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I
NADA THE LTLY
i
JBT THE SAME AUTHOR
CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS
DAWN
THE ^T:TCH'S HEAD
KING SOLOMON'S MINES
SHE
JESS
ALLAN QUATEEMAIN
MAIWA'S REVENGE
MR. MEESON'S WILL
COLONEL QUARITCH, Y.C.
CLEOPATRA
ALLAN'S WIFE
BEATRICE
ERIC BRIGHTEYES
NADA THE LILY
MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER
THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST
(I.Y COLLABORATWy WITU AyOREW LAXG)
THE WORLD'S DESIRE
He lilted the spear and drove it do-^n between the shoulders.
t^;
I'ir.-i'jL,-" ^. ^ r I ZK'- 1 ■»*■>% ■
»
\AD
^
NADA THE LILY
BY
H. EIDER HAGGAED
AUTHOR OF 'KING SOLOMON "S MINES ' ' SHE ' 'ALLAN QUATERMAIN " ETC.
XEW EDITION
LONDON
LONGMANS, GEE EN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1895
All rights reserved
DEDICATION.
Sompseu :
For I will call i/ou htj the name that for fifty years has been honoured by every tribe between the Zambesi and Cape Ayulhas, — I greet you!
Sompseu., my father., I have ivritten a book that tells of men and matters of which you k?iow the most of any who still look ujjon the liyht ; therefore., I set your name u'ithin that book and., such as it is, I offer it to you.
If you knew not Chaka., you and he have seen the same suns shine, you kneiv his brother Paiida and his captains, and perhaps even that very Mopo ivho tells this tale, his servant, who sletv him ivith the Princes. You have seen the circle of the witch-doctors and the viiconquej'able Zulu impis rushing to war ; you have crotvned their kings and shared their counsels, and ivith your soil's blood you have expiated a statesman'' s error and a generaV s fault.
Sompseu, a song has been sung in my ears of hoiv first you mastered this pteople of the Zulu. Is it not true, my fuller, that for long hours you sat silent and alone, while three thousand warriors shouted for your life? And when they grew iceary, did you not stand and say, point- ing towards the ocean : " Kill me if you wish, men of Cetywayo, but I tell you that for every drop of my blood a hundred avengers shall rise from yonder sea!'''
Then, so it iras told me, the regiments turned staring towards the Black Water, as though the day of Ulundi had ilready come and they saw the ichite slayers creeping across the plains.
Thus, Sompseu, your name became great among the people of the Zulu, as already it was great among many
viii DEDICATION
another tribe, and their nobles did you homage, and they gave you the Bayete, the royal salute, declaring by the mouth of their Council that in you dwelt the spirit of CliaJca.
Many years have gone by since then, a7id noiv you are old, my father. It is many years even since I was a boy, and followed you ivhen you went up among the Boers and took their country for the Queen.
Why did you do this, my father? I will ansiver, ivho know the truth.. You did it because, had it not been done, the Zulus would have stamped out the Boers. Were riot Cetywayo's impis gathered against the land, and ivas it not because it became the Queen''s land that at your word he sent them murmuring to their kraals?^ To save blood- shed you annexed the country beyond the Vaal. Perhaps it had been better to leave it, since '•'' Death chooses for himself,^'' and after all there was killing — of our oivn peo- ple, and with the killing, shame. But in those days ive did not guess ivhat we should live to see, and of Majuba u'e thought only as a little hill!
Enemies have borne false witness against you on this matter, Sompseu, you ivlio never erred except through over kindness. Yet zvhat does that avail? When you have '''■gone beyond ^^ it loill be forgotten, since the sting of ingratitude passes and lies must ivither like the tvinter veldt. Only your name will not be forgotten ; as it was heard in life so it shall be heard in story, and I pray that, however humbly, mine may pass down ivith it. Chance has taken me by another path, and I must leave the ivays of action that Hove and bury myself in books, but the old days and friends are in my mind, nor while I have memory shall I forget them and you.
Tlicrefore, though it be for the last time, from far across the seas I speak to you, and lifting my hand I give you your "Sibonga"^ and that royal salute, to which, 7ioiv
1 " I thank my father Sompseu for his message. I am j;lad that he has sent it, Ijei-ause the Dutch have tired me out, and I intended to liy;lit tlieni once and once only, and to drive them over the Vaal. Kahana, yon see my imi>is are gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called Ihcm together; now I send them hack to their homes." — Mkssauk i'Kom Cktywayo to Sir T. Shkpstoxr, Aim:il, 1S77.
- Titles of praise.
DEDICATION ix
tliat its kini/s are f/one and the '■''People of Heaven " are no more a nation^ with Her 3Iajestij you are alone entitled : —
Baijetc ! Baha, Nkosi ya makosi I N<ionyama ! Indhlovii ai pendulwa /
Wcn^ 0 wa vela ivasi pata /
Wen' 0 iva hluV izizive zonke za patwa nyuive !
Wa geina mje la Mahun o wa ha hluV u yedwa!
Umsizi tve zintandane e zihlupekayo ! Si ya kuleka Baha ! Bayete^ T'Sompsen ! ^
a)id farewell !
II. RIDER HAGGARD.
To SiK TiiF.oPHiLu.s Sii?:pstoxk, K.C.^I.G., Natal. 13 September, 1S91.
1 Bnyete, Father, Chief of Chiefs ! Lion ! Elephant that is not turned ! You who nursed us from of old !
Yon who overshadowed all peoples and took char;.'e of them, And ended hy mastering the Boers with j'our single strength ! Help of the fatherless when in trouhle ! Salutation to yon. Father ! A'.///('7,', ( ) Sumpseu 1
PEEFACE.
The writer of this romance has been encouraged in his task by a purpose somewhat beyond that of the setting out of. a wild tale of savage life. When he was yet a lad, — now some seventeen years ago, — fortu.ne took him to South Africa. There he was thrown in with men who, for thirty or forty years, had been intimately acquainted with the Zulu people, with their history, their heroes, and their customs. From these he heard many tales and traditions, some of which, perhaps, are rareh' told nowadays, and in time to come may cease to be told altogether. Then the Zulus were still a nation ; now that nation has been de- stroyed, and the aim of its white rulers is to root out the warlike spirit for which it was remarkable, and to replace it by a spirit of peaceful progress. The Zulu military organization, perhaps the most wonderful in its way that the world has seen, is already a thing of the past ; it per- ished at Ulundi. It was Chaka who invented that organi- zation, building it up from the smallest beginnings. When he appeared at the commencement of this century, it was as the ruler of a single small tribe; when he fell, in the year 1828, beneath the assegais of his brothers, Umhlangana and Dingaan, and of his servant, Mopo or Umbopo, as he is also called, all south-eastern Africa was at his feet, and it is said that in his march to power he had slaughtered more than a million human beings.^ An attempt has been made
1 At the commeucement of the present century the population of south- eastern Africa was, comparatively speaking, dense. Chaka thinned it. — Author.
xii PHE1ALE.
in these pages to set out the true character of this colossal genius and most evil man, — a Xapoleon and a Tiberius in one, — and also that of his brother and successor, Dingaan, so no more need be said of them here. The author's aim, moreover, has been to convey, in a narrative form, some idea of the remarkable spirit which animated these kings and their subjects, and to make accessible, in a popular shape, incidents of African history which are now, for the most part, only to be found in a few scarce works of refer- ence, rarely consulted, except by students.
It is obvious that such a task has presented difficulties, since he who undertakes it must for a time forget his civili- zation, and think with the mind, and speak with the voice of a Zulu of the old ref/ime. All the horrors perpetrated by the Zulu tryants cannot be published in this polite age of melanite and torpedoes ; their details therefore have been suppressed. Still much remains, and those who think it wrong that massacre and fighting should be written of, — except by special correspondents, — or that the sufferings of mankind beneath one of the world's most cruel tyrannies should form the groundwork of romance, may be invited to leave this book unread.
Most, indeed nearly all, of the historical incidents here recorded are true in substance. Thus it is said that Chaka did kill his mother, Unandi, for the reason given, and de- stroy an entire tribe in the Tatiyana cleft, and that he prophesied of the coming of the white man after receiving his death wounds. Of the incident of the ^Missionary and the furnace of logs, it is impossible to speak so certainly. It came to the writer from the lips of an old traveller in ' the Zulu ' ; but he cannot discover any confirmation of it. Still, these kings undoubtedly put their soldiers to many tests of equal severity. Umbopo, or ]Mopo, as lie is named in this tale, actually lived. After he had stabbed Chaka, he rose to great eminence. Then he disappears from the scene, but it is not accurately known whether he also went " the Avay of the assegai," or perhaps, as is here suggested, came to live near Stanger inider the name of Zweete. The fate of tlic two lovers at the mouth of tlie cave is a
I'llllFAcE. xiii
tnie Zulu tak', which has been considerably varied to suit tlu-i purposes of this romance. The late Mr. Leslie, who died in 1S74, tells it in his i)osthumous and privately printed book " Among the Zulus and Amatongas." " I heard a story the other day," he says, "which, if the power of writing fiction were possessed by me, I might have Avorked up into a first-class sensational novel." It is the story that has been woven into the plot of this book. To him also the Avriter is indebted for the artifice by which Umslopogaas obtained admission to the Swazi stronghold ; it was told to Mr. Leslie by the Zulu who performed the feat and thereby won a wife. Also the writer's thanks are due to his friends ^Iv. F. B. Fynney,^ formerly Zulu border agent, for much information given to him in bygone years by word of mouth, and more recently through his pam- phlet " Zululand and the Zulus," and Mr. John Bird, lately treasurer to the Government of Xatal, whose comjjilation, "The Annals of Xatal," is invaluable to all who would study the early histor}- of that colony and of Zululand.
As for the wilder and more romantic incidents of this storj", snch as the hunting of Umslopogaas and Galazi with the Avolves, or rather with the hvcenas, — for there are no true wolves in Zululand, — the author can only say that they seem to him of a sort that might well have been mythically con- nected with the names of those heroes. Similar beliefs and traditions are common in the records of primitive peoples, as in the Yolsunga Saga. The club "Watcher of the Fords," or, to give its Zulu name, U-nothloIa-mazibuJco, is an histor- ical weapon, chronicled by Bishop Callaway. It was once owned by a certain XJndhlebekazizwa. He was an arbitrary person, for "no matter what was discussed in our village, he would bring it to a conclusion with a stick." But he made a good end ; for when the Zulu soldiers attacked him, he killed no less than twent}' of them with the Watcher, and the spears stuck in him "as thick as reeds in the morass." This man's strength was so great that he could kill a leopard "like a fly." with his hands only, much as Umslopogaas slew the traitor in this story.
1 1 grieve to state that I must now say " the hite Mr. F. 13. Fyiiney."
xiv PRE FA CE.
Perhaps it may be allowable to add a few words about the Zulu mysticism, magic, and suj)erstition, to which there is some allusion iu this romance. It has been little if at all exaggerated. Thus the writer well remembers hearing a legend that told how the Guardian Spirit of the Ama-Zulu Avas seen riding down the storm. This is what ]\fr. Fynney says of her in the pamphlet to which reference has been made : "The natives have a spirit which they call Noiiikuhul- icana, or the Inkosazana-ye-Zuhi (the Princess of Heaven). She is said to be robed in white, and to take the form of a young maiden, in fact an angel. She is said to appear to some chosen person, to whom she imparts some revelation ; but, whatever that revelation may be, it is kept a profound secret from outsiders. I remember that, just before the Zulu, war, Nomkiibulwana appeared, revealing something or other which had a great effect throughout the land, and I know that the Zulus were quite impressed that some calamity was about to befall them. One of the ominous signs was that fire is said to have descended from heaven, and ignited the grass over the graves of the former kings of Zululand. ... On another occasion Xomkubulwana appeared to some one in Zululand, the result of that visit being, that the native women biiried their young children up to their heads in sand, deserting them for the time being, going away weeping, but returning at nightfall to unearth the little ones again."
For this divine personage, therefore, there is authority, and the same may be said of most of the supernatural mat- ters spoken of in these pages. The exact spiritual position held in the Zulu mind by the Umkulunkulu, — the Old — Old, — the Great — Great, — the Lord of Heaven, — is a more vexed question, and for its proper consideration the reader must be referred to Bishop Callaway's work, " The Religious System of the Amazulu." Briefly, Umkidun- kulu's character seems to vary from the idea of an ancestral spirit, or the spirit of an ancestor, to that of a god. In the case of an able and highly intelligent person like the Mopo of this story, the ideal probably would not be a low one;
PREFACE. XV
therefore he is made to speak of Uiukuluiikiihi as the Great Spirit, or God.
It only remains for the writer to express his regret that this tale is not more varied in its hue. It would have been desirable to introduce some gayer and more happy incidents. But this has not been possible. It is believed that the picture given of the times is a faithful one, though it may be open to correction in some of its details. At the least, the aged man who tells the story of his wrongs and vengeance coidd not be expected to treat his subject in an optimistic or even in a cheerful vein.
CONTENTS.
Dedication
Preface
Introduction ....
I. The Boy Ciiaka Proi-hesies
II. Mopo IS IN Trolble .
III. Mopo ventlres Home.
IV. The Flight of Mopo and Baleica V. Mopo becomes the King's Doctor
VI. The Birth of Umslopogaas
VII. Umslopogaas answers the King
VIII. The Great Ingomboco
IX. The Loss of Umslopogaas .
X. The Trial of Mopo .
XI. The Counsel of Baleka .
XII. The Tale of Galazi the Wolf
XIII. Galazi becomes King of the Wolve
XIV. The Wolf-Brethren . XV. The Death of the KiNir> Slavers
XVI. Umslopogaas ventlres out to win the Axe
XVII. Umslopogaas becomes Chief of the People o Axe ......
XVIII. The Curse of Baleka
XIX. Masilo comes to the Kraal Duguza
XX. Mopo bargains with the Princes
XXI. The Death of Chaka
XXII. ^lOPO GOES TO SEEK THE SLAUGHTERER
XXIII. MoPO REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE SLAUGHTERER
11 17
37
46
53
64
72
83
91
101
112
110
125
132 140 152 160 168 177 185
CONTENTS.
PAGE
XXIV. The Slaying of the Boers lUo
XXV. The AVar -with the IIalakazi People . . . 205
XXVI. The Finding of Nada 215
XXVII. The Stamping of the Fire 223
XXVIII. The Lily is brought to Dingaan .... 231
XXIX. ^lopo tells his Tale ...... 238
XXX. The Coming of Nada 24(3
XXXI. The "War of the AVomen 2-33
XXXII. ZiNiTA comes to the King 2'J3
XXXIII. The End of the People, Black and Grey . . 270
XXXIV. The Lily's Farewell 282
XXXV. The Vengeance of Mopo and his Fosterling . 287
XXXVI. :Mop() ends his Tale 292
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
.\ND DKOVE IT DOWN BETWEKN
He lifted the speau . the shoulders
Then tue old max told hiji the tale that is set oui
HERE .........
WiEE OF A DOG OF A ZCLC . . . BEGONE ! .
BaLEKA LOOKED UP, AND GAVTi A CRY OP FEAR .
I DID UP THE BUNDLE FAST — FAST
I SMELL OUT THE HeAVENS AB0\-E JIE . . .
And so, f.uiewell
I swEAK IT, 0 King ! I sweak it by thy he.uj
He ran in upon her, .ocd smote her on the i{e\i>
now i knew that i h.u> no more to fe.\r, for i was king of the ghost -wolves
The GHOST-WOLVES .VKE AT HAND, DAMSEL
A RUSH, A LIGHT OF DOWNWARD FALLING STEEL
0 ! PEOPLE OF THE LaNGENI TRIBE ... I AM AVENGED
UPON YOU .
1 GAVE IT TO BOTH OF YOU, 0 TWIN ST.VKS OF THE MORN-
ING . -. . IN TUE DREAM OF Ch.\KA I GAVE IT TO BOTH
OF YOU ......
I SHOOK MY WITHERED HAND BEFORE HIM Oh ! MY FATHER, I THOUGHT YOU DEAD
They smite upwards . . . but he has swept over them like a swooping bird
How ARE YOU NAMED, WHO ARE SO F.UR ?
Take thy servant. King : surely he ' sleeps in thy
SHADOW '
CtALAZI sat on THE L.U> OF THE StONE WiTCH . . . GrEY
SNOUT WHINED AT HIS SIDE ..... I HAVE MADE ME A MAT OF JIEN TO SLEEP ON .
VICTORY 1 VICTORY :
Then it quivered, .and was still for ever That was the end of Dingaan, my father .
Frontispiece
to face I). 4
8
24
r,2 72 82 92
„ 112 126 131
154
166 172 192
210 216
234
266
282
„ 288
292
NADA THE LILY.
IXTRODUCTIOX.
Some years since — it was during the winter before the Ziihi War — a White ]\[an was travelling through Xatal. His name does not matter, for he plays no part in this story. With him were two wagons laden with goods, which he was transporting to Pretoria. The w'eather was cold and there was little or no grass for the oxen, which made the journey difficult ; but he had been tempted to it by the high rates of transport that prevailed at this season of the j'ear, which would remunerate him for an}" probable loss he might suffer in cattle. So he pushed along on his journey, and all went Avell until he had passed the little town of Stanger, once the site of Duguza, the kraal of Chaka, the first Zulu king and the uncle of Cetywayo. The night after he left Stanger the air turned bitterly cold, heavy grey clouds filled the sk}-, and hid the light of the stars.
" Xow if I were not in Xatal, I should say that there was a heavy fall of snow coming," said the White ]\[an to himself. "I have often seen the sk}^ look like that in Scotland before snow." Then he reflected that there had been no deep snow in Xatal for years, and, having drunk a '•'tot" of square face and smoked his pipe, he went to bed beneath the after-tent of his larger wagon.
During the night he was awakened by a sense of bitter cold and the low moaning of the oxen that were tied to i\..e trek-tow, every ox in its place. He thrust his head through the curtain of the tent and looked out. The earth was white with snow, and the air was full of it, swept along by a cutting wind.
2 NAD A THE LILY
Xow he sprang up, huddling on his clothes and as he did so calling to the Kaffirs who slept beneath the wagons. Presently they awoke from the stupor which already was beginning to overcome them, and crept out, shivering with cold and wrapped from head to foot in blankets
"Quick! you boys," he said to them in Zulu; "quick! Would you see the cattle die of the snow and wind? Loose the oxen from the trek-tows and drive them in between the wagons ; they will give them some shelter." And lighting a lantern he sprang out into the snow.
At last it was done — no easy task, for the numbed hands of the Kaffirs could scarcely loosen the frozen reims. The wagons were outspanned side by side with a space between them, and into this space the mob of thirty-six oxen was driven and there secured by reims tied crosswise from the front and hind wheels of the wagons. Then the White Man crept back to his bed, and the shivering natives, forti- fied Avith gin, or squareface, as it is called locally, took refuge on the second wagon, drawing a tent-sail over them.
For awhile there was silence, save for the moanings of the huddled and restless cattle.
" If the snow goes on I shall lose my oxen," he said to himself ; " they can never bear this cold."
Hardly had the words passed his lips when the wagon shook ; there was a sound of breaking reims and tram- pling hoofs. Once more he looked out. The oxen had " skrecked " in a mob. There they were, running away into the night and the snow, seeking to find shelter from the cold. In a minute they had vanished utterly. There was nothing to be done, except wait for the morning.
At last it came, revealing a landscape blind with snow. Such search as could be made told them nothing. The oxen had gone, and their spoor was obliterated by the fresh-fallen flakes. The W^hite Man called a council of his Kaffir ser- vants. " W^hat is to be done ? " he asked.
One said this thing, one that, but all agreed that they must wait to act until the suoav melted.
" Or till we freeze, you whose mothers were fools ! " said
INTRO DUCTfON- 3
the White Man, who was in the worst of tempers, for had he not lost four hundred pounds' worth of oxen ?
