buried thus! Yet what could + she do to prevent it? Well, if it cost her her life, it should be + prevented. At the worst they could only kill and eat her also, and now + that Nahoon and her father were gone, being untroubled by any religious or + spiritual hopes and fears, she was not greatly concerned to keep her own + breath in her. + </p> + <p> + Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards the + cannibals—not knowing in the least what she should do when she + reached them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of programme + came home to her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. Just then one + of the cannibals looked up to see a tall and stately figure wrapped in a + white garment which, as the flame-light flickered on it, seemed now to + advance from the dense background of shadow, and now to recede into it. + The poor savage wretch was holding a stone knife in his teeth when he + beheld her, but it did not remain there long, for opening his great jaws + he uttered the most terrified and piercing yell that Nanea had ever heard. + Then the others saw her also, and presently the forest was ringing with + shrieks of fear. For a few seconds the outcasts stood and gazed, then they + were gone this way and that, bursting their path through the undergrowth + like startled jackals. The <i>Esemkofu</i> of Zulu tradition had been + routed in their own haunted home by what they took to be a spirit. + </p> + <p> + Poor <i>Esemkofu!</i> they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, + driven into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this means, + the only one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched bodies. Here + at least they were unmolested, and as there was little other food to be + found amid that wilderness of trees, they took what the river brought + them. When executions were few in the Pool of Doom, times were hard for + them indeed—for then they were driven to eat each other. That is why + there were no children. + </p> + <p> + As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran forward + to look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back with a sigh + of relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face for that of one + of the party of executioners. How did he come here? Had Nahoon killed him? + Had Nahoon escaped? She could not tell, and at the best it was improbable, + but still the sight of this dead soldier lit her heart with a faint ray of + hope, for how did he come to be dead if Nahoon had no hand in his death? + She could not bear to leave him lying so near her hiding-place, however; + therefore, with no small toil, she rolled the corpse back into the water, + which carried it swiftly away. Then she returned to the tree, having first + replenished the fire, and awaited the light. + </p> + <p> + At last it came—so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome den—and + Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the tree to + search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till towards + sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest there was a flat + rock where it was the custom of those who had been in any way afflicted, + or who considered themselves or their belongings to be bewitched, to place + propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the <i>Esemkofu</i> and <i>Amalhosi</i> + were supposed to satisfy their spiritual cravings. Urged by the pinch of + starvation, to this spot Nanea journeyed rapidly, and found to her joy + that some neighbouring kraal had evidently been in recent trouble, for the + Rock of Offering was laden with cobs of corn, gourds of milk, porridge and + even meat. Helping herself to as much as she could carry, she returned to + her lair, where she drank of the milk and cooked meat and mealies at the + fire. Then she crept back into the tree, and slept. + </p> + <p> + For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could not + venture out of it—fearing lest she should be seized, and for a + second time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least she + was safe, for none dared enter there, nor did the <i>Esemkofu</i> give her + further trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion they + fled from her presence—seeking some distant retreat, where they hid + themselves or perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that it was + taken, the pious givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of Offering. + </p> + <p> + But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled with + her sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she lived on, + though often she desired to die, for if her father was dead, the corpse + she had found was not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her heart there still + shone that spark of home. Yet what she hoped for she could not tell. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was about + to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the Amazulu; also + that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure with the Utrecht + store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was the owner of two + good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at that time vehicles + were much in request to carry military stores for the columns which were + to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport authorities were glad to + pay £90 a month for the hire of each waggon and to guarantee the owners + against all loss of cattle. Although he was not desirous of returning to + Zululand, this bait proved too much for Hadden, who accordingly leased out + his waggons to the Commissariat, together with his own services as + conductor and interpreter. + </p> + <p> + He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be + remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on the + 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs from + Rorke’s Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night beneath the + shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as Isandhlwana. + </p> + <p> + That day also a great army of King Cetywayo’s, numbering twenty thousand + men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon the stony + plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. No fires + were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were + “sleeping on their spears.” + </p> + <p> + With that <i>impi</i> was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five + hundred strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the + Umcityu looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which + he had covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man + standing before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who + held a rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no + answer; he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right along the + dense array of innumerable shields. + </p> + <p> + “Who is this <i>Silwana</i> (wild creature)?” asked the Induna of his + captains wondering. + </p> + <p> + The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, “This is + Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in this + regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona, was + killed together with her father by order of the Black One, and Nahoon went + mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven entered his + brain, and mad he has wandered ever since.” + </p> + <p> + “What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?” asked the Induna. + </p> + <p> + Then Nahoon spoke slowly. “My regiment goes down to war against the white + men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I may fight + with my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle.” + </p> + <p> + So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away one + whose brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks of + the Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, company + by company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, breast and + horns together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed British camp, a + moving sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the shields, the shells + tore long lines through their array, but they never halted or wavered. + Forward on either side shot out the horns of armed men, clasping the camp + in an embrace of steel. Then as these began to close, out burst the war + cry of the Zulus, and with the roar of a torrent and the rush of a storm, + with a sound like the humming of a billion bees, wave after wave the deep + breast of the <i>impi</i> rolled down upon the white men. With it went the + black-shielded Umcityu and with them went Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A + bullet struck him in the side, glancing from his ribs, he did not heed; a + white man fell from his horse before him, he did not stab, for he sought + but one face in the battle. + </p> + <p> + He sought—and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the + spears were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly was + Black Heart, he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three soldiers + stood between them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he brushed aside; + then he rushed straight at Hadden. + </p> + <p> + But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his madness + he knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing away his empty + rifle, for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his horse and drove + his spurs into its flanks. Away it went among the carnage, springing over + the dead and bursting through the lines of shields, and after it came + Nahoon, running long and low with head stretched forward and trailing + spear, running as a hound runs when the buck is at view. + </p> + <p> + Hadden’s first plan was to head for Rorke’s Drift, but a glance to the + left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he fled + straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was over a + ridge, and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten all sounds + of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread race to + Fugitive’s Drift, and the assegai makes no noise. In some strange fashion, + even at this moment, the contrast between the dreadful scene of blood and + turmoil that he had left, and the peaceful face of Nature over which he + was passing, came home to his brain vividly. Here birds sang and cattle + grazed; here the sun shone undimmed by the smoke of cannon, only high up + in the blue and silent air long streams of vultures could be seen winging + their way to the Plain of Isandhlwana. + </p> + <p> + The ground was very rough, and Hadden’s horse began to tire. He looked + over his shoulder—there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, + grim as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; + there was but one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been fired + and the pouch was empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for one savage: + the question was should he stop and use it now? No, he might miss or fail + to kill the man; he was on horseback and his foe on foot, surely he could + tire him out. + </p> + <p> + A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed + familiar to Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when he + was the guest of Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the knoll to + his right were the huts, or rather the remains of them, for they had been + burnt with fire. What chance had brought him to this place, he wondered; + then again he looked behind him at Nahoon, who seemed to read his + thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to the ruined kraal. + </p> + <p> + On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost + sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, and + when it was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was once more in his + old place. His horse’s strength was almost spent, but Hadden spurred it + forward blindly, whither he knew not. Now he was travelling along a strip + of turf and ahead of him he heard the music of a river, while to his left + rose a high bank. Presently the turf bent inwards and there, not twenty + yards away from him, was a Kaffir hut standing on the brink of a river. He + looked at it, yes, it was the hut of that accursed <i>inyanga</i>, the + Bee, and standing by the fence of it was none other than the Bee herself. + At the sight of her the exhausted horse swerved violently, stumbled and + came to the ground, where it lay panting. Hadden was thrown from the + saddle but sprang to his feet unhurt. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?” cried + the Bee in a mocking voice. + </p> + <p> + “Help me, mother, I am pursued,” he gasped. + </p> + <p> + “What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and face + him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You will not? + Then away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who await you + there. Tell me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw beneath the + waters a while ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when you two meet in + the House of the Dead.” + </p> + <p> + Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, so + followed by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the forest. + After him came Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like the tongue of + a wolf. + </p> + <p> + Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following the + course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he halted on + the further side of a little glade, beyond which a great tree grew. Nahoon + was more than a spear’s throw behind him; therefore he had time to draw + his pistol and make ready. + </p> + <p> + “Halt, Nahoon,” he cried, as once before he had cried; “I would speak with + you.” + </p> + <p> + The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. + </p> + <p> + “Listen,” said Hadden. “We have run a long race and fought a long fight, + you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you come on, + one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am armed and as + you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?” + </p> + <p> + Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his wild + and glowering eyes fixed on the white man’s face and his breath coming in + short gasps. + </p> + <p> + “Will you let me go, if <i>I</i> let <i>you</i> go?” Hadden asked once + more. “I know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor can the + dead be brought to earth again.” + </p> + <p> + Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and more + crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so terrible + in Hadden’s ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai he stalked + grimly toward his foe. + </p> + <p> + When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon sprang + aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right arm dropped, and + the stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it harmlessly over the + white man’s head. But still making no sound, the Zulu came on and gripped + him by the throat with his left hand. For a space they struggled terribly, + swaying to and fro, but Hadden was unhurt and fought with the fury of + despair, while Nahoon had been twice wounded, and there remained to him + but one sound arm wherewith to strike. Presently forced to earth by the + white man’s iron strength, the soldier was down, nor could he rise again. + </p> + <p> + “Now we will make an end,” muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned to seek + the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and reeling + gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a spear in her + hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! + </p> + <p> + “Think of it,” he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of the <i>inyanga</i>, + “when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the Home of the + Dead.” + </p> + <p> + There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards him to + bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently Black Heart + clasped that great reward which the word of the Bee had promised Him. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “Nahoon! Nahoon!” murmured a soft voice, “awake, it is no ghost, but I—Nanea—I, + your living wife, to whom my <i>Ehlose</i>[*] has given it me to save + you.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] Guardian Spirit. +</pre> + <p> + Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. + </p> + <p> + “Welcome, wife,” he said faintly, “now I will live since Death has brought + you back to me in the House of the Dead.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in Zululand, + and there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips of none other + than Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard its substance. + </p> + <p> + The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the + white man’s rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a + snake with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s Black Heart and White Heart, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + +***** This file should be named 2842-h.htm or 2842-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/4/2842/ + +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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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: Black Heart and White Heart + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + +To the Memory of the Child + +Nada Burnham, + +who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through the +hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war +at Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales--and more +particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and +death. + +H. Rider Haggard. + +Ditchingham. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, "The Wizard," a +tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a Christmas +Annual. Another, "Elissa," is an attempt, difficult enough owing to the +scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate the life of +the ancient Phoenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in Rhodesia, +and, with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest +circumstances such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall +at the hands of the surrounding savage tribes. The third, "Black Heart +and White Heart," is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of +a pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. + + [*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 + titled "Black Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories."-- + JB. + + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + +A ZULU IDYLL + + + +CHAPTER I + +PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + +At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a +transport-rider and trader in "the Zulu." Still on the right side of +forty, in appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, +with keen eyes, short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut +features. His life had been varied, and there were passages in it which +he did not narrate even to his most intimate friends. He was of gentle +birth, however, and it was said that he had received a public school and +university education in England. At any rate he could quote the classics +with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, coupled with his +refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild places +of the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the +_soubriquet_ of "The Prince." + +However these things may have been, it is certain that he had emigrated +to Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his relatives at home +were content to take no further interest in his fortunes. During the +fifteen or sixteen years which he had spent in or about the colony, +Hadden followed many trades, and did no good at any of them. A clever +man, of agreeable and prepossessing manner, he always found it easy to +form friendships and to secure a fresh start in life. But, by degrees, +the friends were seized with a vague distrust of him; and, after a +period of more or less application, he himself would close the opening +that he had made by a sudden disappearance from the locality, leaving +behind him a doubtful reputation and some bad debts. + +Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes +in his life, Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in +transport-riding--that is, in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban +or Maritzburg to various points in the interior. A difficulty such as +had more than once confronted him in the course of his career, led to +his temporary abandonment of this means of earning a livelihood. On +arriving at the little frontier town of Utrecht in the Transvaal, in +charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods consigned to a storekeeper +there, it was discovered that out of six cases of brandy five were +missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter by throwing the +blame upon his Kaffir "boys," but the storekeeper, a rough-tongued man, +openly called him a thief and refused to pay the freight on any of +the load. From words the two men came to blows, knives were drawn, and +before anybody could interfere the storekeeper received a nasty wound in +his side. That night, without waiting till the matter could be inquired +into by the landdrost or magistrate, Hadden slipped away, and trekked +back into Natal as quickly as his oxen would travel. Feeling that even +here he was not safe, he left one of his waggons at Newcastle, loaded up +the other with Kaffir goods--such as blankets, calico, and hardware--and +crossed into Zululand, where in those days no sheriff's officer would be +likely to follow him. + +Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he +did good trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some cash +and a small herd of cattle, which he received in exchange for his wares. +Meanwhile news reached him that the man whom he had injured still vowed +vengeance against him, and was in communication with the authorities in +Natal. These reasons making his return to civilisation undesirable for +the moment, and further business being impossible until he could +receive a fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a wise man turned his +thoughts to pleasure. Sending his cattle and waggon over the border to +be left in charge of a native headman with whom he was friendly, he went +on foot to Ulundi to obtain permission from the king, Cetywayo, to hunt +game in his country. Somewhat to his surprise, the Indunas or headmen, +received him courteously--for Hadden's visit took place within a few +months of the outbreak of the Zulu war in 1878, when Cetywayo was +already showing unfriendliness to the English traders and others, though +why the king did so they knew not. + +On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden +got a hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning after +his arrival at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him that +"the Elephant whose tread shook the earth" had signified that it was +his pleasure to see him. Accordingly he was led through the thousands of +huts and across the Great Place to the little enclosure where Cetywayo, +a royal-looking Zulu seated on a stool, and wearing a kaross of leopard +skins, was holding an _indaba_, or conference, surrounded by his +counsellors. The Induna who had conducted him to the august presence +went down upon his hands and knees, and, uttering the royal salute of +_Bayete_, crawled forward to announce that the white man was waiting. + +"Let him wait," said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued the +discussion with his counsellors. + +Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when +from time to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he spoke +reached his ear. + +"What!" Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be +pleading with him earnestly; "am I a dog that these white hyenas should +hunt me thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father's before +me? Are not the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that I will +stamp out these little white men; my _impis_ shall eat them up. I have +said!" + +Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of +a peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed +towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien, +he seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of action +be followed. + +For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his +eyes literally ablaze with rage. + +"Hearken," he cried to the counsellor; "I have guessed it for long, and +now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu's[*] dog, and +the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man's dog +to bite me in my own house. Take him away!" + + [*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone's. + +A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of _indunas_, but the +old man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would +murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps +five, he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then he +looked up and spoke to the king in a clear voice. + +"O King," he said, "I am a very old man; as a youth I served under Chaka +the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the white man. +Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the battle of the +Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was the counsellor +of Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the battle of the +Tugela, when its grey waters were turned to red with the blood of +Umbulazi your brother, and of the tens of thousands of his people. +Afterwards I became your counsellor, O King, and I was with you +when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made promises to +Sompseu--promises that you have not kept. Now you are weary of me, and +it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is foolish, as +it chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka, your +great-uncle, will come true, and that the white men will prevail against +you and that through them you shall find your death. I would that I +might have stood in one more battle and fought for you, O King, since +fight you will, but the end which you choose is for me the best end. +Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. _Bayete!_"[*] + + [*] The royal salute of the Zulus. + +For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men waited +to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please him to be +merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. + +"Take him away," he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face +and one word, "Good-night," upon his lips, supported by the arm of a +soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of +death. + +Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. "If +he treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?" he +reflected. "We English must have fallen out of favour since I left +Natal. I wonder whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this +isn't my place." + +Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced +to look up. "Bring the stranger here," he said. + +Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as +cool and nonchalant a manner as he could command. + +Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. "At least, White Man," said +the king, glancing at his visitor's tall spare form and cleanly cut +face, "you are no '_umfagozan_' (low fellow); you are of the blood of +chiefs." + +"Yes, King," answered Hadden, with a little sigh, "I am of the blood of +chiefs." + +"What do you want in my country, White Man?" + +"Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have +heard, and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt buffalo, +and other big game, for a while before I return to Natal." + +"I cannot grant it," answered Cetywayo, "you are a spy sent by Sompseu, +or by the Queen's Induna in Natal. Get you gone." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; "then I hope that +Sompseu, or the Queen's Induna, or both of them, will pay me when I +return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, but +I should first like to make you a present." + +"What present?" asked the king. "I want no presents. We are rich here, +White Man." + +"So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle." + +"A rifle, White Man? Where is it?" + +"Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is +death to come armed before the 'Elephant who shakes the Earth.'" + +Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick ear. + +"Let this white man's offering be brought; I will consider the thing." + +Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, +running with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every step +he must fall upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon in +his hand and presented it to the king, holding it so that the muzzle was +pointed straight at the royal breast. + +"I crave leave to say, O Elephant," remarked Hadden in a drawling voice, +"that it might be well to command your servant to lift the mouth of that +gun from your heart." + +"Why?" asked the king. + +"Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably +desires to continue to shake the Earth." + +At these words the "Elephant" uttered a sharp exclamation, and rolled +from his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, +springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and +discharge a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had been +occupied by his monarch's head. + +"Let him be taken away," shouted the incensed king from the ground, but +long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry that +the gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed through +the gate. + +"He has already taken himself away," suggested Hadden, while the +audience tittered. "No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a repeating +rifle. Look----" and lifting the Winchester, he fired the four remaining +shots in quick succession into the air, striking the top of a tree at +which he aimed with every one of them. + +"_Wow_, it is wonderful!" said the company in astonishment. + +"Has the thing finished?" asked the king. + +"For the present it has," answered Hadden. "Look at it." + +Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, +swinging the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of +some of his most eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as +the barrel was brought to bear on them. + +"See what cowards they are, White Man," said the king with indignation; +"they fear lest there should be another bullet in this gun." + +"Yes," answered Hadden, "they are cowards indeed. I believe that if they +were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it chanced to +your Majesty to do just now." + +"Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?" asked the king +hastily, while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and +contemplated the fence behind them. + +"No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them." + +"If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and +mend guns for me?" asked Cetywayo anxiously. + +"It might depend on the pay," answered Hadden; "but for awhile I am +tired of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the permission +to hunt for which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return +perhaps we can bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king +farewell, and journey to Natal." + +"In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here," muttered +Cetywayo. + +At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led +away the old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves before +the king. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"He has travelled the king's bridge," they answered grimly; "he died +singing a song of praise of the king." + +"Good," said Cetywayo, "that stone shall hurt my feet no more. Go, tell +the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen's Induna in +Natal," he added with bitter emphasis. + +"_Baba!_ Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the Elephant," +said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than the rest added: +"Soon we will tell them another tale, the white Talking Ones, a red +tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall sing it in their ears." + +At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden +flame catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them +were seated on their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground +in unison, repeated:-- + + _Indaba ibomwu--indaba ye mikonto + Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho._ + (A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears, + And the _impis_ shall sing it in their ears.) + +One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden +and shaking his fist before his eyes--fortunately being in the royal +presence he had no assegai--shouted the sentences at him. + +The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. + +"Silence," he thundered in the deep voice for which he was remarkable, +and instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only the +echoes still answered back: "And the _impis_ shall sing it in their +ears--in their ears." + +"I am growing certain that this is no place for me," thought Hadden; +"if that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily forgotten +himself. Hullo! who's this?" + +Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid +specimen of the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years +of age, was arrayed in a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu +regiment. From the circlet of otter skin on his brow rose his crest of +plumes, round his middle, arms and knees hung the long fringes of black +oxtails, and in one hand he bore a little dancing shield, also black in +colour. The other was empty, since he might not appear before the king +bearing arms. In countenance the man was handsome, and though just now +they betrayed some anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, and his +mouth sensitive. In height he must have measured six foot two inches, +yet he did not strike the observer as being tall, perhaps because of +his width of chest and the solidity of his limbs, that were in curious +contrast to the delicate and almost womanish hands and feet which so +often mark the Zulu of noble blood. In short the man was what he seemed +to be, a savage gentleman of birth, dignity and courage. + +In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a +blanket, whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. +His face also was pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were timorous, +and the mouth lacked character. + +"Who are these?" asked the king. + +The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their +foreheads touched the ground--the while giving him his _sibonga_ or +titles of praise. + +"Speak," he said impatiently. + +"O King," said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, "I am +Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my uncle +Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father's youngest wife." + +Cetywayo frowned. "What do you here away from your regiment, Nahoon?" + +"May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head captains, +and I come to ask a boon of the king's bounty." + +"Be swift, then, Nahoon." + +"It is this, O King," said the captain with some embarrassment: "A while +ago the king was pleased to make a _keshla_ of me because of certain +service that I did out yonder----" and he touched the black ring which +he wore in the hair of his head. "Being now a ringed man and a captain, +I crave the right of a man at the hands of the king--the right to +marry." + +"Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle have +no rights." + +Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. + +"Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a +fair daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me to +husband. Awaiting the king's leave I am betrothed to her and in earnest +of it I have paid to Umgona a _lobola_ of fifteen head of cattle, cows +and calves together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, an old chief +named Maputa, the warden of the Crocodile Drift, who doubtless is known +to the king, and this chief also seeks Nanea in marriage and harries +Umgona, threatening him with many evils if he will not give the girl to +him. But Umgona's heart is white towards me, and towards Maputa it is +black, therefore together we come to crave this boon of the king." + +"It is so; he speaks the truth," said Umgona. + +"Cease," answered Cetywayo angrily. "Is this a time that my soldiers +should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? Know +that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls who +had dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, should be +strangled and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and with them the +bodies of their fathers, that all might know their sin and be warned +thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is well for you and for your daughter that you +sought my word before she was given in marriage to this man. Now this +is my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, and since you, Umgona, are +troubled with one whom you would not take as son-in-law, the old chief +Maputa, I will free you from his importunity. The girl, says Nahoon, is +fair--good, I myself will be gracious to her, and she shall be numbered +among the wives of the royal house. Within thirty days from now, in the +week of the next new moon, let her be delivered to the _Sigodhla_, the +royal house of the women, and with her those cattle, the cows and the +calves together, that Nahoon has given you, of which I fine him because +he has dared to think of marriage without the leave of the king." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BEE PROPHESIES + +"'A Daniel come to judgment' indeed," reflected Hadden, who had been +watching this savage comedy with interest; "our love-sick friend has got +more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to Caesar," and +he turned to look at the two suppliants. + +The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences +of conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and +condescension. Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he had +done answered by reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not appear +at the date named, both she and he, her father, would in due course +certainly decorate a cross-road in their own immediate neighbourhood. + +The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal +words crossed the king's lips, his face took an expression of absolute +astonishment, which was presently replaced by one of fury--the just fury +of a man who suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His whole frame +quivered, the veins stood out in knots on his neck and forehead, and his +fingers closed convulsively as though they were grasping the handle of a +spear. Presently the rage passed away--for as well might a man be wroth +with fate as with a Zulu despot--to be succeeded by a look of the most +hopeless misery. The proud dark eyes grew dull, the copper-coloured face +sank in and turned ashen, the mouth drooped, and down one corner of +it there trickled a little line of blood springing from the lip bitten +through in the effort to keep silence. Lifting his hand in salute to the +king, the great man rose and staggered rather than walked towards the +gate. + +As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. "Stay," +he said, "I have a service for you, Nahoon, that shall drive out of your +head these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this white man here; +he is my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush country. +I put him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he comes to no +hurt. So also that you bring him before me within a month, or your life +shall answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in the first week +of the new moon--when Nanea comes--and then I will tell you whether or +no I agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, and you, White +Man, go also; those who are to accompany you shall be with you at the +dawn. Farewell, but remember we meet again at the new moon, when we will +settle what pay you shall receive as keeper of my guns. Do not fail me, +White Man, or I shall send after you, and my messengers are sometimes +rough." + +"This means that I am a prisoner," thought Hadden, "but it will go hard +if I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don't intend to +stay in this country if war is declared, to be pounded into _mouti_ +(medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that sort." + +***** + +Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were encamped +in a wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the Blood and +Unvunyana Rivers, not more than eight miles from that "Place of the +Little Hand" which within a few weeks was to become famous throughout +the world by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days they had +been tracking the spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still inhabited +the district, but as yet they had not come up with them. The Zulu +hunters had suggested that they should follow the Unvunyana down towards +the sea where game was more plentiful, but this neither Hadden, nor the +captain, Nahoon, had been anxious to do, for reasons which each of them +kept secret to himself. Hadden's object was to work gradually down to +the Buffalo River across which he hoped to effect a retreat into Natal. +That of Nahoon was to linger in the neighbourhood of the kraal of +Umgona, which was situated not very far from their present camping +place, in the vague hope that he might find an opportunity of speaking +with or at least of seeing Nanea, the girl to whom he was affianced, who +within a few weeks must be taken from him, and given over to the king. + +A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden +had never seen. Behind them lay a tract of land--half-swamp and +half-bush--in which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in +lonely grandeur, rose the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was an +amphitheatre of the most gloomy forest, ringed round in the distance by +sheer-sided hills. Into this forest there ran a river which drained the +swamp, placidly enough upon the level. But it was not always level, for +within three hundred yards of them it dashed suddenly over a precipice, +of no great height but very steep, falling into a boiling rock-bound +pool that the light of the sun never seemed to reach. + +"What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is named _Emagudu_, The Home of the Dead," the Zulu replied +absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was +situated at an hour's walk away over the ridge to the right. + +"The Home of the Dead! Why?" + +"Because the dead live there, those whom we name the _Esemkofu_, the +Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the _Amahlosi_, from whom +the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, "and have you ever seen these ghosts?" + +"Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead +enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make +offerings to the dead." + +Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked +over it. To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while close +to the bank of it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between the cliff +and the commencement of the forest, was a hut. + +"Who lives there?" asked Hadden. + +"The great _Isanusi_--she who is named _Inyanga_ or Doctoress; she who +is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom from the dead who +grow in the forest." + +"Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I +am going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?" + +"Mayhap, White Man, but," he added with a little smile, "those who visit +the Bee's hive may hear nothing, or they may hear more than they wish +for. The words of that Bee have a sting." + +"Good; I will see if she can sting me." + +"So be it," said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the cliff +till he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. + +By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of the +descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low fence +of reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth beaten +hard and polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool being +placed almost at the mouth of the round opening that served as a doorway +to the hut. At first all that Hadden could see of her, crouched as she +was in the shadow, was a huddled shape wrapped round with a greasy and +tattered catskin kaross, above the edge of which appeared two eyes, +fierce and quick as those of a leopard. At her feet smouldered a little +fire, and ranged around it in a semi-circle were a number of human +skulls, placed in pairs as though they were talking together, whilst +other bones, to all appearance also human, were festooned about the hut +and the fence of the courtyard. + +"I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties," thought +Hadden, but he said nothing. + +Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes +upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all +his might, till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this +curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that +the woman before him had shifted shape into the likeness of colossal +and horrid spider sitting at the mouth of her trap, and that these bones +were the relics of her victims. + +"Why do you not speak, White Man?" she said at last in a slow clear +voice. "Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You are +thinking that I who am called the Bee should be better named the Spider. +Have no fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit me when the +dead are so many? I suck the souls of men, not their bodies, White Man. +It is their living hearts I love to look on, for therein I read much and +thereby I grow wise. Now what would you of the Bee, White Man, the Bee +that labours in this Garden of Death, and--what brings _you_ here, +son of Zomba? Why are you not with the Umcityu now that they doctor +themselves for the great war--the last war--the war of the white and the +black--or if you have no stomach for fighting, why are you not at the +side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the fair?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:-- + +"A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my hunting." + +"In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of +money, or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; +that is your nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the +wound of that trader who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of the +Maboon (Boers)? No need to answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, for +the poor witch-doctoress whose skill you seek," she added in a whining +voice. "Surely you would not that an old woman should work without a +fee?" + +"I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going," said Hadden, who +began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the Bee's powers of +observation and thought-reading. + +"Nay," she answered with an unpleasant laugh, "would you ask a question, +and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at present, +White Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again," and once more +she laughed. "Let me look in your face, let me look in your face," she +continued, rising and standing before him. + +Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, and +the next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her thumb +and finger a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. The +action was so instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor to +resent it, but stood still staring at her stupidly. + +"That is all I need," she cried, "for like my heart my magic is white. +Stay--son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who visit the +Bee must listen to her humming." + +Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge +of his assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not because +he wished to do so, but because he feared to refuse. + +Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire +before them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was +bound about her middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she +wore none of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see +upon the persons of witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a +curious ornament, a small live snake, red and grey in hue, which her +visitors recognised as one of the most deadly to be found in that +part of the country. It is not unusual for Bantu witch-doctors thus to +decorate themselves with snakes, though whether or not their fangs have +first been extracted no one seems to know. + +Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up in +a thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, clung +about her head enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. Then of +a sudden she stretched out her hands, and let fall the two locks of +hair upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themselves to ashes like +things alive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to draw the fumes +of the hair and herbs into her lungs in great gulps; while the snake, +feeling the influence of the medicine, hissed and, uncoiling itself +from about her neck, crept upwards and took refuge among the black +_saccaboola_ feathers of her head-dress. + +Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro +muttering, then sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her +head rested. Now the Bee's face was turned upwards towards the light, +and it was ghastly to behold, for it had become blue in colour, and +the open eyes were sunken like the eyes of one dead, whilst above her +forehead the red snake wavered and hissed, reminding Hadden of the +Uraeus crest on the brow of statues of Egyptian kings. For ten seconds +or more she remained thus, then she spoke in a hollow and unnatural +voice:-- + +"O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your +heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. +Beautiful white body with black heart, you shall find your game and hunt +it, and it shall lead you into the House of the Homeless, into the Home +of the Dead, and it shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be shaped as a +tiger, it shall be shaped as a woman whom kings and waters cannot harm. +Beautiful white body and black heart, you shall be paid your wages, +money for money, and blow for blow. Think of my word when the spotted +cat purrs above your breast; think of it when the battle roars about +you; think of it when you grasp your great reward, and for the last time +stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the Home of the Dead. + +"O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white as +milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you strike +that blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love is as +the love of a tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow it, +follow it, O swift of foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that has +lied will never plead for mercy, and the hand that can betray is strong +in war. White Heart, what is death? In death life lives, and among the +dead you shall find the life you lost, for there awaits you she whom +kings and waters cannot harm." + +As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it was +almost inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass from +trance to sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an amused +and cynical smile, now laughed aloud. + +"Why do you laugh, White Man?" asked Nahoon angrily. + +"I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of +that lying fraud." + +"It is no nonsense, White Man." + +"Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?" + +"I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a +woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate." + +Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further +argument, and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red +snake from her head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped +herself again in the greasy kaross. + +"Are you satisfied with my wisdom, _Inkoos_?" she asked of Hadden. + +"I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, +mother," he answered coolly. "Now, what is there to pay?" + +The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or two +the look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen in +those of the snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. + +"If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so," she answered, "for +he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that I ask +no fee;--yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch." + +Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from it, +gave it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the gold +ring that was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a snake with +two little rubies set in the head to represent the eyes. + +"I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, +_Inkoos_. I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so that +the snake about my neck may be less lonely there." + +"Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead," said Hadden. + +"Yes, yes," she answered in a pleased voice, "it is a good word. I will +wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none can say +that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness that you +gave me permission to do so." + +For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about +the Bee's tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her +professional manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her +cupidity she had become natural, and it was evident that she spoke from +conviction, believing her own words. + +She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. + +"Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old witch-doctoress," she +said in a whining voice. "I have so much to do with Death that his name +leaps to my lips," and she glanced first at the circle of skulls about +her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy pool upon whose +banks her hut was placed. + +"Look," she said simply. + +Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden's eyes fell upon two +withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right angles to +its rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude platform made +of logs of wood lashed down with _riems_ of hide. Upon this platform +stood three figures; notwithstanding the distance and the spray of the +fall, he could see that they were those of two men and a girl, for their +shapes stood out distinctly against the fiery red of the sunset sky. +One instant there were three, the next there were two--for the girl had +gone, and something dark rushing down the face of the fall, struck the +surface of the pool with a heavy thud, while a faint and piteous cry +broke upon his ear. + +"What is the meaning of that?" he asked, horrified and amazed. + +"Nothing," answered the Bee with a laugh. "Do you not know, then, that +this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved without +the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and with them +their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I watch them +die and keep the count of the number of them," and drawing a tally-stick +from the thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a notch to +the many that appeared upon it, looking at Nahoon the while with a +half-questioning, half-warning gaze. + +"Yes, yes, it is a place of death," she muttered. "Up yonder the quick +die day by day and down there"--and she pointed along the course of the +river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred yards +from her hut--"the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!" + +As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from +the dim skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it +is impossible to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed +beastlike, and almost inarticulate. + +"Listen," repeated the Bee, "they are merry yonder." + +"Who?" asked Hadden; "the baboons?" + +"No, _Inkoos_, the _Amatongo_--the ghosts that welcome her who has just +become of their number." + +"Ghosts," said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, "I +should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard +a troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be +going while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell." + +"Farewell _Inkoos_, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. Go +in peace _Inkoos_--to sleep in peace." + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE END OF THE HUNT + +The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that +night. He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not +troubling him more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he closed +his eyes, his mind conjured up a picture of the grim witch-doctoress, +so strangely named the Bee, and the sound of her evil-omened words as +he had heard them that afternoon. He was neither a superstitious nor a +timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that might linger in his mind +were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what he might, he could +not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, lest there should be +some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this hag. What if it were +a fact that he was near his death, and that the heart which beat so +strongly in his breast must soon be still for ever--no, he would not +think of it. This gloomy place, and the dreadful sight which he saw that +day, had upset his nerves. The domestic customs of these Zulus were not +pleasant, and for his part he was determined to be clear of them so soon +as he was able to escape the country. + +In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make +a dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a good +prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a +buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he knew well, the hunters +with him would feast upon meat until they could scarcely stir, and that +would be his opportunity. Nahoon, however, might not succumb to this +temptation; therefore he must trust to luck to be rid of him. If it came +to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, which he considered +he would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the man was his +jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that he could face +it without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked Nahoon; at times +he even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, and he knew that the +great Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, and to be looked down +upon by a savage "nigger" was more than his pride could stomach. + +At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were +still stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in his +kaross or blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking gigantic +in the shadows of the morning. + +"What is your will, _Umlungu_ (white man), that you are up before the +sun?" + +"My will, _Muntumpofu_ (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo," answered +Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no +title of any sort. + +"Your pardon," said the Zulu reading his thoughts, "but I cannot call +you _Inkoos_ because you are not my chief, or any man's; still if the +title 'white man' offends you, we will give you a name." + +"As you wish," answered Hadden briefly. + +Accordingly they gave him a name, _Inhlizin-mgama_, by which he was +known among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he +found that the meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was "Black +Heart." That was how the _inyanga_ had addressed him--only she used +different words. + +An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay behind +the encampment searching for their game. Within a very little while +Nahoon held up his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden looked; +there, pressed deep in the marshy soil, and to all appearance not ten +minutes old, was the spoor of a small herd of buffalo. + +"I knew that we should find game to-day," whispered Nahoon, "because the +Bee said so." + +"Curse the Bee," answered Hadden below his breath. "Come on." + +For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick +reeds, till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden's +arm. He looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding +on some higher ground among a patch if mimosa trees, were the +buffaloes--six of them--an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a +heifer and a calf about four months old. Neither the wind nor the nature +of the veldt were favourable for them to stalk the game from their +present position, so they made a detour of half a mile and very +carefully crept towards them up the wind, slipping from trunk to trunk +of the mimosas and when these failed them, crawling on their stomachs +under cover of the tall _tambuti_ grass. At last they were within forty +yards, and a further advance seemed impracticable; for although he could +not smell them, it was evident from his movements that the old bull +heard some unusual sound and was growing suspicious. Nearest to Hadden, +who alone of the party had a rifle, stood the heifer broadside on--a +beautiful shot. Remembering that she would make the best beef, he lifted +his Martini, and aiming at her immediately behind the shoulder, gently +squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and the heifer fell dead, shot +through the heart. Strangely enough the other buffaloes did not at once +run away. On the contrary, they seemed puzzled to account for the sudden +noise; and, not being able to wind anything, lifted their heads and +stared round them. + +The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim +again, this time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in the +neck or shoulder, for he came to his knees, but in another second was up +and having caught sight of the cloud of smoke he charged straight at it. +Because of this smoke, or for some other reason, Hadden did not see him +coming, and in consequence would most certainly have