Project Gutenberg's The White Hand and the Black, by Bertram Mitford
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The White Hand and the Black
A Story of the Natal Rising
Author: Bertram Mitford
Release Date: June 20, 2010 [EBook #32911]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE HAND AND THE BLACK ***
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
The White Hand and the Black, by Bertram Mitford.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
THE WHITE HAND AND THE BLACK, BY BERTRAM MITFORD.
PROLOGUE.
A weight had fallen from him--the weight of a lifetime; the galling,
hopeless, demoralising weight which had paralysed his energies,
sterilised his brain, and, in the case of a subject less clear-sighted,
would have brought him down to drink or suicide, possibly both. And now
it had fallen from him.
The man on the mountain top looked around, and as he did so, something
of buoyancy that he had not known for years, came over his mind. He was
free--free. His life was now his own. He could have sung aloud in the
stillness of the night. And yet the said night was not one calculated
to effect excessive exaltation in any mind. It was oppressive and
boding; and even its usual voices, of bird and beast and insect life,
seemed hushed as in awe of something impending. The broad moon glared
drearily down, ghastly athwart a filmy haze; and ever and anon a heavy
boom seemed to shake the earth, while huge, plume-like masses of cloud
rising higher and higher above the cliffs and ridges, gleamed beautiful
in golden depths with every intermittent flash. When the storm broke it
would be an appalling one, but to the man on the mountain top this
brought no misgiving whatever, yet he knew that it would overtake him
long before he had time to reach home.
He knew something else, knew that it was vital to him to choose his
steps carefully. For the summit was flat and to all appearance smooth
and unbroken, yet it was seamed with crevices; crevices partly or
entirely hidden by the coarse, sour herbage; crevices of no great width
but some of them awful rifts, into which should a man fall, he would he
entombed by that lonely mountain height until the crack of doom. But
this man had no intention of undergoing any such fate. He knew his
ground well, and, knowing it well, moved with especial care.
All of a sudden he was conscious of a quick tingling of the blood, but
he had sufficient control neither to stop nor look round. He only
_listened_; listened with an acute, almost painful intensity. He had
seen nobody, had heard nothing, yet that strange sixth sense of
realisation had told him that he was no longer alone on the mountain
top.
For a moment a quiver or qualm of superstition shook even his mind.
What consideration on earth could have brought any being other than
himself--any _human_ being--up here to-night? Yet even the misgiving of
superstition was a relief. The thing to be feared was the presence of
such human being.
He whirled round quickly and suddenly. Just as he had thought. In the
flash, lighting up the whole plateau, something dropped; disappeared
behind a flat boulder not fifty yards away, and in that flash the man on
the mountain top realised that he had to do with a human being. In
which case every instinct of self-preservation cried out loudly that the
other must not leave the mountain top alive.
There was something cat-like in his movement as with incredible speed
and agility he made straight for the spot. Something sang past his
head. It was not the breeze--now sweeping the tableland in fitful
puffs. It was something which he heard strike the stones behind him
with a steely ring. Then he had grappled with the figure behind the
rock.
It rose, to fully his own height. Something else that was steely
gleamed in his eyes--a broad, formidable blade. But the wrist of its
wielder was grasped with a grip as of iron.
The huge white mountainous cloud, lit up by un-intermittent lightning
flashes, now illuminated this life and death struggle with weird,
lamp-like effect. For it was a life and death struggle. The white man
could not, by every known law of self-preservation, let any witness get
away from this place a _living_ witness. The dark man, by the same
intuition realised that fact, and such being the case realised also that
he was in the position of a "cornered" animal. He must fight--hard and
desperately--for his life. And he came of a race of hard and desperate
fighters.
Neither spoke. Both were equally matched, the white man, tough,
powerful, and in the pink of training; the dark man lithe, cat-like, but
accustomed to depend more on quick sinuosity of movement than on sheer
muscular power. Moreover he was armed, and his opponent was not.
Armed. One quick deft stroke of that broad-headed short-handled
stabbing spear, and where was the other? Yet he could not deliver it.
His adversary had bent back his arm. In his iron strength he had forced
it out to its full length behind, well nigh dislocating it at the
shoulder. The dark man could not even change the weapon into his left
hand. And, so sudden had been the onslaught, that his great knobbed
stick lay on the ground, yards away.
Wait. The white man could have made an end of the struggle at any
moment. He was armed--though to all intents and purposes not--and this
is how such a paradox unravels. He had a fully loaded five chambered
revolver upon him, but it was a matter of vital importance to refrain
from firing a shot on this silent, lonely mountain top at such a moment.
So for all practical purposes he was an unarmed man.
Yet his plan of campaign was clear--clear, fell, and remorseless. He
had seen what his opponent had not; and now by every effort of his
straining, powerful muscles he was forcing that opponent steadily
backward. For in the weird light of Heaven's fires above and around he
had detected a certain line in the waving grass bents, which labelled
its own character. His adversary should perform his own funeral.
His said adversary was giving way. In fact he was gathering himself for
a final spring. Still no word between the two men. Only the deep heave
of laboured, but carefully husbanded breathing. Now and then something
like a cracking sound, as joints and muscles tightened. Then the dark
man suddenly and with a mighty effort, wrenched himself free, and--
disappeared.
Disappeared. For a fraction of a second the great white fiery cloud
shed its gleam upon an appalled face and rolling eyeballs, and a
convulsive clutching of two sinewy hands at the grass tufts; and then
upon the white man standing once more on the mountain top--alone.
He stood for a few moments panting after the struggle. Then, having
recovered breath, he took a couple of steps forward and peered down into
the narrow black rift. No sound came up. He found a stone, and dropped
it in. A rattle or two against the rocky sides, and then silence. Only
the thunder boom, now growing fainter, relieved it from time to time:
but still the immensity of the white fiery cloud shed its lamp-like
light, upon him and the scene of this silent tragedy. Then he made a
careful search around. The weapon that had been flung at him he picked
up, also the great knobstick, and dropped them over into the rift; and
as he smoothed back the trampled grass into position as best he could,
for the first time he spoke.
"_Hlala gahle_! A fighter's weapons should be buried with him, and this
is a right fitting tomb for such."