Then a Zulu spoke, who hitherto had remained silent. He was the driver of the first wagon.
'< My father," he said to the White Man, " this is my word. The oxen are lost in the snow. No man knows whither they have gone, or whether they live or are now but hides and bones. Yet at the kraal yonder," and he pointed to some huts about two miles away on the hillside, " lives a witch doctor named Zweete. He is old — very old — but he has wisdom, and he can tell you where the oxen are if any man may, my father."
" Stuff ! " answered the AVhite Man. " Still, as the kraal cannot be colder than this wagon, we will go and ask Zweete. Bring a bottle of squareface and some suuif with you for presents."
An hour later he stood in the hut of Zweete. Before him was a very ancient man, a mere bag of bones, with sightless eyes, and one hand — his left — white and shrivelled.
" What do you seek of Zweete, my white father ? " asked the old man in a thin voice. "You do not believe in me and my wisdom ; why should I help you ? Yet I will do it, though it is against your law, and you do Avrong to ask me, — yes, to show you that there is truth in us Zulu doctors, I will help you. My father, I know what you seek. You seek to know where your oxen have run for shelter from the cold ! Is it not so ? "
" It is so, Doctor," answered the White Man. " You have long ears."
" Yes, my white father, I have long ears, though they say that I grow deaf. I have keen eyes also, and yet I cannot see your face. Let me hearken ! Let me look ! "
For awhile he sat silent, rocking himself to and fro, then he spoke : "You have a farm, White Man, down near Pine Town, is it not ? Ah ! I thought so — and an hour's ride from your farm lives a Boer with four fingers only on his right hand. There is a kloof on the Boer's farm where mimosa-trees grow. There, in the kloof, you shall find your
4 NAD A THE ULY
oxen — yes, five days' joiiraey from here you shall find them all. I say all, my father, except three only — the big black Africander ox, the little red Zidu ox with one horn, and the speckled ox. You shall not find these, for they have died in the snow. Send, and you will find the others. Xo, no ! I ask no fee ! I do not work wonders for reward. Why should I ? I am rich."
Xow the White jNIan scoffed. But in the end, so great is the power of superstition, he sent. And here it may be stated that on the eleventh day of his sojourn at the kraal of Zweete, those whom he sent returned with the oxen, except the three only. After that he scoffed no more. Those eleven days he spent in a hut of the old man's kraal, and every afternoon he came and talked with him, sitting far into the night.
On the tliird day he asked Zweete how it was that his left hand was white and shrivelled, and who were Umslo- pogaas and Xada, of whom he had let fall some Avords. Then the old man told him the tale that is set out here. Day by day he told some of it till it was finished. It is not all written in these pages, for portions may have been forgotten, or put aside as irrelevant. Neither has it been possible for the writer of it to render the full force of the Zulu idiom nor to convey a picture of the teller. Por, in truth, he acted rather than told his story. Was the death of a warrior in question, he stabbed with his stick, showing how the blow fell and where ; did the storj- grow sorrowful, he groaned, or even wept. jNIoreover, he had many voices, one for each of the actors in his tale. This man, ancient and withered, seemed to live again in the far past. It was the past that spoke to his listener, telling of deeds long forgot- ten, of deeds that are no more known.
Yet as he best may, the White Man has set down the substance of the story of Zweete in the spirit in which Zweete told it. And because the history of Nada the Lily and of those with whom her life was intertwined moved him strangely, and in many ways, he has done more, he has printed it that others may judge of it.
And now his part is played. Let him who was named Zweete, but who had another name, take up the story.
Then the eld man told hire the tale that is set out here.
THE BOY CHAKA PROPHKSfES
CHAPTER I.
THE BOY CHAKA PROPHESIES.
You ask me, my father, to ttill you the tale of the youth of Umslopogaas, holder of the iron Chieftainess, the axe Groanmaker, who was named Bulalio the Slaughterer, and of his love for Xada, the most beautiful of Zulu women. It is long; but you are here for many nights, and, if I live to tell it, it shall be told. Strengthen your heart, my father, for I have much to say that is sorrowful, and even now, when I think of Xada the tears creep through the horn that shuts out my old eyes from light.
Do you know who I am, my father ? You do not know. You think that I am an old, old witch-doctor named Zweete. So men have thought for many years, but that is not my name. Few have known it, for I have kept it locked in my breast, lest, though I live now under the law of the White Man, and the Great Queen is my chieftainess, an assegai still might find this heart did any know my name.
Look at this hand, my father — no, not that which is withered with fire ; look on this right hand of mine. You see it, though I who am blind cannot. But still, within me I see it as it was once. Ay I I see it red and strong — red with the blood of two kings. Listen, my father; bend your ear to me and listen. I am ]Mopo — ah! I felt you start ; you start as the regiment of the Bees started Avhen Mopo Avalked before their ranks, and from the assegai in his hand the blood of Chaka ^ dropped slowly to the earth. I am Mopo who slew Chaka the king. I killed him with Dingaan and Umhlangana the princes ; but the wound was mine that his life crept out of, and but for me he would never have been slain. I killed him with the princes, but Dingaan, I and one other slew alone.
1 The Zulu Napoleon, one of the greatest geniuses and most wicked men who ever lived. He was killed in the year 1828, having slaughtered more than a million human beiugs. — Ed.
6 A^ADA THE LILY
What do you say ? ''Dingaan died b}- the Tongola."
Yes, yes, he died, but not there ; he died on the Ghost Mountain ; he lies iu the breast of the ohl »Stone Witch who sits aloft forever waiting for the world to perish. But I also was on the Ghost Mountain. In those daj's my feet still could travel fast, and vengeance would not let me sleep. I travelled by day, and by night I found him. I and an- other, we killed him — ah ! ah !
Why do I tell you this ? What has it to do with the loves of Umslopogaas and Nada the Lily? I will tell you. I stabbed Chaka for the sake of my sister, Baleka, the mother of Umslopogaas, and because he had murdered my wives and children. I and Umslopogaas slew Dingaan for the sake of Nada, who was my daughter.
There are great names in the story, my father. Yes, many have heard the names : when the Impis roared them out as they charged in battle, I have felt the mountains shake and seen the waters quiver in their sound. But where are they now ? Silence has them, and the white men write them down in books. I opened the gates of dis- tance for the holders of the names. They passed through and they are gone beyond. I cut the strings that tied them to the world. They fell off. Ha! ha! They fell off! Perhaps they are falling still, perhaps they creep about their desolate kraals in the skins of snakes. I wish I knew the snakes that I might crush them with my heel. Y^onder, beneath us, at the bur^ang-place of kings, there is a hole. In that hole lie the bones of Chaka, the king who died for Baleka. Far away in Zululand there is a cleft upon the Ghost Mountain. At the foot of that cleft lie the bones of Dingaan, the king who died for Nada. It was far to fall and he was heavy ; those bones of his are broken into little pieces. I went to see them when the vultures and the jackals had done their work. And then I laughed three times and came here to die.
All this is long ago, and I have not died ; though I wish to die and follow the road that Xada trod. Perhaps I have lived to tell you this tale, my father, that you may repeat it to tlie white men if you will. How old am I ? Nay,
THE BOY CHAKA FROFHKSIES 7
T do not know. \>ry, very old. Had Chaka lived he would have been as old as I.' None are living whom I knew when I was a boy. I am so old that I must hasten. The grass withers and the winter comes. Yes, while I speak the winter nips my heart. AVell, I am ready to sleep in the cold, and perhaps I shall wake again in the spring.
Before the Zulus were a people — for I will begin at the beginning — I w^as born of the Langeni tribe. We were not a large tribe ; afterwards, all our able-bodied men num- bered one full regiment in Chaka's army, perhaps there were between two and three thousand of them, but they were brave. Xow they are all dead, and their women and chil- dren with them, — that people is no more. It is gone like last month's moon ; how it went I will tell you by-and-bj^e.
Our tribe lived in a beautiful open country; the Boers, whom we called the Amaboona, are there now, they tell me. iNFy father, Makedama, was chief of the tribe, and his kraal Avas built on the crest of a hill, but I was not the son of his head wife. One evening, when I was still little, standing as high as a man's elbow only, I went out with my mother below the cattle kraal to see the cows driven in. My mother was very fond of these cows, and there was one with a white face that would follow her about. She carried my little sister Baleka riding on her hip ; Baleka was a baby then. We walked till we met the lads driving in the cows. My mother called the white-faced cow and gave it mealie leaves which she had brought with her. Then the boys went on with the cattle, but the white-faced cow stopped by my mother. . She said that she would bring it to the kraal when she came home. My mother sat down on the grass and nursed her baby, while I played round her, and the cow grazed. Presently we saw a Avoman walking towards us across the plain. She walked like one who is tired. On her back was a bundle of mats, and she led by the hand a boy of about my own age, but bigger and stronger than I was.
1 This would have made him nearly a hundred years old, an age rarely attained by a native. The writer remembers talking to an aged Zulu woman, however, who told him that she was married when Chaka was kinjr- — Ed.
8 A'ADA THE LILY
We waited a long while, till at last the woman came up to us and sank down on the veldt, for she*\vas very weary. We saw by the way her hair was dressed that she was not of our tribe.
'• Greeting to you I "' said the woman.
"Good-morrow!*' answered my mother. "What do you seek?"
" Food, and a hut to sleep in," said the woman. " I have travelled far."
" How are you named ? — and what is j'our people ? " asked my mother.
"My name is Uuaudi: I am the wife of Senzangacoiu\, of the Zulu tribe," said the stranger.
Xow there ]iad been Avar between our people and the Zulu people, and Senzangaeona had killed some of our war- riors and taken many of our cattle. So, when my mother heard the speech of Unandi she sprang up in anger.
" You dare to come here and ask me for food and shelter, wife of a dog of a Zulu I " she cried ; " begone, or I will call the girls to whip you out of our country."
The woman, who was very handsome, waited till my mother had finished her angry words ; then she looked up and spoke slowly, " There is a cow by you with milk dropping from its udder ; will you not even give me and my boy a gourd of milk ? " And she took a gourd from her bundle and held it towards us.
"' I will not," said my mother.
"We are thirsty with long travel; will you not, then, give us a cup of water ? We have found none for many hours."
"I will not, wife of a dog ; go and seek water for yourself."
The woman's eyes filled Avith tears, but the boy folded his arms on his breast and scowled. He was a very hand- some bo}', with bright black eyes, but when he scowled his eyes were like the sky before a thunderstorm.
"]\[other," he said, "we are not wanted here any more than we were wanted yonder," and he nodded towards the country Avhere the Zulu people lived. " Let us be going to Dingiswayo ; the Umtetwa people Avill protect us."
Wife cf a dsg of a Zulu . . . Begone!
THE BOY CHAKA PRO I'M KS IKS 9
"Yes, let us be going, my son," answered Unandi ; '-but the path is long, we are weary and shall fall by the way."
I heard, and sometliing pulled at my heart ; I was sorry for the woman and the boy, they looked so tired. Then, without saying anything to my mother, I snatched the gourd and ran with it to a little donga that was hard by, for I kneAv that there was a spring. Presently I came back with the gourd full of water. ]\[y mother wanted to catch me, for she was very angry, but I ran past her and gave the gourd to the boy. Then my mother ceased trying to inter- fere, only she beat the woman with her tongue all the while, saying that evil had come to our kraals from her husband, and she felt in her heart that more evil would come upon us from her son. Her ^/i/o.se'^ told her so. Ah I my father, her Ehlose told her true. If the woman Unandi and her child had died that day on the veldt, the gardens of my people would not now be a wilderness, and their bones would not lie iu the great gulley that is near U'Cetywayo's kraal.
While my mother talked I and the cow with the white face stood still and watched, and the baby Baleka cried aloud. The boy, Unaudi's sou, having taken the gourd, did not offer the water to his mother. He drank two-thirds of it himself ; I think that he would have drunk it all had not his thirst been slaked ; but when he had done he gave what was left to his mother, and she finished it. Then he took the gourd again, and came forward, holding it in one hand ; in the other he carried a short stick.
'•' What is your name, boy ? " he said to me as a big rich man speaks to one Avho is little and poor.
*' Mopo is my name," I answered.
" And what is the name of your people ? "
I told him the name of my tribe, the Langeni tribe.
'• Very well, ]Mopo ; now I will tell you my name. My name is Chaka, son of Senzangacona, and my people are called the Amazulu. And I will tell you something more. I am little to-day, and my people are a small people. But I shall grow big, so big that my head will be lost in
1 Guardian spirit. — Ed.
lo A^ADA THE LILY
the clouds ; you will look up and you shall not see it. My face will blind you ; it will be bright like the sun ; and my people will grow great Avith me ; they shall eat up the whole world. And when I am big and my people are big, and we have stamped the earth flat as far as men can travel, then I will remember your tribe — the tribe of the Langeni, who would not give me and my mother a cup of milk Avhen we were weary. You see this gourd; for every drop it can hold the blood of a man shall flow — the blood of one of your men. But because you gave me the water I will spare you, Mopo, and you only, and make you great under me. You shall grow fat in my shadow. You alone I will never harm, however you sin against me; this I swear. But for that woman," and he pointed to my mother, " let her make haste and die, so that I do not need to teach her what a long time death can take to come. I have spoken." And he ground his teeth and shook his stick towards us.
My mother stood silent awhile. Then she gasped out: " The little liar ! He speaks like a man, does he ? The calf lows like a bull. I will teach him another note — the brat of an evil prophet ! " And putting down Baleka, she ran at the boy.
Chaka stood quite still till she was near ; then suddenly he lifted the stick in his hand, and hit her so hard on the head that she fell down. After that he laughed, turned, and went away with his mother Unandi.
These, my father, were the first words that I heard Chaka speak, and they were words of prophecy, and they came true. The last words I heard him speak were words of prophecy also, and I think that they will come true. Even now they are coming true. In the one he told how the Zulu people should rise. And say, have they not risen ? In the other he told how they should fall ; and they will fall. Do not the white men gather themselves together even now against U'Cetywayo, as vultures gather round a dying ox ? The Zulus are not what they were to stand against them. Yes, yes, they will come true, and mine is the song of a people that is doomed.
But of these other words I will speak in their place.
^^opo IS IX trouble w
I went to my mother. Presently she raised herself from the ground and sat up with her hands over her face. The blood from the wound the stick had made ran down her hands on to her breast, and I wiped it away with grass. She sat for a long while thus, while the child cried, the cow lowed to be milked, and I wiped up the blood with the grass. At last she took her hands away and spoke to me.
" Mopo, my son," she said, " I have dreamed a dream. I dreamed that I saw the boy Chaka who struck me : he was grown like a giant. He stalked across the mountains and the veldt, his eyes blazed like the lightning, and in his hand he shook a little assegai that was red with blood. He caught up people after people in his hands and tore them, he stamped their kraals flat with his feet. Before him was the green of summer, behind him the land was black as when the fires have eaten the grass. I saw our people, Mopo : they were many and fat, their hearts laughed, the men were brave, the girls were fair ; I counted their children by hundreds. I saw them again, Mopo. They were bones, white bones, thousands of bones tumbled to- gether in a rocky place, and he, Chaka, stood over the bones and laughed till the earth shook. Then, Mopo, in my dream, I saw you grown a man. You alone were left of our people. You crept up behind the giant Chaka, and with you came others, great men of a royal look. You stabbed him with a little spear, and he fell down and grew small again ; he fell down and cursed you. But you cried in his ear a name — the name of Baleka, your sister — and he died. Let us go home, ^lopo, let us go home ; the darkness falls."
So we rose and went home. But I held my peace, for I was afraid, very much afraid.
CHAPTER II.
MOPO IS IX TROUBLE.
2sow, I must tell how my mother did what the boy Chaka had told her, and died quickly. For where his stick had struck her on the forehead there came a sore that would
12 iVADA THE LILY
not be healed, and in the sore grew an abscess, and the abscess ate inwards till it came to the brain. Then ray mother fell down and died, and I cried very much, for I loved her, and it was dreadful to see her cold and stiff, with not a word to say however loudly I called to her. Well, they buried my mother, and she was soon forgotten. I only remembered her, nobody else did — not even Baleka, for she was too little — and as for my father he took another young -wife, and was content. After that I was unhappy, for my brothers did not love me, because I was much cleverer than they, and had greater skill with the assegai, and was swifter in running ; so they poisoned the mind of my father against me and he treated me badly. But Baleka and I loved each other, for we were both loneh*, and she clung to me like a creeper to the only tree in a plain, and though I was young, I learned this : that to be Avise is to be strong, for though he who holds the assegai kills, yet he whose mind directs the battle is greater than he who kills. Now I saw that the witch-finders and the medicine- men were feared in the land, and that everybody looked up to them, so that, even when they had only a stick in their hands, ten men armed with spears would fly before them. Therefore I determined that I would be a witch-doctor, for they alone can kill those whom they hate with a word. So I learned the arts of the medicine-men. I made sacrifices, I fasted in the veldt alone, I did all those things of which you have heard, and I learned much ; for there is wisdom in our magic as well as lies — and you know it, my father, else you had not come here to ask me about your lost oxen. So things went on till I was twenty years of age — a man full grown. By now I had mastered all I could learn by myself, so I joined myself on to the chief medicine-man of our tribe, who was named Xoma. He was old, had one eye only, and was very clever. Of him I learned some tricks and more wisdom, but at last he grew jealous of me and set a trap to catch me. As it chanced, a rich man of a neighbour- ing tribe had lost some cattle, and came with gifts to Xoma praying him to smell them out. Noma tried and could not find them ; his vision failed him. Then the headman grew
MOPO IS IX TROUBLE 13
augry and demanded back his gifts; but Noma would not give up that which lie once had hehl, and hot words passed. The headman said that he woukl kill Noma; Noma said that he would bewitch the headman.
"Peace," I said, for I feared that blood woixld be shed. " Peace, and let me see if my snake will tell me where the cattle are."
"You are nothing but a boy," answered the headman. " Can a boy have wisdom ? "
" That shall soon be known," I said, taking the bones in my hand.^
"Leave the bones alone!" screamed Noma. "We will ask nothing more of our snakes for the good of this son of a dog."
"He shall throw the bones," answered the headman. " If you try to stop him I will let sunshine through you with my assegai." And he lifted his spear.
Then I made haste to begin ; I threw the bones. The headman sat on the ground before me and answered my questions. You know of these matters, my father — how sometimes the witch-doctor has knowledge of where the lost things are, for our ears are long, and sometimes his Ehlose tells him, as but the other day it told me of your oxen. Well, in this case, my snake stood up. I knew nothing of the man's cattle, but my Spirit was with me and soon I saw them all, and told them to him one by one, their colour, their age — everything. I told him, too, where they were, and how one of them had fallen into a stream and lay there on its back drowned, with its forefoot caught in a forked root. As my Ehlose told me so I told the headman.
XoAV, the man was pleased, and said that if my sight w'as good, and he found the cattle, the gifts should be taken from Noma and given to me ; and he asked the people who were sitting round, and there were many, if this was not just. " Yes, yes," they said, it was just, and they would see that it was done. But Noma sat still and looked at me evilly. He knew that I had made a true divination,
1 The Kafii- witch-doctors use the knuckle hones of animals in their magic rites, throwing them something as we throw dice. — Ed.
C
14 NAD A THE LILY
and he was very angry. It was a big matter : the herd of cattle were many, and, if they were found where I had said, then all men would think me the greater wizard. Xow it was late, and the moon had not yet risen, therefore the headman said that he Avould sleep that night in our kraal, and at the first light would go with me to the spot where I said the cattle were. After that he went away.
I too went into my hut and lay down to sleep. Suddenly I awoke, feeling a weight upon my breast. I tried to start up, but something cold pricked my throat. I fell back again and looked. The door of the hut was open, the moon lay low on the sky like a ball of fire far aAvay. I could see it through the door, and its light crept into the hut. It fell upon the face of Xoma the witch-doctor. He was seated across me. glaring at me with his one eye, and in his hand was a knife. It was that which I had felt prick my throat.