been trampled or +gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the imminent risk of his own +life, and dragged him down behind an ant-heap. A moment more and the +great beast had thundered by, taking no further notice of them. + +"Forward," said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the heifer +and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the blood spoor. + +For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the trail +on a patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and exhausted by +the heat, sat down to rest and to eat some _biltong_ or sun-dried flesh +which they had with them. They finished their meal, and were preparing +to return to the camp, when one of the four Zulus who were with them +went to drink at a little stream that ran at a distance of not more than +ten paces away. Half a minute later they heard a hideous grunting noise +and a splashing of water, and saw the Zulu fly into the air. All the +while that they were eating, the wounded buffalo had been lying in +wait for them under a thick bush on the banks of the streamlet, +knowing--cunning brute that he was--that sooner or later his turn would +come. With a shout of consternation they rushed forward to see the bull +vanish over the rise before Hadden could get a chance of firing at him, +and to find their companion dying, for the great horn had pierced his +lung. + +"It is not a buffalo, it is a devil," the poor fellow gasped, and +expired. + +"Devil or not, I mean to kill it," exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the +others to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on +accompanied by Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase +easier, for they sighted their quarry frequently, though they could not +come near enough to fire. Presently they travelled down a steep cliff. + +"Do you know where we are?" asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of forest +opposite. "That is _Emagudu_, the Home of the Dead--and look, the bull +heads thither." + +Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the Fall, +the Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. + +"Very well," he answered; "then we must head for it too." + +Nahoon halted. "Surely you would not enter there," he exclaimed. + +"Surely I will," replied Hadden, "but there is no need for you to do so +if you are afraid." + +"I am afraid--of ghosts," said the Zulu, "but I will come." + +So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It +was a gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick there +shutting out the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which no +breeze stirred, was heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. There +seemed to be no life here and no sound--only now and again a loathsome +spotted snake would uncoil itself and glide away, and now and again a +heavy rotten bough fell with a crash. + +Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed +by his surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for +shooting, and went on. + +They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the sudden +increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull's wound was +proving fatal to him. + +"Run now," said Hadden cheerfully. + +"Nay, _hamba gachle_--go softly--" answered Nahoon, "the devil is dying, +but he will try to play us another trick before he dies." And he went on +peering ahead of him cautiously. + +"It is all right here, anyway," said Hadden, pointing to the spoor that +ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. + +Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees a +few paces in front of them and to their right. "Look," he whispered. + +Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown +that was crouched behind the trees. + +"He is dead," he exclaimed. + +"No," answered Nahoon, "he has come back on his own path and is waiting +for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you stand +there, I think that you can shoot him through the back between the tree +trunks." + +Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the +bull's spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next instant +the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, which sank +deep into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The buffalo stood +still for a moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its head down, +looking first after the one and then the other, till of a sudden it +uttered a low moaning sound and rolled over dead, smashing Nahoon's +assegai to fragments as it fell. + +"There! he's finished," said Hadden, "and I believe it was your assegai +that killed him. Hullo! what's that noise?" + +Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far +away it was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of people +calling to each other in fear but in no articulate language. Nahoon +shivered. + +"It is the _Esemkofu_," he said, "the ghosts who have no tongue, and +who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad for +mortals." + +"And worse for buffaloes," said Hadden, giving the dead bull a kick, +"but I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the +_Esemkofu_, as we have got meat enough, and can't carry his head." + +So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their +way slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden's head. +Once out of this forest, he was within an hour's run of the Zulu border, +and once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man than he did +at that moment. As has been said, he had intended to attempt to escape +in the darkness, but the plan was risky. All the Zulus might not +over-eat themselves and go to sleep, especially after the death of their +comrade; Nahoon, who watched him day and night, certainly would not. +This was his opportunity--there remained the question of Nahoon. + +Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy--he +had a loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only +a kerry. He did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to +him, seeing that his own safety was at stake, that he would be amply +justified in so doing. Why should he not put it to him--and then be +guided by circumstances? + +Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten spaces ahead of +him where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was under +the shadow of a large tree with low horizontal branches running out from +the trunk. + +"Nahoon," he said. + +The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. + +"No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged +to shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire without +warning. I am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me back to the +king to be his servant. But I believe that a war is going to break out +between your people and mine; and this being so, you will understand +that I do not wish to go to Cetywayo's kraal, because I should either +come to a violent death there, or my own brothers will believe that I +am a traitor and treat me accordingly. The Zulu border is not much more +than an hour's journey away--let us say an hour and a half's: I mean to +be across it before the moon is up. Now, Nahoon, will you lose me in the +forest and give me this hour and a half's start--or will you stop here +with that ghost people of whom you talk? Do you understand? No, please +do not move." + +"I understand you," answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed voice, +"and I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, +though, Black Heart, there is some justice in your words and more +wisdom. Your opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are +should not let fall." + +"I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And +now will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for me +till the moon is up?" + +"What do you mean, Black Heart?" + +"What I say. Come, I have no time to spare." + +"You are a strange man," said the Zulu reflectively. "You heard the +king's order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the king?" + +"Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does +not matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns +there. If you think that he will be angry because I am missing, you had +better cross the border also; we can go together." + +"And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black Heart, +you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a soldier, and +the king's word is the king's word. I hoped to have died fighting, but I +am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will not reach the border +before moonrise," and he opened his arms and smiled. + +"If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a brave +man, but every one of us must cherish his own life," answered Hadden +calmly. + +Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu's +breast. + +Already--whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a +twitching of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can +banish--already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a +sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden +went down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted +beast that waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his eyes. + +It was a leopard--a tiger as they call it in Africa--which, crouched +upon a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the temptation +of satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a second or two +there was silence, broken only by the purring, or rather the snoring +sound made by the leopard. In those seconds, strangely enough, there +sprang up before Hadden's mental vision a picture of the _inyanga_ +called _Inyosi_ or the Bee, her death-like head resting against the +thatch of the hut, and her death-like lips muttering "think of my word +when the great cat purrs above your face." + +Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove deep +into the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it scratched at +his breast, tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the flesh beneath. +The sight of the white skin seemed to madden it, and in its fierce +desire for blood it drooped its square muzzle and buried its fangs in +its victim's shoulder. Next moment there was a sound of running feet and +of a club falling heavily. Up reared the leopard with an angry snarl, +up till it stood as high as the attacking Zulu. At him it came, striking +out savagely and tearing the black man as it had torn the white. Again +the kerry fell full on its jaws, and down it went backwards. Before it +could rise again, or rather as it was in the act of rising, the heavy +knob-stick struck it once more, and with fearful force, this time as +it chanced, full on the nape of the neck, and paralysing the brute. It +writhed and bit and twisted, throwing up the earth and leaves, while +blow after blow was rained upon it, till at length with a convulsive +struggle and a stifled roar it lay still--the brains oozing from its +shattered skull. + +Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. + +"You have saved my life, Nahoon," he said faintly, "and I thank you." + +"Do not thank me, Black Heart," answered the Zulu, "it was the king's +word that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been hardly +dealt with, for certainly _he_ has saved _my_ life," and lifting the +Martini he unloaded the rifle. + +At this juncture Hadden swooned away. + +***** + +Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but a +little time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could hear +voices without understanding what they said, and feel himself borne he +knew not whither, Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a kaross in +a large and beautifully clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of furs for a +pillow. There was a bowl of milk at his side and tortured as he was by +thirst, he tried to stretch out his arm to lift it to his lips, only to +find to his astonishment that his hand fell back to his side like that +of a dead man. Looking round the hut impatiently, he found that there +was nobody in it to assist him, so he did the only thing which remained +for him to do--he lay still. He did not fall asleep, but his eyes +closed, and a kind of gentle torpor crept over him, half obscuring his +recovered senses. Presently he heard a soft voice speaking; it seemed +far away, but he could clearly distinguish the words. + +"Black Heart still sleeps," the voice said, "but there is colour in his +face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts again." + +"Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not dangerous," +answered another voice, that of Nahoon. "He fell heavily with the weight +of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses have been shaken +for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he will not die." + +"It would have been a pity if he had died," answered the soft voice, "he +is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so beautiful." + +"I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at +my heart," answered Nahoon sulkily. + +"Well, there is this to be said," she replied, "he wished to escape from +Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at," and she sighed. "Moreover +he asked you to come with him, and it might have been well if you had +done so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!" + +"How could I have done it, girl?" he asked angrily. "Would you have me +set at nothing the order of the king?" + +"The king!" she replied raising her voice. "What do you owe to this +king? You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a +few days he will take me from you--me, who should have been your wife, +and I must--I must----" And she began to weep softly, adding between +her sobs, "if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and of +yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, +Nahoon, let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me." + +"Weep not, Nanea," he said; "why do you tear my heart in two between my +duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must walk the +path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall be dead, for +I seek death, and then it will matter nothing." + +"Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are +right, and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a +woman who must also obey--the will of the king." And she cast her arms +about his neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NANEA + +Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, Nahoon +left Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. Then +Hadden opened his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking and +a ray of its red light streaming through the little opening filled the +place with a soft and crimson glow. In the centre of the hut--supporting +it--stood a thorn-wood roof-tree coloured black by the smoke of the +fire; and against this, the rich light falling full upon her, leaned the +girl Nanea--a very picture of gentle despair. + +As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful--so +beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man's heart, +for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her dress was +very simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a mantle of +soft white stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was a buck-skin +moocha, also embroidered with blue beads, while round her forehead and +left knee were strips of grey fur, and on her right wrist a shining +bangle of copper. Her naked bronze-hued figure was tall and perfect in +its proportions; while her face had little in common with that of the +ordinary native girl, showing as it did strong traces of the ancestral +Arabian or Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, with delicate aquiline +features, arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that drooped a little at the +corners, tiny ears, behind which the wavy coal-black hair hung down to +the shoulders, and the very loveliest pair of dark and liquid eyes that +it is possible to imagine. + +For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the +sunbeam, while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing +heavily, she turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her +mantle over her breast and came, or rather glided, towards him. + +"The chief is awake," she said in her soft Zulu accents. "Does he need +aught?" + +"Yes, Lady," he answered; "I need to drink, but alas! I am too weak." + +She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with +her right held the gourd to his lips. + +How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was +finished a change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl's +touch, or her strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in +her eyes, matters not--the issue was the same. She struck some cord in +his turbulent uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with +passion for her--a passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. +He did not for a moment mistake the significance of the flood of feeling +that surged through his veins. Hadden never shirked facts. + +"By Heaven!" he said to himself, "I have fallen in love with a black +beauty at first sight--more in love than I have ever been before. It's +awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for Nahoon, +or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always get rid of +her if she becomes a nuisance." + +Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of his +blood, he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea's face while +with a native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself dressing the +wounds that the leopard had made. + +It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind +communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a +little at her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, +she rose from her knees with a courteous "It is finished, _Inkoos_," and +once more took up her position by the roof-tree. + +"I thank you, Lady," he said; "your hand is kind." + +"You must not call me lady, _Inkoos_," she answered, "I am no +chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona." + +"And named Nanea," he said. "Nay, do not be surprised, I have heard of +you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess--up at the +king's kraal yonder." + +"Alas! and alas!" she said, covering her face with her hands. + +"Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it +cannot be climbed or crept through." + +She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not pursue +the subject. + +"Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?" + +"Nahoon and his companions carried you, _Inkoos_." + +"Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. +Well, Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I trust +that I may be able to repay it--to you, Nanea." + +***** + +This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did +not seek them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation +brought about many another. Never for a moment did the white man waver +in his determination to get into his keeping the native girl who had +captivated him, and to attain his end he brought to bear all his powers +and charm to detach her from Nahoon, and win her affections for himself. +He was no rough wooer, however, but proceeded warily, weaving her about +with a web of flattery and attention that must, he thought, produce the +desired effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it would have +done so--for she was but a woman, and an untutored one--had it not been +for a simple fact which dominated her whole nature. She loved Nahoon, +and there was no room in her heart for any other man, white or black. To +Hadden she was courteous and kindly but no more, nor did she appear +to notice any of the subtle advances by which he attempted to win a +foothold in her heart. For a while this puzzled him, but he remembered +that the Zulu women do not usually permit themselves to show feeling +towards an undeclared suitor. Therefore it became necessary that he +should speak out. + +His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He +was now quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the +neighbourhood of the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona's huts +rose a spring, and thither it was Nanea's habit to resort in the evening +to bring back drinking-water for the use of her father's household. +The path between this spring and the kraal ran through a patch of bush, +where on a certain afternoon towards sundown Hadden took his seat under +a tree, having first seen Nanea go down to the little stream as was her +custom. A quarter of an hour later she reappeared carrying a large gourd +upon her head. She wore no garment now except her moocha, for she +had but one mantle and was afraid lest the water should splash it. He +watched her advancing along the path, her hands resting on her hips, her +splendid naked figure outlined against the westering sun, and wondered +what excuse he could make to talk with her. As it chanced fortune +favoured him, for when she was near him a snake glided across the path +in front of the girl's feet, causing her to spring backwards in alarm +and overset the gourd of water. He came forward, and picked it up. + +"Wait here," he said laughing; "I will bring it to you full." + +"Nay, _Inkoos_," she remonstrated, "that is a woman's work." + +"Among my people," he said, "the men love to work for the women," and he +started for the spring, leaving her wondering. + +Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was +necessary to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the +contents of it spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he +said nothing to Nanea. + +"There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the kraal?" + +"Nay, _Inkoos_, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with its +weight." + +"Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, and +had it not been for you I think that I should be dead." + +"It was Nahoon who saved you--not I, _Inkoos_." + +"Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my heart." + +"You talk darkly, _Inkoos_." + +"Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you." + +She opened her brown eyes wide. + +"You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?" + +"I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would +have seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife." + +"Nay, _Inkoos_, it is impossible. I am already betrothed." + +"Ay," he answered, "betrothed to the king." + +"No, betrothed to Nahoon." + +"But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And +would you not rather that I should take you than the king?" + +"It seems to be so, _Inkoos_, and I would rather go with you than with +the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I +shall not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will never +become one of the king's women." + +"How will you prevent it, Nanea?" + +"There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she +can hang," she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. + +"That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die." + +"Fair or foul, yet I die, _Inkoos_." + +"No, no, come with me--I will find a way--and be my wife," and he put +her arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. + +Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, the +girl disengaged herself from his embrace. + +"You have honoured me, and I thank you, _Inkoos_," she said quietly, +"but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon--I belong to Nahoon; +therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. It is not +our custom, _Inkoos_, for we are not as the white women, but ignorant +and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by that vow +till death." + +"Indeed," said Hadden; "and so now you go to tell Nahoon that I have +offered to make you my wife." + +"No, _Inkoos_, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said 'nay' +to you, not 'yea,' therefore he has no right to know," and she stooped +to lift the gourd of water. + +Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made +him the more determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency +he conceived a scheme, or rather its rough outline. It was not a +nice scheme, and some men might have shrunk from it, but as he had +no intention of suffering himself to be defeated by a Zulu girl, he +decided--with regret, it is true--that having failed to attain his ends +by means which he considered fair, he must resort to others of more +doubtful character. + +"Nanea," he said, "you are a good and honest woman, and I respect you. +As I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen to me +there is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be +better that you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you +will never marry him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not +give you to some other man, either you will become one of his 'sisters,' +or to be free of him, as you say, you will die. Now hear me, for it is +because I love you and wish your welfare that I speak thus. Why do you +not escape into Natal, taking Nahoon with you, for there as you know you +may live in peace out of reach of the arm of Cetywayo?" + +"That is my desire, _Inkoos_, but Nahoon will not consent. He says that +there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not break +the command of the king and desert from his army." + +"Then he cannot love you much, Nahoon, and at least you have to think of +yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for be +sure that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly with +you, for I too believe that there must be war, and then a white man in +this country will be as a lamb among the eagles." + +"If Nahoon will come, I will go, _Inkoos_, but I cannot fly without +Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself." + +"Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him +to forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days' time we must +start for the king's kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be +easy for us to turn our faces southwards and across the river that lies +between the land of the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of us, +but most of all for your own sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I have +loved and whom I now would save. See him and plead with him as you +know how, but as yet do not tell him that I dream of flight, for then I +should be watched." + +"In truth, I will, _Inkoos_," she answered earnestly, "and oh! I thank +you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray you--first would I +die. Farewell." + +"Farewell, Nanea," and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. + +***** + +Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for +sleep, he heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the entrance +to his hut. + +"Enter," he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light of +the little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the +hut, followed by the great form of Nahoon. + +"_Inkoos_," she said in a whisper when the door was closed again, "I +have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; moreover, my +father will come also." + +"Is it so, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is so," answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; "to save this +girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my heart, I +have bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, White +Man, as I told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come of this +flight, and if we are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed every one +of us." + +"Caught we can scarcely be," broke in Nanea anxiously, "for who could +betray us, except the _Inkoos_ here----" + +"Which he is not likely to do," said Hadden quietly, "seeing that he +desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake." + +"That is so, Black Heart," said Nahoon, "otherwise I tell you that I +should not have trusted you." + +Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late that +night they sat there together making their plans. + +***** + +On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent +altercation. Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were +Umgona and a fat and evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the +kraal on a pony. This chief, he soon discovered, was named Maputa, being +none other than the man who had sought Nanea in marriage and brought +about Nahoon's and Umgona's unfortunate appeal to the king. At present +he was engaged in abusing Umgona furiously, charging him with having +stolen certain of his oxen and bewitched his cows so that they would not +give milk. The alleged theft it was comparatively easy to disprove, but +the wizardry remained a matter of argument. + +"You are a dog, and a son of a dog," shouted Maputa, shaking his fat +fist in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. "You promised +me your daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that +_umfagozan_--that low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of Zomba--you +went, the two of you, and poisoned the king's ear against me, bringing +me into trouble with the king, and now you have bewitched my cattle. +Well, wait, I will be even with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up +in the cold morning to find your fence red with fire, and the slayers +standing outside your gates to eat up you and yours with spears----" + +At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, +intervened with effect. + +"Good," he said, "we will wait, but not in your company, Chief Maputa. +_Hamba!_ (go)----" and seizing the fat old ruffian by the scruff of his +neck, he flung him backwards with such violence that he rolled over and +over down the little slope. + +Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to +bathe. Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along the +footpath, his head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his black +face livid with rage. + +"There goes an angry man," he said to himself. "Now, how would it +be----" and he looked upwards like one seeking an inspiration. It seemed +to come; perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in his ear, at any +rate--in a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was walking through +the bush to meet Maputa. + +"Go in peace, Chief," he said; "they seem to have treated you roughly up +yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not bear +the sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of rank +should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk with +beer." + +"Shameful, White Man!" gasped Maputa; "your words are true indeed. But +wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that +bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that +neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to gather +it." + +"And how will you manage that, Maputa?" + +"I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be +found." + +Hadden patted the pony's neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he +looked the chief in the eyes and said:-- + +"What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and +certain one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, whose +violence I also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft brought +sore sickness upon me?" + +"What reward do you seek, White Man?" asked Maputa eagerly. + +"A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to +whom as it chances I have taken a fancy." + +"I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has laid +his hand upon her." + +"That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who 'sits at Ulundi.' It +is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. Listen: if +you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your foes, but +when the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you this rifle and +a hundred rounds of cartridges." + +Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. + +"It is good," he said; "it is very good. Often have I wished for such a +gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies from +far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the girl if I +can give her to you." + +"You swear it, Maputa?" + +"I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers." + +"Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, +his daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the +drift that is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them and +flying from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they know +that I have learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried to +leave them. Now you who are chief of the border and guardian of that +drift, must hide at night with some men among the rocks in the shallows +of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will cross driving the +cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help her; then will +follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On these two you +must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will +give you the rifle." + +"What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?" + +"Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not recognise +her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first you feared +to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and they should +escape you." + +"Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are +across the river?" + +"Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon +a stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them +when I have driven over the cattle." + +"It is well, White Man; I will not fail you." + +So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points of +detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. + +"That ought to come off all right," reflected Hadden to himself as he +plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, "but somehow I don't +quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could +have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle--a +couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder +and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery +to justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military +country. Also personal interference upon my part might turn the girl +against me; while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out by Maputa, +she _must_ accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but in every +walk of life the most cautious have to take risks at times." + +As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his +coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own +kraal, he had come to the conclusion that the white man's plan, though +attractive in some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that if +the girl Nanea escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the men +he took with him to do the killing in the drift would suspect something +and talk. On the other hand he would earn much credit with his majesty +by revealing the plot, saying that he had learned it from the lips of +the white hunter, whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to participate +in it, and of whose coveted rifle he must trust to chance to possess +himself. + +***** + +An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, +bearing words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the +"great Black Elephant" at Ulundi. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DOOM POOL + +Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and +Nanea. One of the Zulu captain's perplexities was as to how he should +lull the suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who +together with himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden in +his hunting and to guard against his escape. As it chanced, however, on +the day after the incident of the visit of Maputa, a messenger arrived +from no less a person than the great military Induna, Tvingwayo ka +Marolo, who afterwards commanded the Zulu army at Isandhlwana, ordering +these men to return to their regiment, the Umcityu Corps, which was to +be placed upon full war footing. Accordingly Nahoon sent them, saying +that he himself would follow with Black Heart in the course of a few +days, as at present the white man was not sufficiently recovered from +his hurts to allow of his travelling fast and far. So the soldiers went, +doubting nothing. + +Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king he +was about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea to +be delivered over into the _Sigodhla_, and also those fifteen head +of cattle that had been _lobola'd_ by Nahoon in consideration of his +forthcoming marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under +pretence that they required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle +he sent away in charge of a Basuto herd who knew nothing of their plans, +telling him to keep them by the Crocodile Drift, as there the grass was +good and sweet. + +All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, +heading straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, +however, they left the road and turning sharp to the right, passed +unobserved of any through a great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their +path now lay not far from the Pool of Doom, which, indeed, was close to +Umgona's kraal, and the forest that was called Home of the Dead, but out +of sight of these. It was their plan to travel by night, reaching the +broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following morning. Here +they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; then, having +first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to cross the river +at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least this was the +plan of his companions; but, as we know, Hadden had another programme, +whereon after one last appearance two of the party would play no part. + +During that long afternoon's journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the +country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his +hand a long travelling stick of black and white _umzimbeet_ wood, for in +truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey's end. Next came +Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his moocha and +necklet of baboon's teeth, and with him Nanea in her white bead-bordered +mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the girl seemed +to be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for from time to time +she clasped her lover's arm, and looking up into his face, addressed him +with vehemence, almost with passion. + +Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was +shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in this +tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel the +web of death which he himself had woven. But ever that evil voice was +whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the white _Inkoos_, had +been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he found a way to save +him, within some few hours she would be the wife of the savage gentleman +at her side, the man who had named him Black Heart and who despised +him, the man whom he had meant to murder and who immediately repaid his +treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard at the risk of +his own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden's existence never to deny +himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his power to take +it--a law which had led him always deeper into sin. In other respects, +indeed, it had not carried him far, for in the past he had not desired +much, and he had won little; but this particular flower was to his hand, +and he would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so +much the worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in his grasp, so much +the worse for the flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it came +about that, not for the first time in his life, Philip Hadden discarded +the somewhat spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil +whispering at his ear. + +About half-past five o'clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed +the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into +the Doom Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further side, +walked straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who were +beguiling the tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the +smoking of _dakka_ or native hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his +pony, for he was too fat to walk, waited the Chief Maputa. + +Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out +the _dakka_ pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the +lobes of their ears, and secured the four of them. + +"What is the meaning of this, O King's soldiers?" asked Umgona in a +quavering voice. "We journey to the kraal of U'Cetywayo; why do you +molest us?" + +"Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south. Does the +Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal +presently," answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a +callous laugh. + +"I do not understand," stammered Umgona. + +"Then I will explain while you rest," said the captain. "The Chief +Maputa yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned +of your intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who +had warned him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to +catch you and make an end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, and +let us finish the matter. As the Doom Pool is near, your deaths will be +easy." + +Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; but +he did not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard them +also, and turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said nothing, she +only looked, but he could never forget that look. The white man for his +part was filled with a fiery indignation against Maputa. + +"You wicked villain," he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a sickly +fashion, and turned away. + +Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached +the waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. + +Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he +gazed into that abyss. + +"Are you going to throw me in there?" he asked of the Zulu captain in a +thick voice. + +"You, White Man?" replied the soldier unconcernedly. "No, our orders +are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know. +There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to +pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you +over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men." + +Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his +brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of +escape. + +By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the +waters of the pool. + +"Who dives first," asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. + +"The old wizard," he replied, nodding at Umgona; "then his daughter +after him, and last of all this fellow," and he struck Nahoon in the +face with his open hand. + +"Come on, Wizard," said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, "and +let us see how you can swim." + +At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after +the fashion of his race. + +"No need to lead me, soldier," he said, shaking himself loose, "who am +old and ready to die." Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung +Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt +walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here +he stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and +without a sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. + +"That was a brave one," said the captain with admiration. "Can you +spring too, girl, or must we throw you?" + +"I can walk my father's path," Nanea answered faintly, "but first I +crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the +king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart here +who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he has +betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and this is +the vengeance that he takes--a white man's vengeance." + +"_Wow!_" broke in the chief Maputa, "this pretty one speaks truth, for +the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona, +the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile +Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him +softly and said 'yes,' and then like a loyal man I reported to the +king." + +"You hear," sighed Nanea. "Nahoon, fare you well, though presently +perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your +duty. For my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, +my husband, it is better to die with you than to enter the house of the +king's women," and Nanea stepped on to the platform. + +Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and +addressed Hadden, saying:-- + +"Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose +and--the sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black Heart, +and in that night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be given to +drink of my blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the blood of +Nahoon my husband, who saved your life, and whom you have murdered. +Perchance, Black Heart, we may yet meet yonder--in the House of the +Dead." + +Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and +outwards from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to +look. They saw her rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike +the water fifty feet below. A few seconds, and for the last time, they +caught sight of her white garment glimmering on the surface of the +gloomy pool. Then the shadows and mist-wreaths hid it, and she was gone. + +"Now, husband," cried the cheerful voice of the captain, "yonder is your +marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so ready to lead the +way. _Wow!_ but you are good people to kill; never have I had to do with +any who gave less trouble. You----" and he stopped, for mental agony had +done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad before his eyes. + +With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held +him and seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all +his terrible strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he +hurled him over the edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks of +the Pool of Doom. Then crying:-- + +"Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!" he rushed at Hadden, +his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed striking +the chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his hand. Ill +would it have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught him. But +he could not come at him, for the soldiers sprang upon him and +notwithstanding his fearful struggles they pulled him to the ground, as +at certain festivals the Zulu regiments with their naked hands pull down +a bull in the presence of the king. + +"Cast him over before he can work more mischief," said a voice. But the +captain cried out, "Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven has +fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would overtake +us all. Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to where he can +be cared for. Surely I thought that these evil-doers were giving us too +little trouble, and thus it has proved." + +So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon's hands and wrists, using +as much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is +accounted holy. It was no easy task, and it took time. + +Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground close +beside him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed it, +and about a dozen yards away Maputa's pony was grazing. With a swift +movement, he seized the Martini and five seconds later he was on the +back of the pony, heading for the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So +quickly indeed did he execute this masterly retreat, that occupied as +they all were in binding Nahoon, for half a minute or more none of the +soldiers noticed what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to see, and +waddled after him to the top of the rise, screaming:-- + +"The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun that +he promised to give me." + +Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, +and a rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of him; +more, he had been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose sake he +had dipped his hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his shoulder; +Maputa was still running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at any rate he +would risk it. + +Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping +his arm through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it +chanced, and as he had hoped would be the case, the animal was a trained +shooting horse, and stood still. Hadden planted his feet firmly on the +ground and drawing a deep breath, he cocked the rifle and covered the +advancing chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose and with a yell of terror +turned to fly. Hadden waited a second to get the sight fair on his broad +back, then just as the soldiers appeared above the rise he pressed the +trigger. He was a noted shot, and in this instance his skill did not +fail him; for, before he heard the bullet tell, Maputa flung his arms +wide and plunged to the ground dead. + +Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the +pony and was riding for his life towards the river, which a while later +he crossed in safety. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + +When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of Doom, +a strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were many jagged +rocks, and on these the waters of the fall fell and thundered, bounding +from them in spouts of spray into the troubled depths of the foss +beyond. It was on these stones that the life was dashed out from the +bodies of the wretched victims who were hurled from above. But Nanea, it +will be remembered, had not waited to be treated thus, and as it chanced +the strong spring with which she had leapt to death carried her clear of +the rocks. By a very little she missed the edge of them and striking the +deep water head first like some practised diver, she sank down and down +till she thought that she would never rise again. Yet she did rise, +at the end of the pool in the mouth of the rapid, along which she sped +swiftly, carried down by the rush of the water. Fortunately there were +no rocks here; and, since she was a skilful swimmer, she escaped the +danger of being thrown against the banks. + +For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she +was in a forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their +drooping branches swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with her +hand, and by the help of it she dragged herself from the River of Death +whence none had escaped before. Now she stood upon the bank gasping +but quite unharmed; there was not a scratch on her body; even her white +garment was still fast about her neck. + +But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so exhausted +was Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was that of +night, and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find some +refuge. Close to the water's edge grew an enormous yellow-wood tree, +and to this she staggered--thinking to climb it, and seek shelter in its +boughs where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. Again +fortune befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet from the ground +there was a great hole in the tree which, she discovered, was hollow. +Into this hole she crept, taking her chance of its being the home of +snakes or other evil creatures, to find that the interior was wide and +warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the cavity lay a foot or +more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by rats or birds. Upon this +tinder she lay down, and covering herself with the moss and leaves soon +sank into sleep or stupor. + +How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened by +a sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she could +not understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in the +tree. It was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their light +fell upon an open circle of ground close by the edge of the river. In +this circle there burned a great fire, and at a little distance from the +fire were gathered eight or ten horrible-looking beings, who appeared to +be rejoicing over something that lay upon the ground. They were small in +stature, men and women together, but no children, and all of them were +nearly naked. Their hair was long and thin, growing down almost to the +eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded and the girth of their black bodies +was out of all proportion to their height. In their hands they held +sticks with sharp stones lashed on to them, or rude hatchet-like knives +of the same material. + +Now Nanea's heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, +for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt +these were the _Esemkofu_, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, that +was what they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off them--the +sight of them held her with a horrible fascination. But if they were +ghosts, why did they sing and dance like men? Why did they wave those +sharp stones aloft, and quarrel and strike each other? And why did they +make a fire as men do when they wish to cook food? More, what was it +that they rejoiced over, that long dark thing which lay so quiet upon +the ground? It did not look like a head of game, and it could scarcely +be a crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, for they were +sharpening the stone knives in order to cut it up. + +While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures +advanced to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over +the thing that lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who +was about to do something to it with the stone knife. Next instant Nanea +drew back her head from the hole, a stifled shriek upon her lips. She +saw what it was now--it was the body of a man. Yes, and these were no +ghosts; they were cannibals of whom when she was little, her mother had +told her tales to keep her from wandering away from home. + +But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of +themselves, for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it must +be Nahoon, who had been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the waters +had brought down to the haunted forest as they had brought her alive. +Yes, it must be Nahoon, and she would be forced to see her husband +devoured before her eyes. The thought of it overwhelmed her. That he +should die by order of the king was natural, but that he should be +buried thus! Yet what could she do to prevent it? Well, if it cost her +her life, it should be prevented. At the worst they could only kill +and eat her also, and now that Nahoon and her father were gone, being +untroubled by any religious or spiritual hopes and fears, she was not +greatly concerned to keep her own breath in her. + +Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards the +cannibals--not knowing in the least what she should do when she reached +them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of programme came +home to her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. Just then one of +the cannibals looked up to see a tall and stately figure wrapped in a +white garment which, as the flame-light flickered on it, seemed now to +advance from the dense background of shadow, and now to recede into it. +The poor savage wretch was holding a stone knife in his teeth when he +beheld her, but it did not remain there long, for opening his great +jaws he uttered the most terrified and piercing yell that Nanea had +ever heard. Then the others saw her also, and presently the forest was +ringing with shrieks of fear. For a few seconds the outcasts stood +and gazed, then they were gone this way and that, bursting their path +through the undergrowth like startled jackals. The _Esemkofu_ of Zulu +tradition had been routed in their own haunted home by what they took to +be a spirit. + +Poor _Esemkofu!_ they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, +driven into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this +means, the only one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched +bodies. Here at least they were unmolested, and as there was little +other food to be found amid that wilderness of trees, they took what the +river brought them. When executions were few in the Pool of Doom, times +were hard for them indeed--for then they were driven to eat each other. +That is why there were no children. + +As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran +forward to look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back +with a sigh of relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face +for that of one of the party of executioners. How did he come here? Had +Nahoon killed him? Had Nahoon escaped? She could not tell, and at the +best it was improbable, but still the sight of this dead soldier lit her +heart with a faint ray of hope, for how did he come to be dead if Nahoon +had no hand in his death? She could not bear to leave him lying so near +her hiding-place, however; therefore, with no small toil, she rolled +the corpse back into the water, which carried it swiftly away. Then she +returned to the tree, having first replenished the fire, and awaited the +light. + +At last it came--so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome den--and +Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the tree +to search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till +towards sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest there +was a flat rock where it was the custom of those who had been in any +way afflicted, or who considered themselves or their belongings to +be bewitched, to place propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the +_Esemkofu_ and _Amalhosi_ were supposed to satisfy their spiritual +cravings. Urged by the pinch of starvation, to this spot Nanea journeyed +rapidly, and found to her joy that some neighbouring kraal had evidently +been in recent trouble, for the Rock of Offering was laden with cobs of +corn, gourds of milk, porridge and even meat. Helping herself to as much +as she could carry, she returned to her lair, where she drank of the +milk and cooked meat and mealies at the fire. Then she crept back into +the tree, and slept. + +For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could +not venture out of it--fearing lest she should be seized, and for a +second time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least +she was safe, for none dared enter there, nor did the _Esemkofu_ give +her further trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion +they fled from her presence--seeking some distant retreat, where they +hid themselves or perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that +it was taken, the pious givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of +Offering. + +But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled +with her sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she lived +on, though often she desired to die, for if her father was dead, the +corpse she had found was not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her heart +there still shone that spark of home. Yet what she hoped for she could +not tell. + +***** + +When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was +about to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the +Amazulu; also that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure +with the Utrecht store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was +the owner of two good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at +that time vehicles were much in request to carry military stores for +the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport +authorities were glad to pay L90 a month for the hire of each waggon and +to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he was not +desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much for Hadden, +who accordingly leased out his waggons to the Commissariat, together +with his own services as conductor and interpreter. + +He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be +remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on +the 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs from +Rorke's Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night beneath the +shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as Isandhlwana. + +That day also a great army of King Cetywayo's, numbering twenty thousand +men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon the stony +plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of Isandhlwana. No fires +were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for the warriors were +"sleeping on their spears." + +With that _impi_ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred +strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the Umcityu +looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with which he had +covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a great man standing +before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild-eyed man who held a +rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the man made no answer; +he only leaned upon his club looking from left to right along the dense +array of innumerable shields. + +"Who is this _Silwana_ (wild creature)?" asked the Induna of his +captains wondering. + +The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, "This is +Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in +this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of Umgona, +was killed together with her father by order of the Black One, and +Nahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of Heaven +entered his brain, and mad he has wandered ever since." + +"What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?" asked the Induna. + +Then Nahoon spoke slowly. "My regiment goes down to war against the +white men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I +may fight with my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle." + +So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away one +whose brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. + +***** + +When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks +of the Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, +company by company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, +breast and horns together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed +British camp, a moving sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the +shields, the shells tore long lines through their array, but they never +halted or wavered. Forward on either side shot out the horns of armed +men, clasping the camp in an embrace of steel. Then as these began +to close, out burst the war cry of the Zulus, and with the roar of a +torrent and the rush of a storm, with a sound like the humming of a +billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast of the _impi_ rolled down +upon the white men. With it went the black-shielded Umcityu and with +them went Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A bullet struck him in the side, +glancing from his ribs, he did not heed; a white man fell from his horse +before him, he did not stab, for he sought but one face in the battle. + +He sought--and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the +spears were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly +was Black Heart, he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three +soldiers stood between them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he +brushed aside; then he rushed straight at Hadden. + +But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his madness +he knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing away his +empty rifle, for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his horse +and drove his spurs into its flanks. Away it went among the carnage, +springing over the dead and bursting through the lines of shields, and +after it came Nahoon, running long and low with head stretched forward +and trailing spear, running as a hound runs when the buck is at view. + +Hadden's first plan was to head for Rorke's Drift, but a glance to the +left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he fled +straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was over a +ridge, and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten all +sounds of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread race +to Fugitive's Drift, and the assegai makes no noise. In some strange +fashion, even at this moment, the contrast between the dreadful scene of +blood and turmoil that he had left, and the peaceful face of Nature over +which he was passing, came home to his brain vividly. Here birds sang +and cattle grazed; here the sun shone undimmed by the smoke of cannon, +only high up in the blue and silent air long streams of vultures could +be seen winging their way to the Plain of Isandhlwana. + +The ground was very rough, and Hadden's horse began to tire. He looked +over his shoulder--there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, +grim as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; +there was but one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been +fired and the pouch was empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for +one savage: the question was should he stop and use it now? No, he might +miss or fail to kill the man; he was on horseback and his foe on foot, +surely he could tire him out. + +A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed +familiar to Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when +he was the guest of Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the knoll +to his right were the huts, or rather the remains of them, for they +had been burnt with fire. What chance had brought him to this place, he +wondered; then again he looked behind him at Nahoon, who seemed to read +his thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to the ruined kraal. + +On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he lost +sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky ground, +and when it was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was once more in +his old place. His horse's strength was almost spent, but Hadden spurred +it forward blindly, whither he knew not. Now he was travelling along a +strip of turf and ahead of him he heard the music of a river, while to +his left rose a high bank. Presently the turf bent inwards and there, +not twenty yards away from him, was a Kaffir hut standing on the brink +of a river. He looked at it, yes, it was the hut of that accursed +_inyanga_, the Bee, and standing by the fence of it was none other +than the Bee herself. At the sight of her the exhausted horse swerved +violently, stumbled and came to the ground, where it lay panting. Hadden +was thrown from the saddle but sprang to his feet unhurt. + +"Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?" +cried the Bee in a mocking voice. + +"Help me, mother, I am pursued," he gasped. + +"What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and +face him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You +will not? Then away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who +await you there. Tell me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw +beneath the waters a while ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when you +two meet in the House of the Dead." + +Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, +so followed by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the +forest. After him came Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like the +tongue of a wolf. + +Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following +the course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he halted +on the further side of a little glade, beyond which a great tree grew. +Nahoon was more than a spear's throw behind him; therefore he had time +to draw his pistol and make ready. + +"Halt, Nahoon," he cried, as once before he had cried; "I would speak +with you." + +The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. + +"Listen," said Hadden. "We have run a long race and fought a long fight, +you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you come on, +one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am armed and +as you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his +wild and glowering eyes fixed on the white man's face and his breath +coming in short gasps. + +"Will you let me go, if _I_ let _you_ go?" Hadden asked once more. "I +know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor can the dead be +brought to earth again." + +Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and +more crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so +terrible in Hadden's ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai he +stalked grimly toward his foe. + +When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon +sprang aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right +arm dropped, and the stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it +harmlessly over the white man's head. But still making no sound, the +Zulu came on and gripped him by the throat with his left hand. For a +space they struggled terribly, swaying to and fro, but Hadden was +unhurt and fought with the fury of despair, while Nahoon had been +twice wounded, and there remained to him but one sound arm wherewith to +strike. Presently forced to earth by the white man's iron strength, the +soldier was down, nor could he rise again. + +"Now we will make an end," muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned to +seek the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and +reeling gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a +spear in her hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! + +"Think of it," he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of the +_inyanga_, "when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in +the Home of the Dead." + +There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards him +to bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently Black +Heart clasped that great reward which the word of the Bee had promised +Him. + +***** + +"Nahoon! Nahoon!" murmured a soft voice, "awake, it is no ghost, but +I--Nanea--I, your living wife, to whom my _Ehlose_[*] has given it me to +save you." + + [*] Guardian Spirit. + +Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. + +"Welcome, wife," he said faintly, "now I will live since Death has +brought you back to me in the House of the Dead." + +***** + +To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in +Zululand, and there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips +of none other than Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard its +substance. + +The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the +white man's rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a +snake with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Black Heart and White Heart, by H. 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Rider Haggard + + + + +DEDICATION + +To the Memory of the Child + +Nada Burnham, + + who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through + the hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of + war at Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales--and + more particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over + savagery and death. + +H. Rider Haggard. + + Ditchingham. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + + Of the three stories that comprise this volume[*], one, "The + Wizard," a tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago + as a Christmas Annual. Another, "Elissa," is an attempt, difficult + enough owing to the scantiness of the material left to us by time, + to recreate the life of the ancient Phnician Zimbabwe, whose + ruins still stand in Rhodesia, and, with the addition of the + necessary love story, to suggest circumstances such as might have + brought about or accompanied its fall at the hands of the + surrounding savage tribes. The third, "Black Heart and White + Heart," is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of a + pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo. + +[*] This text was prepared from a volume published in 1900 titled + "Black Heart and White Heart, and Other Stories."--JB. + + + + + +BLACK HEART AND WHITE HEART + +A ZULU IDYLL + + + +CHAPTER I + +PHILIP HADDEN AND KING CETYWAYO + +At the date of our introduction to him, Philip Hadden was a transport- +rider and trader in "the Zulu." Still on the right side of forty, in +appearance he was singularly handsome; tall, dark, upright, with keen +eyes, short-pointed beard, curling hair and clear-cut features. His +life had been varied, and there were passages in it which he did not +narrate even to his most intimate friends. He was of gentle birth, +however, and it was said that he had received a public school and +university education in England. At any rate he could quote the +classics with aptitude on occasion, an accomplishment which, coupled +with his refined voice and a bearing not altogether common in the wild +places of the world, had earned for him among his rough companions the +/soubriquet/ of "The Prince." + +However these things may have been, it is certain that he had +emigrated to Natal under a cloud, and equally certain that his +relatives at home were content to take no further interest in his +fortunes. During the fifteen or sixteen years which he had spent in or +about the colony, Hadden followed many trades, and did no good at any +of them. A clever man, of agreeable and prepossessing manner, he +always found it easy to form friendships and to secure a fresh start +in life. But, by degrees, the friends were seized with a vague +distrust of him; and, after a period of more or less application, he +himself would close the opening that he had made by a sudden +disappearance from the locality, leaving behind him a doubtful +reputation and some bad debts. + +Before the beginning of this story of the most remarkable episodes in +his life, Philip Hadden was engaged for several years in transport- +riding--that is, in carrying goods on ox waggons from Durban or +Maritzburg to various points in the interior. A difficulty such as had +more than once confronted him in the course of his career, led to his +temporary abandonment of this means of earning a livelihood. On +arriving at the little frontier town of Utrecht in the Transvaal, in +charge of two waggon loads of mixed goods consigned to a storekeeper +there, it was discovered that out of six cases of brandy five were +missing from his waggon. Hadden explained the matter by throwing the +blame upon his Kaffir "boys," but the storekeeper, a rough-tongued +man, openly called him a thief and refused to pay the freight on any +of the load. From words the two men came to blows, knives were drawn, +and before anybody could interfere the storekeeper received a nasty +wound in his side. That night, without waiting till the matter could +be inquired into by the landdrost or magistrate, Hadden slipped away, +and trekked back into Natal as quickly as his oxen would travel. +Feeling that even here he was not safe, he left one of his waggons at +Newcastle, loaded up the other with Kaffir goods--such as blankets, +calico, and hardware--and crossed into Zululand, where in those days +no sheriff's officer would be likely to follow him. + +Being well acquainted with the language and customs of the natives, he +did good trade with them, and soon found himself possessed of some +cash and a small herd of cattle, which he received in exchange for his +wares. Meanwhile news reached him that the man whom he had injured +still vowed vengeance against him, and was in communication with the +authorities in Natal. These reasons making his return to civilisation +undesirable for the moment, and further business being impossible +until he could receive a fresh supply of trade stuff, Hadden like a +wise man turned his thoughts to pleasure. Sending his cattle and +waggon over the border to be left in charge of a native headman with +whom he was friendly, he went on foot to Ulundi to obtain permission +from the king, Cetywayo, to hunt game in his country. Somewhat to his +surprise, the Indunas or headmen, received him courteously--for +Hadden's visit took place within a few months of the outbreak of the +Zulu war in 1878, when Cetywayo was already showing unfriendliness to +the English traders and others, though why the king did so they knew +not. + +On the occasion of his first and last interview with Cetywayo, Hadden +got a hint of the reason. It happened thus. On the second morning +after his arrival at the royal kraal, a messenger came to inform him +that "the Elephant whose tread shook the earth" had signified that it +was his pleasure to see him. Accordingly he was led through the +thousands of huts and across the Great Place to the little enclosure +where Cetywayo, a royal-looking Zulu seated on a stool, and wearing a +kaross of leopard skins, was holding an /indaba/, or conference, +surrounded by his counsellors. The Induna who had conducted him to the +august presence went down upon his hands and knees, and, uttering the +royal salute of /Bayte/, crawled forward to announce that the white +man was waiting. + +"Let him wait," said the king angrily; and, turning, he continued the +discussion with his counsellors. + +Now, as has been said, Hadden thoroughly understood Zulu; and, when +from time to time the king raised his voice, some of the words he +spoke reached his ear. + +"What!" Cetywayo said, to a wizened and aged man who seemed to be +pleading with him earnestly; "am I a dog that these white hyenas +should hunt me thus? Is not the land mine, and was it not my father's +before me? Are not the people mine to save or to slay? I tell you that +I will stamp out these little white men; my /impis/ shall eat them up. +I have said!" + +Again the withered aged man interposed, evidently in the character of +a peacemaker. Hadden could not hear his talk, but he rose and pointed +towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful +mien, he seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of +action be followed. + +For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, +his eyes literally ablaze with rage. + +"Hearken," he cried to the counsellor; "I have guessed it for long, +and now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu's[*] dog, +and the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man's +dog to bite me in my own house. Take him away!" + +[*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone's. + +A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of /indunas/, but the +old man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently +would murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, +perhaps five, he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he +wore, then he looked up and spoke to the king in a clear voice. + +"O King," he said, "I am a very old man; as a youth I served under +Chaka the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the +white man. Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the +battle of the Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was +the counsellor of Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the +battle of the Tugela, when its grey waters were turned to red with the +blood of Umbulazi your brother, and of the tens of thousands of his +people. Afterwards I became your counsellor, O King, and I was with +you when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made promises to +Sompseu--promises that you have not kept. Now you are weary of me, and +it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is foolish, as it +chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka, your +great-uncle, will come true, and that the white men will prevail +against you and that through them you shall find your death. I would +that I might have stood in one more battle and fought for you, O King, +since fight you will, but the end which you choose is for me the best +end. Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. /Bayte!/"[*] + +[*] The royal salute of the Zulus. + +For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men +waited to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please +him to be merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity. + +"Take him away," he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face and +one word, "Good-night," upon his lips, supported by the arm of a +soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of +death. + +Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. "If he +treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?" he +reflected. "We English must have fallen out of favour since I left +Natal. I wonder whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, +this isn't my place." + +Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground, chanced +to look up. "Bring the stranger here," he said. + +Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in as +cool and nonchalant a manner as he could command. + +Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. "At least, White Man," said +the king, glancing at his visitor's tall spare form and cleanly cut +face, "you are no '/umfagozan/' (low fellow); you are of the blood of +chiefs." + +"Yes, King," answered Hadden, with a little sigh, "I am of the blood +of chiefs." + +"What do you want in my country, White Man?" + +"Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have +heard, and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt +buffalo, and other big game, for a while before I return to Natal." + +"I cannot grant it," answered Cetywayo, "you are a spy sent by +Sompseu, or by the Queen's Induna in Natal. Get you gone." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; "then I hope +that Sompseu, or the Queen's Induna, or both of them, will pay me when +I return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must, +but I should first like to make you a present." + +"What present?" asked the king. "I want no presents. We are rich here, +White Man." + +"So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle." + +"A rifle, White Man? Where is it?" + +"Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it +is death to come armed before the 'Elephant who shakes the Earth.'" + +Cetywayo frowned, for the note of sarcasm did not escape his quick +ear. + +"Let this white man's offering be brought; I will consider the thing." + +Instantly the Induna who had accompanied Hadden darted to the gateway, +running with his body bent so low that it seemed as though at every +step he must fall upon his face. Presently he returned with the weapon +in his hand and presented it to the king, holding it so that the +muzzle was pointed straight at the royal breast. + +"I crave leave to say, O Elephant," remarked Hadden in a drawling +voice, "that it might be well to command your servant to lift the +mouth of that gun from your heart." + +"Why?" asked the king. + +"Only because it is loaded, and at full cock, O Elephant, who probably +desires to continue to shake the Earth." + +At these words the "Elephant" uttered a sharp exclamation, and rolled +from his stool in a most unkingly manner, whilst the terrified Induna, +springing backwards, contrived to touch the trigger of the rifle and +discharge a bullet through the exact spot that a second before had +been occupied by his monarch's head. + +"Let him be taken away," shouted the incensed king from the ground, +but long before the words had passed his lips the Induna, with a cry +that the gun was bewitched, had cast it down and fled at full speed +through the gate. + +"He has already taken himself away," suggested Hadden, while the +audience tittered. "No, King, do not touch it rashly; it is a +repeating rifle. Look----" and lifting the Winchester, he fired the +four remaining shots in quick succession into the air, striking the +top of a tree at which he aimed with every one of them. + +"/Wow/, it is wonderful!" said the company in astonishment. + +"Has the thing finished?" asked the king. + +"For the present it has," answered Hadden. "Look at it." + +Cetywayo took the repeater in his hand, and examined it with caution, +swinging the muzzle horizontally in an exact line with the stomachs of +some of his most eminent Indunas, who shrank to this side and that as +the barrel was brought to bear on them. + +"See what cowards they are, White Man," said the king with +indignation; "they fear lest there should be another bullet in this +gun." + +"Yes," answered Hadden, "they are cowards indeed. I believe that if +they were seated on stools they would tumble off them just as it +chanced to your Majesty to do just now." + +"Do you understand the making of guns, White Man?" asked the king +hastily, while the Indunas one and all turned their heads, and +contemplated the fence behind them. + +"No, King, I cannot make guns, but I can mend them." + +"If I paid you well, White Man, would you stop here at my kraal, and +mend guns for me?" asked Cetywayo anxiously. + +"It might depend on the pay," answered Hadden; "but for awhile I am +tired of work, and wish to rest. If the king gives me the permission +to hunt for which I asked, and men to go with me, then when I return +perhaps we can bargain on the matter. If not, I will bid the king +farewell, and journey to Natal." + +"In order to make report of what he has seen and learned here," +muttered Cetywayo. + +At this moment the talk was interrupted, for the soldiers who had led +away the old Induna returned at speed, and prostrated themselves +before the king. + +"Is he dead?" he asked. + +"He has travelled the king's bridge," they answered grimly; "he died +singing a song of praise of the king." + +"Good," said Cetywayo, "that stone shall hurt my feet no more. Go, +tell the tale of its casting away to Sompseu and to the Queen's Induna +in Natal," he added with bitter emphasis. + +"/Baba!/ Hear our Father speak. Listen to the rumbling of the +Elephant," said the Indunas taking the point, while one bolder than +the rest added: "Soon we will tell them another tale, the white +Talking Ones, a red tale, a tale of spears, and the regiments shall +sing it in their ears." + +At the words an enthusiasm caught hold of the listeners, as the sudden +flame catches hold of dry grass. They sprang up, for the most of them +were seated on their haunches, and stamping their feet upon the ground +in unison, repeated:-- + + /Indaba ibomwu--indaba ye mikonto + Lizo dunyiswa nge impi ndhlebeni yaho./ + (A red tale! A red tale! A tale of spears, + And the /impis/ shall sing it in their ears.) + +One of them, indeed, a great fierce-faced fellow, drew near to Hadden +and shaking his fist before his eyes--fortunately being in the royal +presence he had no assegai--shouted the sentences at him. + +The king saw that the fire he had lit was burning too fiercely. + +"Silence," he thundered in the deep voice for which he was remarkable, +and instantly each man became as if he were turned to stone, only the +echoes still answered back: "And the /impis/ shall sing it in their +ears--in their ears." + +"I am growing certain that this is no place for me," thought Hadden; +"if that scoundrel had been armed he might have temporarily forgotten +himself. Hullo! who's this?" + +Just then there appeared through the gate of the fence a splendid +specimen of the Zulu race. The man, who was about thirty-five years of +age, was arrayed in a full war dress of a captain of the Umcityu +regiment. From the circlet of otter skin on his brow rose his crest of +plumes, round his middle, arms and knees hung the long fringes of +black oxtails, and in one hand he bore a little dancing shield, also +black in colour. The other was empty, since he might not appear before +the king bearing arms. In countenance the man was handsome, and though +just now they betrayed some anxiety, his eyes were genial and honest, +and his mouth sensitive. In height he must have measured six foot two +inches, yet he did not strike the observer as being tall, perhaps +because of his width of chest and the solidity of his limbs, that were +in curious contrast to the delicate and almost womanish hands and feet +which so often mark the Zulu of noble blood. In short the man was what +he seemed to be, a savage gentleman of birth, dignity and courage. + +In company with him was another man plainly dressed in a moocha and a +blanket, whose grizzled hair showed him to be over fifty years of age. +His face also was pleasant and even refined, but the eyes were +timorous, and the mouth lacked character. + +"Who are these?" asked the king. + +The two men fell on their knees before him, and bowed till their +foreheads touched the ground--the while giving him his /sibonga/ or +titles of praise. + +"Speak," he said impatiently. + +"O King," said the young warrior, seating himself Zulu fashion, "I am +Nahoon, the son of Zomba, a captain of the Umcityu, and this is my +uncle Umgona, the brother of one of my mothers, my father's youngest +wife." + +Cetywayo frowned. "What do you here away from your regiment, Nahoon?" + +"May it please the king, I have leave of absence from the head +captains, and I come to ask a boon of the king's bounty." + +"Be swift, then, Nahoon." + +"It is this, O King," said the captain with some embarrassment: "A +while ago the king was pleased to make a /keshla/ of me because of +certain service that I did out yonder----" and he touched the black +ring which he wore in the hair of his head. "Being now a ringed man +and a captain, I crave the right of a man at the hands of the king-- +the right to marry." + +"Right? Speak more humbly, son of Zomba; my soldiers and my cattle +have no rights." + +Nahoon bit his lip, for he had made a serious mistake. + +"Pardon, O King. The matter stands thus: My uncle Umgona here has a +fair daughter named Nanea, whom I desire to wife, and who desires me +to husband. Awaiting the king's leave I am betrothed to her and in +earnest of it I have paid to Umgona a /lobola/ of fifteen head of +cattle, cows and calves together. But Umgona has a powerful neighbour, +an old chief named Maputa, the warden of the Crocodile Drift, who +doubtless is known to the king, and this chief also seeks Nanea in +marriage and harries Umgona, threatening him with many evils if he +will not give the girl to him. But Umgona's heart is white towards me, +and towards Maputa it is black, therefore together we come to crave +this boon of the king." + +"It is so; he speaks the truth," said Umgona. + +"Cease," answered Cetywayo angrily. "Is this a time that my soldiers +should seek wives in marriage, wives to turn their hearts to water? +Know that but yesterday for this crime I commanded that twenty girls +who had dared without my leave to marry men of the Undi regiment, +should be strangled and their bodies laid upon the cross-roads and +with them the bodies of their fathers, that all might know their sin +and be warned thereby. Ay, Umgona, it is well for you and for your +daughter that you sought my word before she was given in marriage to +this man. Now this is my award: I refuse your prayer, Nahoon, and +since you, Umgona, are troubled with one whom you would not take as +son-in-law, the old chief Maputa, I will free you from his +importunity. The girl, says Nahoon, is fair--good, I myself will be +gracious to her, and she shall be numbered among the wives of the +royal house. Within thirty days from now, in the week of the next new +moon, let her be delivered to the /Sigodhla/, the royal house of the +women, and with her those cattle, the cows and the calves together, +that Nahoon has given you, of which I fine him because he has dared to +think of marriage without the leave of the king." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BEE PROPHESIES + +"'A Daniel come to judgment' indeed," reflected Hadden, who had been +watching this savage comedy with interest; "our love-sick friend has +got more than he bargained for. Well, that comes of appealing to +Csar," and he turned to look at the two suppliants. + +The old man, Umgona, merely started, then began to pour out sentences +of conventional thanks and praise to the king for his goodness and +condescension. Cetywayo listened to his talk in silence, and when he +had done answered by reminding him tersely that if Nanea did not +appear at the date named, both she and he, her father, would in due +course certainly decorate a cross-road in their own immediate +neighbourhood. + +The captain, Nahoon, afforded a more curious study. As the fatal words +crossed the king's lips, his face took an expression of absolute +astonishment, which was presently replaced by one of fury--the just +fury of a man who suddenly has suffered an unutterable wrong. His +whole frame quivered, the veins stood out in knots on his neck and +forehead, and his fingers closed convulsively as though they were +grasping the handle of a spear. Presently the rage passed away--for as +well might a man be wroth with fate as with a Zulu despot--to be +succeeded by a look of the most hopeless misery. The proud dark eyes +grew dull, the copper-coloured face sank in and turned ashen, the +mouth drooped, and down one corner of it there trickled a little line +of blood springing from the lip bitten through in the effort to keep +silence. Lifting his hand in salute to the king, the great man rose +and staggered rather than walked towards the gate. + +As he reached it, the voice of Cetywayo commanded him to stop. "Stay," +he said, "I have a service for you, Nahoon, that shall drive out of +your head these thoughts of wives and marriage. You see this white man +here; he is my guest, and would hunt buffalo and big game in the bush +country. I put him in your charge; take men with you, and see that he +comes to no hurt. So also that you bring him before me within a month, +or your life shall answer for it. Let him be here at my royal kraal in +the first week of the new moon--when Nanea comes--and then I will tell +you whether or no I agree with you that she is fair. Go now, my child, +and you, White Man, go also; those who are to accompany you shall be +with you at the dawn. Farewell, but remember we meet again at the new +moon, when we will settle what pay you shall receive as keeper of my +guns. Do not fail me, White Man, or I shall send after you, and my +messengers are sometimes rough." + +"This means that I am a prisoner," thought Hadden, "but it will go +hard if I cannot manage to give them the slip somehow. I don't intend +to stay in this country if war is declared, to be pounded into /mouti/ +(medicine), or have my eyes put out, or any little joke of that sort." + +***** + +Ten days had passed, and one evening Hadden and his escort were +encamped in a wild stretch of mountainous country lying between the +Blood and Unvunyana Rivers, not more than eight miles from that "Place +of the Little Hand" which within a few weeks was to become famous +throughout the world by its native name of Isandhlwana. For three days +they had been tracking the spoor of a small herd of buffalo that still +inhabited the district, but as yet they had not come up with them. The +Zulu hunters had suggested that they should follow the Unvunyana down +towards the sea where game was more plentiful, but this neither +Hadden, nor the captain, Nahoon, had been anxious to do, for reasons +which each of them kept secret to himself. Hadden's object was to work +gradually down to the Buffalo River across which he hoped to effect a +retreat into Natal. That of Nahoon was to linger in the neighbourhood +of the kraal of Umgona, which was situated not very far from their +present camping place, in the vague hope that he might find an +opportunity of speaking with or at least of seeing Nanea, the girl to +whom he was affianced, who within a few weeks must be taken from him, +and given over to the king. + +A more eerie-looking spot than that where they were encamped Hadden +had never seen. Behind them lay a tract of land--half-swamp and half- +bush--in which the buffalo were supposed to be hiding. Beyond, in +lonely grandeur, rose the mountain of Isandhlwana, while in front was +an amphitheatre of the most gloomy forest, ringed round in the +distance by sheer-sided hills. Into this forest there ran a river +which drained the swamp, placidly enough upon the level. But it was +not always level, for within three hundred yards of them it dashed +suddenly over a precipice, of no great height but very steep, falling +into a boiling rock-bound pool that the light of the sun never seemed +to reach. + +"What is the name of that forest, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is named /Emagudu/, The Home of the Dead," the Zulu replied +absently, for he was looking towards the kraal of Nanea, which was +situated at an hour's walk away over the ridge to the right. + +"The Home of the Dead! Why?" + +"Because the dead live there, those whom we name the /Esemkofu/, the +Speechless Ones, and with them other Spirits, the /Amahlosi/, from +whom the breath of life has passed away, and who yet live on." + +"Indeed," said Hadden, "and have you ever seen these ghosts?" + +"Am I mad that I should go to look for them, White Man? Only the dead +enter that forest, and it is on the borders of it that our people make +offerings to the dead." + +Followed by Nahoon, Hadden walked to the edge of the cliff and looked +over it. To the left lay the deep and dreadful-looking pool, while +close to the bank of it, placed upon a narrow strip of turf between +the cliff and the commencement of the forest, was a hut. + +"Who lives there?" asked Hadden. + +"The great /Isanusi/--she who is named /Inyanga/ or Doctoress; she who +is named Inyosi (the Bee), because she gathers wisdom from the dead +who grow in the forest." + +"Do you think that she could gather enough wisdom to tell me whether I +am going to kill any buffalo, Nahoon?" + +"Mayhap, White Man, but," he added with a little smile, "those who +visit the Bee's hive may hear nothing, or they may hear more than they +wish for. The words of that Bee have a sting." + +"Good; I will see if she can sting me." + +"So be it," said Nahoon; and turning, he led the way along the cliff +till he reached a native path which zig-zagged down its face. + +By this path they climbed till they came to the sward at the foot of +the descent, and walked up it to the hut which was surrounded by a low +fence of reeds, enclosing a small court-yard paved with ant-heap earth +beaten hard and polished. In this court-yard sat the Bee, her stool +being placed almost at the mouth of the round opening that served as a +doorway to the hut. At first all that Hadden could see of her, +crouched as she was in the shadow, was a huddled shape wrapped round +with a greasy and tattered catskin kaross, above the edge of which +appeared two eyes, fierce and quick as those of a leopard. At her feet +smouldered a little fire, and ranged around it in a semi-circle were a +number of human skulls, placed in pairs as though they were talking +together, whilst other bones, to all appearance also human, were +festooned about the hut and the fence of the courtyard. + +"I see that the old lady is set up with the usual properties," thought +Hadden, but he said nothing. + +Nor did the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady +eyes upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her +with all his might, till suddenly he became aware that he was +vanquished in this curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his +fancy it seemed that the woman before him had shifted shape into the +likeness of colossal and horrid spider sitting at the mouth of her +trap, and that these bones were the relics of her victims. + +"Why do you not speak, White Man?" she said at last in a slow clear +voice. "Well, there is no need, since I can read your thoughts. You +are thinking that I who am called the Bee should be better named the +Spider. Have no fear; I did not kill these men. What would it profit +me when the dead are so many? I suck the souls of men, not their +bodies, White Man. It is their living hearts I love to look on, for +therein I read much and thereby I grow wise. Now what would you of the +Bee, White Man, the Bee that labours in this Garden of Death, and-- +what brings /you/ here, son of Zomba? Why are you not with the Umcityu +now that they doctor themselves for the great war--the last war--the +war of the white and the black--or if you have no stomach for +fighting, why are you not at the side of Nanea the tall, Nanea the +fair?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but Hadden said:-- + +"A small thing, mother. I would know if I shall prosper in my +hunting." + +"In your hunting, White Man; what hunting? The hunting of game, of +money, or of women? Well, one of them, for a-hunting you must ever be; +that is your nature, to hunt and be hunted. Tell me now, how goes the +wound of that trader who tasted of your steel yonder in the town of +the Maboon (Boers)? No need to answer, White Man, but what fee, Chief, +for the poor witch-doctoress whose skill you seek," she added in a +whining voice. "Surely you would not that an old woman should work +without a fee?" + +"I have none to offer you, mother, so I will be going," said Hadden, +who began to feel himself satisfied with this display of the Bee's +powers of observation and thought-reading. + +"Nay," she answered with an unpleasant laugh, "would you ask a +question, and not wait for the answer? I will take no fee from you at +present, White Man; you shall pay me later on when we meet again," and +once more she laughed. "Let me look in your face, let me look in your +face," she continued, rising and standing before him. + +Then of a sudden Hadden felt something cold at the back of his neck, +and the next instant the Bee had sprung from him, holding between her +thumb and finger a curl of dark hair which she had cut from his head. +The action was so instantaneous that he had neither time to avoid nor +to resent it, but stood still staring at her stupidly. + +"That is all I need," she cried, "for like my heart my magic is white. +Stay--son of Zomba, give me also of your hair, for those who visit the +Bee must listen to her humming." + +Nahoon obeyed, cutting a little lock from his head with the sharp edge +of his assegai, though it was very evident that he did this not +because he wished to do so, but because he feared to refuse. + +Then the Bee slipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the fire +before them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that was +bound about her middle. She was still a finely-shaped woman, and she +wore none of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to see +upon the persons of witch-doctoresses. About her neck, however, was a +curious ornament, a small live snake, red and grey in hue, which her +visitors recognised as one of the most deadly to be found in that part +of the country. It is not unusual for Bantu witch-doctors thus to +decorate themselves with snakes, though whether or not their fangs +have first been extracted no one seems to know. + +Presently the herbs began to smoulder, and the smoke of them rose up +in a thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee, +clung about her head enveloping it as though with a strange blue veil. +Then of a sudden she stretched out her hands, and let fall the two +locks of hair upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themselves to +ashes like things alive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to draw +the fumes of the hair and herbs into her lungs in great gulps; while +the snake, feeling the influence of the medicine, hissed and, +uncoiling itself from about her neck, crept upwards and took refuge +among the black /saccaboola/ feathers of her head-dress. + +Soon the vapours began to do their work; she swayed to and fro +muttering, then sank back against the hut, upon the straw of which her +head rested. Now the Bee's face was turned upwards towards the light, +and it was ghastly to behold, for it had become blue in colour, and +the open eyes were sunken like the eyes of one dead, whilst above her +forehead the red snake wavered and hissed, reminding Hadden of the +Uraeus crest on the brow of statues of Egyptian kings. For ten seconds +or more she remained thus, then she spoke in a hollow and unnatural +voice:-- + +"O Black Heart and body that is white and beautiful, I look into your +heart, and it is black as blood, and it shall be black with blood. +Beautiful white body with black heart, you shall find your game and +hunt it, and it shall lead you into the House of the Homeless, into +the Home of the Dead, and it shall be shaped as a bull, it shall be +shaped as a tiger, it shall be shaped as a woman whom kings and waters +cannot harm. Beautiful white body and black heart, you shall be paid +your wages, money for money, and blow for blow. Think of my word when +the spotted cat purrs above your breast; think of it when the battle +roars about you; think of it when you grasp your great reward, and for +the last time stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in the +Home of the Dead. + +"O White Heart and black body, I look into your heart and it is white +as milk, and the milk of innocence shall save it. Fool, why do you +strike that blow? Let him be who is loved of the tiger, and whose love +is as the love of a tiger. Ah! what face is that in the battle? Follow +it, follow it, O swift of foot; but follow warily, for the tongue that +has lied will never plead for mercy, and the hand that can betray is +strong in war. White Heart, what is death? In death life lives, and +among the dead you shall find the life you lost, for there awaits you +she whom kings and waters cannot harm." + +As the Bee spoke, by degrees her voice sank lower and lower till it +was almost inaudible. Then it ceased altogether and she seemed to pass +from trance to sleep. Hadden, who had been listening to her with an +amused and cynical smile, now laughed aloud. + +"Why do you laugh, White Man?" asked Nahoon angrily. + +"I laugh at my own folly in wasting time listening to the nonsense of +that lying fraud." + +"It is no nonsense, White Man." + +"Indeed? Then will you tell me what it means?" + +"I cannot tell you what it means yet, but her words have to do with a +woman and a leopard, and with your fate and my fate." + +Hadden shrugged his shoulders, not thinking the matter worth further +argument, and at that moment the Bee woke up shivering, drew the red +snake from her head-dress and coiling it about her throat wrapped +herself again in the greasy kaross. + +"Are you satisfied with my wisdom, /Inkoos/?" she asked of Hadden. + +"I am satisfied that you are one of the cleverest cheats in Zululand, +mother," he answered coolly. "Now, what is there to pay?" + +The Bee took no offence at this rude speech, though for a second or +two the look in her eyes grew strangely like that which they had seen +in those of the snake when the fumes of the fire made it angry. + +"If the white lord says I am a cheat, it must be so," she answered, +"for he of all men should be able to discern a cheat. I have said that +I ask no fee;--yes, give me a little tobacco from your pouch." + +Hadden opened the bag of antelope hide and drawing some tobacco from +it, gave it to her. In taking it she clasped his hand and examined the +gold ring that was upon the third finger, a ring fashioned like a +snake with two little rubies set in the head to represent the eyes. + +"I wear a snake about my neck, and you wear one upon your hand, +/Inkoos/. I should like to have this ring to wear upon my hand, so +that the snake about my neck may be less lonely there." + +"Then I am afraid you will have to wait till I am dead," said Hadden. + +"Yes, yes," she answered in a pleased voice, "it is a good word. I +will wait till you are dead and then I will take the ring, and none +can say that I have stolen it, for Nahoon there will bear me witness +that you gave me permission to do so." + +For the first time Hadden started, since there was something about the +Bee's tone that jarred upon him. Had she addressed him in her +professional manner, he would have thought nothing of it; but in her +cupidity she had become natural, and it was evident that she spoke +from conviction, believing her own words. + +She saw him start, and instantly changed her note. + +"Let the white lord forgive the jest of a poor old witch-doctoress," +she said in a whining voice. "I have so much to do with Death that his +name leaps to my lips," and she glanced first at the circle of skulls +about her, then towards the waterfall that fed the gloomy pool upon +whose banks her hut was placed. + +"Look," she said simply. + +Following the line of her outstretched hand Hadden's eyes fell upon +two withered mimosa trees which grew over the fall almost at right +angles to its rocky edge. These trees were joined together by a rude +platform made of logs of wood lashed down with /riems/ of hide. Upon +this platform stood three figures; notwithstanding the distance and +the spray of the fall, he could see that they were those of two men +and a girl, for their shapes stood out distinctly against the fiery +red of the sunset sky. One instant there were three, the next there +were two--for the girl had gone, and something dark rushing down the +face of the fall, struck the surface of the pool with a heavy thud, +while a faint and piteous cry broke upon his ear. + +"What is the meaning of that?" he asked, horrified and amazed. + +"Nothing," answered the Bee with a laugh. "Do you not know, then, that +this is the place where faithless women, or girls who have loved +without the leave of the king, are brought to meet their death, and +with them their accomplices. Oh! they die here thus each day, and I +watch them die and keep the count of the number of them," and drawing +a tally-stick from the thatch of the hut, she took a knife and added a +notch to the many that appeared upon it, looking at Nahoon the while +with a half-questioning, half-warning gaze. + +"Yes, yes, it is a place of death," she muttered. "Up yonder the quick +die day by day and down there"--and she pointed along the course of +the river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred +yards from her hut--"the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!" + +As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from the +dim skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it is +impossible to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed +beastlike, and almost inarticulate. + +"Listen," repeated the Bee, "they are merry yonder." + +"Who?" asked Hadden; "the baboons?" + +"No, /Inkoos/, the /Amatongo/--the ghosts that welcome her who has +just become of their number." + +"Ghosts," said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, "I +should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard +a troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be +going while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell." + +"Farewell /Inkoos/, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. Go +in peace /Inkoos/--to sleep in peace." + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE END OF THE HUNT + +The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that +night. He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not +troubling him more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he +closed his eyes, his mind conjured up a picture of the grim witch- +doctoress, so strangely named the Bee, and the sound of her evil- +omened words as he had heard them that afternoon. He was neither a +superstitious nor a timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that might +linger in his mind were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what +he might, he could not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, +lest there should be some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this +hag. What if it were a fact that he was near his death, and that the +heart which beat so strongly in his breast must soon be still for ever +--no, he would not think of it. This gloomy place, and the dreadful +sight which he saw that day, had upset his nerves. The domestic +customs of these Zulus were not pleasant, and for his part he was +determined to be clear of them so soon as he was able to escape the +country. + +In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to +make a dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a +good prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should +kill a buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he knew well, the +hunters with him would feast upon meat until they could scarcely stir, +and that would be his opportunity. Nahoon, however, might not succumb +to this temptation; therefore he must trust to luck to be rid of him. +If it came to the worst, he could put a bullet through him, which he +considered he would be justified in doing, seeing that in reality the +man was his jailor. Should this necessity arise, he felt indeed that +he could face it without undue compunction, for in truth he disliked +Nahoon; at times he even hated him. Their natures were antagonistic, +and he knew that the great Zulu distrusted and looked down upon him, +and to be looked down upon by a savage "nigger" was more than his +pride could stomach. + +At the first break of dawn Hadden rose and roused his escort, who were +still stretched in sleep around the dying fire, each man wrapped in +his kaross or blanket. Nahoon stood up and shook himself, looking +gigantic in the shadows of the morning. + +"What is your will, /Umlungu/ (white man), that you are up before the +sun?" + +"My will, /Muntumpofu/ (yellow man), is to hunt buffalo," answered +Hadden coolly. It irritated him that this savage should give him no +title of any sort. + +"Your pardon," said the Zulu reading his thoughts, "but I cannot call +you /Inkoos/ because you are not my chief, or any man's; still if the +title 'white man' offends you, we will give you a name." + +"As you wish," answered Hadden briefly. + +Accordingly they gave him a name, /Inhlizin-mgama/, by which he was +known among them thereafter, but Hadden was not best pleased when he +found that the meaning of those soft-sounding syllables was "Black +Heart." That was how the /inyanga/ had addressed him--only she used +different words. + +An hour later, and they were in the swampy bush country that lay +behind the encampment searching for their game. Within a very little +while Nahoon held up his hand, then pointed to the ground. Hadden +looked; there, pressed deep in the marshy soil, and to all appearance +not ten minutes old, was the spoor of a small herd of buffalo. + +"I knew that we should find game to-day," whispered Nahoon, "because +the Bee said so." + +"Curse the Bee," answered Hadden below his breath. "Come on." + +For a quarter of an hour or more they followed the spoor through thick +reeds, till suddenly Nahoon whistled very softly and touched Hadden's +arm. He looked up, and there, about two hundred yards away, feeding on +some higher ground among a patch if mimosa trees, were the buffaloes-- +six of them--an old bull with a splendid head, three cows, a heifer +and a calf about four months old. Neither the wind nor the nature of +the veldt were favourable for them to stalk the game from their +present position, so they made a detour of half a mile and very +carefully crept towards them up the wind, slipping from trunk to trunk +of the mimosas and when these failed them, crawling on their stomachs +under cover of the tall /tambuti/ grass. At last they were within +forty yards, and a further advance seemed impracticable; for although +he could not smell them, it was evident from his movements that the +old bull heard some unusual sound and was growing suspicious. Nearest +to Hadden, who alone of the party had a rifle, stood the heifer +broadside on--a beautiful shot. Remembering that she would make the +best beef, he lifted his Martini, and aiming at her immediately behind +the shoulder, gently squeezed the trigger. The rifle exploded, and the +heifer fell dead, shot through the heart. Strangely enough the other +buffaloes did not at once run away. On the contrary, they seemed +puzzled to account for the sudden noise; and, not being able to wind +anything, lifted their heads and stared round them. + +The pause gave Hadden space to get in a fresh cartridge and to aim +again, this time at the old bull. The bullet struck him somewhere in +the neck or shoulder, for he came to his knees, but in another second +was up and having caught sight of the cloud of smoke he charged +straight at it. Because of this smoke, or for some other reason, +Hadden did not see him coming, and in consequence would most certainly +have been trampled or gored, had not Nahoon sprung forward, at the +imminent risk of his own life, and dragged him down behind an ant- +heap. A moment more and the great beast had thundered by, taking no +further notice of them. + +"Forward," said Hadden, and leaving most of the men to cut up the +heifer and carry the best of her meat to camp, they started on the +blood spoor. + +For some hours they followed the bull, till at last they lost the +trail on a patch of stony ground thickly covered with bush, and +exhausted by the heat, sat down to rest and to eat some /biltong/ or +sun-dried flesh which they had with them. They finished their meal, +and were preparing to return to the camp, when one of the four Zulus +who were with them went to drink at a little stream that ran at a +distance of not more than ten paces away. Half a minute later they +heard a hideous grunting noise and a splashing of water, and saw the +Zulu fly into the air. All the while that they were eating, the +wounded buffalo had been lying in wait for them under a thick bush on +the banks of the streamlet, knowing--cunning brute that he was--that +sooner or later his turn would come. With a shout of consternation +they rushed forward to see the bull vanish over the rise before Hadden +could get a chance of firing at him, and to find their companion +dying, for the great horn had pierced his lung. + +"It is not a buffalo, it is a devil," the poor fellow gasped, and +expired. + +"Devil or not, I mean to kill it," exclaimed Hadden. So leaving the +others to carry the body of their comrade to camp, he started on +accompanied by Nahoon only. Now the ground was more open and the chase +easier, for they sighted their quarry frequently, though they could +not come near enough to fire. Presently they travelled down a steep +cliff. + +"Do you know where we are?" asked Nahoon, pointing to a belt of forest +opposite. "That is /Emagudu/, the Home of the Dead--and look, the bull +heads thither." + +Hadden glanced round him. It was true; yonder to the left were the +Fall, the Pool of Doom, and the hut of the Bee. + +"Very well," he answered; "then we must head for it too." + +Nahoon halted. "Surely you would not enter there," he exclaimed. + +"Surely I will," replied Hadden, "but there is no need for you to do +so if you are afraid." + +"I am afraid--of ghosts," said the Zulu, "but I will come." + +So they crossed the strip of turf, and entered the haunted wood. It +was a gloomy place indeed; the great wide-topped trees grew thick +there shutting out the sight of the sky; moreover, the air in it which +no breeze stirred, was heavy with the exhalations of rotting foliage. +There seemed to be no life here and no sound--only now and again a +loathsome spotted snake would uncoil itself and glide away, and now +and again a heavy rotten bough fell with a crash. + +Hadden was too intent upon the buffalo, however, to be much impressed +by his surroundings. He only remarked that the light would be bad for +shooting, and went on. + +They must have penetrated a mile or more into the forest when the +sudden increase of blood upon the spoor told them that the bull's +wound was proving fatal to him. + +"Run now," said Hadden cheerfully. + +"Nay, /hamba gachle/--go softly--" answered Nahoon, "the devil is +dying, but he will try to play us another trick before he dies." And +he went on peering ahead of him cautiously. + +"It is all right here, anyway," said Hadden, pointing to the spoor +that ran straight forward printed deep in the marshy ground. + +Nahoon did not answer, but stared steadily at the trunks of two trees +a few paces in front of them and to their right. "Look," he whispered. + +Hadden did so, and at length made out the outline of something brown +that was crouched behind the trees. + +"He is dead," he exclaimed. + +"No," answered Nahoon, "he has come back on his own path and is +waiting for us. He knows that we are following his spoor. Now if you +stand there, I think that you can shoot him through the back between +the tree trunks." + +Hadden knelt down, and aiming very carefully at a point just below the +bull's spine, he fired. There was an awful bellow, and the next +instant the brute was up and at them. Nahoon flung his broad spear, +which sank deep into its chest, then they fled this way and that. The +buffalo stood still for a moment, its fore legs straddled wide and its +head down, looking first after the one and then the other, till of a +sudden it uttered a low moaning sound and rolled over dead, smashing +Nahoon's assegai to fragments as it fell. + +"There! he's finished," said Hadden, "and I believe it was your +assegai that killed him. Hullo! what's that noise?" + +Nahoon listened. In several quarters of the forest, but from how far +away it was impossible to tell, there rose a curious sound, as of +people calling to each other in fear but in no articulate language. +Nahoon shivered. + +"It is the /Esemkofu/," he said, "the ghosts who have no tongue, and +who can only wail like infants. Let us be going; this place is bad for +mortals." + +"And worse for buffaloes," said Hadden, giving the dead bull a kick, +"but I suppose that we must leave him here for your friends, the +/Esemkofu/, as we have got meat enough, and can't carry his head." + +So they started back towards the open country. As they threaded their +way slowly through the tree trunks, a new idea came into Hadden's +head. Once out of this forest, he was within an hour's run of the Zulu +border, and once over the Zulu border, he would feel a happier man +than he did at that moment. As has been said, he had intended to +attempt to escape in the darkness, but the plan was risky. All the +Zulus might not over-eat themselves and go to sleep, especially after +the death of their comrade; Nahoon, who watched him day and night, +certainly would not. This was his opportunity--there remained the +question of Nahoon. + +Well, if it came to the worst, Nahoon must die: it would be easy--he +had a loaded rifle, and now that his assegai was gone, Nahoon had only +a kerry. He did not wish to kill the man, though it was clear to him, +seeing that his own safety was at stake, that he would be amply +justified in so doing. Why should he not put it to him--and then be +guided by circumstances? + +Nahoon was walking across a little open space about ten spaces ahead +of him where Hadden could see him very well, whilst he himself was +under the shadow of a large tree with low horizontal branches running +out from the trunk. + +"Nahoon," he said. + +The Zulu turned round, and took a step towards him. + +"No, do not move, I pray. Stand where you are, or I shall be obliged +to shoot you. Listen now: do not be afraid for I shall not fire +without warning. I am your prisoner, and you are charged to take me +back to the king to be his servant. But I believe that a war is going +to break out between your people and mine; and this being so, you will +understand that I do not wish to go to Cetywayo's kraal, because I +should either come to a violent death there, or my own brothers will +believe that I am a traitor and treat me accordingly. The Zulu border +is not much more than an hour's journey away--let us say an hour and a +half's: I mean to be across it before the moon is up. Now, Nahoon, +will you lose me in the forest and give me this hour and a half's +start--or will you stop here with that ghost people of whom you talk? +Do you understand? No, please do not move." + +"I understand you," answered the Zulu, in a perfectly composed voice, +"and I think that was a good name which we gave you this morning, +though, Black Heart, there is some justice in your words and more +wisdom. Your opportunity is good, and one which a man named as you are +should not let fall." + +"I am glad to find that you take this view of the matter, Nahoon. And +now will you be so kind as to lose me, and to promise not to look for +me till the moon is up?" + +"What do you mean, Black Heart?" + +"What I say. Come, I have no time to spare." + +"You are a strange man," said the Zulu reflectively. "You heard the +king's order to me: would you have me disobey the order of the king?" + +"Certainly, I would. You have no reason to love Cetywayo, and it does +not matter to you whether or no I return to his kraal to mend guns +there. If you think that he will be angry because I am missing, you +had better cross the border also; we can go together." + +"And leave my father and all my brethren to his vengeance? Black +Heart, you do not understand. How can you, being so named? I am a +soldier, and the king's word is the king's word. I hoped to have died +fighting, but I am the bird in your noose. Come, shoot, or you will +not reach the border before moonrise," and he opened his arms and +smiled. + +"If it must be, so let it be. Farewell, Nahoon, at least you are a +brave man, but every one of us must cherish his own