Again he glanced around. The flat, table-like mountain top was silent
once more. It was time to descend, and having thus decided, a new and
louder thunder roll from a dark curtain swiftly moving up from another
direction caused him no anxiety but rather the reverse. The witness of
one tragedy had furnished material for another, and the storm now coming
up would thoroughly and effectually eliminate any possible remaining
trace of either.
CHAPTER ONE.
OF AN UNWONTED PERIL.
The girl was drawing.
From where she sat a great mountain head, turreted with bronze-faced
krantzes, rose up against the unclouded blue, set off by a V-shaped
foreground of tossing, tumbling foliage--in a word, virgin forest. The
grass was long in the little open space, and in and among the trailers
hanging like network from the trees, birds were making the warm air
merry with many a varied call and pipe. Now and then a grey monkey,
reassured by the repose of the human occupant of the spot, would climb
partly down, almost above her head, and hang, perking his black face in
a knowing attitude, as though quite competent to criticise the
water-colour sketch now rapidly taking shape: to skip aloft, chattering,
as some sudden movement on the part of the artist appealed strongly to
his instinct of self preservation. And then the dark shadowy depths of
the surrounding trees would be alive with responsive mutterings and
cackles, where the less venturesome of the troop lurked, awaiting
further developments.
She, of such sights and sounds took no notice, for had she not been born
and bred among them, and did they not constitute the ordinary
surroundings of everyday life? Seated on a low flat rock, her colour
box and water tin beside her, she worked on serenely in the warmth of
the windless air, in nowise feeling the latter oppressive, for she was
used to it.
She made a pretty picture as she sat there--a very pretty picture had
there been any spectator to appreciate it. A large-brimmed hat of
coarse straw lay on the ground beside her, and an aureole of golden
hair, brought low down on the forehead, framed a very uncommon and
striking face. If the smooth skin was a trifle sun-browned why that
only served to enhance the clearness of the thoughtful blue eyes.
These, lifting every now and then, in the process of her work--beneath
well defined brows--were wide, straight and fearless, and the delicate,
oval contour of the face, and the set of the full, expressive mouth,
left nothing to be desired.
The piping of the bird voices, and the hum and drone of winged insects
kept up unceasing chorus on the sunlit air, and then breaking in upon
them all came another sound. It was the grating chatter of the honey
bird--the _nomtyeketye_ of the natives. Clucking to and fro the
insignificant little brown bird kept up his ceaseless chatter, and the
girl looked up. She likewise looked round for something to throw at
him, for his persistency was becoming a bore. In her infantile days
when, with her brothers, this little friend would often pilot them to a
wild bees' nest, and, at the cost of a sting or two, an unexpected feast
of fat combs, he was welcome enough. Now his use had gone by. Yet he
persistently skipped hither and thither and chattered on.
The sun, now mounting above the trees, began to shed his rays, and that
with no uncertain touch, upon her uncovered head, fusing the aureole
with yet a more dazzling gold. Instinctively she picked up the large
hat, and, rising, proceeded to pin it on. This movement produced
another.
Produced another. Yes, and as startling as it was unexpected. Barely a
dozen feet distant, where the dense shaggy growth touched the open,
there shot up the head of a huge snake.
The girl stood as though turned to stone. She had no great fear of
snakes in general, but this: why she had never seen one like it before.
It was not a python, for it was of a strange, shining orange colour, and
it had the heart-shaped head of the venomous species: moreover on the
said head there was an erection of scales forming a kind of crest. It
was hissing hideously, and the sinuous coils beneath the uplifted neck
were squirming in a manner horribly suggestive of a rush and a spring.
The girl simply dared not move--no, not even a finger. Had it been an
ordinary snake, her course was easy, to retire quietly. But this--why
it had only to hurl itself its own length--or very little more--and
then?
She stood, perfectly motionless, her hands still as they were--in the
attitude of pinning on her hat. Her face had gone white and cold and
clammy, and her eyes dilated; yet she dared not turn them away from the
monster, or even lower them. A horrible fascination was upon her, such
as she had often read about and openly scoffed at. And then all upon
her mind was borne the tales she had heard from natives and up-country
men about a very rare and terrible variety of the _imamba_, which
reached an enormous size, and, unlike the serpent tribe in general, was
actually aggressive and would attack without provocation. But this
species was so rare that many even doubted its actual existence.
She dared not move--dared not stir a finger. Her hands were still
raised to her head, but she dared not move them down, however gently.
Her arms were aching with the strain, and still she stood staring at the
glittering eyes, the gently waving neck, the black, forked tongue
trickling forth and then withdrawing, and it seemed to her that that
awful festoon of coils was gliding imperceptibly nearer. A lifetime of
agony seemed concentrated in those few moments. Should she break the
spell, and dash away as fast as ever she could run? And then she
suddenly recognised that this was just what she was absolutely powerless
to do. She could not move. The dread fascination was complete.
From sheer exhaustion her uplifted arms dropped to her sides. The
movement either startled or enraged the formidable reptile, or both, for
it emitted a hideous, whistling kind of hiss, and with a quick movement
drew back its head and neck into a rigid curve as though to hurl itself
forward. And the girl was powerless to move.
Crack--crack!
Two reports, like pistol shots, rang out behind her, and simultaneously
a voice.
"Step back quietly. I'll take care of this."
Again the sharp reports, this time three--in rapid succession. But they
were not from any firearm: they proceeded from a remarkably well plaited
and well wielded raw-hide whip.
All unperceived a horseman had entered the open glade. Upon him the
infuriated reptile now turned--which was precisely what he wanted to
happen.
Backing his steed, a process to which that intelligent quadruped was by
no means averse, he faced the great snake, firing a succession of whip
cracks at it.
"Now run," he called out. "I'll draw the brute on."
But he had reckoned without the innate ferocity of the said brute, for
now uttering a fiendish hiss, it hurled itself straight at horse and
rider. Nearly the whole of its huge length seemed to rise from the
ground in that tremendous leap. The horse instinctively reared itself
up on its hind legs, receiving the deadly fangs full in the chest, then
whirling round, fell--fell right on to the writhing monster. And the
rider?
With rare readiness of nerve and judgment the latter had slid from the
saddle at exactly the right fraction of a moment, and now stood
contemplating a furious convulsive intermingling of kicking hoofs and
heaving coils. One deft slash of the raw-hide whip was capable of
cutting the head off the terrible reptile, if only he could get it in.