" You whelp whom I have bred up to tear me ! "' he hissed into my ear, '■ you dared to divine where I failed, did you ? Very well, now I will show you how I serve such puppies. First, I will pierce through the roots of your tongue, so that you cannot squeal, then I will cut you to pieces slowly, bit by bit, and in the morning I will tell the people that the spirits did it because you lied. Xext, I will take off your arms and legs. Yes, yes, I will make you like a stick!
Then I will "' And he began driving in the knife
under m}^ chin.
'• Mercy, my uncle," I said, for I was frightened and the knife hurt. '-'Have mercy, and I will do whatever you wish I "
'•' Will you do this ? " he asked, still pricking me with the knife. " Will you get up, go to find the dog's cattle and drive them to a certain place, and hide them there ? " And he named a secret valley that was known to very few. " If you do that, I will spare you and give you three of the cows. If you refuse or play me false, then, by my father's spirit, I will find a way to kill you I "
"Certainly I will do it, my uncle," I answered. "Why did you not trust me before ? Had I known that you wanted to keep the cattle, I would never have smelt them
MOPO IS IN TROUBLE 15
out. I only did so fearing lest you should lose the presents."
" You are not so wicked as I thought," he growled. " Get up, then, and do my bidding. You can be back here two hours after dawn."
80 I got up, thinking all the while whether 1 should try to spring on him. But I was without ai-ms, and he had the knife ; also if, by chance, I prevailed and killed him, it would have been thought that I had murdered him, and I should have tasted the assegai. 80 I made another plan. I would go and lind the cattle in the valley Avhere I had smelt them out, but I would not bring them to the secret hiding-place. Xo ; I would drive them straight to the kraal, and denounce Noma before the chief, my father, and all the people. But I was young in those days, and did not know the heart of Xoma. He had not been a witch- doctor till he grew old for nothing. Oh I he was evil I — he was cunning as a jackal, and fierce like a lion. He had planted me by him like a tree, but he meant to keep me clipped like a bush. Xow I had grown tall and over- shadowed him ; therefore he would root me up.
I w^ent to the corner of my hut, Xoma watching me all the while, and took a kerrie and my small shield. Then I started through the moonlight. Till I was past the kraal I glided along quietly as a shadow. After that, I began to run, singing to myself as I went, to frighten away the ghosts, my father.
For an hour I travelled swiftly over the plain, till I came to the hillside where the bush began. Here it was very dark under the shade of the trees, and I sang louder than ever. At last I found the little buffalo path I sought, and turned along it. Presently I came to an open place, where the moonlight crept in between the trees. I knelt down and looked. Yes ! my snake had not lied to me ; there was the spoor of the cattle. Then I went on gladly till I reached a dell through Avhich the water ran softly, some- times Avhispering and sometimes talking out loud. Here the trail of the cattle was broad : they had broken down the ferns with their feet and trampled the grass. Pres-
1 6 A^ADA THE L/LY
ently I came to a pool. I knew it — it "vvas the pool my snake had shown to me. And there at the edge of the pool floated the drowned ox, its foot caught in a forked root. All was just as I had seen it in my heart.
I stepped forward and looked round. My eye caught something ; it was the faint grey light of the dawn glint- ing on the cattle's horns. As I looked, one of them snorted, rose and shook the dew from his hide. He seemed big as an elephant in the mist and twilight.
Then I collected them all — there were seventeen — and drove them before me down the narrow path back towards the kraal. jSTow the daylight came quickly, and the sun had been up an hour when I reached the spot where I must turn if I wished to hide the cattle in the secret place, as Xoma had bid me. But I would not do this. Xo, I would go on to the kraal with them, and tell all men that Xoma was a thief. Still, I sat down and rested awhile, for I was tired. As I sat. I heard a noise, and looked up. There, over the slope of the rise, came a crowd of men, and leading them was Xoma, and by his side the headman who owned the cattle. I rose and stood still, wondering ; but as I stood, they ran towards me shouting and waving sticks and spears.
"■ There he is ! " screamed Xoma. '•' There he is I — the clever boy whom I have brought up to bring shame on me. "What did I tell you ? Did I not tell you that he was a thief ? Yes — yes ! I know your tricks, ]\[opo, my child I See ! he is stealing the cattle ! He knew where they were all the time, and now he is taking them away to hide them. They would be useful to buy a wife with, would they not, my clever boy ? " _ And lie made a rush at me. with his stick lifted, and after him came the headman, grunting with rage.
I understood now, my father. My heart went mad in me, everything began to swim round, a red cloth seemed to lift itself up and down before my eyes. I have always seen it thus when I was forced to fight. I screamed out one word only, *• Liar ! " and ran to meet him. On came Xoma. He strucTi at me with his stick, but I caught the blow upon my little shield, and hit back. Wow ! I did hit ! The skull of Xoma met my kerrie, and down he fell dead at my
MOPO I'ENTCRES HOME 17
feet. I yelled again, and rushed on at the headman. He threw an assegai, but it missed me, and next second I hit him too. He got up his shield, but I knocked it down upon his head, and over he rolled senseless. Whether he lived or died I do not know, my father ; but his head being of the thickest, I think it likely that he lived. Then, while the people stood astonished, I turned and fled like the wind. They turned too, and ran after me, throwing spears at me and trying to cut me off. But none of them could catch me — no, not one. I went like the wind ; I went like a buck when the dogs wake it from sleep ; and presently the sound of their chase grew fainter and fainter, till at last I was out of sight and alone.
CHAPTEE III.
MOPO VEXTURES HOME.
I THREW myself down on the grass and panted till my breath came back ; then I went and hid in a patch of reeds down by a swamp. All day long I lay there think- ing. AYhat was I to do ? Xow I was a jackal without a hole. If I went back to my people, certainly they would kill me, whom they thought a thief. My blood would be given for Noma's, and that I did not wish, though my heart was sad. Then there came into ni}- mind the thought of Chaka, the boy to whom I had given the cup of water long ago. I had heard of him : his name was knowTi in the land ; already the air was big with it; the very trees and grass spoke it. The words he had said and the vision that my mother had seen were beginning to come true. By the help of the Umtetwas he had taken the place of his father Sen- zangacona ; he had driven out the tribe of the Amaquabe ; now he made war on Zweete, chief of the Eudwande, and he had sworn that he would stamp the Endwande flat, so that nobody could find them any more. Xow I re-membered how this Chaka promised that he would make me great, and that I should grow fat in his shadow ; and I thought to
1 8 JVADA THE LILY
ni3'self that I would arise and go to him. Perhaps he would kill me ; well, what did it matter ? Certainly I should be killed if I staj-ed here. Yes, I would go. But now ]uy heart pulled another way. There was but one whom I loved in the world — it was my^sister Baleka. ^Nly father had betrothed her to the chief of a neighbouring tribe, but I knew that this marriage was against her wish. Perhaps my sister would run awa}^ with me if I could get near her to tell her that I was going. I would try — yes, I would try.
I Avaited till the darkness came down, then I rose from my bed of weeds and crept like a jackal towards the kraal. In the mealie gardens I stopped awhile, for I was very hungry, and filled myself with the half-ripe mealies. Then I went on till I came to the kraal. Some of my people were seated outside of a hut, talking together over a fire. I crept near, silently as a snake, and hid behind a little bush. I knew that they could not see me outside the ring of the firelight, and I wanted to hear what they said. As I guessed, they were talking of me and called me many names. They said that I should bring ill-luck on the tribe by having killed so great a witch-doctor as Xoma; also that the people of the headman Avould demand payment for the assault on him. I learned, moreover, that my father had ordered out all the men of the tribe to hunt for me on the morrow and to kill me wherever they found me. " Ah I •' I thought, '• you may hunt, but you will bring nothing home to the pot." Just then a dog that was l^'ing b)' the fire got up and began to sniff the air. I could not see what dog it was — indeed, I had forgotten all about the dogs when I drew near the kraal ; that is what comes of waiit of experience, ray father. The dog sniffed and suiffed, then he began to groAvl, looking always my way, and I grew afraid.
" What is the dog growling at ? "' said one man to another. "Go and see." But the other man was taking snuff and did not like to move. " Let the dog go and see for himself," he answered, sneezing, '•' what is the good of keeping a dog if vou have to catch the thief ? "
MOPO VENTURES HOME 19
" Go on, then," said the first man to the dog. And he ran forward, barking. Then I saw him : it was my own dog, Koos, a very good dog. Presently, as I lay not knowing what to do, he smelt my smell, stopped barking, and run- ning round the busily he found me and began to lick my face. '-Be quiet, Koos 1 "' I whispered to him. And he lay down by my side.
" Where has that dog gone now ? " said the first man. '•Is he bewitched, that he stops barking suddenly and does not come back ? *'
" We will see," said the other, rising, a spear in his hand.
Xow once more I was terribly afraid, for I thought that they would catch me, or I must run for my life again. But as I sprang up to run, a big black snake glided between the men and went off towards the huts. They jumped aside in a great fright, then all of them turned to follow the snake, saying that this was what the dog was barking at. That was my good Ehlose, my father, which without any doubt took the shape of a snake to save mj' life.
When they had gone I crept off the other way, and Koos followed me. At fii-st I thought that I would kill him, lest he should betray me ; but when I called him to me to knock him on the head with my kerrie, he sat down upon the ground wagging his tail, and seemed to smile in my face, and I could not do it. So I thought that I would take my chance, and we went on together. This was my purpose : first to creep into my own hut and get my assegais and a skin blanket, then to gain speech with Baleka. My hut, 1 thought, would be empty, for nobody slept there except myself, and the huts of Xoma were some paces away to the right. I came to the reed fence that surrounded the huts. Nobody Avas to be seen at the gate, which was not shut with thorns as usual. It was my duty to close it, and I had not been there to do so. Then, bidding the dog lie down outside, I stepped through boldly, reached the door of my hut, and listened. It was empty ; there was not even a breath to be heard. 80 I crept in and began to search for my assegais, my water-gourd, and my wood pillow, which was so nicely carved that I did not like to leave it. Soon I found them.
20 NAD A THE LILY
Then I felt about for my skin rug, and as I did so my hand touched something cold. I started, and felt again. It was a man's face — the face of a dead man, of Xoma, whom I had killed and who had been laid in my hut to await burial. Oh ! then I was frightened, for Xoma dead and in the dark was worse than iSl^oma alive. I made ready to fly, when suddenly I heard the voices of women talking outside the door of the hut. I knew the voices ; they were those of Noma's two wives, and one of them said that she Avas com- ing in to watch by her husband's body. Xow I was in a trap indeed, for before I could do anything I saw the light go out of the hole in the hut, and knew by the sound of a fat woman puffing as she bent herself up that Xoma's first wife was coming through it. Presently she Avas in, and, squatting herself by the side of the corpse in such a fashion that I could not get to the door, she began to make lamenta- tions and to call down curses on me. Ah ! she did not know that I was listening. I too squatted by Noma's head, and grew quick-witted in my fear. Now that the woman was there I was not so much afraid of the dead man, and I remembered, too, that he had been a great cheat ; so I thought I would make him cheat for the last time. I placed ni}' hands beneath his shoulders and pushed him up so that lie sat upon the ground. The woman heard the noise, and made a sound in her throat.
"Will you not be quiet, you old hag ? " I said in Noma's voice. " Can you not let me be at peace, even now when I am dead ? "
She heard, and, falling backwards in fear, drew in her breath to shriek aloud.
"What I will you also dare to shriek?" I said again in Noma's voice ; " then I must teach you silence." And I tumbled him over on to the top of her.
Then her senses left her, and whether she ever found them again I do not know. At least she grew quiet for that time. For me, I snatched up the rug — afterwards I found it was Noma's best kaross, made by Basutos of chosen cat-skins, and worth three oxen — and I fled, followed by Koos.
Now the kraal of the chief, my father, Makedama, was
MOPO VENTURES HOME 31
two hundred paces away, and I must go thither, for there Baleka slept. Also I dared not enter by the gate, liecaiise a man was always ou guard there. So I cut my way through the reed fence with my assegai and crept to the hut where Baleka was with some of her half-sisters. I knew on which side of the hut it was her custom to lie, and where her head would be. So I lay down on my side and gently, very gently, began to bore a hole in the grass cover- ing of the hut. It took a long while, for the thatch was thick, but at last I was nearly through it. Then I stopped, for it came into my mind that Baleka might have changed her place and that I might wake the wrong girl. I almost gave it over, thinking that I Avould fly alone, when sud- denly I heard a girl wake and begin to cry on the other side of the thatch. " AJi," I thought, '■'■ that is Baleka, who weeps for her brother ! " So I put my lips where the thatch was thinnest and whispered: —
"Baleka, my sister! Baleka, do not weep! I, Mopo, am here. Say not a word, but rise. Come out of the hut, bringing your skin blanket."
Now Baleka was very clever : she did not shriek, as most girls would have done. No; she understood, and, after waiting awhile, she rose and crept from the hut, her blanket in her hand.
"Why are you here, Mopo?" she whispered, as we met. " Surely you will be killed ! "
" Hush ! " I said. And then I told her of the plan which I had made. " Will you come with me ? " I said, when I had done, " or will you creep back into the hut and bid me fare- well?"
She thought awhile, then she said, " No, my brother, I will come, for I love you alone among our people, though I believe that this will be the end of it — that you will lead me to my death."
I did not think much of her words at the time, but after- wards they came back to me. So we slipped away together, followed by the dog Koos, and soon we were running over the veldt with our faces set towards the country of the Zulu tribe.
22 A^ADA THE LILY
CHAPTER IV.
THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AXD BALEKA.
All the rest of that night we jounieyecl, till even the dog was tired. Then we hid in a mealie field for the day, as we were afraid of being seen. Towards the afternoon Ave heard voices, and, looking through the stems of the mealies, we saw a party of my father's men pass searching for us. They went on to a neighbouring kraal to ask if we had been seen, and after that we saw them no more for awhile. At night we travelled again ; but, as fate would have it, we were met by an old woman, who looked oddly at us but said nothing. After that we pushed on day and night, for we knew that the old woman would tell the pursuers if she met them ; and so indeed it came about. On the third evening we reached some mealie gardens, and saw that they had been trampled down. Among the broken mealies we found the body of a very old man, as full of assegai wounds as a por- cupine with quills. AVe wondered at this, and went on a little way. Then we saw that the kraal to which the gar- dens belonged was burnt down. We crept up to it, and — ah ! it was a sad sight for us to see ! Afterwards we became used to such sights. All about lay the bodies of dead people, scores of them — old men, j'oung men, women, children, little babies at the breast — there thej* lay among the burnt huts, pierced with assegai wounds. Eed was the earth with their blood, and red they looked in the red light of the setting sun. It was as though all the land had been smeared with the bloody hand of the Great Spirit, of the Umkulunkulu. Baleka saw it and began to cr}- : she was weary, poor girl, and we had found little to eat, only grass and green corn.
"An enemy has been here."' I said, and as I spoke I thought that I heard a groan from the other side of a broken reed hedge. I went and looked. There la}' a young woman : she was badly wounded, but still alive, my
THE /'LIGHT OF MOFO AA'D BALEKA 23
father. A little way from her lay a man dead, and before him several other men of another tribe : he had died fight- ing. In front of the woman were the bodies of three chil- dren ; another, a little one, lay on her body. I looked at the woman, and, as I looked, she groaned again, opened her eyes and saw me, and that 1 had a spear in my hand.
" Kill me quickly ! " she said. " Have you not tortured me enough ? "
I said that I was a stranger and did not want to kill her.
"Then bring me water;" she said; ''there is a spring there behind the kraal.''
I called to Baleka to come to the woman, and Avent with my gourd to the spring. There were bodies in it, but I dragged them out, and when the water had cleared a little I filled the gourd and brought it to the woman. She drank deep, and her strength came back a little — the water gave her life.
" How did you come to this ? " I asked.
'' It was an impi of Chaka, Chief of the Zulus, that ate us up," she answered. " They burst upon us at dawn this morning while we were asleep in our huts. Yes, I woke up to hear the sound of killing. I was sleeping by my hus- band, with him who lies there, and the children. We all ran out. My husband had a spear and shield. He was a brave man. See ! he died bravely : he killed three of the Zulu devils before he himself was dead. Then they caught me, and killed my children, and stabbed me till they thought that I was dead. Afterwards, they went away. I don't know why they came, but I think it was because our chief would not send men to help Chaka against Zweete."
She stopped, gave a great cry, and died.
]\[y sister Avept at the sight, and I too was stirred by it. "Ah!" I thought to myself, "the Great Spirit must be evil. If he is not evil such things would not happen." That is how I thought then, my father; now I think differently. I know that we had not found out the path of the Great Spirit, that is all. I was a chicken in those days, my father; afterwards I got used to such sights. They did not stir me any more, not one whit. But
24 NAD A THE LILY
then in the days of Chaka the rivers ran blood — yes, we had to look at the water to see if it was clean before we drank. People learned how to die then and not make a noise about it. What does it matter ? They would have been dead now anyway. It does not matter; nothing matters, except being born. That is a mistake, my father.
We stopped at the kraal that night, but we could not sleep, for we heard the Itongo, the ghosts of the dead people, moving about and calling to each other. It was natural that they should do so ; men were looking for their wives, and mothers for their children. But we were afraid that they might be angry with us for being there, so we clung together and trembled in each other's arms. Koos also trembled, and from time to time he howled loudly. But they did not seem to see us, and towards morning their cries grew fainter.
When the first light came we rose and picked our way through the dead down to the plain. Xow we had an easy road to follow to Chaka's kraal, for there was the spoor of the impi and of the cattle which the}' had stolen, and some- times we came to the body of a warrior who had been killed because his wounds prevented him from marching farther. But now I was doubtful whether it was wise for us to go to Chaka, for after what we had seen I grew afraid lest he should kill us. Still, we had nowhere to turn, so I said that we would walk along till something happened. Xow we grew faint with hunger and weariness, and Baleka said that we had better sit down and die, for then there would be no more trouble. So we sat down by a spring. But I did not wish to die yet, though Baleka was right, and it would have been well to do so. As we sat, the dog Koos went to a bush that was near, and presently I heard him spring at some- thing and the sound of struggling. I ran to the bush — he had caught hold of a duiker buck, as big as himself, that was asleep in it. Then I drove my spear into the buck and shouted for joy, for here was food. When the buck was dead I skinned him, and we took bits of the flesh, washed them in the water, and ate them, for we had no fire to cook them with. It is not nice to eat uncooked flesh, but we
Ealeka locked up, and gave a cry cf fear,
THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AND BALEKA 23
were so hungry that we did not mind, and the food refreshed us. When we had eaten what we could, we rose and Avashed ourselves at the spring; but, as we waslied, lialeka looked up and gave a cry of fear. For there, on the crest of the hill, about ten spear-throws away, was a party of six armed men, people of my own tribe — children of my father Makedama — who still pursued us to take us or kill us. They saw us — they raised a shout, and began to run. We too sprang up and ran — ran like bucks, for fear had touched our feet.
Now the land lay thus. Before us the ground was open and sloped down to the banks of the White Umfolozi, which twisted through the plain like a great and shining snake. On the other side the ground rose again, and we did not know what was beyond, but we thought that in this direc- tion lay the kraal of Chaka. We ran for the river — where else were we to run? And after us came the warriors. They gained on us ; they were strong, and they were angry because they had come so far. Eun as we would, still they gained. Xow we neared the banks of the river ; it was full and wide. Above us the waters ran angrily, breaking into swirls of white where they passed over sunken rocks ; below was a rapid, in Avhich none might live ; between the two a deep pool, where the water was quiet but the stream strong.
'• Ah ! my brother, what shall we do ? "' gasped Baleka.
"There is this to choose," I answered; "perish on the spears of our people or try the river."