life," answered +Hadden calmly. + +Then with much deliberation he raised his rifle and covered the Zulu's +breast. + +Already--whilst his victim stood there still smiling, although a +twitching of his lips betrayed the natural terrors that no bravery can +banish--already his finger was contracting on the trigger, when of a +sudden, as instantly as though he had been struck by lightning, Hadden +went down backwards, and behold! there stood upon him a great spotted +beast that waved its long tail to and fro and glared down into his +eyes. + +It was a leopard--a tiger as they call it in Africa--which, crouched +upon a bough of the tree above, had been unable to resist the +temptation of satisfying its savage appetite on the man below. For a +second or two there was silence, broken only by the purring, or rather +the snoring sound made by the leopard. In those seconds, strangely +enough, there sprang up before Hadden's mental vision a picture of the +/inyanga/ called /Inyosi/ or the Bee, her death-like head resting +against the thatch of the hut, and her death-like lips muttering +"think of my word when the great cat purrs above your face." + +Then the brute put out its strength. The claws of one paw it drove +deep into the muscles of his left thigh, while with another it +scratched at his breast, tearing the clothes from it and furrowing the +flesh beneath. The sight of the white skin seemed to madden it, and in +its fierce desire for blood it drooped its square muzzle and buried +its fangs in its victim's shoulder. Next moment there was a sound of +running feet and of a club falling heavily. Up reared the leopard with +an angry snarl, up till it stood as high as the attacking Zulu. At him +it came, striking out savagely and tearing the black man as it had +torn the white. Again the kerry fell full on its jaws, and down it +went backwards. Before it could rise again, or rather as it was in the +act of rising, the heavy knob-stick struck it once more, and with +fearful force, this time as it chanced, full on the nape of the neck, +and paralysing the brute. It writhed and bit and twisted, throwing up +the earth and leaves, while blow after blow was rained upon it, till +at length with a convulsive struggle and a stifled roar it lay still-- +the brains oozing from its shattered skull. + +Hadden sat up, the blood running from his wounds. + +"You have saved my life, Nahoon," he said faintly, "and I thank you." + +"Do not thank me, Black Heart," answered the Zulu, "it was the king's +word that I should keep you safely. Still this tiger has been hardly +dealt with, for certainly /he/ has saved /my/ life," and lifting the +Martini he unloaded the rifle. + +At this juncture Hadden swooned away. + +***** + +Twenty-four hours had gone by when, after what seemed to him to be but +a little time of troubled and dreamful sleep, through which he could +hear voices without understanding what they said, and feel himself +borne he knew not whither, Hadden awoke to find himself lying upon a +kaross in a large and beautifully clean Kaffir hut with a bundle of +furs for a pillow. There was a bowl of milk at his side and tortured +as he was by thirst, he tried to stretch out his arm to lift it to his +lips, only to find to his astonishment that his hand fell back to his +side like that of a dead man. Looking round the hut impatiently, he +found that there was nobody in it to assist him, so he did the only +thing which remained for him to do--he lay still. He did not fall +asleep, but his eyes closed, and a kind of gentle torpor crept over +him, half obscuring his recovered senses. Presently he heard a soft +voice speaking; it seemed far away, but he could clearly distinguish +the words. + +"Black Heart still sleeps," the voice said, "but there is colour in +his face; I think that he will wake soon, and find his thoughts +again." + +"Have no fear, Nanea, he will surely wake, his hurts are not +dangerous," answered another voice, that of Nahoon. "He fell heavily +with the weight of the tiger on top of him, and that is why his senses +have been shaken for so long. He went near to death, but certainly he +will not die." + +"It would have been a pity if he had died," answered the soft voice, +"he is so beautiful; never have I seen a white man who was so +beautiful." + +"I did not think him beautiful when he stood with his rifle pointed at +my heart," answered Nahoon sulkily. + +"Well, there is this to be said," she replied, "he wished to escape +from Cetywayo, and that is not to be wondered at," and she sighed. +"Moreover he asked you to come with him, and it might have been well +if you had done so, that is, if you would have taken me with you!" + +"How could I have done it, girl?" he asked angrily. "Would you have me +set at nothing the order of the king?" + +"The king!" she replied raising her voice. "What do you owe to this +king? You have served him faithfully, and your reward is that within a +few days he will take me from you--me, who should have been your wife, +and I must--I must----" And she began to weep softly, adding between +her sobs, "if you loved me truly, you would think more of me and of +yourself, and less of the Black One and his orders. Oh! let us fly, +Nahoon, let us fly to Natal before this spear pierces me." + +"Weep not, Nanea," he said; "why do you tear my heart in two between +my duty and my love? You know that I am a soldier, and that I must +walk the path whereon the king has set my feet. Soon I think I shall +be dead, for I seek death, and then it will matter nothing." + +"Nothing to you, Nahoon, who are at peace, but to me? Yet, you are +right, and I know it, therefore forgive me, who am no warrior, but a +woman who must also obey--the will of the king." And she cast her arms +about his neck, sobbing her fill upon his breast. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NANEA + +Presently, muttering something that the listener could not catch, +Nahoon left Nanea, and crept out of the hut by its bee-hole entrance. +Then Hadden opened his eyes and looked round him. The sun was sinking +and a ray of its red light streaming through the little opening filled +the place with a soft and crimson glow. In the centre of the hut-- +supporting it--stood a thorn-wood roof-tree coloured black by the +smoke of the fire; and against this, the rich light falling full upon +her, leaned the girl Nanea--a very picture of gentle despair. + +As is occasionally the case among Zulu women, she was beautiful--so +beautiful that the sight of her went straight to the white man's +heart, for a moment causing the breath to catch in his throat. Her +dress was very simple. On her shoulders, hanging open in front, lay a +mantle of soft white stuff edged with blue beads, about her middle was +a buck-skin moocha, also embroidered with blue beads, while round her +forehead and left knee were strips of grey fur, and on her right wrist +a shining bangle of copper. Her naked bronze-hued figure was tall and +perfect in its proportions; while her face had little in common with +that of the ordinary native girl, showing as it did strong traces of +the ancestral Arabian or Semitic blood. It was oval in shape, with +delicate aquiline features, arched eyebrows, a full mouth, that +drooped a little at the corners, tiny ears, behind which the wavy +coal-black hair hung down to the shoulders, and the very loveliest +pair of dark and liquid eyes that it is possible to imagine. + +For a minute or more Nanea stood thus, her sweet face bathed in the +sunbeam, while Hadden feasted his eyes upon its beauty. Then sighing +heavily, she turned, and seeing that he was awake, started, drew her +mantle over her breast and came, or rather glided, towards him. + +"The chief is awake," she said in her soft Zulu accents. "Does he need +aught?" + +"Yes, Lady," he answered; "I need to drink, but alas! I am too weak." + +She knelt down beside him, and supporting him with her left arm, with +her right held the gourd to his lips. + +How it came about Hadden never knew, but before that draught was +finished a change passed over him. Whether it was the savage girl's +touch, or her strange and fawn-like loveliness, or the tender pity in +her eyes, matters not--the issue was the same. She struck some cord in +his turbulent uncurbed nature, and of a sudden it was filled full with +passion for her--a passion which if, not elevated, at least was real. +He did not for a moment mistake the significance of the flood of +feeling that surged through his veins. Hadden never shirked facts. + +"By Heaven!" he said to himself, "I have fallen in love with a black +beauty at first sight--more in love than I have ever been before. It's +awkward, but there will be compensations. So much the worse for +Nahoon, or for Cetywayo, or for both of them. After all, I can always +get rid of her if she becomes a nuisance." + +Then, in a fit of renewed weakness, brought about by the turmoil of +his blood, he lay back upon the pillow of furs, watching Nanea's face +while with a native salve of pounded leaves she busied herself +dressing the wounds that the leopard had made. + +It almost seemed as though something of what was passing in his mind +communicated itself to that of the girl. At least, her hand shook a +little at her task, and getting done with it as quickly as she could, +she rose from her knees with a courteous "It is finished, /Inkoos/," +and once more took up her position by the roof-tree. + +"I thank you, Lady," he said; "your hand is kind." + +"You must not call me lady, /Inkoos/," she answered, "I am no +chieftainess, but only the daughter of a headman, Umgona." + +"And named Nanea," he said. "Nay, do not be surprised, I have heard of +you. Well, Nanea, perhaps you will soon become a chieftainess--up at +the king's kraal yonder." + +"Alas! and alas!" she said, covering her face with her hands. + +"Do not grieve, Nanea, a hedge is never so tall and thick but that it +cannot be climbed or crept through." + +She let fall her hands and looked at him eagerly, but he did not +pursue the subject. + +"Tell me, how did I come here, Nanea?" + +"Nahoon and his companions carried you, /Inkoos/." + +"Indeed, I begin to be thankful to the leopard that struck me down. +Well, Nahoon is a brave man, and he has done me a great service. I +trust that I may be able to repay it--to you, Nanea." + +***** + +This was the first meeting of Nanea and Hadden; but, although she did +not seek them, the necessities of his sickness and of the situation +brought about many another. Never for a moment did the white man waver +in his determination to get into his keeping the native girl who had +captivated him, and to attain his end he brought to bear all his +powers and charm to detach her from Nahoon, and win her affections for +himself. He was no rough wooer, however, but proceeded warily, weaving +her about with a web of flattery and attention that must, he thought, +produce the desired effect upon her mind. Without a doubt, indeed, it +would have done so--for she was but a woman, and an untutored one--had +it not been for a simple fact which dominated her whole nature. She +loved Nahoon, and there was no room in her heart for any other man, +white or black. To Hadden she was courteous and kindly but no more, +nor did she appear to notice any of the subtle advances by which he +attempted to win a foothold in her heart. For a while this puzzled +him, but he remembered that the Zulu women do not usually permit +themselves to show feeling towards an undeclared suitor. Therefore it +became necessary that he should speak out. + +His mind once made up, he had not to wait long for an opportunity. He +was now quite recovered from his hurts, and accustomed to walk in the +neighbourhood of the kraal. About two hundred yards from Umgona's huts +rose a spring, and thither it was Nanea's habit to resort in the +evening to bring back drinking-water for the use of her father's +household. The path between this spring and the kraal ran through a +patch of bush, where on a certain afternoon towards sundown Hadden +took his seat under a tree, having first seen Nanea go down to the +little stream as was her custom. A quarter of an hour later she +reappeared carrying a large gourd upon her head. She wore no garment +now except her moocha, for she had but one mantle and was afraid lest +the water should splash it. He watched her advancing along the path, +her hands resting on her hips, her splendid naked figure outlined +against the westering sun, and wondered what excuse he could make to +talk with her. As it chanced fortune favoured him, for when she was +near him a snake glided across the path in front of the girl's feet, +causing her to spring backwards in alarm and overset the gourd of +water. He came forward, and picked it up. + +"Wait here," he said laughing; "I will bring it to you full." + +"Nay, /Inkoos/," she remonstrated, "that is a woman's work." + +"Among my people," he said, "the men love to work for the women," and +he started for the spring, leaving her wondering. + +Before he reached her again, he regretted his gallantry, for it was +necessary to carry the handleless gourd upon his shoulder, and the +contents of it spilling over the edge soaked him. Of this, however, he +said nothing to Nanea. + +"There is your water, Nanea, shall I carry it for you to the kraal?" + +"Nay, /Inkoos/, I thank you, but give it to me, you are weary with its +weight." + +"Stay awhile, and I will accompany you. Ah! Nanea, I am still weak, +and had it not been for you I think that I should be dead." + +"It was Nahoon who saved you--not I, /Inkoos/." + +"Nahoon saved my body, but you, Nanea, you alone can save my heart." + +"You talk darkly, /Inkoos/." + +"Then I must make my meaning clear, Nanea. I love you." + +She opened her brown eyes wide. + +"You, a white lord, love me, a Zulu girl? How can that be?" + +"I do not know, Nanea, but it is so, and were you not blind you would +have seen it. I love you, and I wish to take you to wife." + +"Nay, /Inkoos/, it is impossible. I am already betrothed." + +"Ay," he answered, "betrothed to the king." + +"No, betrothed to Nahoon." + +"But it is the king who will take you within a week; is it not so? And +would you not rather that I should take you than the king?" + +"It seems to be so, /Inkoos/, and I would rather go with you than with +the king, but most of all I desire to marry Nahoon. It may be that I +shall not be able to marry him, but if that is so, at least I will +never become one of the king's women." + +"How will you prevent it, Nanea?" + +"There are waters in which a maid may drown, and trees upon which she +can hang," she answered with a quick setting of the mouth. + +"That were a pity, Nanea, you are too fair to die." + +"Fair or foul, yet I die, /Inkoos/." + +"No, no, come with me--I will find a way--and be my wife," and he put +her arm about her waist, and strove to draw her to him. + +Without any violence of movement, and with the most perfect dignity, +the girl disengaged herself from his embrace. + +"You have honoured me, and I thank you, /Inkoos/," she said quietly, +"but you do not understand. I am the wife of Nahoon--I belong to +Nahoon; therefore, I cannot look on any other man while Nahoon lives. +It is not our custom, /Inkoos/, for we are not as the white women, but +ignorant and simple, and when we vow ourselves to a man, we abide by +that vow till death." + +"Indeed," said Hadden; "and so now you go to tell Nahoon that I have +offered to make you my wife." + +"No, /Inkoos/, why should I tell Nahoon your secrets? I have said +'nay' to you, not 'yea,' therefore he has no right to know," and she +stooped to lift the gourd of water. + +Hadden considered the situation rapidly, for his repulse only made him +the more determined to succeed. Of a sudden under the emergency he +conceived a scheme, or rather its rough outline. It was not a nice +scheme, and some men might have shrunk from it, but as he had no +intention of suffering himself to be defeated by a Zulu girl, he +decided--with regret, it is true--that having failed to attain his +ends by means which he considered fair, he must resort to others of +more doubtful character. + +"Nanea," he said, "you are a good and honest woman, and I respect you. +As I have told you, I love you also, but if you refuse to listen to me +there is nothing more to be said, and after all, perhaps it would be +better that you should marry one of your own people. But, Nanea, you +will never marry him, for the king will take you; and, if he does not +give you to some other man, either you will become one of his +'sisters,' or to be free of him, as you say, you will die. Now hear +me, for it is because I love you and wish your welfare that I speak +thus. Why do you not escape into Natal, taking Nahoon with you, for +there as you know you may live in peace out of reach of the arm of +Cetywayo?" + +"That is my desire, /Inkoos/, but Nahoon will not consent. He says +that there is to be war between us and you white men, and he will not +break the command of the king and desert from his army." + +"Then he cannot love you much, Nahoon, and at least you have to think +of yourself. Whisper into the ear of your father and fly together, for +be sure that Nahoon will soon follow you. Ay! and I myself with fly +with you, for I too believe that there must be war, and then a white +man in this country will be as a lamb among the eagles." + +"If Nahoon will come, I will go, /Inkoos/, but I cannot fly without +Nahoon; it is better I should stay here and kill myself." + +"Surely then being so fair and loving him so well, you can teach him +to forget his folly and to escape with you. In four days' time we must +start for the king's kraal, and if you win over Nahoon, it will be +easy for us to turn our faces southwards and across the river that +lies between the land of the Amazulu and Natal. For the sake of all of +us, but most of all for your own sake, try to do this, Nanea, whom I +have loved and whom I now would save. See him and plead with him as +you know how, but as yet do not tell him that I dream of flight, for +then I should be watched." + +"In truth, I will, /Inkoos/," she answered earnestly, "and oh! I thank +you for your goodness. Fear not that I will betray you--first would I +die. Farewell." + +"Farewell, Nanea," and taking her hand he raised it to his lips. + +***** + +Late that night, just as Hadden was beginning to prepare himself for +sleep, he heard a gentle tapping at the board which closed the +entrance to his hut. + +"Enter," he said, unfastening the door, and presently by the light of +the little lantern that he had with him, he saw Nanea creep into the +hut, followed by the great form of Nahoon. + +"/Inkoos/," she said in a whisper when the door was closed again, "I +have pleaded with Nahoon, and he has consented to fly; moreover, my +father will come also." + +"Is it so, Nahoon?" asked Hadden. + +"It is so," answered the Zulu, looking down shamefacedly; "to save +this girl from the king, and because the love of her eats out my +heart, I have bartered away my honour. But I tell you, Nanea, and you, +White Man, as I told Umgona just now, that I think no good will come +of this flight, and if we are caught or betrayed, we shall be killed +every one of us." + +"Caught we can scarcely be," broke in Nanea anxiously, "for who could +betray us, except the /Inkoos/ here----" + +"Which he is not likely to do," said Hadden quietly, "seeing that he +desires to escape with you, and that his life is also at stake." + +"That is so, Black Heart," said Nahoon, "otherwise I tell you that I +should not have trusted you." + +Hadden took no notice of this outspoken saying, but until very late +that night they sat there together making their plans. + +***** + +On the following morning Hadden was awakened by sounds of violent +altercation. Going out of his hut he found that the disputants were +Umgona and a fat and evil-looking Kaffir chief who had arrived at the +kraal on a pony. This chief, he soon discovered, was named Maputa, +being none other than the man who had sought Nanea in marriage and +brought about Nahoon's and Umgona's unfortunate appeal to the king. At +present he was engaged in abusing Umgona furiously, charging him with +having stolen certain of his oxen and bewitched his cows so that they +would not give milk. The alleged theft it was comparatively easy to +disprove, but the wizardry remained a matter of argument. + +"You are a dog, and a son of a dog," shouted Maputa, shaking his fat +fist in the face of the trembling but indignant Umgona. "You promised +me your daughter in marriage, then having vowed her to that +/umfagozan/--that low lout of a soldier, Nahoon, the son of Zomba--you +went, the two of you, and poisoned the king's ear against me, bringing +me into trouble with the king, and now you have bewitched my cattle. +Well, wait, I will be even with you, Wizard; wait till you wake up in +the cold morning to find your fence red with fire, and the slayers +standing outside your gates to eat up you and yours with spears----" + +At this juncture Nahoon, who till now had been listening in silence, +intervened with effect. + +"Good," he said, "we will wait, but not in your company, Chief Maputa. +/Hamba!/ (go)----" and seizing the fat old ruffian by the scruff of +his neck, he flung him backwards with such violence that he rolled +over and over down the little slope. + +Hadden laughed, and passed on towards the stream where he proposed to +bathe. Just as he reached it, he caught sight of Maputa riding along +the footpath, his head-ring covered with mud, his lips purple and his +black face livid with rage. + +"There goes an angry man," he said to himself. "Now, how would it +be----" and he looked upwards like one seeking an inspiration. It +seemed to come; perhaps the devil finding it open whispered in his +ear, at any rate--in a few seconds his plan was formed, and he was +walking through the bush to meet Maputa. + +"Go in peace, Chief," he said; "they seem to have treated you roughly +up yonder. Having no power to interfere, I came away for I could not +bear the sight. It is indeed shameful that an old and venerable man of +rank should be struck into the dirt, and beaten by a soldier drunk +with beer." + +"Shameful, White Man!" gasped Maputa; "your words are true indeed. But +wait a while. I, Maputa, will roll that stone over, I will throw that +bull upon its back. When next the harvest ripens, this I promise, that +neither Nahoon nor Umgona, nor any of his kraal shall be left to +gather it." + +"And how will you manage that, Maputa?" + +"I do not know, but I will find a way. Oh! I tell you, a way shall be +found." + +Hadden patted the pony's neck meditatively, then leaning forward, he +looked the chief in the eyes and said:-- + +"What will you give me, Maputa, if I show you that way, a sure and +certain one, whereby you may be avenged to the death upon Nahoon, +whose violence I also have seen, and upon Umgona, whose witchcraft +brought sore sickness upon me?" + +"What reward do you seek, White Man?" asked Maputa eagerly. + +"A little thing, Chief, a thing of no account, only the girl Nanea, to +whom as it chances I have taken a fancy." + +"I wanted her for myself, White Man, but he who sits at Ulundi has +laid his hand upon her." + +"That is nothing, Chief; I can arrange with him who 'sits at Ulundi.' +It is with you who are great here that I wish to come to terms. +Listen: if you grant my desire, not only will I fulfil yours upon your +foes, but when the girl is delivered into my hands I will give you +this rifle and a hundred rounds of cartridges." + +Maputa looked at the sporting Martini, and his eyes glistened. + +"It is good," he said; "it is very good. Often have I wished for such +a gun that will enable me to shoot game, and to talk with my enemies +from far away. Promise it to me, White Man, and you shall take the +girl if I can give her to you." + +"You swear it, Maputa?" + +"I swear it by the head of Chaka, and the spirits of my fathers." + +"Good. At dawn on the fourth day from now it is the purpose of Umgona, +his daughter Nanea, and Nahoon, to cross the river into Natal by the +drift that is called Crocodile Drift, taking their cattle with them +and flying from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they +know that I have learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried +to leave them. Now you who are chief of the border and guardian of +that drift, must hide at night with some men among the rocks in the +shallows of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will cross +driving the cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help +her; then will follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On +these two you must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and +afterwards I will give you the rifle." + +"What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?" + +"Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not +recognise her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at +first you feared to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men +and they should escape you." + +"Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you +are across the river?" + +"Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges +upon a stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch +them when I have driven over the cattle." + +"It is well, White Man; I will not fail you." + +So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points +of detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted. + +"That ought to come off all right," reflected Hadden to himself as he +plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, "but somehow I don't +quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could +have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle-- +a couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be +murder and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the +delivery to justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a +military country. Also personal interference upon my part might turn +the girl against me; while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out +by Maputa, she /must/ accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but +in every walk of life the most cautious have to take risks at times." + +As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his +coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own +kraal, he had come to the conclusion that the white man's plan, though +attractive in some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that +if the girl Nanea escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the +men he took with him to do the killing in the drift would suspect +something and talk. On the other hand he would earn much credit with +his majesty by revealing the plot, saying that he had learned it from +the lips of the white hunter, whom Umgona and Nahoon had forced to +participate in it, and of whose coveted rifle he must trust to chance +to possess himself. + +***** + +An hour later two discreet messengers were bounding across the plains, +bearing words from the Chief Maputa, the Warden of the Border, to the +"great Black Elephant" at Ulundi. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DOOM POOL + +Fortune showed itself strangely favourable to the plans of Nahoon and +Nanea. One of the Zulu captain's perplexities was as to how he should +lull the suspicions and evade the vigilance of his own companions, who +together with himself had been detailed by the king to assist Hadden +in his hunting and to guard against his escape. As it chanced, +however, on the day after the incident of the visit of Maputa, a +messenger arrived from no less a person than the great military +Induna, Tvingwayo ka Marolo, who afterwards commanded the Zulu army at +Isandhlwana, ordering these men to return to their regiment, the +Umcityu Corps, which was to be placed upon full war footing. +Accordingly Nahoon sent them, saying that he himself would follow with +Black Heart in the course of a few days, as at present the white man +was not sufficiently recovered from his hurts to allow of his +travelling fast and far. So the soldiers went, doubting nothing. + +Then Umgona gave it out that in obedience to the command of the king +he was about to start for Ulundi, taking with him his daughter Nanea +to be delivered over into the /Sigodhla/, and also those fifteen head +of cattle that had been /lobola'd/ by Nahoon in consideration of his +forthcoming marriage, whereof he had been fined by Cetywayo. Under +pretence that they required a change of veldt, the rest of his cattle +he sent away in charge of a Basuto herd who knew nothing of their +plans, telling him to keep them by the Crocodile Drift, as there the +grass was good and sweet. + +All preparations being completed, on the third day the party started, +heading straight for Ulundi. After they had travelled some miles, +however, they left the road and turning sharp to the right, passed +unobserved of any through a great stretch of uninhabited bush. Their +path now lay not far from the Pool of Doom, which, indeed, was close +to Umgona's kraal, and the forest that was called Home of the Dead, +but out of sight of these. It was their plan to travel by night, +reaching the broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following +morning. Here they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; +then, having first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to +cross the river at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least +this was the plan of his companions; but, as we know, Hadden had +another programme, whereon after one last appearance two of the party +would play no part. + +During that long afternoon's journey Umgona, who knew every inch of +the country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in +his hand a long travelling stick of black and white /umzimbeet/ wood, +for in truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey's end. +Next came Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his +moocha and necklet of baboon's teeth, and with him Nanea in her white +bead-bordered mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that +the girl seemed to be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for +from time to time she clasped her lover's arm, and looking up into his +face, addressed him with vehemence, almost with passion. + +Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was +shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in +this tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to +unravel the web of death which he himself had woven. But ever that +evil voice was whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the +white /Inkoos/, had been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he +found a way to save him, within some few hours she would be the wife +of the savage gentleman at her side, the man who had named him Black +Heart and who despised him, the man whom he had meant to murder and +who immediately repaid his treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of +the leopard at the risk of his own life. Moreover, it was a law of +Hadden's existence never to deny himself of anything that he desired +if it lay within his power to take it--a law which had led him always +deeper into sin. In other respects, indeed, it had not carried him +far, for in the past he had not desired much, and he had won little; +but this particular flower was to his hand, and he would pluck it. If +Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so much the worse for Nahoon, +and if it should wither in his grasp, so much the worse for the +flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it came about that, not +for the first time in his life, Philip Hadden discarded the somewhat +spasmodic prickings of conscience and listened to that evil whispering +at his ear. + +About half-past five o'clock in the afternoon the four refugees passed +the stream that a mile or so down fell over the little precipice into +the Doom Pool; and, entering a patch of thorn trees on the further +side, walked straight into the midst of two-and-twenty soldiers, who +were beguiling the tedium of expectancy by the taking of snuff and the +smoking of /dakka/ or native hemp. With these soldiers, seated on his +pony, for he was too fat to walk, waited the Chief Maputa. + +Observing that their expected guests had arrived, the men knocked out +the /dakka/ pipe, replaced the snuff boxes in the slits made in the +lobes of their ears, and secured the four of them. + +"What is the meaning of this, O King's soldiers?" asked Umgona in a +quavering voice. "We journey to the kraal of U'Cetywayo; why do you +molest us?" + +"Indeed. Wherefore then are your faces set towards the south. Does the +Black One live in the south? Well, you will journey to another kraal +presently," answered the jovial-looking captain of the party with a +callous laugh. + +"I do not understand," stammered Umgona. + +"Then I will explain while you rest," said the captain. "The Chief +Maputa yonder sent word to the Black One at Ulundi that he had learned +of your intended flight to Natal from the lips of this white man, who +had warned him of it. The Black One was angry, and despatched us to +catch you and make an end of you. That is all. Come on now, quietly, +and let us finish the matter. As the Doom Pool is near, your deaths +will be easy." + +Nahoon heard the words, and sprang straight at the throat of Hadden; +but he did not reach it, for the soldiers pulled him down. Nanea heard +them also, and turning, looked the traitor in the eyes; she said +nothing, she only looked, but he could never forget that look. The +white man for his part was filled with a fiery indignation against +Maputa. + +"You wicked villain," he gasped, whereat the chief smiled in a sickly +fashion, and turned away. + +Then they were marched along the banks of the stream till they reached +the waterfall that fell into the Pool of Doom. + +Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he +gazed into that abyss. + +"Are you going to throw me in there?" he asked of the Zulu captain in +a thick voice. + +"You, White Man?" replied the soldier unconcernedly. "No, our orders +are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not +know. There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he +means to pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or +to peg you over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men." + +Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his +brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of +escape. + +By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over +the waters of the pool. + +"Who dives first," asked the captain of the Chief Maputa. + +"The old wizard," he replied, nodding at Umgona; "then his daughter +after him, and last of all this fellow," and he struck Nahoon in the +face with his open hand. + +"Come on, Wizard," said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, "and +let us see how you can swim." + +At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after +the fashion of his race. + +"No need to lead me, soldier," he said, shaking himself loose, "who am +old and ready to die." Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung +Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt +walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here he +stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and +without a sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished. + +"That was a brave one," said the captain with admiration. "Can you +spring too, girl, or must we throw you?" + +"I can walk my father's path," Nanea answered faintly, "but first I +crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the +king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart +here who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why +he has betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, +and this is the vengeance that he takes--a white man's vengeance." + +"/Wow!/" broke in the chief Maputa, "this pretty one speaks truth, for +the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona, +the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the +Crocodile Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I +spoke him softly and said 'yes,' and then like a loyal man I reported +to the king." + +"You hear," sighed Nanea. "Nahoon, fare you well, though presently +perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your +duty. For my sake you forgot your honour, and I am repaid. Farewell, +my husband, it is better to die with you than to enter the house of +the king's women," and Nanea stepped on to the platform. + +Here, holding to a bough of one of the thorn trees, she turned and +addressed Hadden, saying:-- + +"Black Heart, you seem to have won the day, but me at least you lose +and--the sun is not yet set. After sunset comes the night, Black +Heart, and in that night I pray that you may wander eternally, and be +given to drink of my blood and the blood of Umgona my father, and the +blood of Nahoon my husband, who saved your life, and whom you have +murdered. Perchance, Black Heart, we may yet meet yonder--in the House +of the Dead." + +Then uttering a low cry Nanea clasped her hands and sprang upwards and +outwards from the platform. The watchers bent their heads forward to +look. They saw her rush headlong down the face of the fall to strike +the water fifty feet below. A few seconds, and for the last time, they +caught sight of her white garment glimmering on the surface of the +gloomy pool. Then the shadows and mist-wreaths hid it, and she was +gone. + +"Now, husband," cried the cheerful voice of the captain, "yonder is +your marriage bed, so be swift to follow a bride who is so ready to +lead the way. /Wow!/ but you are good people to kill; never have I had +to do with any who gave less trouble. You----" and he stopped, for +mental agony had done its work, and suddenly Nahoon went mad before +his eyes. + +With a roar like that of a lion the great man cast off those who held +him and seizing one of them round the waist and thigh, he put out all +his terrible strength. Lifting him as though he had been an infant, he +hurled him over the edge of the cliff to find his death on the rocks +of the Pool of Doom. Then crying:-- + +"Black Heart! your turn, Black Heart the traitor!" he rushed at +Hadden, his eyes rolling and foam flying from his lips, as he passed +striking the chief Maputa from his horse with a backward blow of his +hand. Ill would it have gone with the white man if Nahoon had caught +him. But he could not come at him, for the soldiers sprang upon him +and notwithstanding his fearful struggles they pulled him to the +ground, as at certain festivals the Zulu regiments with their naked +hands pull down a bull in the presence of the king. + +"Cast him over before he can work more mischief," said a voice. But +the captain cried out, "Nay, nay, he is sacred; the fire from Heaven +has fallen on his brain, and we may not harm him, else evil would +overtake us all. Bind him hand and foot, and bear him tenderly to +where he can be cared for. Surely I thought that these evil-doers were +giving us too little trouble, and thus it has proved." + +So they set themselves to make fast Nahoon's hands and wrists, using +as much gentleness as they might, for among the Zulus a lunatic is +accounted holy. It was no easy task, and it took time. + +Hadden glanced around him, and saw his opportunity. On the ground +close beside him lay his rifle, where one of the soldiers had placed +it, and about a dozen yards away Maputa's pony was grazing. With a +swift movement, he seized the Martini and five seconds later he was on +the back of the pony, heading for the Crocodile Drift at a gallop. So +quickly indeed did he execute this masterly retreat, that occupied as +they all were in binding Nahoon, for half a minute or more none of the +soldiers noticed what had happened. Then Maputa chanced to see, and +waddled after him to the top of the rise, screaming:-- + +"The white thief, he has stolen my horse, and the gun too, the gun +that he promised to give me." + +Hadden, who by this time was a hundred yards away, heard him clearly, +and a rage filled his heart. This man had made an open murderer of +him; more, he had been the means of robbing him of the girl for whose +sake he had dipped his hands in these iniquities. He glanced over his +shoulder; Maputa was still running, and alone. Yes, there was time; at +any rate he would risk it. + +Pulling up the pony with a jerk, he leapt from its back, slipping his +arm through the rein with an almost simultaneous movement. As it +chanced, and as he had hoped would be the case, the animal was a +trained shooting horse, and stood still. Hadden planted his feet +firmly on the ground and drawing a deep breath, he cocked the rifle +and covered the advancing chief. Now Maputa saw his purpose and with a +yell of terror turned to fly. Hadden waited a second to get the sight +fair on his broad back, then just as the soldiers appeared above the +rise he pressed the trigger. He was a noted shot, and in this instance +his skill did not fail him; for, before he heard the bullet tell, +Maputa flung his arms wide and plunged to the ground dead. + +Three seconds more, and with a savage curse, Hadden had remounted the +pony and was riding for his life towards the river, which a while +later he crossed in safety. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GHOST OF THE DEAD + +When Nanea leapt from the dizzy platform that overhung the Pool of +Doom, a strange fortune befell her. Close in to the precipice were +many jagged rocks, and on these the waters of the fall fell and +thundered, bounding from them in spouts of spray into the troubled +depths of the foss beyond. It was on these stones that the life was +dashed out from the bodies of the wretched victims who were hurled +from above. But Nanea, it will be remembered, had not waited to be +treated thus, and as it chanced the strong spring with which she had +leapt to death carried her clear of the rocks. By a very little she +missed the edge of them and striking the deep water head first like +some practised diver, she sank down and down till she thought that she +would never rise again. Yet she did rise, at the end of the pool in +the mouth of the rapid, along which she sped swiftly, carried down by +the rush of the water. Fortunately there were no rocks here; and, +since she was a skilful swimmer, she escaped the danger of being +thrown against the banks. + +For a long distance she was borne thus till at length she saw that she +was in a forest, for trees cut off the light from the water, and their +drooping branches swept its surface. One of these Nanea caught with +her hand, and by the help of it she dragged herself from the River of +Death whence none had escaped before. Now she stood upon the bank +gasping but quite unharmed; there was not a scratch on her body; even +her white garment was still fast about her neck. + +But though she had suffered no hurt in her terrible voyage, so +exhausted was Nanea that she could scarcely stand. Here the gloom was +that of night, and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find +some refuge. Close to the water's edge grew an enormous yellow-wood +tree, and to this she staggered--thinking to climb it, and seek +shelter in its boughs where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild +beasts. Again fortune befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet +from the ground there was a great hole in the tree which, she +discovered, was hollow. Into this hole she crept, taking her chance of +its being the home of snakes or other evil creatures, to find that the +interior was wide and warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the +cavity lay a foot or more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by +rats or birds. Upon this tinder she lay down, and covering herself +with the moss and leaves soon sank into sleep or stupor. + +How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened +by a sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she +could not understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole +in the tree. It was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their +light fell upon an open circle of ground close by the edge of the +river. In this circle there burned a great fire, and at a little +distance from the fire were gathered eight or ten horrible-looking +beings, who appeared to be rejoicing over something that lay upon the +ground. They were small in stature, men and women together, but no +children, and all of them were nearly naked. Their hair was long and +thin, growing down almost to the eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded +and the girth of their black bodies was out of all proportion to their +height. In their hands they held sticks with sharp stones lashed on to +them, or rude hatchet-like knives of the same material. + +Now Nanea's heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear, +for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt +these were the /Esemkofu/, the evil ghosts that dwelt therein. Yes, +that was what they were, and yet she could not take her eyes off them +--the sight of them held her with a horrible fascination. But if they +were ghosts, why did they sing and dance like men? Why did they wave +those sharp stones aloft, and quarrel and strike each other? And why +did they make a fire as men do when they wish to cook food? More, what +was it that they rejoiced over, that long dark thing which lay so +quiet upon the ground? It did not look like a head of game, and it +could scarcely be a crocodile, yet clearly it was food of some sort, +for they were sharpening the stone knives in order to cut it up. + +While she wondered thus, one of the dreadful-looking little creatures +advanced to the fire, and taking from it a burning bough, held it over +the thing that lay upon the ground, to give light to a companion who +was about to do something to it with the stone knife. Next instant +Nanea drew back her head from the hole, a stifled shriek upon her +lips. She saw what it was now--it was the body of a man. Yes, and +these were no ghosts; they were cannibals of whom when she was little, +her mother had told her tales to keep her from wandering away from +home. + +But who was the man they were about to eat? It could not be one of +themselves, for his stature was much greater. Oh! now she knew; it +must be Nahoon, who had been killed up yonder, and whose dead body the +waters had brought down to the haunted forest as they had brought her +alive. Yes, it must be Nahoon, and she would be forced to see her +husband devoured before her eyes. The thought of it overwhelmed her. +That he should die by order of the king was natural, but that he +should be buried thus! Yet what could she do to prevent it? Well, if +it cost her her life, it should be prevented. At the worst they could +only kill and eat her also, and now that Nahoon and her father were +gone, being untroubled by any religious or spiritual hopes and fears, +she was not greatly concerned to keep her own breath in her. + +Slipping through the hole in the tree, Nanea walked quietly towards +the cannibals--not knowing in the least what she should do when she +reached them. As she arrived in line with the fire this lack of +programme came home to her mind forcibly, and she paused to reflect. +Just then one of the cannibals looked up to see a tall and stately +figure wrapped in a white garment which, as the flame-light flickered +on it, seemed now to advance from the dense background of shadow, and +now to recede into it. The poor savage wretch was holding a stone +knife in his teeth when he beheld her, but it did not remain there +long, for opening his great jaws he uttered the most terrified and +piercing yell that Nanea had ever heard. Then the others saw her also, +and presently the forest was ringing with shrieks of fear. For a few +seconds the outcasts stood and gazed, then they were gone this way and +that, bursting their path through the undergrowth like startled +jackals. The /Esemkofu/ of Zulu tradition had been routed in their own +haunted home by what they took to be a spirit. + +Poor /Esemkofu!/ they were but miserable and starving bushmen who, +driven into that place of ill omen many years ago, had adopted this +means, the only one open to them, to keep the life in their wretched +bodies. Here at least they were unmolested, and as there was little +other food to be found amid that wilderness of trees, they took what +the river brought them. When executions were few in the Pool of Doom, +times were hard for them indeed--for then they were driven to eat each +other. That is why there were no children. + +As their inarticulate outcry died away in the distance, Nanea ran +forward to look at the body that lay on the ground, and staggered back +with a sigh of relief. It was not Nahoon, but she recognised the face +for that of one of the party of executioners. How did he come here? +Had Nahoon killed him? Had Nahoon escaped? She could not tell, and at +the best it was improbable, but still the sight of this dead soldier +lit her heart with a faint ray of hope, for how did he come to be dead +if Nahoon had no hand in his death? She could not bear to leave him +lying so near her hiding-place, however; therefore, with no small +toil, she rolled the corpse back into the water, which carried it +swiftly away. Then she returned to the tree, having first replenished +the fire, and awaited the light. + +At last it came--so much of it as ever penetrated this darksome den-- +and Nanea, becoming aware that she was hungry, descended from the tree +to search for food. All day long she searched, finding nothing, till +towards sunset she remembered that on the outskirts of the forest +there was a flat rock where it was the custom of those who had been in +any way afflicted, or who considered themselves or their belongings to +be bewitched, to place propitiatory offerings of food wherewith the +/Esemkofu/ and /Amalhosi/ were supposed to satisfy their spiritual +cravings. Urged by the pinch of starvation, to this spot Nanea +journeyed rapidly, and found to her joy that some neighbouring kraal +had evidently been in recent trouble, for the Rock of Offering was +laden with cobs of corn, gourds of milk, porridge and even meat. +Helping herself to as much as she could carry, she returned to her +lair, where she drank of the milk and cooked meat and mealies at the +fire. Then she crept back into the tree, and slept. + +For nearly two months Nanea lived thus in the forest, since she could +not venture out of it--fearing lest she should be seized, and for a +second time taste of the judgment of the king. In the forest at least +she was safe, for none dared enter there, nor did the /Esemkofu/ give +her further trouble. Once or twice she saw them, but on each occasion +they fled from her presence--seeking some distant retreat, where they +hid themselves or perished. Nor did food fail her, for finding that it +was taken, the pious givers brought it in plenty to the Rock of +Offering. + +But, oh! the life was dreadful, and the gloom and loneliness coupled +with her sorrows at times drove her almost to insanity. Still she +lived on, though often she desired to die, for if her father was dead, +the corpse she had found was not the corpse of Nahoon, and in her +heart there still shone that spark of home. Yet what she hoped for she +could not tell. + +***** + +When Philip Hadden reached civilised regions, he found that war was +about to be declared between the Queen and Cetywayo, King of the +Amazulu; also that in the prevailing excitement his little adventure +with the Utrecht store-keeper had been overlooked or forgotten. He was +the owner of two good buck-waggons with spans of salted oxen, and at +that time vehicles were much in request to carry military stores for +the columns which were to advance into Zululand; indeed the transport +authorities were glad to pay 90 a month for the hire of each waggon +and to guarantee the owners against all loss of cattle. Although he +was not desirous of returning to Zululand, this bait proved too much +for Hadden, who accordingly leased out his waggons to the +Commissariat, together with his own services as conductor and +interpreter. + +He was attached to No. 3 column of the invading force, which it may be +remembered was under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford, and on +the 20th of January, 1879, he marched with it by the road that runs +from Rorke's Drift to the Indeni forest, and encamped that night +beneath the shadow of the steep and desolate mountain known as +Isandhlwana. + +That day also a great army of King Cetywayo's, numbering twenty +thousand men and more, moved down from the Upindo Hill and camped upon +the stony plain that lies a mile and a half to the east of +Isandhlwana. No fires were lit, and it lay there in utter silence, for +the warriors were "sleeping on their spears." + +With that /impi/ was the Umcityu regiment, three thousand five hundred +strong. At the first break of dawn the Induna in command of the +Umcityu looked up from beneath the shelter of the black shield with +which he had covered his body, and through the thick mist he saw a +great man standing before him, clothed only in a moocha, a gaunt wild- +eyed man who held a rough club in his hand. When he was spoken to, the +man made no answer; he only leaned upon his club looking from left to +right along the dense array of innumerable shields. + +"Who is this /Silwana/ (wild creature)?" asked the Induna of his +captains wondering. + +The captains stared at the wanderer, and one of them replied, "This is +Nahoon-ka-Zomba, it is the son of Zomba who not long ago held rank in +this regiment of the Umcityu. His betrothed, Nanea, daughter of +Umgona, was killed together with her father by order of the Black One, +and Nahoon went mad with grief at the sight of it, for the fire of +Heaven entered his brain, and mad he has wandered ever since." + +"What would you here, Nahoon-ka-Zomba?" asked the Induna. + +Then Nahoon spoke slowly. "My regiment goes down to war against the +white men; give me a shield and a spear, O Captain of the king, that I +may fight with my regiment, for I seek a face in the battle." + +So they gave him a shield and a spear, for they dared not turn away +one whose brain was alight with the fire of Heaven. + +***** + +When the sun was high that day, bullets began to fall among the ranks +of the Umcityu. Then the black-shielded, black-plumed Umcityu arose, +company by company, and after them arose the whole vast Zulu army, +breast and horns together, and swept down in silence upon the doomed +British camp, a moving sheen of spears. The bullets pattered on the +shields, the shells tore long lines through their array, but they +never halted or wavered. Forward on either side shot out the horns of +armed men, clasping the camp in an embrace of steel. Then as these +began to close, out burst the war cry of the Zulus, and with the roar +of a torrent and the rush of a storm, with a sound like the humming of +a billion bees, wave after wave the deep breast of the /impi/ rolled +down upon the white men. With it went the black-shielded Umcityu and +with them went Nahoon, the son of Zomba. A bullet struck him in the +side, glancing from his ribs, he did not heed; a white man fell from +his horse before him, he did not stab, for he sought but one face in +the battle. + +He sought--and at last he found. There, among the waggons where the +spears were busiest, there standing by his horse and firing rapidly +was Black Heart, he who had given Nanea his betrothed to death. Three +soldiers stood between them, one of them Nahoon stabbed, and two he +brushed aside; then he rushed straight at Hadden. + +But the white man saw him come, and even through the mask of his +madness he knew Nahoon again, and terror took hold of him. Throwing +away his empty rifle, for his ammunition was spent, he leaped upon his +horse and drove his spurs into its flanks. Away it went among the +carnage, springing over the dead and bursting through the lines of +shields, and after it came Nahoon, running long and low with head +stretched forward and trailing spear, running as a hound runs when the +buck is at view. + +Hadden's first plan was to head for Rorke's Drift, but a glance to the +left showed him that the masses of the Undi barred that way, so he +fled straight on, leaving his path to fortune. In five minutes he was +over a ridge, and there was nothing of the battle to be seen, in ten +all sounds of it had died away, for few guns were fired in the dread +race to Fugitive's Drift, and the assegai makes no noise. In some +strange fashion, even at this moment, the contrast between the +dreadful scene of blood and turmoil that he had left, and the peaceful +face of Nature over which he was passing, came home to his brain +vividly. Here birds sang and cattle grazed; here the sun shone +undimmed by the smoke of cannon, only high up in the blue and silent +air long streams of vultures could be seen winging their way to the +Plain of Isandhlwana. + +The ground was very rough, and Hadden's horse began to tire. He looked +over his shoulder--there some two hundred yards behind came the Zulu, +grim as Death, unswerving as Fate. He examined the pistol in his belt; +there was but one undischarged cartridge left, all the rest had been +fired and the pouch was empty. Well, one bullet should be enough for +one savage: the question was should he stop and use it now? No, he +might miss or fail to kill the man; he was on horseback and his foe on +foot, surely he could tire him out. + +A while passed, and they dashed through a little stream. It seemed +familiar to Hadden. Yes, that was the pool where he used to bathe when +he was the guest of Umgona, the father of Nanea; and there on the +knoll to his right were the huts, or rather the remains of them, for +they had been burnt with fire. What chance had brought him to this +place, he wondered; then again he looked behind him at Nahoon, who +seemed to read his thoughts, for he shook his spear and pointed to the +ruined kraal. + +On he went at speed for here the land was level, and to his joy he +lost sight of his pursuer. But presently there came a mile of rocky +ground, and when it was past, glancing back he saw that Nahoon was +once more in his old place. His horse's strength was almost spent, but +Hadden spurred it forward blindly, whither he knew not. Now he was +travelling along a strip of turf and ahead of him he heard the music +of a river, while to his left rose a high bank. Presently the turf +bent inwards and there, not twenty yards away from him, was a Kaffir +hut standing on the brink of a river. He looked at it, yes, it was the +hut of that accursed /inyanga/, the Bee, and standing by the fence of +it was none other than the Bee herself. At the sight of her the +exhausted horse swerved violently, stumbled and came to the ground, +where it lay panting. Hadden was thrown from the saddle but sprang to +his feet unhurt. + +"Ah! Black Heart, is it you? What news of the battle, Black Heart?" +cried the Bee in a mocking voice. + +"Help me, mother, I am pursued," he gasped. + +"What of it, Black Heart, it is but by one tired man. Stand then and +face him, for now Black Heart and White Heart are together again. You +will not? Then away to the forest and seek shelter among the dead who +await you there. Tell me, tell me, was it the face of Nanea that I saw +beneath the waters a while ago? Good! bear my greetings to her when +you two meet in the House of the Dead." + +Hadden looked at the stream; it was in flood. He could not swim it, so +followed by the evil laugh of the prophetess, he sped towards the +forest. After him came Nahoon, his tongue hanging from his jaws like +the tongue of a wolf. + +Now he was in the shadow of the forest, but still he sped on following +the course of the river, till at length his breath failed, and he +halted on the further side of a little glade, beyond which a great +tree grew. Nahoon was more than a spear's throw behind him; therefore +he had time to draw his pistol and make ready. + +"Halt, Nahoon," he cried, as once before he had cried; "I would speak +with you." + +The Zulu heard his voice, and obeyed. + +"Listen," said Hadden. "We have run a long race and fought a long +fight, you and I, and we are still alive both of us. Very soon, if you +come on, one of us must be dead, and it will be you, Nahoon, for I am +armed and as you know I can shoot straight. What do you say?" + +Nahoon made no answer, but stood still at the edge of the glade, his +wild and glowering eyes fixed on the white man's face and his breath +coming in short gasps. + +"Will you let me go, if /I/ let /you/ go?" Hadden asked once more. "I +know why you hate me, but the past cannot be undone, nor can the dead +be brought to earth again." + +Still Nahoon made no answer, and his silence seemed more fateful and +more crushing than any speech; no spoken accusation would have been so +terrible in Hadden's ear. He made no answer, but lifting his assegai +he stalked grimly toward his foe. + +When he was within five paces Hadden covered him and fired. Nahoon +sprang aside, but the bullet struck him somewhere, for his right arm +dropped, and the stabbing spear that he held was jerked from it +harmlessly over the white man's head. But still making no sound, the +Zulu came on and gripped him by the throat with his left hand. For a +space they struggled terribly, swaying to and fro, but Hadden was +unhurt and fought with the fury of despair, while Nahoon had been +twice wounded, and there remained to him but one sound arm wherewith +to strike. Presently forced to earth by the white man's iron strength, +the soldier was down, nor could he rise again. + +"Now we will make an end," muttered Hadden savagely, and he turned to +seek the assegai, then staggered slowly back with starting eyes and +reeling gait. For there before him, still clad in her white robe, a +spear in her hand, stood the spirit of Nanea! + +"Think of it," he said to himself, dimly remembering the words of the +/inyanga/, "when you stand face to face with the ghost of the dead in +the Home of the Dead." + +There was a cry and a flash of steel; the broad spear leapt towards +him to bury itself in his breast. He swayed, he fell, and presently +Black Heart clasped that great reward which the word of the Bee had +promised Him. + +***** + +"Nahoon! Nahoon!" murmured a soft voice, "awake, it is no ghost, but I +--Nanea--I, your living wife, to whom my /Ehlose/[*] has given it me +to save you." + +[*] Guardian Spirit. + +Nahoon heard and opened his eyes to look and his madness left him. + +"Welcome, wife," he said faintly, "now I will live since Death has +brought you back to me in the House of the Dead." + +***** + +To-day Nahoon is one of the Indunas of the English Government in +Zululand, and there are children about his kraal. It was from the lips +of none other than Nanea his wife that the teller of this tale heard +its substance. + +The Bee also lives and practises as much magic as she dares under the +white man's rule. On her black hand shines a golden ring shaped like a +snake with ruby eyes, and of this trinket the Bee is very proud. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Black Heart and White Heart, by Haggard + diff --git a/old/bwhrt10.zip b/old/bwhrt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36ca7f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bwhrt10.zip |