Then he suddenly grasped the fact that there was no need to do anything
further at all. Though still squirming hideously the monster was dead.
We have said that the horse, in falling, had come right down upon the
reptile, and now it was found that the iron pommel of the saddle had
snapped its vertebrae. The destroyed had in turn become the destroyer.
It had avenged itself.
Its owner, however, gave it no thought just then. He turned to the
girl. She was standing, with a large stone poised in her hand, a look
of desperate resolution in her eyes. The man, for his part, decided
that here was a picture he should never forget; the erect stateliness of
the pose: the expression: the sublimity of a great resolution which had
crushed down terror. She was magnificent, he told himself--lovely too.
"Why didn't you make yourself scarce while you could?" he said. "I told
you to, you know."
"I wanted to see if I could be of some use," she answered, dropping the
stone which she had instinctively picked up as being the only
approximate form of weapon at hand. "I should certainly have been
killed if it hadn't been for you. And the wonder is you weren't. But
your horse--I suppose there's no chance for him?"
"None whatever. The bite of a mamba of that size and volume is
absolutely fatal to man or beast."
"It is a mamba then? But the size of it?"
"Yes. It's the _indhlondhlo_--the crested variety. I've only seen one
before, and it was nothing like the size of this. They are rather
scarce."
"And a good thing too," said the girl with something of a shudder as
they stood contemplating the still moving coils of their late enemy.
"Your poor horse has revenged himself. Poor beast! Will his death be a
painful one?"
"I don't think so. A stupor, more or less gradual, usually attends
death from snake-bite."
As though to bear out its owner's words, the poor animal, which had
risen to its feet, now tottered, swayed, and then lay down.
"Well, I shall have to walk. But that's nothing. I'm in hard
training."
The girl's eyes opened wide.
"Walk? That you certainly will not, except as far as the house; and
that's no great distance. It's nearly dinner time too,"--with a glance
upwards at the sun. "And--you have saved my life, you know. I'm a bad
hand at making a speech, but--will you take for granted all I'd like to
say?"
The other felt a little foolish. This, to him, was an entirely new
experience. This girl, for instance, was quite unlike any he had ever
known before. Her absolute self-possession, free from any trace of
posing or self-consciousness--why he did not know what to make of the
situation. But one thing pushed itself unpleasantly to the fore in his
mind. He was being taken somewhere to be thanked--by a lot of other
people, and he didn't like being thanked. It made him feel a fool. The
only thing to do was to pooh-pooh the whole incident; and yet--and yet--
hang it, he did want to see some more of her, and wanted to see that
some "some more" now, not put it off to some indefinite future time.
"Oh, I don't know," he said, rather lamely. "The affair was of no great
account. You'd have got out of it anyhow. I think perhaps, I'd better
start. Good-bye."
But she ignored the proffered hand. She deliberately put hers behind
her back.
"Doesn't it occur to you," she said, "that I may be a little bit nervous
going home alone after that experience? There may be another of the
same species--what did you call it--_indhlondhlo_?--somewhere near. I
never was afraid of a snake before."
Then he surrendered with a good grace--a very good grace--and profuse
apologies.
"I confess I missed that point of view. Let me collect your painting
things. Do you often come here to draw?"
"Yes, and everywhere else. I love it. I believe I could do something
real in that way if only I had a show." And there was a clouding over
of the speaker's face that was not lost upon her escort.
"By Jove! I should think you could," he answered, scrutinising the
nearly finished sketch. "Why, this is perfect."
"I don't know if it'll ever be finished," she said. "I believe I'd be
scared to come and sit here again. I don't know. I'll bring a shot-gun
loaded with buckshot. No snake on earth could stand against that."
"Rather not," answered the other, vastly amused by this readiness, a
downright matter-of-fact way of looking at things. "I suppose--er--you
know how to handle firearms."
"Oh yes. I've learnt that. But I never bother about carrying them for
purposes of defence. There's no use for it here."
"What about the natives? Is it quite wise for you to go rambling about
the veldt alone, do you think?"
"Of course. Why they have known me all my life, and I have known them.
There isn't one of them anywhere round here who wouldn't--give his life
for me, I was almost going to say--let alone harm me."
The other was still more puzzled, and relapsed into silence for a
little, thinking even yet harder as to the personality of the other
actor in this strange adventure. She, for her part, was no less busied
with regard to him. She saw beside her, as they stepped along the bush
path together, some six feet of well-proportioned British manhood, not
exactly in the first youth, and yet on the right side of middle age; and
the bronzed face and clear eyes told of healthy wholesome living, and
the readiness of resource of their owner she herself had just had an
opportunity of gauging. The result was satisfactory.
The bush path ended, then a narrow one bordering a quince hedge which
shut in a fine fruit garden. Here they overtook a man, who, at sound of
footsteps, turned inquiringly--a tall man, with a strong, good-looking
face and full brown beard just streaking with grey. The girl's clear
voice broke the silence.
"Father. This gentleman has just saved my life."
CHAPTER TWO.
THE NEW MAGISTRATE.
The older man started.
"What's that?" he said quickly, looking from the one to the other.
Briefly she told him. This was a man not easily moved, but he was then.
"And I should have been lying there instead of that poor horse,"
concluded the girl.
"I should think you would." Then, to the stranger, "Well, sir, I don't
quite know what to say to you or how to put it--but I believe you can
understand."
The said stranger, almost writhing from the force of the hand grip which
the other was administering to him, realised that he did understand.
This strong, impassive-looking man was obviously moved to the core, but
what seemed passing strange was that he refrained from any little
outward and natural act of affection, or even word, towards his child
who had just escaped a horrible death. No, that omission, indeed, he
could not understand.
"Why, of course," he answered. "But I'd better introduce myself. My
name's Elvesdon, and I'm the new magistrate at Kwabulazi, so we shall
not be very distant neighbours. I hope, too, that we shall become very
much better acquainted."
"Same here. I'm Thornhill, and I own about thirteen thousand _morgen_
[about double that number of acres], most of which you can see from
where we stand, and a good deal of which is of no earthly use except to
look at--or to paint," with a smile at his daughter.