" Easier to die by water than on iron," she answered.
" Good I " I said. " Xow may our snakes look towards us and the spirits of our fathers be with us ! At the least we can swim." And I led her to the head of the pool. AYe threw away our blankets — everything except an assegai, which I held in my teeth — and we plunged in, wading as far as we could. Xow we were up to our breasts ; now we had lost the earth and were swimming towards the middle of the river, the dog Koos leading the way.
Then it was that the soldiers appeared upon the bank. •'■■Ah! little people," one cried, "you swim, do you? Well, you will drown ; and if you do not drown we know a ford,
26 A'ADA THE LILY
and Ave will catch you and kill you — yes ! if we must run over the edge of the world after you we will catch you." And he hurled an assegai after us, which fell between us like a flash of light.
While he spoke we swam hard, and now we were in the current. It swept us downwards, but still we made way, for we could swim well. It was just this : if we could reach the bank before we were swept into the rapids we were safe ; if not, then — good-night ! Xow we Avere near the other side, but, alas I we were also near the lip of the foaming water. We strained, we struggled. Baleka was a brave girl, and she swam bravely ; but the water pushed her down be- low me, and I could do nothing to help her, I got my foot upon the rock and looked round. There she was, and eight paces from her the broken water boiled. I could not go back. I was too weak, and it seemed that she must perish. But the dog Koos saw. He swam to her, barking, then turned round, heading for the shore. She grasped him by the tail with her right hand. Then he put out his strength — he was very strong. She too struck out with her feet and left hand, and slowly — very slowly — drew near. Then I stretched out the handle of my assegai towards her. She caught it with her left hand. Already her feet were over the brink of the rapids, but I pulled and Koos pulled, and we brought her safe into the shallows, and from the shallows to the bank, and there she fell gasping.
Now when the soldiers on the other bank saw that we had crossed, they shouted threats at us, then ran away down the bank.
" Arise, Baleka ! " I said : " they have gone to seek a ford,"
" Ah, let me die ! " she answered.
But I forced her to rise, and after awhile she got her breath again, and we walked on as fast as we could up the long rise. For two hours we walked, or more, till at last we came to the crest of the rise, and there, far away, we saw a large kraal.
"Keep heart," I said. <'See, there is the Jcraal of Chaka."
Till: IIJulIT OF MOJ'O AXD liAlJ.KA j;
"Yes, brother," she answered, " but what waits us tliere ? Death is behind us and before us — we are in the middle of death."
Presently we came to a path that ran to the kraal from the ford of the Umfelozi. It was by it that the Impi had travelled. We followed the path till at last we were but half an hour's journey from the kraaL Then we looked back, and lo ! there behind us were the pursuers — five of them — one had been drowned in crossing the river.
Again we ran, but now we were weak, and they gained upon us. Then once more I thought of the dog. He was fierce and would tear any one on whom I set him. I called him and told him what to do, though I knew that it would be his death. He understood, and flew towards the sol- diers growling, his hair standing up on his spine. They tried to kill him with spears and kerries, but he jumped round them, biting at them, and kept them back. At last a man hit him, and he sprang up and seized the man by the throat. There he clung, man and dog rolling over and over togetherj till the end of it was that they both died. Ah ! he was a dog ! We do not see such dogs nowadays. His father was a Boer hound, the first that came into the country. That dog once killed a leopard all by himself. Well, this was the end of Koos I
^Meanwhile, we had been running. Xow we were but three hundred paces from the gate of the kraal, and there was something going on inside it ; that we could see from the noise and dust. The four soldiers, leaving the dead dog and the dying man, came after us swiftl}'. I saw that they must catch us before we reached the gate, for now Baleka could go but slowly. Then a thought came into my head. I had brought her here, I would save her life if I could. Should she reach the kraal without me, Chaka would not kill a girl who was so j'oung and fair.
''Itun on, Baleka! run on!" I said, dropping behind. KoAv she was almost blind with weariness and terror, and, not seeing my purpose, staggered towards the gate of the kraal. But I sat down on the veldt to get my breath again, for I was about to fight four men till I was killed. iSIy
D
28 A'ADA THE LILY
heart beat and the blood drummed in my ears, but when they drew near and I rose — the assegai in my hand — once more the red cloth seemed to go up and down before my eyes, and all fear left me.
The men were running, two and two, with the length of a spear-throw between them. But of the first pair one Avas five or six paces in front of the other. This man shouted out loud and charged me, shield and spear up. Xow I had no shield — nothing but the assegai ; but I was crafty and he was overbold. On he came. I stood waiting for him till he drew back the spear to stab me. Then suddenly I dropped to my knees and thrust upAvard with all my strength beneath the rim of his shield ; and he also thrust, but over me, his spear only cutting the flesh of my shoulder — see I here is its scar ; yes, to this day. And my assegai ? Ah ! it went home ; it ran through and through his middle. He rolled over and over on the plain. The dust hid him ; only I was now weaponless, for the haft of my spear — it was but a light throwing assegai — broke in two, leaving noth- ing but a little bit of stick in my hand. And the other one was on me I He looked tall as a tree above me. I was already dead ; there was no hope ; darkness opened to swallow me. Then in the darkness I saw a light. I fell on to my hands and knees and flung myself over sideways. ]\ry body struck the legs of the man Avho was about to stab me, lifting his feet from beneath him. Down he came heavily. Before he had touched the ground I was off it. His spear had fallen from his hand. I stooped, seized it, and as he rose I stabbed him through the back. It was all done in the shake of a leaf, my father ; in the shake of a leaf he also was dead. Then I ran, for I had no stomach for the other two ; my valour was gone.
About a hundred paces from me Baleka was staggering along Avith her arms out like one who has drunk too much beer. By the time I caught her she Avas some forty paces from the gate of the kraal. But then her strength left her altogether. Yes ! there she fell senseless, and I stood by her. And there, too, I should have been killed had not this chanced, since the other two men, having stayed one
THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AND BALFKA 29
instant by their dead fellows, came on against lue mad with rage. For at that moment the gate of the kraal opened, and through it ran a party of soldiers dragging a prisoner by the arms. After them walked a great man, who wore a leopard skin on his slioulders, and was laughing, and with him Avere live or six ringed councillors, and after them again came a company of warriors.
The soldiers saw that killing was going on, and ran u[) just as the slayers reached us.
" Who are you ? " they cried, '•' who dare to kill at the gate of the Elephant's kraal ? Here the Elephant kills alone."
'' We are of the children of Makedama," they answered, " and we follow these evildoers who have done wickedness and murder in our kraal. See ! but now two of us are dead at their hands, and others lie dead along the road. Suffer that we slay them."
" Ask that of the Elephant," said the soldiers ; '• ask too that he suffer j-ou should not be slain."
Just then the tall chief saw blood and heard words. He stalked up ; and he was a great man to look at, though still quite young in years. For he Avas taller by a head than any round him, and his chest Avas big as the chests of tAvo; his face Avas fierce and beautiful, and Avhen he grcAv angry his eye flashed like a smitten brand.
" Who are these that dare to stir up dust at the gates of my kraal ? " he asked, frowning.
'' O Chaka, 0 Elephant ! " answered the captain of the soldiers, bending himself double before him, " the men say that these are evildoers and that they pursue them to kill them."
''Good!" he answered. ''Let them slay the evildoers."
" 0 great chief ! thanks be to thee, great chief ! " said those men of my people Avho sought to kill us.
'' I hear you," he ansAvered, then spoke once more to the captain. " And Avhen they have slain the evildoers, let them- selves be blinded and turned loose to seek their way home, because they haA^e dared to lift a spear Avithin the Zulu gates. XoAV praise on, my children ! " And he laughed, Avhile
30 NAD A T}IE LILY
the soldiers murmured, '■'• Oiil he is wise, he is great, his justice is bright and terrible like the sun ! "
But the two men of my people cried out in fear, for they did not seek such justice as this.
"Cut out their tongues also," said Chaka. ''"What? shall the land of the Zulus suffer such a noise? Never! lest the cattle miscarry. To it, ye black ones I There lies the girl. She is asleep and helpless. Kill her ! "What ? you hesitate ! Nay, then, if you will have time for thought, I give it. Take these men, smear them with honey, and pin them over ant-heaps ; by to-morrow's sun they will know their own minds. But first kill these two hunted jackals," and he pointed to Baleka and myself. "They seem tired and doubtless they long for sleep."
Then for the first time I spoke, for the soldiers drew near to slay us.
"0 Chaka," I cried, "I am ^NIopo, and this is my sister Baleka."
I stopped, and a great shout of laughter went up from all who stood round.
"Very well, Mopo and thy sister Baleka," said Chaka, grimly. "Good-morning to you, ]\Iopo and Baleka — also, good-night I "
" O Chaka," I broke in, " I am Mopo, son of Makedama of the Langeni tribe. It was I who gave thee a gourd of water many years ago, when we both were little. Then thou badest me come to thee when thou hadst grown great, vowing that thou wouldst protect me and never do me harm. So I have come, bringing my sister with me ; and now, I pray thee, do not eat up the words of long ago."
As I spoke, Chaka's face changed, and he listened ear- nestly, as a man who holds his hand behind his ear. " Those are no lies," he said. "Welcome, Mopo! Thou shalt be a dog in my hut, and feed from my hand. But of thy sister I said nothing. ^Vhy, then, should she not be slain when I swore vengeance against all thy tribe, save thee alone ? "
" Because she is too fair to slay, O Chief ! " I answered, boldly; "also because I love her, and ask her life as a boon ! "
THE FLIGHT OF MOFO AiYD BALEKA ^.
"Turu the girl over/' said Chaka. And they did so, show- ing her face.
" Again thou speakest no lie, son of Makedama," said the chief. "I grant thee the boon. She also shall lie in my hut, and be of the number of my ' sisters.' Now tell me thy tale, speaking only the truth."
So I sat down and told him all. Xor did he grow weary of listening. But, when I had done, he said but one thing — that he would that the dog Koos had not been killed; since, if he had still been alive, he would have set him on the hut of my father Makedama, and made him chief over the Langeni.
Then he spoke to the captain of the soldiers. "I take back my words," he said. '•' Let not these men of the Lan- geni be mutilated. One shall die and the other shall go free. Here," and he pointed to the man whom we had seen led out of the kraal-gate, •'•' here, Mopo, we have a man who has proved himself a coward. Yesterday a kraal of wizards yon- der Avas eaten up by my order — perhaps you two saw it as you travelled. This man and three others attacked a sol- dier of that kraal who defended his wife and children. The man fought well — he slew three of my people. Then this dog was afraid to meet him face to face. He killed him with a throwing assegai, and afterwards he stabbed the woman. That is nothing ; but he should have fought the husband hand to hand. Xow I will do him honour. He shall fight to the death with one of these pigs from thy sty," and he pointed with his spear to the men of my father's kraal, "and the one who survives shall be run down as they tried to run you down. I will send back the other pig to the sty with a message. Choose, children of Makedama, which of you will live."
Xow the two men of my tribe were brothers, and loved one another, and each of them was willing to die that the other might go free. Therefore, both of them stepped for- ward, saying that they would fight the Zulu.
" What, is there honour among pigs ? " said Chaka. '•' Then I will settle it. See this assegai ? I throw it into the air ; if the blade falls uppermost the tall man shall go
32 A/ ADA THE LILY
free ; if the shaft falls uppermost, then life is to the short one, so I " And he sent the little spear whirling round and round in the air. Every eye watched it as it wheeled and fell. The haft struck the ground first.
" Come hither, thou,'' said Chaka to the tall brother. " Hasten back to the kraal of Makedama, and say to him, Thus says Chaka, the Lion of the Zulu-ka-Malandela ' Years ago thy tribe refused me milk. To-day the dog of thy son Mopo howls upon the roof of th}- hut.' Begone I " ^
The man turned, shook his brother by the hand, and went, bearing the words of evil omen.
Then Chaka called to the Zulu and the last of those who had followed us to kill us, bidding them fight. So, when they had praised the prince they fought fiercely, and the end of it was that the man of my people conquered the Zulu. But as soon as he had found his breath again he was set to run for his life, and after him ran five chosen men.
Still, it came about that he outran them, doubling like a hare, and got away safel}'. Xor was Chaka angry at this ; for I think that he bade the men who hunted him to make speed slowly. There was only one good thing in the cruel heart of Chaka, that he would always save the life of a brave man if he could do so without making his word nothing. And for my part, I was glad to think that the man of my people had conquered him who murdered the children of the dying woman that we found at the kraal beyond the river.
CHAPTER V.
MOPO BECOMES THE KIXG's DOCTOR.
These, then, my father, were the events that ended in the coming of me, iMopo, and of my sister Baleka to the kraal of Chaka, the Lion of the Zulu. Xow you may ask why have I kept you so long with this tale, which is as
1 Among the Zulus it is a very bad omen for a dog to climb the roof of a hut. The saying convej-ed a threat to be appreciated by every Zulu. — Ed.
MOPO BECOMES THE A'/XC\S DOCTOR 33
are other tales of our people. liut that shall be seen, for from these matters, as a tree from a seed, grew the birth of Umslopogaas Bulalio, Umslopogaas the Slaugliterer, and Xada the Ueautiful, of whose love my story has to tell. For Xada was my daughter, and Umslopogaas, though few knew it, was none other than the son of Chaka, born of my sister Baleka.
Now when Baleka recovered from the weariness of our flight, and had her beauty again, Chaka took her to wife, numbering her among his women, whom he named his ''sisters." And me Chaka took to be one of his doc- tors, of his izinyanga of medicine, and he was so Avell pleased with my medicine that in the end I became his head doctor. Now this was a great post, in .which, during the course of years, I grew fat in cattle and in wives ; but also it was one of much danger. For when I rose strong and well in the morning, I could never know but that at night I should sleep stiff and red. ]\Iany were the doctors whom Chaka slew ; doctored they never so Avell, they were killed at last. For a day would surely come when the king felt ill in his body or heavy in his mind, and then to the assegai or the torment with the wizard who had doctored him I Yet I escaped, because of the power of my medicine, and also because of that oath which Chaka had sworn to me as a child. So it came about that where the king went there I went with him. I slept near his hut, I sat behind him at council, in the battle I was ever at his side.
Ah ! the battle ! — the battle ! In those days we knew how to fight, my father ! In those days the vultures would follow our impis by thousands, the hyenas would steal along our path in packs, and none went empty away. Xever may I forget the first fight I stood in at the side of Chaka. It was just after the king had biiilt his great kraal on the south bank of the Umhlatuze. Then it was that the chief Zwide attacked his rival Chaka for the third time and Chaka moved out to meet him with ten full regiments,^ now for the first time armed with the short stabbing- spear.
1 About 30,000 raeu.— Etl.
34 NAD A THE LTLY
The ground lay thus : On a long, low hill in front of our impi were massed the regiments of Zwide ; there were seventeen of them ; the earth was black with their number ; their plumes filled the air like snow. "We, too, were on a hill, and between us lay a valley down which there ran a little stream. All night our fires shone out across the valley; all night the songs of soldiers echoed down the hills. Then the grey dawning came, the oxen lowed to the light, the regiments arose from their bed of spears; they sprang up and shook the dew from hair and shield — yes ! they arose ! the glad to die ! The impi assumed its array regiment by regiment. There was the breast of spears, there were the horns of spears, they were number- less as the stars, and like the stars they shone. The morning breeze came up and fanned them, their plumes bent in the breeze ; like a plain of seeding grass they bent, the plumes of the soldiers ripe for the assegai. Up over the shoulder of the hill came the sun of Slaughter ; it glowed red upon the red shields ; red grew the place of killing ; the white plumes of chiefs were dipped in the blood of heaven. They knew it ; they saw the omen of death, and, ah! they laughed in the joy of the waking of battle. What was death ? Was it not well to die on the spear ? What was death ? Was it not well to die for the king ? Death was the arms of Victory. Victory should be their bride that night, and oh ! her breast is fair.
Hark ! the war-song, the Tngomo, the music of which has the power to drive men mad, rose far away to the left, and was thrown along from regiment to regiment — a rolling ball of sound —
We are the ki7ig''s kine, bred to be butchered, You, too, are one of us!
We are the Zulu, children of the Lion, ]Miat! did you tremble?
Suddenly Chaka was seen stalking through the ranks, followed by his captains, his indunas, and by me. He walked along like a great buck ; death was in his eyes, and like a buck he sniffed the air, scenting the air of slaughter. He lifted his assegai, and a silence fell ; only the sound of chantim? still rolled alonsr the hills.
MOPO BECOMES THE KIXGS DOCTOR 35
"Where are the cliiklren of Zwitle?" he shouted, and his voice was like the voice of a bulh
"Yonder, father,'' answered the regiments. And every spear pointed across the valley.
'• They do not come," he shouted again. '■- Shall we then sit here till we grow old ? "
''Xo, father," they answered. "Begin I begin I"
"Let the Umkandhlu regiment come forward I " he shouted a third time, and as he spoke the black shields of the Um- kandhlu leaped from the ranks of the impi.
" Go, my children I " cried Chaka. " There is the foe. Go and return no more I "
-' We hear you, father ! " they answered with one voice, and moved down the slope like a countless herd of game with horns of steel.
Xow they crossed the stream, and now Zwide awoke. A murmur Avent through his companies ; lines of light played above his spears.
Oul they are coming! Oul they have met! Hearken to the thunder of the shields I Hearken to the song of battle !
To and fro they swing. The Umkandhlu gives way — it flies I They pour back across the stream — half of them ; the rest are dead. A howl of rage goes up from the host, only Chaka smiles.
" Open up ! open up I " he cries. " Make room for the Umkandhlu girls!" And with hanging heads they pass behind us.
Xow he whispers a word to the indunas. The indunas run ; they whisper to IMenziwa the general and to the cap- tains; then two regiments rush down the hill, two more run to the right, and yet another two to the left. But Chaka stays on the hill with the three that are left. Again comes the roar of the meeting shields. Ah! these are men: they fight, they do not run. Eegiment after regiment pours upon them, but still they stand. They fall by hundreds and by thousands, but no man shows his back, and on each man there lie two dead. Woic! my father, of those two regiments not one escaped. They were but boys, but they
36 NAD A THE LILY
were the children of Chaka. Menziwa was buried beneath the heaps of his warriors. Now there are no such men.
They are all dead and quiet. Chaka still holds his hand! He looks to the north and to the south. See ! spears are shining among the trees. Xow the horns of our host close upon the flanks of the foe. They slay and are slain, but the men of Zwide are many and brave, and the battle turns against us.
Then again Chaka speaks a word. The captains hear, the soldiers stretch out their necks to listen.
It has come at last. " Charge! Children of the Zulu!" There is a roar, a thunder of feet, a flashing of spears, a bendiug of plumes, and, like a river that has burst its banks, like storm-clouds before the gale, we sweep down upon friend and foe. They form up to meet us ; the stream is passed ; our wounded rise upon their haunches and wave us on. We trample them down. What matter? They can fight no more. Then we meet Zwide rushing to greet us, as bull meets bull. On ! my father, I know no more. Everything grows red. That fight ! that fight ! We swept them away. When it was done there was nothing to be seen, but the hillside was black and red. Few fled ; few were left to fly. We passed over them like fire ; we ate them up. Presently we paused, looking for the foe. All were dead. The host of Zwide was no more. Then we mustered. Ten regiments had looked upon the morning sun ; three regiments saw the sun sink ; the rest had gone where no suns shine. Such were our battles in the days of Chaka I You ask of the Umkandhlu regiment which fled. I will tell you. When we reached our kraal once more, Chaka summoned that regiment and mustered it. He spoke to them gently, gently. He thanked them for their service. He said it was natural that '-r/irls'^ should faint at the sight of blood and turn to seek their kraals. Yet he had bid them come back no more and they had come back I What then was there now left for him to do ? And he covered his face with his blanket. Then the soldiers killed them all, nearly two thousand of them — killed them with taunts and jeers.
