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diff --git a/2842-h/2842-h.htm b/2842-h/2842-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66a98e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/2842-h/2842-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3654 @@ +<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Black Heart and White Heart, by H. 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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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