"It certainly is very good to look at," said the stranger. "Does it
hold much wild game, Mr Thornhill?"
"Middling. See that line of krantz yonder?" pointing to a craggy wall,
about a mile away. "Well, that's all bored with holes and caves--I was
going to say it was filled with tiger [leopard] like bee-grubs in a
comb, but that's a little too tall. Still there are too many. Are you
a sportsman, Mr--Elvesdon? Though--you must be, after what I've just
heard."
"I'm death on it. Where I've come from there wasn't any."
"Where's that?"
"The Sezelani. All sugar cane and coolies. Beastly hot, too. I'm
jolly glad of this move."
"Well I hope you'll make up for it here. There's a fair number of
bushbuck in the kloofs--duiker and blekbok too, guinea fowl, and other
small fry. So be sure and bring your gun over whenever you can and
like."
"Thanks awfully," replied Elvesdon, thinking he would manage to do this
pretty often.
They had reached the homestead. The house was a one-storeyed,
bungalow-like building, with a thatched verandah running round three
sides of it. It stood on a slope, and the ground in front fell away
from a fenced-in bit of garden ground down a well-grown mealie land,
whose tall stalks were loaded with ripening cobs. Then the wild bush
veldt began. Black kloofs, dense with forest trees; bush-clad slopes,
culminating in a great bronze-faced krantz frowning down in overhanging
grandeur; here and there patches of open green as a relief to the
profusion of multi-hued foliage--in truth in whatever direction the eye
might turn, that which met it was indeed good to look at, as the
stranger had said.
The said stranger, as they entered the house, was exercised by no small
amount of curiosity. Of what did this household consist? he asked
himself. The other members of the family, for instance, what were they
like, he wondered? Like this girl--who had struck him as so unlike any
other girl he had ever seen? Like her father--who in his own way seemed
almost to stand unique? But beyond themselves there seemed to be nobody
else in the house at all.
The room he was ushered into was cool and shaded. It was got up with
innumerable knick-knacks. There were water-colour sketches on the
walls--and framed photographic portraits placed about on easels. There
was a piano, and other signs of feminine occupation. But nothing was
overdone. The furniture was light and not overcrowded, thoroughly
suitable to a hot climate. After the noontide glare outside, the room
struck him as cool and restful to a degree--refined, too; in short a
very perfect boudoir.
"Nice little room, isn't it?" said his host rejoining him, for he had
excused himself for a minute. "Yes, that portrait--that's my eldest
boy. Poor chap, he _was_ killed in the Matabele rising in '96. That
other's the second--I've only the two. He's away at the Rand; making
his fortune--as he thinks; fortunately he's got none to lose."
"What fine looking fellows," said Elvesdon. "By Jove they are."
The other smiled.
"That group there," he went on, "represents Edala in various stages of
growing up. You'll recognise the latest."
"Yes. It's a splendid likeness." The while he was thinking to himself,
"Edala! what an out-of-the-way name. Edala! Well, it fits its owner
anyway."
"I daresay you'd like a cold splash--we'll have dinner directly. Come
this way. You'll find everything in there," opening the door of a spare
room.
His host's voice almost made Elvesdon start, so wrapped up was he in his
new train of thought. It did not leave him, either, when he was
splashing his head and face in a basin of cold water. Truly this was a
strange beginning to his new term of office; for he had only been at
Kwabulazi a few days. Well, it was a good one anyhow.
On entering the dining-room he did not know whether to feel surprised or
not. Only three places were laid. There was no Mrs Thornhill then?
These two--father and daughter--were alone together.
But before they had got half through the meal Elvesdon became alive to
something. There was not that freedom and cordiality between the two,
that whole-souled intimacy of companionship, which under the
circumstances might have been expected. A kind of constraint seemed to
rest between them, and yet why? It was puzzling. Remembering the real
emotion displayed by his host when the latter had learned what had
occurred that morning, it was even more puzzling. He did not fail,
however, to note that the affection seemed mostly on the parental side.
This struck him as strange: nor did there appear to be anything to
account for it. There was nothing of the tyrannical or even irritable
type of parent about his host, who, on the contrary, seemed calm and
quiet and considerate in everything he said or did; he himself had been
greatly taken with him. What then could it mean?
Ah, now a solution presented itself. The girl had probably contracted
some engagement, or wanted to, to which her father had objected. And in
the result there was an estrangement between them. He had seen one or
two cases of the kind before. The thought, however, seemed to depress
him though half-unconsciously. Yet why should it? What could it
possibly matter to him--he asked himself. Yes, what the devil could it
matter to him? Thus pondering, he joined in the conversation in a
half-absent kind of way, though wholly unconscious of any such frame of
mind. The fact, however, did not escape his host, who was divided in
opinion as to the cause.
"I suppose you've had a good deal of experience in the native
department," said the latter, when they had got into roomy cane-chairs
on the verandah and pipes were in full blast. Edala had retired,
announcing an intention of having forty winks and reappearing when it
was cooler.
"Fair. I was on the Pondo border for a time. It was more interesting,
in a way, still I'm glad to get back here."
"What do you think of these rumours of unrest?" said Thornhill.
"There is unrest, and it wants careful handling. Still you haven't got
to believe everything you hear. I've been doing a round since I came,
trying to get at the general feeling. I was at Tongwana's kraal this
morning and the old chap was profusely civil, so were all his people: in
fact it was on my way back from there that I--er--first met your
daughter."
"Oh, Tongwana? Yes, he's all right. By the way, I was forgetting. If
you'll excuse me for a minute I'll send some boys down to collect your
saddle and bridle."
"Thanks. I daresay you could lend me some sort of a mount to get home
on, could you?"
"Oh, you shan't walk," said Thornhill, drily, over his shoulder.
He soon returned, and the two sat chatting over things in general and
the neighbourhood in particular; as to which latter Elvesdon was loud in
his appreciation. It was delightful country, he declared, and this farm
especially was charmingly situated. The other smiled.
"Well, ride over whenever you feel inclined. We shall always be
delighted to see you," the speaker had grown grave, and his hearer knew
what he was thinking about. "I don't know if you're very hard-worked.