THE BIRTH OF UMSLOFOGAAS 37
That is how we dealt with cowards in those d.ays, my father. After that, one Zuhi was a match for five of any other tribe. If ten came against him, still he did not turn his back. "Fight and fall, but fly not," that "was our watchword. Never again while Chaka lived did a con- quered force ])ass the gat^s of tlie king's kraal.
That tight was but one war out of many. "With every moon a fresli inipi started to wash its spears, and came back few and thin, but with victory and countless cattle. Tribe after tribe went down before tis. Those of them who escaped the assegai Avere enrolled into fresh regiments, and thus, tliough men died b}' thousands every month, yet the army grew. Soon there were no other chiefs left. Um- suduka fell, and after him ]Mancengeza. Umzilikazi was driven north ; ]\Iatiwane was stamped flat. Then we poured into this land of Xatal. Wlxen we entered, its people could not be numbered. When we left, here and there a man might be found hidden in a hole in the earth — that was all. Men, women, and children, Ave Aviped them out : the land Avas clean of them. Xext came the turn of U'Faku, chief of the Amapondos. Ali I Avhere is U'Faku noAv ?
And so it Avent on and on, till CA'en the Zulus were Aveary of Avar and the sharpest assegais greAV blunt.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BIRTH OF l^ISLOPOGAAS.
This Avas the rule of the life of Chaka, that he Avould haA'e no children, though he had man}- Avives. Every child born to him by his " sisters " was put aAvaj' at once.
" What, Mopo," he said to me, " shall I rear up children to put me to the assegai when they grow great ? They call me tyrant. Say, hoAv do those chiefs die whom men name tyrants ? They die at the hands of those whom they have bred. Nay, Mopo, I Avill rule for my life, and when I join the spirits of my fathers let the strongest take my poAver and ray place I "
38 A'ADA THE LILY
Xow it chanced that shortly after Chaka had spoken thus, my sister Baleka, the king's wife, fell in labour; and on that same day my Avife Macropha was brought to bed of twins, and this but eight days after my second wife, Anadi, had given birth to a son. You ask, my father, how I came to be married, seeing that Chaka forbade marriage to all his soldiers till they were in middle life and had put the man's ring upon their heads. It was a boon he granted me as inyanga of medicine, saying it was well that a doctor should know the sicknesses of women and learn how to cure their evil tempers. As though, my father, that were possible !
When the king heard that Baleka was sick he did not kill her outright, because he loved her a little, but he sent for me, commanding me to attend her, and when the child was born to cause its body to be brought to him, according to custom, so that he might be sure that it was dead. I bent to the earth before him, and went to do his bidding with a heavy heart, for was not Baleka my sister ? and would not her child be of my own blood ? Still, it must be so, for Chaka's whisper was as the shout of other kings, and, if we dared to disobey, then our lives and the lives of all in our kraal would answer for it. Better that an in- fant should die than that Ave should become food for jackals. Presently I came to the Emposeni, the place of the king's wives, and declared the king's word to the soldiers on guard. They lowered their assegais and let me pass, and I entered the hut of Baleka. In it were others of the king's wives, but when the}- saw me they rose and Avent away, for it Avas not lawful that they should stay where I was. Thus I Avas left alone with my sister.
For awhile she lay silent and I did not speak, though I saw by the heaving of her breast that she was weeping.
'•'Hush, little one I " I said at length; '''your sorrow will soon be done."
'•'Xay," she answered, lifting her head, "it will be but begun. Oh, cruel man ! I know the reason of your coming. You come to murder the babe that shall be born of me."
" It is the kincr's Avord, Avoman."
THE BIRTH OF L'MSLOPOGAAS 39
*• It is the king's woril, and wliat is the king's word ? Have I, then, nauglit to say in this matter ? "
" It is the king's child, -woman."
" It is the king's child, and is it not also my child ? jNIust my babe be dragged from my breast and be stran- gled, and by you, Mopo ? Have I not loved you, ^Mopo ? Did I not flee with you from our people and the ven- geance of our father ? Do you know that not two moons gone the king was wroth with you because he fell sick, and would have caused you to be slain had I not pleaded for you and called his oath to mind ? And thus you pay me : you come to kill my child, my first-born child I "
" It is the king's word, woman," I answered sternly ; but my heart was split in two within me.
Then Baleka said no more, but, turning her face to the wall of the hut, she wept and groaned bitterly.
Xow, as she wept I heard a stir without the hut, and the light in the doorway was darkened. A woman entered alone. I looked round to see Avho it was, then fell upon the ground in salutation, for before me was Unandi, mother of the king, who v\-as named '•' ]Mother of the Heavens," that same lady to whom my mother had refused the milk.
'• Hail, Mother of the Heavens ! "' I said.
" Greeting, Mopo," she answered. '• Say, why does Baleka weep ? Is it because the sorrow of women is upon her ? "
"Ask of her, great chieftainess," I said.
Then Baleka spoke : '•' I weep, mother of a king, because this man, who is my brother, has come from him who is my lord and thy son, to murder that which shall be born of me. 0 thou whose breasts have given suck, plead for me I Thy son was not slain at birth."
'•Perhaps it Avere well if he had been so slain, Baleka," said Unandi ; '■' then had many another man lived to look upon the sun who is now dead."
''' At the least, as an infant he was good and gentle, and thou mightest love him, ]Mother of the Zulu."
•' Xever, Baleka I As a babe he bit my breast and tore my hair ; as the man is so was the babe."
'• Yet may his child be otherwise, Mother of the Heavens !
40 A-ADA THE LILY
Think, thou hast no grandson to comfort thee in thy age. Wilt thou, then, see all thy stock wither ? The king, our lord, lives in Avar. He too may die, and what then ? "
" Then the root of Senzangacona is still green. Has the king no brothers ? "
" They are not of th}^ flesh, mother. What ? thou dost not hearken I Then as a woman to woman I plead with thee. Save my child or slay me with my child I "
Xow the heart of Unandi grew gentle, and she was moved to tears.
'• How may this be done, Mopo ? " she said. " The king must see the dead infant, and if he suspect, and even reeds have ears, you know the heart of Chaka and where we shall lie to-morrow."
'•Are there then no other new-born babes in Zululaud ? " said Baleka, sitting up and speaking in a whisper like the hiss of a snake. •• Listen, Mopo I Is not your Avife also in labour ? Xow hear me. Mother of the Heavens, and, my brother, hear me also. Do not think to play with me in this matter. I will save my child or you twain shall perish with it. For I Avill tell the king that you came to me, the two of you, and Avhispered plots into my ear — plots to save the child and kill the king. Xow choose, and swiftly I "
She sank back, there was silence, and avb looked one upon another. Then Unandi spoke.
'• Give me your hand, Mopo, and SAvear that you Avill be faithful to me in this secret, as I SAvear to j'ou. A day may come when this child Avho has not seen the light rules as king in Zululand, and then in reward you shall be the greatest of the people, the king's A'oice, AA-hisperer in the king's ear. But if you break your oath, then bcAA-are, for I Avill not die alone I "
" I SAvear, Mother of the Heavens," I answered.
"It is well, son of Makedama."
" It is Avell, my brother," said Baleka. '• Xow go and do that Avhich must be done SAviftly, for my sorroAv is upon me. Go, knowing that if you fail I Avill be pitiless, for I Avill bring you to your death, yes, even if my own death is the price ! "
THE BIRTH OF UMSLOPOGAAS 41
So I went. ••Whither do you go?" asked the guard at the gate.
"I go to bring my medicines, men of the king,'* 1 answered.
So I said ; but, oh I my lieart was heavy, and this was my plan — to fly far froiu Zululand. I could not, and I dared not do this thing. ^Miat? should I kill my own child that its life might be given for the life of the babe of Baleka ? And should I lift up my will against the will of the king, saving the child to look upon the sun which he had doomed to darkness ? Xay, I would fly, leaving all, and seek out some far tribe where I might begin to live again. Here I could not live ; here in the shadow of Chaka was notliing but death.
I reached my own huts, there to find that my wife jMacropha Avas delivered of twins. I sent away all in the hut except my other wife, Anadi, she who eight days gone had borne me a son. The second of the twins was born; it was a boy, born dead. The first was a girl, she who lived to be Xada the Beautiful, Xada the Lily. Then a thought came into my heart. Here was a path to run on.
'•' Give me the boy,*' I said to Anadi. '• He is not dead. Give him to me that T may take him outside the kraal and wake him to life by my medicine."
'• It is of no use — the child is dead," said Anadi.
'• Give him to me, woman ! " I said fiercely. And she gave me the body.
Then I took him and wrapped him up in my bundle of medicines, and outside of all I rolled a mat of plaited grass.
*• Suffer none to enter the hut till I return," I said ; " and speak no word of the child that seems to be dead. If you allow an}" to enter, or if you speak a word, then my medicine will not work and the babe will be dead indeed."
So I went, leaving the women wondering, for it is not our custom to save both when twins are born ; but I ran swiftly to the gates of the Emposeni.
" I bring the medicines, men of the king I " I said to the guards.
" Pass in,*' they answered.
42 XADA THE LILY
I passed through the gates and into the hut of Baleka. Unandi was alone in the hut with my sister.
" The child is born," said the mother of the king. " Look at him, Mopo, son of INIakedama ! "
I looked. He was a great child with large black eyes like the eyes of Chaka the king ; and Unandi, too, looked at hie. " Where is it ? " she whispered.
I loosed the mat and drew the dead child from the medi- cines, glancing round fearfully as I did so.
'• Give me the living babe," I whispered back.
They gave it to me and I took of a drug that I knew and rubbed it on the tongue of the child. jN^ow this drug has the power to make the tongue it touches dumb for aAvhile. Then I wrapped up the child in my medicines and again bound the mat about the bundle. But round the throat of the still-born babe I tied a string of hbre as thoiigh I had strangled it, and wrapped it loosel}' in a piece of matting.
iS'ow for the first time I spoke to Baleka : " "Woman," I said, '"'and thou also. Mother of the Heavens, I have done your wish, but know that before all is finished this deed shall bring about the death of many. Be secret as the grave, for the grave yawns for you both."
I went again, bearing the mat containing the dead child in m}' right hand. But the bundle of medicines that held the living one T fastened across my shoulders. I passed out of the Emj)oseni, and, as I went, I held up the bundle in my right hand to the guards, showing them that which was in it, but saying nothing.
" It is good," they said, nodding.
But now ill-fortune found me, for just outside the Em- poseni I met three of the king's messengers.
" Greeting, son of Makedama ! " they said. " The king summons you to the Intunkulu " — that is the royal house, my father.
'' Good ! " I answered. " I will come now ; but first I would run to my own place to see how it goes with Macro- pha, my wife. Here is that which the king seeks," and I showed them the dead child. "Take it to him if you will."
THE BIRTH OF LMSLOFOGAAS ^
" That is not the king's command, ^Mopo," they answered. " His word is that you shoiihl stand before him at once."
Xow my lieart turned to water in my breast. Kings have many ears. Coukl he have heard ? And how dared I go before the Lion bearing liis living chikl hidden on my back ? Yet to waver was to be lost, to show fear was to be lost, to disobey was to be lost.
"Good! I come,'' I answered. And we walked to the gate of the IntunJcuIu.
It was sundown. Chaka was sitting in the little court- yard in front of his hut. I Avent down on my knees before him and gave the royal salute, Bayete, and so I stayed.
'• Rise, son of Makedama I ■' he said.
'• I cannot rise. Lion of the Zulu," I answered. " I can- not rise, having royal blood on my hands, till the king has pardoned me."
'• Where is it ? '' he asked.
I pointed to the mat in my hand.
'' Let me look at it."
Then I undid the mat, and he looked on the child, and laughed aloud.
•• He might have been a king," he said, as he bade a councillor take it away. '• Mopo, thou hast slain one who might have been a king. Art thou not afraid ? "
" Xo, Black One," I answered, " the child is killed by order of one who is a king."
*' Sit down, and let us talk," said Chaka, for his mood was idle. " To-morrow thou shalt have five oxen for this deed ; thou shalt choose them from the royal herd."
'•' The king is good ; he sees that my belt is drawn tight ; he satisfies my hunger. "Will the king suffer that I go ? My wife is in labour and I would visit her."
"Xay, stay awhile; say how is it with Baleka, my sister and thine ? "
*' It is well."
'* Did she weep when you took the babe from her ? "
•• Xa}', she wept not. She said, Oly lord's will is my will." "
•• Good I Had she wept she had been slain also. Who was with her ? "
£
44 NAD A THE LILY
'■ The Mother of the Heavens."
The brow of Chaka darkened. '' Unandi, ray mother, what did she there ? By myself I swear, though she is my mother — if I thought " — and he ceased.
There was a silence, then he spoke again. " Say, what is in that mat ? " and he pointed with his little assegai at the bundle on my shoulders.
" Medicine, king."
"Thou dost carry enough to doctor an impi. Undo the mat and let me look at it."
Now, my father, I tell you that the marrow melted in my bones with terror, for if I undid the mat I feared he must see the child and then
''It is tagati, it is bewitched, 0 king. It is not wise to look on medicine."
'• Open ! " he answered angrily. '•' What ? may I not look at that which I am forced to swallow — I, who am the first of doctors ? "
"Death is the king's medicine," I answered, lifting the bundle, and laying it as far from him in the shadow of the fence as I dared. Then I bent over it, slowly undoing the rimpis with which it was tied, while the sweat of terror ran down my face blinding me like tears. What should I do if he saw the child? What if the child awoke and cried? I would snatch the assegai from his hand and stab him ! Yes, I would kill the king and then kill myself ! Now the mat was unrolled. Inside were the brown leaves and roots of medicine ; beneath them was the senseless babe wrapped in dead moss.
"Ugly stuff," said the king, taking snuff. "Now see, jVIopo, what a good aim I have ! This for thy medicine ! " And he lifted his assegai to throw it through the bundle. But as he threw, my snake put it into the king's heart to sneeze, and thus it came to pass that the assegai onl}^ pierced the outer leaves of the medicine, and did not touch the child.
"May the heavens bless the king!" I said, according to custom.
" Thanks to thee, Mopo, it is a good omen," he answered.
X did up the bundle fast — lasc
THE BIRTH OF UMSLOPOGAAS 45
" And now begone ! Take my cadvice : kill thy children, as I kill mine, lest they live to worry thee. The whelps of lions are best drowned."
I did up the bundle fast — fast, though my hands trembled. Oil ! wluit if the child should wake and cry. It was done ; I rose and saluted the king. Then I doubled myself up and passed from before him. Scarcely was I out- side the gates of the Intioikulw when the infant began to squeak in the bundle. If it had been one minute before !
" What," said a soldier, as I passed, " have you got a puppy hidden under your moocha,^ Mopo ? "
I made no answer, but hurried on till I came to my huts. I entered ; there were my two wives alone.
'' I have recovered the child, women," I said, as I undid the bundle.
Anadi took him and looked at him.
" The boy seems bigger than he Avas," she said.
"The breath of life has come into him and puifed him out," I answered.
"His eyes are not as his eyes were," she said again. " Now they are big and black, like the eyes of the king."
" My spirit looked upon his eyes and made them beauti- ful," I answered.
" This child has a birth-mark on his thigh," she said a third time. '' That which I gave you had no mark."
"I laid my medicine there," I answered.
" It is not the same child," she said sullenly. " It is a changeling Avho will lay ill-luck at our doors."
Then I rose up in my rage and cursed her heavily, for I saw that if she was not stopped this woman's tongue would bring us all to ruin.
" Peace, witch ! " I cried. " How dare you to speak thus from a lying heart ? Do you wish to draw down a curse upon our roof ? Would you make us all food for the king's spear ? Say such words again, and 3'ou shall sit within the circle — the Ingomboco shall know you for a witch ! "
So I stormed on, threatening to bring her to death, till at
1 Girdle composed of skiu aud tails of oxeu. — Ed.
46 NAD A THE LILY
length she grew fearful, and fell at my feet praying for mercy and forgiveness. But I was much afraid because of this woman's tongue, and not without reason.
CHAPTER yil.
UMSLOPOGAAS ANSWERS THE KIXG.
Now the years went on, and this matter slept. Nothing more was heard of it, but still it only slept ; and, my father, I feared greatly for the hour when it should awake. For the secret was known by two women — Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, and Baleka, my sister, wife of the king ; and by two more — Macropha and Anadi, my wives — it was guessed at. How, then, should it remain a secret forever ? Moreover, it came about that Unandi and Baleka could not restrain their fondness for this child who was called my son and named Umslopogaas, but who was the son of Chaka, the king, and of Baleka, and the grandson of Unandi. So it happened that very often one or the other of them would come into ray hut, making pretence to visit my wives, and take the boy upon her lap and fondle it. In vain did I pray them to forbear. Love pulled at their heartstrings more heavily than my words, and still they came. This was the end of it — that Chaka saw the child sitting on the knee of Unandi, his mother.
''What does my mother with that brat of thine, Mopo?" he asked of me. " Cannot she kiss me, if she will find a child to kiss ?" And he laughed like a wolf.
I said that I did not know, and the matter passed over for awhile. But after that Chaka caused his mother to be watched. jSTow the boy Umslopogaas grew great and strong ; there was no such lad of his years for a day's journey round. But from a babe he was somewhat surly, of few words, and like his father, Chaka, afraid of nothing. In all the world there were but two people whom he loved — these were I, Mopo, who was called his father, and Nada, she who was said to be his twin sister.
C\]/SLOJ'OG.LlS .LVSirJ::AS I III:: KIXG 47
Now it must be told of Xada that as the boy Umslopogaas was the strongest and bravest of children, so the girl Nada was the gentlest and the most fair. Of a truth, my father, I believe that her blood was not all Zulu, though this I can- not say for certain. At the least, her eyes were softer and larger than those of our people, her hair longer and less tightly curled, and her skin was lighter — more of the colour of pure copper. These things she had from her mother, ^Macropha; though she was fairer than Macropha — fairer, indeed, than any woman of my people whom I have seen. Her mother, Macropha, my wife, was of Swazi blood, and was brought to the king's kraal with other captives after a raid, and given to me as a wife by the king. It was said that she was the daughter of a Swazi headman of the tribe of the Halakazi, and that she was born of his wife is true, but whether he was her father I do not know ; for I have heard from the lips of Macropha herself, that before she was born there was a white man staying at her father's kraal. He was a Portuguese from the coast, a handsome man, and skilled in the working of iron. This white man loved the mother of my wife, Macropha, and some held that Macropha was his daughter, and not that of the Swazi headman. At least I know this, that before my wife's birth the Swazi killed the white man. But none can tell the truth of these matters, and I only speak of them because the beauty of Xada was rather as is the beauty of the white people than of ours, and this might well happen if her grandfather chanced to be a Avhite man.
Xow Umslopogaas and Xada were always together. Together they ate, together they slept and wandered ; they thought one thought and spoke with one tongue. Ou I it was pretty to see them ! Twice while they were children did Umslopogaas save the life of Xada.
The first time it came about thus. The two children had wandered far from the kraal, seeking certain berries that little ones love. On they wandered and on, singing as they went, till at length they found the berries, and ate heartily. Then it was near sundown, and when they had eaten they fell asleep. In the night they woke to find a great Avind
48 A'ADA THE LILY
blowing and a cold rain falling on them, for it was the beginning of winter, when fruits are ripe.
" Up, Xada I " said Unislopogaas, " we must seek the kraal or the cold will kill us."
So Xada rose, frightened, and hand in hand they stumbled through the darkness. But in the Avind and the night they lost their path, and when at length the dawn came they were in a forest that was strange to them. They rested awhile, and finding berries ate them, then walked again. All that day they wandered, till at last the night came dowTi. and they plucked branches of trees and piled the branches over them for warmth, and the}' were so weary that they fell asleep in each other's arms. At dawn the}* rose, but now they were very tired and berries were few, so that by mid- day they were spent. Then they lay down on the side of a steep hill, and Xada laid her head upon the breast of Umslopogaas.