I know that outlying Civil servants are not as a rule--your predecessor
certainly wasn't. So whenever you don't know what else to do with
yourself, why this isn't an overpoweringly long ride. We might get up a
day in the kloofs when the close time is over."
Elvesdon jumped at this, and then Edala reappeared, stating two
indisputable facts--that it was cooler, and, incidentally, tea-time. At
last, with many a qualm of reluctance, he got up and declared it was
time to go.
"Must you?" said the girl, with a quick lift of the eyes which he
thought infinitely captivating.
"I'm afraid so, Miss Thornhill, though I do it with reluctance. Stern
duty calls, you see. There's no moon, and I don't know this part of the
country at all yet. I should get hopelessly entangled for the night in
some most impenetrable part of the kloofs, and I have to hold Court
early to-morrow; for there happens to be rather a lot to get through."
"Edala, dear," said Thornhill, "just sing out to them at the back to put
Mr Elvesdon's saddle on--the horse I told them."
The girl reappeared in a moment, and then good-byes were interchanged.
To Elvesdon's relief nothing more was said on the subject of his timely
aid, but he was appreciative of a great cordiality of manner.
"Here's something that'll carry you, Mr Elvesdon," said Thornhill, as a
horse was brought round to the stoep, a well groomed, capable looking
beast with good paces. "You needn't trouble to send him back again, if
you'll oblige me by accepting him. You lost your own on my account you
know."
But the other began to protest. Why all the horses in the world would
be cheap at the price of what his own had been able to effect, he
declared with, at that stage, somewhat unnecessary vehemence. Besides
it seemed too much like accepting a reward for what he had done, though
this he did not say.
"You are not offended, are you?" said Thornhill.
"Offended? No. But--er--"
"Well, I shall be if you refuse to do me this favour, so let's have no
more _indaba_ on the subject," rejoined Thornhill, shortly.
The other gave way. He saw no alternative, for the last thing in the
world he desired was to offend Edala's father. The latter's next words
made the situation easier.
"Hope we shall see you again soon. Remember you'll always find a real
welcome here at any time, so don't stand on ceremony. Good-bye."
The younger man echoed the word heartily as he rode away. And then
something struck him as funny. He was accustomed to issuing orders to
other people, and now the positions were reversed. He had been dictated
to, and that by no official superior but by a stranger of a few hours'
acquaintance, and he had meekly done as he was told. Yes, it was funny.
The two stood looking after him as he disappeared down the bush path.
Then the girl said:
"Father, what have you done? You've given away Ratels--yes, given him
away. And you've often said you wouldn't part with him for five times
his real value."
"Yes. But I've never said I wouldn't part with him for fifty thousand
times--for fifty million times his real value."
He dropped a hand upon her shoulder--that was all--then turned abruptly
and went inside. The girl standing there alone gazed forth upon the
tossing splendours of the sunlit wilderness, but actually seeing nothing
of them, for her eyes were dim and moist. A struggle was going on
within her. Then the lips, which had begun to tremble, hardened into
firm compression. The struggle was over--unfortunately.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE STRANGER FROM ZULULAND.
At the time we make his acquaintance Michael Thornhill did not take his
stock-farming seriously, but rather as a pastime. This he could afford
to do, as from one source or another he had enough to last him
comfortably for the rest of his life, and also to start his remaining
son in anything sound and likely to bear good results.
His operations, then, in that line just paid their way, but very little
more--a result in nowise due to any lack of capacity on his part, for he
had gone through the mill himself in earlier life and was as thoroughly
at home in all pertaining to stock-raising as the most strenuous and
practical farmers in the colony. But he had a hobby, and it was a good
one, and that was--literature.
Not the manufacture of it--oh no--or we might have felt bound to
withhold the qualifying adjective. The absorption of it--ancient and
modern--was his craze and his delight. He never had found time to
indulge this during a hard-worked and hardening life, but had always
looked forward to a good time coming when he should be able to do so.
Now it had come.
It may be wondered why he did not settle down in some town, where there
was a good library, and acquaintances from whom he could borrow useful
books; and indeed several did venture so to hint. But his answer was
simple. He had lived in the veldt all his life--up country or down, or
on the road. He would feel lost if he did not wake up to hear the
multifold sounds of the bush--to inhale the fresh, strong, sweet air as
the sun shot up fiery over tree-fringed ridge or iron mountain top. And
the life of the veldt! It had always been his life--it was too late to
change now. To look round on the black wildness of those bushy kloofs,
or yonder great mountain, frowning down majestically, with its mighty
cliff wall shining red in the afterglow of the sunset, and to realise
that he owned all this--that this fragment of splendid Nature was his
property--all his own--why the realisation was sheer ecstasy. Whereby
it is obvious that there was a large element of the poetic about the
man.
Exchange all this for a sun-baked, dust-swept town? Not he. It had
even been hinted to him by well meaning acquaintances--mostly of the
feminine persuasion--that there was his daughter to be considered, that
life alone in a wild and sparsely colonised part of the country was
rather a dull life for a girl. This was certainly touching him on a
susceptible point, but to such representations he would reply that even
up-to-date fathers were entitled to some consideration--that even they
could not be required to take a back seat in every question. For the
rest there was nothing he denied his daughter which by any possibility
he could procure for her; moreover she could have as many friends to
stay with her as the house would hold, and for as long as she chose.
But somehow she seldom had any. For some reason or other they rarely
came. This, however, did not trouble Edala in the least. She was not
particularly fond of other girls. She was too individual for most girls
of her age. They could not quite make her out. And--there may have
been another reason.
But on this score Edala herself never complained. Her occupations and
amusements filled up all her time, and she never felt lonely. She could
shoot, too, and sometimes, when out with her father, would turn over a
big bushbuck ram streaking across a small open space, as neatly as he
could himself. This was only when they were alone together. If there
was a regular hunt she never took part in it.
Her ambition Was to become an art student, at one of the great centres.
She firmly believed in her own capabilities in that line. Her father
had taken her to Europe on purpose to show her all that was best of the
kind, and she had come back more dissatisfied than ever. She wanted to
join the regular ranks--to start at the bottom of the ladder. But
Michael Thornhill had a will of his own.
"Patience, dear," he would say. "You have plenty of time before you,
and I don't see the fun of raising children to have them desert me just
when I want them most."
Edala had not taken the remark in good part. She had flashed forth that
it was no good having anything in one, if one was to be stuck away on a
Natal farm all one's life with no opportunity of bringing it out. Her
father shook his head sadly.
"There may come a day when you will be glad to find yourself back on
that same Natal farm," he said. Then he went out.
Of this he was thinking as he sat in his library a few mornings after
Elvesdon's timely appearance. Why now should he not let her have her
way? Why should he not send her to Europe as she wished? He himself
could sell or let the farm, and trek far up country on a protracted
hunting expedition; for the idea of life here without Edala was not to
be thought of for a moment.
There was more than a sense of thwarted ambition which came between
himself and the child he idolised. The dark cloud that separated them
took the form of a dead hand. Black and bitter suspicion corroded the
girl's mind, and when the consciousness of it was more especially
brought home to Thornhill from time to time, the whirlwind of vengeful
hate that stormed through his heart was simply inconceivable. But not
towards her. It was retrospective.
Just such a paroxysm was on him now. He could not read. He gazed
listlessly around at his well filled book-shelves--with their
miscellaneous stock of literature--in which he took such pleasure and
pride, but made no move towards disturbing their contents. A
restlessness came upon him. He could not remain still. Jumping up, he
put his head through the window and shouted out to the stable boy to
saddle up a horse.
Edala was on the stoep as he passed out. She was putting some finishing
touches to a water-colour drawing. In his then mood he did not suggest
that she should accompany him; perhaps he feared the effect of a refusal
or a reluctant consent.
"Are you going out, father? It's awfully hot."
"Yes, I'm going a short round. Back by dinner time."
Three or four great rough-haired dogs, lying in the shade behind the
stable, sprang up as the horse was led forth, whining and squirming with
wild excitement at sight of the gun in their master's hand. He,
however, drove them back; he was not going to hunt, but there was always
the chance of coming across unwary "vermin"--a jackal perhaps, or a
_rooikat_.
The first point he made for was the scene of yesterday's episode. As he
approached it a low hum of voices was borne to his ears. Some half
dozen natives stood clustered round the spot. The carcase of Elvesdon's
horse lay swollen and distended, tainting the air, and beside it the
great snake. But on the latter was their attention concentrated.
"_Whau_! but that was the very king of serpents," one of them was
saying. "I, who am old, have never seen one like it--no never."
"M-m!" hummed his hearers. "_Nkose_!"
This in respectful greeting as they became aware of the new arrival's
presence. He acknowledged it.
"I, who am old, have never seen one like it, _impela_," repeated the
speaker. "_Nkose_. The snake--the king of snakes--has killed the
horse, but who has killed the snake?"
"The horse," said Thornhill. "He fell over on it and broke its back,
just after it had struck him."
"It is the horse of--of--the new magistrate--at Kwabulazi," went on the
other. "He was at my kraal just before."
"That is so, Tongwana. Here is _gwai_," getting out a large snuff-horn,
which came in handy on such occasions.
"_Nkose_!" cried the chief, receiving it in both hands. He was an old
man, with a white beard, and, of course, head-ringed. Two of the others
were also ringed. As Thornhill told the story of the occurrence many
were the murmurs of surprise that went up. The new magistrate at
Kwabulazi was clearly no fool of a white man, and this inference
impressed them greatly.
One of them, however, it did not seem to impress at all, and that was
one of the ringed men. He had listened in a careless, almost
contemptuous way to the narrative, uttering no remark or interjection.
He was of fine stature, and unlike Tongwana and two or three of the
others, wore no article of European clothing; wherein he showed taste,
for the savage in his _mutya_ alone looks an immeasurably finer savage
than his brother clad in the same, with a super-added shirt, usually
none too clean. Him Thornhill set down as a Zulu from beyond the
border: but at the same time he was vaguely conscious of having seen him
somewhere before.
This man now, without a word of farewell greeting, detached himself from
the group, and began to walk leisurely away. Then it became noticeable
that he walked with a slight limp.
"Bullet in the war of '79 did that," decided Thornhill grimly, as he
looked after him. "Wonder if he'll compete for another distinguishing
mark of the same kind before long." Then aloud--
"Who is he?"
They looked at each other.
"He is a stranger, _Nkose_," answered Tongwana with a whimsical smile.
"From the other side?"
"_E-he_."
"Yet it seems I have seen him before. No matter. For the rest,
_amadoda_, the house is very near and contains that which is good to eat
and drink. The _Inkosazana_ [lit. Little Chieftainess] is there, and
will see to that. I return soon myself. _Hambani gahle_!"
They were delighted, and chorussed a sonorous farewell. Thornhill made
it a rule to treat his native neighbours on liberal and friendly terms,
consequently the relations between them were of the best. None of his
stock was ever missing nor did he ever lack farm servants.
Incidentally, some of his white neighbours disagreed with him on the
point. They said he was spoiling the natives. But, out of the
plenitude of his experience he had found it a policy that paid.
Now, when after a few minutes' ride along the bush track he overtook the
stranger, that worthy's demeanour towards himself constituted quite an
unusual experience. It was off-hand, to say the least of it, almost
offensive.
"May I not have first right to ride along the paths on my own farm?"
began Thornhill, banteringly. For the path here was exceedingly narrow
with high thick bush on either hand, and the other showed not the least
anxiety to make way for him, but strode on as though there was no one
within a hundred miles. It was all Thornhill could do to restrain
himself from bringing down the butt of his gun hard and violently
between the broad, shining shoulders. It was, if possible, more
difficult still, as the stranger replied, without halting or even
looking back:
"Patience, Inqoto. The path is not wide enough for two."
This _gazula_--or addressing a white man familiarly by his native name,
even though that name in this instance was a complimentary one,
referring to decisiveness of character--would have led then and there to
a breach of the peace on the part of most white men, especially as the
tone of the speaker bordered on the contemptuous. This one only waxed
coldly sarcastic.
"I see you, King. _Bayete_, King of the Heavens and the world!
Elephant! Lion! Divider of the Sun! Shaker of the Earth!" he went on,
giving the other half a dozen more titles of royal _sibongo. "Whau_!
It is truly the Great Great One come to life again, for who else in
these times would walk about my farm armed with assegais?"