'• Here let us die, m}- brother," she said.
But even then the boy had a great spirit, and he answered, ** Time to die, sister, when Death chooses us. See, now I Do you rest here, and I will climb the hill and look across the forest."
So he left her and climbed the hill, and on its side he found many berries and a root that is good for food, and filled himself with them. At length he came to the crest of the hill and looked out across the sea of green. Lo ! there, far away to the east, he saw a line of white that lay like smoke against the black surface of a cliff, and knew it for the waterfall bej'ond the royal town. Then he came down the hill, shouting for joy and bearing roots and berries in his hand. But when he reached the spot Avhere Xada Avas, he found that her senses had left her through hunger, cold, and weariness. She lay upon the ground like one asleep, and over her stood a jackal that fled as he drew nigh. Xow it Avould seem that there were but two shoots to the stick of Umslopogaas. One Avas to saA'e himself, and the other to lie down and die by Xada. Yet he found a third, for. undoing the strips of his moocha, he made ropes of them, and with the ropes he bound Xada upon his back and started
UMSLOPOGAAS ANSWERS THE KING 49
for the king's kraal. He could never have reached it, for the way was long, yet at evening some messengers running through the forest came upon a naked lad with a girl bound to his back and a staff in his hand, who staggered along slowly with starting eyes and foam upon his lips. He could not speak, he was so weary, and the ropes had cut through the skin of his shoulders ; yet one of the messengers knew him for Umslopogaas, the son of Mopo, and they bore him to the kraal. They would have left the girl Xada, thinking her dead, but he pointed to her breast, and, feeling it, they found that her heart still beat, so they brought her also ; and the end of it was that both recovered and loved each other more than ever before.
Now after this, I, ^NIopo, bade Umslopogaas stay at home within the kraal, and not lead his sister to the wilds. But the bo}' loved roaming like a fox, and where he went there Nada followed. So it came about that one day they slipped from the kraal when the gates were open, and sought out a certain deep glen which had an evil name, for it was said that spirits haunted it and put those to death who entered there. Whether this was true I do not know, but I know that in the glen dwelt a certain woman of the woods, who had her habitation in a cave and lived upon what she could kill or steal or dig up with her hands. Xow this woman was mad. For it had chanced that her husband had been " smelt out " by the witch-doctors as a worker of magic against the king, and slain. Then Chaka, according to custom, despatched the slayers to eat up his kraal, and they came to the kraal and killed his people. Last of all they killed his children, three young girls, and would have assegaied their mother, his wife, when suddenly a spirit entered into her at the sight, and she went mad, so that they let her go, being afraid to touch her because of the spirit within her; nor would any touch her afterwards. So she fled and took up her abode in the haunted glen ; and this was the nature of her madness, that whenever she saw children, and more especially girl children, a longing came upon her to kill them as her own had been killed. This, indeed, she did often, for when the moon was full and her
50 NAD A THE LILY
madness at its highest, she -svould travel far to find chil- dren, snatching them away from the kraals like a hyena. Still, none would touch her because of the spirit in her, not even those whose children she had murdered.
So Umslopogaas and Xada came to the glen where the child-slayer lived, and sat down by a pool of water not far from the mouth of her cave, weaving flowers into a garland. Presently Umslopogaas left Xada, to search for rock lilies which she loved. As he went he called back to her, and his voice awoke the woman who was sleeping in her cave, for she came out by night only, like a jackal. Then the woman stepped forth, smelling blood and having a spear in her hand. Presently she saw Kada seated upon the grass weaving flowers, and crept towards her to kill her. Now as she came — so the child told me — suddenly a cold wind seemed to breathe upon Xada, and fear took hold of her, though she did not see the woman who would murder her. She let fall the flowers, and looked before her into the pool, and there, mirrored in the pool, she saw the greedy face of the child-slayer, who crept down upon her from above, her hair hanging about her brow and her eyes shin- ing like the eyes of a lion.
Then with a cry jSTada sprang up and fled along the path which Umslopogaas had taken, and after her leapt and ran the mad woman. Umslopogaas heard her cry. He turned and rushed back over the brow of the hill, and, lo ! there before him was the murderess. Already she had grasped iSTada by the hair, already her spear was lifted to pierce her. Umslopogaas had no spear, he had nothing but a little stick without a knob ; j'et with it he rushed at the mad woman and struck her so smartly on the arm that she let go of the girl and turned on him with a yell. Then, lifting her spear, she struck at him, but he leapt aside. Again she struck ; but he sprang into the air, and the spear passed beneath him. A third time the woman struck, and, though he fell to earth to avoid the blow, yet the assegai pierced his shoulder. But the weight of his body as he fell twisted it from her hand, and before she could grasp him he was up, and beyond her reach, the spear still fast in his shoulder.
UMSLOPOGAAS ANSWERS THE KING 51
Then the woman turned, screaming with rage and mad- ness, and ran at Nada to kill her with her hands. But Umslopogaas set his teeth, and, drawing the spear from his wound, charged her, shouting. She lifted a great stone and hurled it at him — so hard that it flew into fragments against another stone which it struck ; yet he charged on, and smote at her so truly that he drove the spear through her, and she fell down dead. After that Nada bound up his wound, which Avas deep, and with much pain he reached the king's kraal and told me this story.
Now there were some who cried that the boy must be put to death, because he had killed one possessed Avith a spirit. But I said no, he should not be touched. He had killed the woman in defence of his own life and the life of his sister ; and every one had a right to slay in self-defence, except as against the king or those who did the king's bid- ding. Moreover, I said, if the woman had a spirit, it was an evil one, for no good spirit would ask the lives of chil- dren, but rather those of cattle, for it is against our cus- tom to sacrifice human beings to the Amatonga even in war, though the Basutu dogs do so. Still, the tumult grew, for the witch-doctors were set upon the boy's death, saying that evil would come of it if he was allowed to live, having killed one inspired, and at last the matter came to the ears of the king. Then Chaka summoned me and the boy be- fore him, and he also summoned the witch-doctors.
First, the witch-doctors set out their case, demanding the death of Umslopogaas. Chaka asked them what would hap- pen if the boy was not killed. They answered that the spirit of the dead woman would lead him to bring evil on the royal house. Chaka asked if he would bring evil upon him, the king. They in turn asked of the spirits, and answered no, not on him, but on one of the royal house who should be after him. Chaka said that he cared nothing what happened to those who came after him, or whether good or evil be- fell them. Then he spoke to Umslopogaas, who looked him boldly in the face, as an equal looks at an equal.
" Boy," he said, " what hast thou to say as to why thou shouldst not be killed as these men demand ?"
52 A\4DA THE LILY
"This, Black One/' answered Umslopogaas ; '-'that I stabbed the woman in defence of my own life."'
'• That is nothing," said Chaka. " If I, the king, wished to kill thee, mightest thou therefore kill me or those whom I sent ? The Kongo in the woman was a Spirit King and ordered her to kill thee ; thou shouldst then have let thy- self be killed. Hast thou no other reason ? "
" This, Elephant," answered Umslopogaas ; " the woman would have murdered my sister, whom I love better than my life."
'•' That is nothing," said Chaka. " If I ordered thee to be killed for any cause, should I not also order all within thy gates to be killed with thee ? May not, then, a Spirit King do likewise ? If thou hast nothing more to say thou must die."
Xow I grew afraid, for I feared lest Chaka should slay him who was called my son because of the word of the doctors. But the boy Umslopogaas looked up and answered boldly, not as one who pleads for his life, but as one who demands a right : —
" I have this to say, Eater-up of Enemies, and if it is not enough, let us stop talking, and let me be killed. Thou, O king, didst command that this woman should be slain. Those whom thou didst send to destroy her spared her, be- cause they thought her mad. I have carried out the com- mandment of the king ; I have slain her, mad or sane, whom the king commanded should be killed, and I have earned not death, but a reward."
'' Well said, Umslopogaas I " answered Chaka. " Let ten head of cattle be given to this boy with the heart of a man ; his father shall guard them for him. Art thou satisfied now, Umslopogaas ? "
" I take that which is due to me. and I thank the king because he need not pay unless he Avill," Umslopogaas answered.
Chaka stared awhile, began to grow angry, then burst out laughing.
" Why, this calf is such another one as was dropped long ago in the kraal of Senzangacona I " he said. ••' As I was,
THE GREAT INGOMBOCO 53
so is this boy. Go on, lad, in that path, and thou mayst find those who shall cry the royal salute of Bcujete to thee at the end of it. Only keep out of my Avay, for two of a kind might not agree. Xow begone I "
So we went, but as we passed them I saw the doctors muttering together, for they were ill-pleased and foreboded evil. Also they were jealous of me, and wished to smite me through the heart of him who was called my son.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE GREAT INGOMBOCO.
After this there Avas quiet till the Feast of the First- fruits was ended. But few jDCople Avere killed at this feast, though there Avas a great Ingomhoco, or A\'itch-hunt, and many A\'ere smelt out by the Avitch-doctors as AA'orking magic against the king. Isow things had come to this j)ass in Zululand — that the whole people cowered before the AA'itch- doctors. Xo man might sleep safe, for none knew but that on the morroAv he Avould be touched by the AA'and of an Isa- nusi, as we name a finder of Avitches, and led aAway to his death. For awhile Chaka said nothing, and so long as the doctors smelt out those only Avhom he AA'ished to be rid of — and they Avere many — he was Avell pleased. But v/hen they began to AA'ork for their oaa'u ends, and to do those to death whom he did not desire to kill, he greAv angry. Yet the custom of the land was that he whom the witch-doctor touched must die, he and all his house ; therefore the king was in a cleft stick, for he scarcely dared to saA^e eA-en those whom he loved. One night I came to doctor him, for he Avas sick in his mind. On that A-ery day there had been an Ingomhoco, and five of the bravest captains of the army had been smelt out by the Abangoma, the witch-find- ers, together with many others. All had been destroyed, and men had been sent to kill the wIa'cs and children of the dead. Xow Chaka Avas very angry at this slaying, and opened his heart to me.
54
NAD A THE LILY
"The witch-doctors rule iu Zululand, and not I, Mopo, son of Makedama,"' he said to me. " Where, then, is it to end ? Shall I myself be smelt out and slain ? These Isanusis are too strong for me ; they lie upon the land like the shadow of night. Tell me, how may I be free of them ? "
"' Those who walk the Bridge of Spears, 0 king, fall off into Xowhere," I answered darkly ; '• even witch-doctors cannot keep a footing on that bridge. Has not a witch- doctor a heart that can cease to beat ? Has he not blood that can be made to flow ? "
Chaka looked at me strangely. *• Thou art a bold man who darest to speak thus to me, Mopo," he said. "Dost thou not know that it is sacrilege to touch an Isanusi ? "
" I speak that which is in the king's mind,*' I answered. '•' Hearken, 0 king I It is indeed sacrilege to touch a true Isanusi, but what if the Isanusi be a liar ? What if he smell out falsely, bringing those to death who are innocent of evil ? Is it then sacrilege to bring him to that end which he has given to many another ? Say, 0 king I "
"Good words I" answered Chaka. "Now tell me, son of !Makedama, how may this matter be put to proof ? "
Then I leaned forward, whispering into the ear of the Black One, and he nodded heavily.
Thus I spoke then, because I, too, saw the evil of the Isanusis, I who knew their secrets. Also, I feared for my own life and for the lives of all those who were dear to me. For they hated me as one instructed in their magic, one who had the seeing eye and the hearing ear.
One morning thereafter a new thing came to pass in the royal kraal, for the king himself ran out, crying aloud to all people to come and see the evil that had been worked upon him by a wizard. They came together and saw this. On the door-posts of the gateway of the Intunkulu, the house of the king, Avere great smears of blood. The knees of men strong in the battle trembled when they saw it; women wailed aloud as they wail over the dead; they wailed because of the horror of the omen.
"Who has done this thing?" cried Chaka iu a terrible
THE GREAT IXGOMBOCO 55
voice. '' Who has dared to bewitch the king and to strike blood upon his house ? "
There was no answer, and Chaka spoke again. " This is no little matter,"' he said, "to be washed away with the blood of one or two and be forgotten. The man wlio wrought it shall not die alone or travel with a few to the Avorld of spirits. All his tribe shall go with him, down to the baby in his hut and the cattle in his kraal ! Let mes- sengers go out east and west, and north and south, and sum- mou the witch-doctors from every quarter ! Let them summon the captains from every regiment and the head- men from every kraal I On the tenth day from now the circle of the Ingomhoco must be set, and there shall be such a smelling out of wizards and of witches as has not been known in Zululand ! "
So the messengers went out to do the bidding of the king, taking the names of those who should be summoned from the lips of the indunas, and day by day people flocked up to the gates of the royal kraal, and, creeping on their knees before the majesty of the king, praised him aloud. But he vouchsafed an answer to none. One noble only he caused to be killed, because he carried in his hand a stick of the royal red wood, which Chaka himself had given him in b3'gone years.*
On the last night before the forming of the Ingomboco, the witch-doctors, male and female, entered the kraal. There were a hundred and half a hundred of them, and they were made hideous and terrible with the white bones of men, with bladders of fish and of oxen, with fat of wiz- ards, and with skins of snakes. They walked in silence till they came iu front of the Intunkulv, the royal house; then they stopped aud sang this song for the king to hear : —
We have come, 0 king, we have come from the caves and the roclvs and the swamps,
To wash in the blood of the slain ; V\'e have gathered our host from the air as vultures are gathered in war
When they scent the blood of the slain.
1 This beautiful wood is known in Xatal as " red ivory." — Ed.
56 A\4DA THE LILY
We come not alone, 0 king : with each Wise One there passes a ghost,
"Who hisses the name of the doomed. We come not alone, for we are the sons and Indunas of Death,
And he guides our feet to the doomed.
Red rises the moon o'er the plain, red sinks the sun in the west,
Look, wizards, and bid them farewell ! We count you by hundreds, you who cried for a curse on the king.
Ha ! soon shall we bid you farewell !
Then they were silent, and went in silence to the place appointed for them, there to pass the night in mutterings and magic. But those Avho were gathered together shivered with fear when they heard their words, for they knew well that many a man would be switched Avith the gnu's tail before the sun sank once more. And I, too, trembled, for my heart Avas full of fear. Ah ! my father, those were evil days to live in when Chaka ruled, and death met us at every turn ! Then no man might call his life his own, or that of his wife or child, or anything. All were the king's, and what war spared that the witch-doctors took.
The morning dawned heavil}', and before it was well light the heralds were out summoning all to the king's Ingomhoco. ]\Ien came by hundreds, carrying short sticks only — for to be seen armed was death — and seated themselves in the great circle before the gates of the royal house. Oh ! their looks were sad, and they had little stomach for eating that morning, they who were food for death. They seated them- selves ; then round them on the outside of the circle gath- ered knots of warriors, chosen men, great and fierce, armed with kerries only. These were the slayers.
"When all was ready, the king came out, followed by his indunas and by me. As he appeared, wrapped in his kaross of tiger-skins and towering a head higher tlian any man there, all the multitude — and it was many as the game on the hills — cast themselves to earth, and from every lip sharp and sudden went up the royal salute of Bayete. ])ut Chaka took no note ; his brow was cloudy as a mountain- top. He cast one glance at the people and one at the slayers, and wherever his eye fell men turned grey with fear. Then
THE GREAT IXGOMBOCO 57
he stalked on, and sat himself upon a stool to the north of the great ring looking toward the open space.
For awhile there was silence ; then from the gates of the women's quarters came a band of maidens arrayed in their beaded dancing-dresses, and carrying green branches in their hands. As they came, they clapped their hands and sang softly : —
We are the heralds of the king's feast, Ai ! Ai !
Vultures shall eat it. Ah ! Ah ! It is good — it is good to die for the king !
They ceased, and ranged themselves in a body behind us. Then Chaka held up his hand, and there was a patter of run- ning feet. Presently, from behind the royal huts appeared the great company of the Abangoma, the witch-doctors — men to the right and women to the left. In the left hand of each was the tail of a vilderbeeste, in the right a bundle of assegais and a little shield. They were awful to see, and the bones about them rattled as they ran, the bladders and the snake-skins floated in the air behind them, their faces shone Avith the fat of anointing, their eyes started like the eyes of fishes, and their lips twitched luangrily as they glared round the death-ring. Ha ! ha ! Little did those evil chil- dren guess who should be the slayers and who should be the slain before that sun sank !
On they came, like a grey company of the dead. On they came in silence broken only by the patter of their feet and the dry rattling of their bony necklets, till they stood in long ranks before the Black One. Awhile they stood thus, then suddenly every one of them thrust forward the little shield in his hand, and with a single voice they cried, " Hail, Father ! "
" Hail, my children ! " answered Chaka.
'•What seekest thou. Father?" they cried again. "Blood?"
" The blood of the guilt}^," he answered.
They turned and spoke each to each ; the company of the men spoke to the company of the women.
'' The Lion of the Zulu seeks blood."
58 XADA THE LILY
" He shall be fed ! " ' screamed tlie Avomen.
'' The Lion of the Zulu smells blood.*'
" He shall see it ! " screamed the women.
" His ej^es search out the wizards."
" He shall count their dead ! " screamed the women.
" Peace ! " cried Chaka. " Waste not the hours in talk, but to the work. Hearken ! "Wizards have bewitched me ! Wizards have dared to smite blood upon the gatewaj^s of the king. Dig in the burrows of the earth and find them, ye rats ! riy through the paths of the air and find them, ye vultures ! Smell at the gates of the people and name them, ye jackals ! ye hunters in the night ! Drag them from the caves if they be hidden, from the distance if they be fled, from the graves if they be dead. To the work ! to the work ! Show them to me truly, and your gifts shall be great ; and for them, if they be a nation, they shall be slain. Now begin. Begin by companies of ten, for you are many, and ail must be finished ere the sun sink."
" It shall be finished. Father," they answered.
Then ten of the women stood forward, and at their head was the most famous witch-doctress of that day — an aged woman named jSTobela, a woman to whose eyes the darkness was no veil, whose scent was keen as a dog's, who heard the voices of the dead as they cried in the night, and spoke truly of what she heard. All the other Isanusis, male and female, sat down in a half-moon facing the king, but this woman drew forward, and with her came nine of her sisterhood. They turned east and west, north and south, searching the heavens ; they turned east and west, north and south, search- ing the earth ; they turned east and west, north and south, searching the hearts of men. Then they crept round and round the great ring like cats ; then they threw themselves upon the earth and smelt it. And all the time there was silence, silence deep as midnight, and in it men hearkened to the beating of their hearts ; only now and again the vul- tures shrieked in the trees.
At length Kobela spoke : —
" Do you smell him, sisters ? "
'■' We smell him," they answered.
THE GRICAT INGOMBOCO 59
'' Does he sit in the east, sisters ? "
" He sits in the east," they answered.
" Is he the son of a stranger, sisters ? "
" He is the son of a stranger."
Then they crept nearer, crept on their hands and knees, till they Avere Avithin ten paces of where I sat among the indunas near to the king. The indunas looked on each other and grew grey with fear ; and for me, my father, my knees were loosened and my marrow turned t9 water in iny bones. • For I knew Avell who was that son of a stranger of whom they spoke. It was I, my father, I who Avas about to be smelt out; and if I was smelt out I should be killed with all my house, for the king's oath would scarcely avail me against the witch-doctors. I looked at the fierce faces of the Isanusis before me, as they crept, crept like snakes. I glanced behind and saw the slayers grasping their kerries for the deed of death, and I say I felt like one for whom the bitterness is overpast. Then I remembered the words which the king and I had whispered together of the cause for which this Ingomhoco was set, and hope crept back to me like the first gleam of the dawn upon a stormy night. Still I did not hope overmuch, for it well might happen that the king had but set a trap to catch me.