The path had now widened out. The savage halted and stepped aside.
"Do you know me, Inqoto?" he said. "Have you ever seen me before?"
"Surely. O Elephant. In another world," came the ready and sarcastic
reply.
"M-m! In another world. But it is in this world you shall see me
again, Inqoto. Ah, ah! In this world. _Hamba gahle_!"
With which farewell, insolently sneering, the speaker turned and
strolled leisurely away.
CHAPTER FOUR.
THE MAGISTRACY AT KWABULAZI.
The magistracy buildings at Kwabulazi, consisted of a roughly built
thatched bungalow, a red brick oblong which was the Court house, and
various groups of native huts which served to house the other Court
officials--white and coloured--and the handful of mounted Police
permanently quartered there. Another red brick structure represented
the Post and Telegraph Office. The place was situated at the foot of a
great mountain whose wooded slopes made, scenically, a fine background.
In front the veldt rolled gently away; quite open, and sparsely dotted
with mimosa; and for miles around, at intervals, rose the smoke of
native kraals; for this was an important location.
Within the red brick oblong mentioned above Elvesdon sat, administering
justice. There was not much to administer that day, for the cases
before him involved the settlement of a series of the most petty and
trivial disputes relating to cattle or other property, protracted beyond
about five times their due length, as the way is with natives once they
get to law. Beyond the parties concerned there was no audience to speak
of. Three or four old ringed men, squatted in a corner on the floor,
drowsed and blinked through the proceedings; while now and again two or
three natives would enter noiselessly, listen for a few minutes and then
as noiselessly depart.
The morning was drawing to an end, for which Elvesdon was not sorry. It
was very hot, and the Court room was becoming unpleasantly redolent of
native humanity. He was about to adjourn, when he became aware of the
entrance of somebody. Looking up he beheld Thornhill.
The latter stood leaning against the wall just inside the door.
Elvesdon, while putting three or four final questions to a voluble and
perspiring witness, found himself wondering whether Thornhill was alone,
or whether his daughter, preferring the shade and open air to the heat
and stuffiness of the Court room, was waiting for him outside. So he
sent down the witness and adjourned the Court straight away.
Thornhill crossed the room to shake hands with the clerk, whom he knew,
and who was gathering up his papers, then he adjourned to the
magistrate's office.
Thither Elvesdon had gone straight on leaving the bench. If he had one
little weakness it was--well, a very adequate sense of his official
position, but only when not off duty--and this weakness suggested to him
that it might impress the other more if he received him there, instead
of going forward to greet him in the emptying Court room. As a matter
of fact Elvesdon did show to advantage to the accompaniment of a tinge
of officialdom, but, we are careful to emphasise, only at the proper
time and place.
"Come in," he called out in response to a knock. "Ah, Mr Thornhill,
I'm so glad to see you," and there was no official stiffness now about
his tone or his handshake. "Anything I can do for you? But unless it's
of first-rate importance it'll keep till after lunch, which you are
going to take with me. So let's go and get it."
They went out into the fierce noontide glare, but even it was an
improvement after the stuffiness within. Elvesdon called to a native
constable to take Thornhill's horse, and wondered if he felt a twinge of
disappointment as he saw there was only one horse to be taken care of.
Groups of natives squatting about in the shade, fighting all the points
of evidence over again, saluted as they passed.
The clerk joined them at table. He was a thick-set stolid youth, with a
shock of light hair, and a countenance wooden and mask-like; without
much conversational ability, but a first-rate man at his work. For
living purposes, he inhabited a couple of native huts, but messed with
his official chief: which in many cases was a bore, as the latter
subsequently explained to Thornhill; but Prior had had the same
arrangement with the former man, and he couldn't turn the poor devil out
to feed by himself, which in that eventuality he would have had to do.
Besides, he was a very decent fellow even if a bit heavy on hand.
During lunch they talked about sport, and the state of the country, and
ordinary things. Immediately afterwards the clerk went out.
"Well, I'm getting firm into the saddle here, you see," said Elvesdon,
as they lit their pipes. "And I'm not sure that the situation isn't
going to turn out interesting."
"Think so? Look here, I haven't exactly come to look you up officially,
still as my round took me rather near Kwabulazi, I thought I'd give you
a look in and mention a little matter."
"Well whatever the `little matter' may be, I'm glad it had that effect.
And now what is it?"
Thornhill told him about the meeting with Tongwana and his people, and
the mysterious stranger who was in their company. Told him too of the
outrageous impudence of the man in refusing to get out of the way for
him.
"It was all I could do to keep my hands off him," he said. "Nothing but
the thought that he'd certainly use his assegais and I should have to
shoot him dead in self defence kept me from pounding him between the
shoulders with the butt of the gun as he swaggered along."
"And this was quite near your house, you say?"
"Yes. Right bang on the spot where you so pluckily saved my girl's
life, Elvesdon. I've heard all full details now."
Elvesdon reddened slightly, but he was secretly pleased.
"Oh, come now," he protested. "I don't know that it requires much pluck
to crack a whip at a snake. And if it comes to that, I think it was
your daughter who showed the pluck. I told her to cut and run while I
drew the brute off. D'you think she would? Not a bit of it. She had
picked up a whacking big stone and was standing there ready to heave it.
I tell you it was a magnificent sight. Suggested a sort of classical
heroine up-to-date. But--I say. Do you think it's altogether safe for
a girl to go about so much alone round here?"
"Round here I do. The people have known her since she was a little
thing and take a sort of proprietary interest in her. For the rest, she
can use a six shooter--and that quickly and straight. I taught her."
Elvesdon was on the point of observing that she was not provided with
that opportune weapon at the critical moment of a few days previous, but
an instinctive warning that it might seem a little too much like taking
the other to task caused him to refrain. But he said:
"What of that swaggering impudent swine we were talking about?
Supposing he were to pay your place a visit in your absence?"
"There are four great _kwai_ dogs who'd pull down the devil himself at a
word from either of us--you saw them, Elvesdon. As an alternative Edala
would drill him through and through--with no toy pistol, mind you, but
real business-like lead, if he made the slightest act of aggression.
Besides, a Zulu from beyond the river, and a head-ringed one at that,
wouldn't. So, you see, she's pretty safe."