Xow they Avere quite near and halted.
'' Have we dreamed falsely, sisters ? " asked Nobela, the aged.
" What Ave dreamed in the night we see in the day," they answered.
" Shall I whisper his name in your ears, sisters ? "
They lifted their heads from the ground like snakes and nodded, and as they nodded the necklets of bones rattled on their skinny necks. Then they drew their heads to a circle, and l!s'obela thrust hers into the centre of the circle and said a word.
"Ha! ha I " they laughed, '• Ave hear you! His is the name. Let him be named by it in the face of HeaA'^en, him and all his house ; then let him hear no other name for- ever ! "
And suddenly they sprang up and rushed toAvards mft.
6o XADA JUL LILY
Xobela, the aged Isanusi, at their head. They leaped at me, pointing to me with the tails of the vilderbeestes in their hands. Then Xobela switched me in the face with the tail of the beasc, and cried aloud : —
*• Greeting. ]\Iopo, son of Makedama I Thon art the man who smotest blood on the door-posts of the king to bewitch the king. Let thy house be stamped flat I "
I saw her come, I felt the blow on my face as a man feels in a dream. I heard the feet of the slayers as they bounded forward to hale me to the dreadful death, but mj* tongue clave to the roof of my mouth — I could not say a word. I glanced at the king, and, as I did so, I thought that I heard him mutter : '• Xear the mark, not in it."
Then he held up his spear, and all was silence. The slayers stopped in their stride, the witch-doctors stood with outstretched arms, the Avorld of men was as though it had been frozen into sleep.
'■Hold I " he said. " Stand aside, son of Makedama, who art named an evildoer I Stand aside, thou, Xobela, and those with thee who have named him evildoer I "What ? Shall I be satisfied with the life of one dog ? Smell on, ye vultures, company by company, smell on ! For the day the labour, at night the feast ! "
So I rose, astonished, and stood on one side. The witch- doctresses also stood on one side, wonderstruck, since no such smelling out as this had been seen in the land. For till this hour, when a man was swept with the gnu's tail of the Isanusi that was the instant of his death. Why, then, men asked in their hearts, was the death delayed ? The Avitch- doctors asked it also, and looked to the king for light, as men look to a thunder-cloud for the flash. But from the Black One there came no word.
So we stood on one side, and a second party of the Isanusi women began tlieir rites. As the others had done, so thej^ did, and yet tliey worked otherwise, for this is the fashion of the Isanusis, that no two of them smell out in the same way. And this party swept the faces of certain of the king's councillors, naming them guilty of the witch-work.
" Stand ye on one side ! " said the king to those wlio had
THE GREAT IXCOMBOCO 6i
been smelt out; "and ye who have hunted oiit their wick- edness, stand ye with those who named ^lopo, son of Make- dama. It well may be that all are guilty."
So these stood on one side also, and a third party took up the tale. And they named certain of the great generals, and were in turn bidden to stand on one side together with those whom they had named.
So it went on through all that day. Company by company the women doomed their victims, till there were no more left of their number, and were commanded to stand aside together with those whom they had doomed. Then the male Isanusis began, and I could see well that by this time their hearts were fearful, for they smelt a snare. Yet the king's bidding must be done, and though their magic failed them here, victims must be found. So tliey smelt out this man and that man till we w^ere a great company of the doomed, who sat in silence on the ground looking at each other with sad eyes and watching the sun, which we deemed our last, climb slowly down the sk}'. And ever as the day waned those who were left untried of the witch-doctors grew madder and more tierce. They leaped into the air, they ground their teeth, and rolled upon the ground. They drew forth snakes and devoured them alive, they shrieked out to the spirits and called upon the names of ancient kings.
At length it drew on to evening, and the last company of the witch-doctors did their work, smelling out some of the keepers of the Emposeni, the house of the women. But there was one man of their company, a young man and a tall, who held back and took no share in the work, but stood by himself in the centre of the great circle, fixing his eyes on the heavens.
And when this compan}' had been ordered to stand aside also together with those whom they had smelt out, the king called aloud to the last of the witch-doctors, asking him of his name and tribe, and why he alone did not do his office.
'•' My name is Indabazinibi, the son of Arpi. 0 king," he answered, "and I am of the tribe of the Maquilisini. Does the king bid me to smell out him of whom the spirits have spoken to me as the worker of this deed ?"
62 A'JBA THE LILY
" I bid thee," said the king.
Then the young man Indabazimbi stepped straight for- ward across the ring, making no cries or gestures, but. as one who walks from his gate to the cattle kraal, and sud- denly he struck the king in the face Avith the tail in his hand, saying, "I smell out the Hecuens above vie!'' ^
Xow a great gasp of wonder went up from the multitude, and all looked to see this fool killed by torture. But Chaka rose and laughed aloud.
'• Thou hast said it," he cried, " and thou alone ! Listen, ye people ! / did the deed ! I smote blood upon the gate- ways of my kraal ; with my own hand I smote it, that I might learn who were the true doctors and who were the false ! Now it seems that in the land of the Zulu there is one true doctor — this 3'oung man — and of the false, look at them and count them, they are like the leaves. See ! there they stand, and by them stand those whom they have doomed — the innocent whom, Avith their wives and children, they have doomed to the death of the dog. Xow I ask you, my people, what reward shall be given to them? "
Then a great roar went up from all the multitude, " Let them die, 0 king ! "
" Ay ! " he answered. '' Let them die as liars should ! "
Xow the Isanusis, men and women, screamed aloud in fear, and cried for merc}^, tearing themselves with their nails, for least of all things did they desire to taste of their own medicine of death. But the king only laughed the more.
" Hearken ye ! " he said, pointing to the crowd of us who had been smelt out. " Ye were doomed to deatli by these false prophets. Now glut yourselves upon them. Slay them, my children ! slay them all ! wipe them away! stamp them out ! — all ! all, save this young man ! "
Then we bounded from the ground, for our hearts were fierce Avith hate and Avith longing to avenge the terrors we had borne. The doomed sIcav the doomers, Avhile from the circle of the Ingomhoco a great roar of laughter Avent up,
1 A Zulu title for the king.— Ed.
i zvaiJ. cut tliC Heaveiis ubove aie.
THE GREAT INGOAfBOCO tz
for men rejoiced because the burden of the witch-doctors had fallen from them.
At last it was done, and we drew back from the heap of the dead. Nothing was heard there now — no more cries or pra3-ers or curses. The witch-finders travelled the path on which they had set the feet of many. The king drew near to look. He came alone, and all who had done his bidding bent their heads and crept past him, praising him as they went. Only I stood still, covered, as I was Avith mire and filth, for I did not fear to stand in the presence of the king. Chaka drew near, and looked at the piled-up heaps of the slain and the cloud of dust that j'et hung over them.
" There they lie, Mopo," he said. '' There lie those who dared to prophesy falsely to the king I That was a good word of thine, ]Mopo, which taught me to set the snare for them ; yet methought I saw thee start when Xobela, queen of the Avitch-doctresses, switched death on thee. AYell, they are dead, and the land breathes more freely ; and for the evil which they have done, it is as yonder dust, that soon shall sink again to earth and there be lost."
Thus he spoke, then ceased — for lo ! something moved beneath the cloud of dust, something broke a way through the heap of the dead. Slowly it forced its path, pushing the slain this way and that, till at length it stood upon its feet and tottered towards us — a thing dreadful to look on. The shape was the shape of an aged woman, and even through the blood and mire I knew her. It was Nobela, she who had doomed me, she whom but now I had smitten to earth, but who had come back from the dead to curse me !
On she tottered, her apparel hanging round her in red rags, a hundred wounds upon her face and form. I saw that she was dying, but life still flickered in her, and the fire of hate burned in her snaky eyes.
'■' Hail, king ! " she screamed.
'■ Peace, liar ! *' he answered ; •'• thou art dead ! "
" Xot yet, king. I heard thy voice and the voice of yon- der dog, whom I would have given to the jackals, and I will not die till I have spoken. I smelt him out this morning when I was alive ; now that I am as one already
64 ATADA THE LILY
dead, I smell him out again. He shall bewitch thee with blood indeed, Chaka — he and Unandi, thy mother, and Baleka, thy wife. Think of my words when the assegai reddens before thee for the last time, king ! Farewell ! " And she uttered a great cry and rolled npon the ground dead.
"The witch lies hard and dies hard,'' said the king care- lessly, and turned upon his heel. But those Avords of dead Nobela remained fixed in his memory, or so much of them as had been spoken of Unandi and Baleka. There they remained like seeds in the earth, there they grew to bring forth fruit in their season.
And thus ended the great Ingomhoco of Chaka, the great- est Ingomboco that ever was held in Zululand.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LOSS OF UMSLOPOCAAS.
Xow, after the smelling out of the witch-doctors, Chaka caused a watch to be kept upon his mother Unandi, and his wife Baleka, my sister, and report was brought to hira by those who Avatched, that the two women came to my huts by stealth, and there kissed and nursed a boy — one of my children. Then Chaka remembered the prophecy of Nobela, the dead Isanusi, and his heart grew dark with doubt. But to me he said nothing of the matter, for then, as always, his eyes looked over my head. He did not fear me or believe that I plotted against him, I who Avas his dog. Still, he did this, though whether by chance or design I do not know : he bade me go on a journey to a distant tribe that lived near the borders of the Amaswazi, there to take count of certain of the king's cattle Avhich Avere in the charge of that tribe, and to bring liiin account of the tale of their increase. So I boAved before the king, and said that I Avould run like a dog to do his bidding, and he gave lue men to go Avith mo.
THE LOSS OF UMSLOPOGAAS 65
Tlien i returned to my huts to bid farewell to my Avives and children, and there I I'ound that my wife Anadi, the motJier of Moosa, my son, had fallen sick with a wandering sickness, for strange things came into her mind, and what came into her mind that she said, being, as 1 did not doubt, bewitelied by some enemy of my house.
Still, 1 must go upon the king's business, and I told this to my wife Maeropha, the mother of Nada, and, as it was thought, of Umslopogaas, the son of Chaka. But when I spoke to Maeropha of the matter she burst into tears and clung to me. 1 asked her why she wept thus, and she an- swered that the shadow of evil lay npon her heart, for she was sure that if I left her at the king's kraal, Avheu I re- turned again I should find neither her nor Nada, my child, nor Umslopogaas, who Avas named my son, and whom I loved as a son, still in the land of life. Then I tried to calm her ; but the more I strove the more she wept, sa3'ing that she knew well that these things would be so.
Kow I asked her w'hat could be done, for I was stirred by her tears, and the dread of evil crept from her to me as shadows creep from the valley to the mountain.
She answ^ered, " Take me with you, my husband, that I may leave this evil land, where the very skies rain blood, and let me rest awhile in the place of my own people till the terror of Chaka has gone by."
" How can I do this ? " I said. " Xone may leave the king's kraal Avithout the king's pass."
"A man may put away his Avife," she replied. "The king does not stand betAveen a man and his Avife. Say, my hus- band, that 3*ou love me no longer, that I bear you no more children, and that therefore you send me back Avhence I came. By-and-bye Ave Avill come together again if Ave are left among the living."
" So be it," I ansAvered. " Leave the kraal Avith Xada and Umslopogaas this night, and to-morroAV morning meet nie at the river bank, and Ave Avill go on together, and for the rest may the spirits of our fathers hold us safe."
So we kissed each other, and Maeropha Avent on secretly Avith the children.
66 NAD A THE LILY
Xow at the dawning on the morrow I summoned the men whom the king had given me, and we started upon our jour- ney. "When the sun was well up we came to the banks of the river, and there I found my wife ]\Iacropha, and with her the two children. They rose as I came, but I frowned at my wife and she gave me no greeting. Those with me looked at her askance.
''I have divorced this woman/' I said to them. '-She is a withered tree, a worn out old hag, and now I take her with me to send her to the country of the Swazis, Avhence she came." "Cease your weeping," I added to jNlacropha, " it is my last word."
"What says the king ? " asked the men.
" I will answer to the king," I said. And we Avent on.
Xow I must tell how we lost Umslopogaas, the son of Chaka, who was then a great lad drawing on to manhood, fierce in temper, well grown and broad for his years.
"We had journeyed seven days, for the way was long, and on the night of the seventh day we came to a mountainous country in which there were few kraals, for Chaka had eaten them all up years before. Perhaps you know the place, my father. In it is a great and strange mountain. It is haunted also, and named the Ghost ^Mountain, and on the top of it is a grey peak rudely shaped like the head of an aged woman. Here in this wild place we must sleep, for darkness drew on. I^ow we soon learned that there were many lions in the rocks around, for we heard their roaring and were much afraid, all except Umslopogaas, who feared nothing. So Ave made a circle of thorn-bushes and sat in it, holding our assegais ready. I^resently the moon came up — it was a full- grown moon and very bright, so bright that we could see everything for a long way round. Now some six spear- throws from where we sat was a cliff, and at the top of the cliff was a cave, and in this cave lived two lions and their young. AVhen the moon grew bright Ave saAv the lions come out and stand upon the edge of the cliff, and Avith them Avere two little ones that played about like kittens, so that had Ave not been frightened it Avould have been beautiful to see them.
THE LOSS OP CMSLOPOGAAS 67
'■'■ Oh I Umslopogaas," said Nada, " I wish that I had one of the little lions for a dog."
The boy laughed, saying, " Then, shall I fetch you one, sister ? "
"Peace, boy,'' I said. "Xo man may take young lions from their lair and live."
" Such things have been done, my father," he answered, laughing. And no more Avas said of the matter.
Xow when the lions had plaj'ed awhile, Ave saw the lioness take up the cubs in her mouth and carr}' them into the cave. Then she came out again, and Avent aAvay Avith her mate to seek food, and soon we heard them roaring in the distance. Xow Ave stacked up the lire and Avent to sleep in our en- closure of thorns Avithout fear, for Ave kneAV that the lions Avere far away eating game. But Umslopogaas did not sleep, for he had determined that he Avould fetch the cub which Xada had desired, and, being young and foolhardy, he did not think of the danger Avhich he Avould bring upon himself and all of us. He knew no fear, and noAv, as ever, if Xada spoke a Avord, nay, even if she thought of a thing to desire it, he Avould not rest till it Avas Avon for her. So Avhile we slept Umslopogaas crept like a snake from the fence of thorns, and, taking an assegai in his hand, he slipped away to the foot of the cliff where the lions had their den. Then he climbed the cliff, and, coming to the cave, entered there and groped his Avay into it. The cubs heard him, and, thinking that it was their mother Avho returned, began to Avhine and purr for food. Guided by the light of their yellow eyes, he crept OA'er the bones, of Avhich there were many in the cave, and came to Avhere they lay. Then he put out his hands and seized one of the cubs, killing the other with his assegai, because he could not carry both of them. XoAV he made haste thence before the lions returned, and came back to the thorn fence Avhere Ave lay just as the dawn was breaking.
I awoke at the coming of the dawn, and, standing up, I looked out. Lo ! there, on the farther side of the thorn fence, looking large in the grey mist, stood the lad Umslopo- gaas, laughing. In his teeth he held the assegai, yet drip-
08 NAD A THE LILY
ping with blood, and in his hands the lion cub that, despite its whines and struggles, he grasped by the skin of the neck and the hind legs.
'•'Awake, my sister I" he cried; '"here is the dog you seek. Ah ! he bites now, but he will soon grow tame."
Nada awoke, and rising, cried out with joy at the sight of the cub, but for a moment I stood astonished.
" Fool ! " I cried at last, " let the cub go before the lions come to rend us I "
" I will not let it go, my father," he answered sullenly. '•' Are there not five of us with spears, and can we not fight two cats? I was not afraid to go alone into their den. Are you all afraid to meet them in the open ? "
" You are mad," I said ; " let the cub go I " And I ran towards Umslopogaas to take it from him. But he sprang aside and avoided me.
" I will never let that go of which I have got hold," he said, " at least not living I " And suddenly he seized the head of the cub and twisted its neck ; then threw it on to the ground, and added, " See, now I have done your bidding, my father I "
As he spoke we heard a great sound of roaring from the cave in the cliff. The lions had returned and found one cub dead and the other gone.
"Into the fence ! — back into the fence ! " I cried, and we sprang over the thorn-bushes where those with us were making ready their spears, trembling as they handled them with fear and the cold of the morning. "We looked up. There, down the side of the cliff, came the lions, bounding on the scent of him who had robbed them of their young. The lion ran first, and as he came he roared; then fol- lowed the lioness, but she did not roar, for in her mouth was the cub that Umslopogaas had assegaied in the cave. Now they drew near, mad Avith fury, their manes bristling, and lashing their flanks with their long tails.
*' Curse you for a fool, son of Mopo," said one of the men with me to Umslopogaas ; " presently I will beat you till the blood comes for this trick."
" First beat the lions, then beat me if you can," an-
THE LOSS or UMSLOPOGAAS 69
swerecl the lad, '-and wait to curse till you have done both."
Xow the lions were close to us ; the}' came to the body of the second cub, that lay outside the fence of thorns. The lion stopped and sniffed it. Then he roared — ah ! he roared till the earth shook. As for the lioness, she dropped the dead cub which she was carrying, and took the other into her mouth, for she could not carry both.
" Get behind me, Xada," cried Umslopogaas, brandishing his sjjear, '• the lion is about to spring."
As the words left his mouth the great brute crouched to the ground. Then suddenly he sprang from it like a bird, and like a bird he travelled through the air towards us.
'' Catch him on the spears I '' cried Umslopogaas, and by nature, as it were, Ave did the boj-'s bidding; for huddling ourselves together, we held out the assegais so that the lion fell upon them as he sprang, and their blades sank far into him. But the weight of his charge carried us to the ground, and he fell on to us, striking at us and at the spears, and roaring with pain and fury as he struck. Presently he was on his legs biting at the spears in his breast. Then Umslo- pogaas, who alone did not wait his onslaught, but had stepped aside for his own ends, uttered a loud cry and drove his assegai into the lion behind the shoulder, so that with a groan the brute rolled over dead.
^Meanwhile, the lioness stood without the fence, the second dead cub in her mouth, for she could not bring herself to leave either of them. But when she heard her mate's last groan she dropped the cub and gathered herself together to spring. Umslopogaas alone stood up to face her, for he only had withdrawn his assegai from the carcase of the lion. She swept on towards the lad, who stood like a stone to meet her. Xow she met his spear, it sunk in, it snapped, and down fell Umslopogaas dead or senseless beneath the mass of the lioness. She sprang up, the broken spear standing in her breast, sniffed at Umslopogaas, then, as though she knew that it was he who had robbed her, she seized him by the loins and moocha, and sprang with him over the fence.
70 NAD A THE LILY
"' Oh, save liim 1 " cried the girl Xada in bitter woe. And we rushed after the lioness shouting.
For a moment she stood over her dead cubs, Umslopogaas hanging from her mouth, and looked at them as though she wondered; and we hoped that she might let him fall. Then, hearing our cries, she turned and bounded away towards the bush, bearing Umslopogaas in her mouth. We seized our spears and followed ; but soon the ground grew stony, and, search as we would, we could find no trace of Umslopogaas or of the lioness. They had vanished like a cloud. So we came back, and, ah ! my heart was sore, for I loved the lad as though he had indeed been my son. But I knew that he was dead, and there was an end.
" Where is my brother ? " cried Nada when we came back.
"Lost," I answered. "Lost, never to be found again."
Then the girl gave a great and bitter cry, and fell to the earth saying, " I would that I were dead with my brother ! "
" Let us be going," said Macropha, my wife.
" Have you no tears to weep for your son ? " asked a man of our company.
" What is the use of weeping over the dead? Does it, then, bring them back ? " she answered. " Let us be going ! "
The man thought these words strange, but he did not know that Umslopogaas was not born of Macropha.
Still, Ave waited in that place a day, thinking that, per- haps, the lioness would return to her den and that, at least, we might kill her. But she came back no more. So on the next morning we rolled up our blankets and started forward on our journey, sad at heart. In truth, Xada was so weak from grief that she could hardly travel, but I never heard the name of Umslopogaas pass her lips again during that journey. She buried him in her heart and said nothing. And I too said nothing, but I wondered why it had been brought about that I should save the life of L^mslopogaas from the jaws of the Lion of Zulu, that the lioness of the rocks might devour him.
And so the time went on till we reached the kraal where
THE LOSS OF UMSLOPOGAAS 71
the king's business must be done, and where I and my wife should part.
On the morning after we came to the kraal, having kissed in secret, though in public we looked sullenly on one another, we parted as those part who meet no more, for it was in our thoughts, that we should never see each other's face again, nor, indeed, did we do so. And I drew Nada aside and spoke to her thus : " We part, my daughter ; nor do I know when we shall meet again, for the times are troubled and it is for your safety and that of your mother that I rob my eyes of the sight of you. Nada, you will soon be a woman, and you will be fairer than any woman among our people, and it may come about that many great men will seek you in marriage, and, perhaps, that I, your father, shall not be there to choose for you whom you shall wed, according to the custom of our land. But I charge you, so far as may be possible for you to do so, take only a man whom you can love, and be faithful to him alone, for thus shall a woman find happiness."
Here I stopped, for the girl took hold, of my hand and looked into my face. '• Peace, my father," she said, " do not speak to me of marriage, for I will wed no man, now that Umslopogaas is dead because of my foolishness. I will live and die alone, and, oh ! may I die quickl}^, that I may go to seek him whom I love only ! "
" Nay, Nada," I said, " Umslopogaas was your brother, and it is not fitting that you should speak of him thus, even though he is dead."
'' I know nothing of such matters, my father," she said. " I speak what my heart tells me, and it tells me that I loved Umslopogaas living, and, though he is dead, I shall love him alone to the end. Ah ! you think me but a child, yet my heart is large, and it does not lie to me."
Xow I upbraided the girl no more, because I knew that Umolopogaas was not her brother, but one whom she might have married. Only I marvelled that the voi^e of nature should speak so truly in her, telling her that which was lawful, even Avhen it seemed to be most unlawful.
"Speak no more of Umslopogaas," I said, •• for surely he is
G
72 NAD A THE LILY
dead, and thougli you cannot forget him, j^et speak of him no more, and I pray of you, my daughter, that if we do not meet again, yet you shoukl keep me in your memory, and the love I bear you, and the words which from time I have said to you. The world is a thorny wilderness, my daughter, and its thorns are watered with a rain of blood, and we wander in our wretchedness like lost travellers in a mist ; nor do I know why our feet are set upon this wander- ing. But at last there comes an end, and we die and go hence, none know where, but perhaps where we go the evil may change to the good, and those who were dear to each other on the earth may become yet dearer in the heavens ; for I believe that man is not born to perish altogether, but is rather gathered again to the Umkulunkulu who sent him on his journeyings. Therefore keep hope, my daughter, for if these things are not so, at least sleep remains, and sleep is soft, and so farewell."
Then we kissed and parted, and I watched Macropha, my wife, and Xada, my daughter, till they melted into the sky, as they walked upon their journey to Swaziland, and was very sad, because, having lost Umslopogaas, he who in after days was named the Slaughterer and the Woodpecker, I must lose them also.
CHAPTER X.
THE TKIAL OF MOPO.
>s"ow I sat four days in the huts of the tribe whither I had been sent, and did the king's business. And on the fifth morning I rose up, together with those with me, and we turned our faces towards the king's kraal. But when we had journeyed a little way we met a party of soldiers, who commanded us to stand.
"What is it, king's men ? " I asked boldly.
"This, son of Makedama," answered tlieir spokesman: *'give over to us your wife Macropha and your children
And so, farewell.
THE TRIAL OF MOPO 73
Umslopogaas and Xada, that we may do with them as the king commands/'
*' Umslopogaiis," I answered, " has gone where the king's arm cannot stretch, for he is dead; and for my wife Macropha and my daughter Xada, they are by now in the caves of the Swazis, and the king must seek them there with an army if lie will tind them. To ]Macroi)ha he is wel- come, for I hate her, and have divorced her ; and as for the girl, well, there are many girls, and it is no great matter if she lives or dies, yet I pray him to spare her."
Thus I spoke carelessly, for I knew well that my wife and child were beyond the reach of Chaka.
'■You do Avell to ask the girl's life," said the soldier, laughing, " for all those born to you are dead, by order of the king."
" Is it indeed so ? " I answered calmly, though my knees shook and my tongue clove to my lips. '"The will of the king be done. A cut stick puts out new leaves ; I can have more children."
" Ay, Mopo ; but first j'ou must get new wives, for yours are dead also, all five of them."
" Is it indeed so ? " I answered. " The king's Avill be done. I wearied of those brawling women."
"So, Mopo," said the soldier; '"but to get other wives and have more children born to you, you must live yourself, for no children are born to the dead, and I think that Chaka has an assegai which you shall kiss."
'• Is it so ? " I answered. '• The king's will be done. The sun is hot, and I tire of the road. He who kisses the assegai sleeps sound."
Thus I spoke, my father, and, indeed, in that hour I desired to die. The world was empty for me. Macropha and Xada were gone, Umslopogaas was dead, and my other Avives and children Avere murdered. I had no heart to begin to build up a ncAv house, none were left for me to love, and it seemed well that I should die also.
The soldiers asked those with me if that tale was true which I told of the death of Umslopogaas and of the going of Macropha and Xada into Swaziland. They said. Yes, it
74
AADA THE LILY
was true. Then the soldiers said that they would lead me back to the king, and I wondered at this, for I thought that they would kill me where I stood. So we went on, and piece by piece I learned what had happened at the king's kraal.
On the day after I left, it came to the ears of Chaka, by the mouth of his spies, that my second wife — Auadi — was sick and spoke strange words in her sickness. Then, taking three soldiers with him, he went to my kraal at the death of the day. He left the three soldiers by the gates of the kraal, bidding them to suffer none to come in or go out, but Chaka himself entered the large hut where Anadi lay sick, having his to}^ assegai, with the shaft of the royal red wood, in his hand. Kow, as it chanced, in the hut were Unandi, the mother of Chaka, and Baleka, my sister, the Avife of Chaka, for, not knowing that I had taken away Umslopogaas, the son of Baleka, according to their custom, these two foolish women had come to kiss and fondle the lad. But when they entered the hut they found it full of my other wives and children. These they sent away, all except ]\Ioosa, the son of Anadi, who lay sick — that bo}' who was born eight days before Umslopogaas, the son of Chaka. But they kept Moosa fn the hut, and kissed him, giving him imphi^ to eat, fearing lest it should seem strange to the women, my wives, if, Umslopogaas being gone, they refused to take notice of any other child.
Kow as they sat thus, presently the doorway was dark- ened, and, behold ! the king himself crept through it, and saw them fondling the child ]\[oosa. "When they knew who it was tliat entered, the women flung themselves upon the ground before him and praised him. lUit ho smiled grimly, and bade them be seated. Then he spoke to them, saying, '• You wonder, Unandi, my mother, and Baleka, my wife, why it is that I am come here into the hut of Mopo, son of Makedaina. I will tell you : it is because he is away upon my business, and I hear that his Avife Anadi is sick — it is she who lies there, is it not? Therefore, as the first doc-
1 .\ variety of sufjar-cane. — Ed.
THE riUAL OF MOPO 75
tor in the land, I am come to cure her, Unandi, my mother, and Baleka, my sister."
Thus he spoke, eying them as he did so, and taking snuff from the blade of his little assegai, and though his words were gentle they shook with fear, for when Chaka spoke thus gently he meant death to many. But Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, answered, saying that it Avas well that the king had come, since his medicine would bring rest and peace to her who lay sick.
" Yes," he answered ; *' it is well. It is pleasant, more- over, my mother and my sister, to see you kissing yonder child. Surely, were he of your own blood you could not love him more."
XoAv they trembled again, and prayed in their hearts that Anadi, the sick woman, who lay asleep, might not Avake and utter foolish words in her wandering. But the pra3'er was answered from below and not from above, for Anadi Avoke, and, hearing the voice of the king, her sick mind flcAv to him Avhom she believed to be the king's child.
" Ah ! " she said, sitting upon the ground and pointing to her own son Moosa, who squatted frightened against the wall of the hut. " Kiss him. Mother of the Heavens, kiss him I Whom do they call him, the young cub who brings ill-fortune to our doors ? They call him the son of jMopo and Macropha !" And she laughed wildly, stopped speaking, and sank back upon the bed of skins.
'' They call him the son of i\Iopo and Macroj^ha," said the king in a Ioav voice. " "Whose son is he, then, Avoman ? "
"Oh, ask her not, 0 king," cried his mother and his wife, casting themselves upon the ground before him, for they Avere mad Avith fear. " Ask her not ; she has strange fancies such as are not meet for your ears to hear. She is bcAvitched, and has dreams and fancies."
" Peace I " he ansAvered. " I Avill listen to this woman's wanderings. Perhaps some star of truth shines in her darkness, and I Avould see light. Who, then, is he, Avoman ? "
'• Who is he ? " she answered. " Are you a fool that ask wlio he is ? He is — hush ! — put your ear close — let me
76 XADA THE LILY
speak low lest the reeds of the hut whisper it to the king. He is — do you listen ? He is — the son of Chaka and Baleka, the sister of Mopo, the changeling whom Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, palmed off upon this house to bring a curse on it. and whom she would lead out before the people when the land is weary of the wickedness of the king, her son, to take the place of the king."
" It is false, 0 king ! " cried the two women. " Do not listen to her ; it is false. The boy is her own son, Moosa, whom she does not know in her sickness."
But Chaka stood up in the hut and laughed terribly. " Truh', Xobela prophesied well," he cried, " and I did ill to slay her. So this is the trick thou hast played upon me, my mother. Thou wouldst give a son to me who will have no son : thou wouldst give me a son to kill me. Good ! ^Mother of the Heavens, take thou the doom of the Heavens ! Thou wouldst give me a son to slay me and rule in my place ; now, in turn, I, thy son, will rob me of a mother. Die, Unandi I — die at the hand thou didst bring forth ! " And he lifted the little assegai and smote it through her.
For a moment Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, wife of Senzangacona, stood uttering no cry. Then she put up her hand, and drew the assegai from her side.
"So shalt thou die also, Chaka the Evil I " she cried, and fell down dead there in the hut.
Thus, then, did Chaka murder his mother Unandi.
Xow when Baleka saw what had been done, she turned and fled from the hut to the Emposeni, and so swiftly that the guards at the gates could not stop her. But when she reached her own hut Baleka's strength failed her, and she fell senseless on the ground. But the boy Moosa, my son, being overcome with terror, stayed where he was, and Chaka, believing him to be his son, murdered him also, and with his own hand.
Then lie stalked out of the hut, and, leaving the three guards at the gate, commanded a company of soldiers to surround the kraal and fire it. This they did, and as the people rushed out they killed them, and those who did not run out were burned in the fire. Thus, then, perished all
THE TRIAL OF MOTO 77
my wives, my children, my servants, and those who were within the gates in their company. The tree was burned, and the bees in it, and I alone was left living — I and Macropha and Xada, who Avere far away.
Xor was Chaka yet satisfied with blood, for, as has been told, he sent messengers bidding them kill Macropha, my wife, and Xada, my daughter, and him who was named my son. But he commanded the messengers that they should not slay me, but bring me living before him.
Now when the soldiers did not kill me I took counsel with mj'self, for it was my belief that I Avas saved alive only that I might die later, and in a more cruel fashion. Therefore for awhile I thought that it would be well if I did that for myself which another purposed to do for me. Why should I, who was already doomed, wait to meet my doom ? "What had I left to keep me in the place of life, seeing that all whom I loved were dead or gone? To die would be easy, for I knew the ways of death. In my girdle I carried a secret medicine ; he who eats of it, my father, will see the sun's shadow move no more, and will never look upon the stars again. But I was not minded to know the assegai or the kerrie; nor would I perish more slowly beneath the knives of the tormentors, nor be parched by the pangs of thirst, or Avander eyeless to my end. Therefore it Avas that, since I had sat in the doom ring looking hour after hour into the face of death, I had borne this medicine with me by night and by day. Surely noAv was the time to use it.
So I thought as I sat through the watches of the night, ay I and drew out the bitter drug and laid it on my tongue. But as I did so I remembered my daughter Xada, who was left to me, though she sojourned in a far country, and my wife ^lacropha and my sister Baleka, who still liA^ed, so said the soldiers, though hoAv it came about that the king had not killed her I did not knoAv then. Also another thought Avas born in my heart. "While life remained to me, I might be revenged upon him who had wrought me this woe ; but can the dead strike ? Alas ! the dead are strengthless, and if they still have hearts to suffer, they haA^e no hands to give back blow for bloAv. Xa}', I Avould live on. Time to
76 XADA THE LILY
die when death eouhl no more be put away. Time to die when the voice of Chaka spoke my doom. Death chooses for himself and answers no questions ; he is a guest to whom none need open the door of his hut, for when he wills he can pass the thatch like the air. Xot yet Avonld I taste of that medicine of mine.
So I lived on, my father, and the soldiers led me back to the kraal of Chaka. !N"ow when we came to the kraal it was night, for the sun had sunk as we passed through the gates. Still, as he had been commanded, the captain of those who watched me went in before the king and told him that I lay without in bonds. And the king said, **'Let him be brought before me, who was. my phj-sician, that I may tell him iiow I have doctored those of liis house."
So they took me and led me to the royal house, and pushed me through the doorway of the great hut.
Now a fire burned in the hut, for the night was cold, and Chaka sat on the further side of the fire, looking towards the opening of the hut, and the smoke from the fire wreathed him round, and its light shone upon his face and flickered in his terrible eyes.
At the door of the hut certain of the councillors seized me by the arms and dragged me towards the fire. But I broke from them, and prostrating myself, for my arms were free, I jiraised the king and called him by his roA^al names. The councillors sprang towards me to seize me again, but Chaka said, '-Let him be; I would talk with my servant." Then the councillors boAved themselves on either side, and laid their hands on their sticks, their foreheads touching the ground. But I sat down on the floor of the hut over against the king, and we talked through the fire.
'• Tell me of the cattle that I sent thee to number, IMopo, son of INfakedama," said Chaka. "Have mv servants dealt honestly with m}- cattle ? "
"They have dealt honestly, 0 king," I answered.
" Tell me, then, of the number of the cattle and of their markings, ^Fopo, forgetting none."
So T sat and told him, ox by ox, cow by cow, and heifer by heifer, forgetting none ; and Chaka listened silently as one
THE TRIAL OF MOPO 79
who is asleep. But I knew that he did not sleep, for all the while the firelight flickered in his fierce eyes. Also I knew that he did but torment me, or that, perhaps, he would learn of the cattle before he killed inc. At length all the tale was told.
" So," said the king, '' it goes well. There are yet honest men left in the land. Knowest thou, Mopo, that sorrow has come upon thy house while thou wast about my business ? "
"I have heard it, 0 king ! " I answered, as one who speaks of a small matter.
" Yes, Mopo, sorrow has come upon thy house, the curse of Heaven has fallen upon thy kraal. They tell me, Mopo, that the fire from above ran briskly tlirough thy huts."
" I have heard it, 0 king ! "
" They tell me, Mopo, that those Avithin thy gates grew mad at the sight of the fire, and dreaming there Avas no escape, that the}^ stabbed themselves with assegais or leaped into the flames."
" I have heard it, 0 king I "What of it r* Any river is deep enough to drown a fool ! "
" Thou hast heard these things, IVIopo, but thou hast not 3'et heard all. Knowest thou, Moi:)0, that among those who died in thy kraal was she Avho bore me, she who was named Mother of the Heavens ? "
Then, my father, I, Mopo, acted wisel}'-, because of the thought which my good spirit gave me, for I cast myself upon the ground, and wailed aloud as though in utter grief.
"Spare my ears, Black One!" I wailed. "Tell me not that she who bore thee is dead, 0 Lion of the Zulu. For the others, what is it ? It is a breath of Avind, it is a drop of water ; but this trouble is as the gale or as the sea."
" Cease, my servant, cease ! " said the mocking voice of Chaka; "but know this, thou hast done Avell to grieve aloud because the INIother of the Heavens is no more, and ill wouldst thou have done to grieve because the fire fron above has kissed thy gates. For hadst thou done this last thing or left the first itndone, I should have known that thy heart was wicked, and by now thou wouldst have wept
8o A'AUA THE LILY
indeed — tears of blood, Mopo. It is well for thee, then, that thou hast read my riddle aright."
Xow I saw the depth of the pit that Chaka had dug for me, and blessed my Ehlose who had put into my heart those words which I should answer. I hoped also that Chaka would now let me go ; but it was not to be, for this was but the beginning of my trial.
" Kuowest thou, Mopo," said the king, "that as my mother died yonder in the flames of thy kraal she cried out strange and terrible words which came to my ears through the singing of the fire. These were her words : that thou, ]\Iopo, and thy sister Baleka, and thy wives, had conspired together to give a child to me who Avould be childless. These were her Avords, the words that came to me through the singing of the fire. Tell me now, Mopo, Avhere are those children that thou leddest from thy kraal, the boy with the lion eyes who is named Umslopogaas, and the girl who is named Xada ? '*'
*■ Umslopogaas is dead by the lion's mouth, 0 king ! " I answered, "and Xada sits in the Swazi caves." And I told him of the death of Umslopogaas and of how I had divorced jMacropha, my wife.
"The boy with the lion eyes to the lion's mouth!" said Chaka. "Enough of him ; he is gone. Nada may yet be sought for with the assegai in the Swazi caves ; enough of her. Let us speak of this song that my mother — who, alas I is dead, ]Vroi')o — this song she sang through the singing of the flames. Tell me, Mopo, tell me noAv, was it a true tale ? "
" Nay, 0 king ! surely the IVIother of the Heavens was maddened by the Heavens when she sang that song," I answered. " I know nothing of it, 0 king."
" Thou knowest naught of it, jMopo ? " said the king. And again he looked at me terribly through the reek of the fire. " Thou knowest naught of it, Mopo ? Surely thou art a-cold ; thy hands shake Avith cold. Nay, man, fear not — warm them, warm them, INIopo. See, now, ])lunge that hand of thine into the lieart of the flame ! " And lie pointed witli his little assegai, the assegai handled with the royal
THE TRIAL OF MO TO Si
wood, to where the fire glowed reddest — ay, he pointed and laughed.
Then, my father, I grew cold indeed — yes, I grew cold who soon should be hot, for I saw the purpose of Chaka. He would put lue to the trial by lire.
For a moment I sat silent, thinking. Then the king spoke again in a great voice : "Nay, Mopo, be not so back- ward ; shall I sit warm and see thee suffer cold ? What, my councillors, rise, take the hand of Mopo, and hold it to the flame, that his heart may rejoice in the warmth of the flame while we speak together of this matter of the child that was, so my mother sang, born to Baleka, my wife, the sister of Mopo, my servant."
"There is little need for that, 0 king," I answered, being made bold by fear, for I saw that if I did nothing death would swiftly end my doubts. Once, indeed, I bethought me of the poison that I bore, and was minded to swallow it and make an end, but the desire to live is great, and keen is the thirst for vengeance, so I said to my heart, " Not yet awhile ; I will endure this also ; afterwards, if need be, I can die."
" I thank the king for his graciousness, and I will warm me at the fire. Speak on, O king, while I warm mj-self, and thou shalt hear true words," I said boldly.
Then, my father, I stretched out my left hand and plunged it into the fire — not into the hottest of the fire, but where the smoke leapt from the flame. Now my flesh was wet with the sweat of fear, and for a little moment the flames curled round it and did not burn me. But I knew that the