"Oh, he's a Zulu from beyond the river, is he?"
"So Tongwana said. And he looked like one."
"And he was carrying assegais?"
"Rather. Two small ones and a big _umkonto_. I chaffed him, gave him
royal _sibongo_, and it made him mad. You know, Elvesdon, how these
chaps hate being chaffed."
"Of course. But I think I'll have this one looked after. Anyway he's
no business cutting about with assegais. I don't want to arrest him
though, if it can possibly be avoided. That sort of thing only
irritates the others, and does no good, unless of course you can prove
anything distinctly against them; which, just now, you hardly ever can."
Then, raising his voice, "_Wa, Teliso_!"
In obedience to the shout a man came forward, emerging from behind the
Court house. He was a native detective attached to the magistracy.
Saluting, he stood and awaited orders.
Then those three--the two white men seated on the steps of the stoep--
held a quarter of an hour's conference, speaking rapidly, and in the
vernacular. Teliso thought he knew the stranger. His name? No, that
he could not say--as a matter of fact he knew it perfectly. He might be
able to find it out--given every facility. Was he from beyond the
border, and if so who was his chief? Of this too, Teliso professed
ignorance, though he could find out, given time and every facility.
Here likewise, he was in a position to give perfectly correct answers
then and there, but Teliso was in his humble way a Government official,
and thoroughly understood the art of "magnifying his office." He was
not going to adopt any such undignified course of procedure as to give a
direct answer. He looked forward to being sent on a secret mission,
with many days of pleasant sojourn among the kraals of his countrymen,
well regaled with plenty of beef and beer, and--other things. So he
reiterated his ability to find out all about the stranger if entrusted
with that delicate errand. At that, for the time, he was dismissed.
"What sort of chap's that, Elvesdon?" said Thornhill re-lighting his
pipe.
"Haven't tried him yet. Why?"
"You may have to `try' him yet, in another sense," returned Thornhill,
drily, shading the third match with his hand. "Look here. I don't want
to seem to run your show for you, but I've been here a goodish while,
and I _hear_ things. If you'll take a tip from me--you're not obliged
to, you know--you won't trust everything to Teliso. Don't mind my
saying that?"
"Certainly not. In fact, I'm obliged to you. To my mind if there's
anything idiotic in the world it's making light of the experience of men
of experience."
"Well, you can always command mine--on the quiet of course--and I shan't
be in the least put out if you don't agree with it. Now I can see
you're longing to get back to your job, so I'll saddle up."
"Er--the fact is, I've got a lot of these tin-pot cases to worry
through--so I'll get you to excuse me. By the way, Thornhill, I'm going
to take you at your word, and invade you on Sunday. I'm beastly
all-by-myself here when there's no work. How does that pan out?"
"Any number of ounces to the ton. Come as early as you like, and,
there's a bed for you, if you don't want to get back here till next
morning. Good Lord, Elvesdon, when I think of--"
"But, don't `think of'," interrupted the other, hurriedly. "Very well.
So long--till Sunday."
Thornhill's horse had been brought round, and as he got into the saddle
Elvesdon turned away to the Court house. And the latter as he got
there, felt as if he was treading on air. Yet why should he--why the
devil should he?--he kept unconsciously asking himself.
Thornhill, passing the clerk's quarters, saw the latter just coming out.
"Hallo, Prior!" he hailed. "Good-bye, I'm off."
The young man came over to him.
"Good-bye, Mr Thornhill," he said. "You don't often look us up in
these days."
"You don't often look me up, Prior, for the matter of that."
"Oh well, Mr Thornhill," said the other shamefacedly. "I should like
to, you know. Er--may I come and try for a bushbuck someday?"
"Why of course you may, man, any mortal time you feel inclined, or can.
By the way, how do you like your new chief?"
"No end. He's--er--he's such a gentleman."
There was a world of admiration--of hero worship in the young man's
tone, and colonial youth is by no means prone to such.
"Ah," replied Thornhill. "Well, I agree with you, Prior. Good-bye."
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE ETHIOPIAN EMISSARY.
The kraals of the chief, Babatyana, lay sleeping. So brilliant was this
starlight, however, that the yellow domes of the thatch huts could be
distinguished from the ridge--even counted. The latter operation would
have resulted in the discovery that the collection of kraals, dotted
along the wide, bushy valley, numbered among them some three hundred
huts; but these, of course, represented only a section of the tribe over
which Babatyana was chief.
It is a strange sight that of a large, sleeping kraal--or a number of
them, in the wizard hush and calm beauty of an African night. It is so
in harmony with setting and surrounding; the starlight showing up the
ghostly loom of mountain, or suggesting the weird mystery of dark
wilderness lying beneath, where deadly things creep and lurk. And then,
these human habitations, themselves constructed of the grass which
springs up around them, of the very thorns which impede the progress of
their denizens, they stand, in primitive symmetry--not rude, because
that which is circular is nothing if not symmetrical--lying there in
their pathetic insignificance under the vast height of Heaven's vault.
And the said denizens sleeping there! Hopes and fears, virtues and
vices; capacity for intrigue, cupidity; redeeming traits, human
weaknesses--all the same, whether sleeping within the kraal of the
savage to the lullaby of the voices of prowling creatures of the night,
or in stately mansion amid the roar and rattle of the metropolis of the
world. All the same--all, all!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The air is fresh and sweet with the fragrance of flowering shrubs, is
faintly melodious with the ghostly whistle of circling plover invisible
overhead. The cry of a jackal rings out from the hillside, receding
further and further, to be answered again from another point in the
misty gloom--then the bark of a restless dog in some slumbering kraal
beneath. Or the hoot of a night bird hawking above the silent expanse,
and the droning boom of a great beetle mingling with the shrill,
whistling voice of tree frogs. Man is silent, but Nature never.
Along the ridge overlooking Babatyana's kraals a dusty waggon road winds
like a riband, distinguishable from the darker veldt in the starlight.
It follows the apex of the ridge, and is just the place to avoid during
those dry thunder-storms which in Natal seem to hunt in couples nearly
every day during the hot months. Then the wayfarer may well leave the
highway, and dive down into one of the bushy kloofs on either side, and
wait until the turmoil passes; for the lightning will strike down upon
that high, exposed pathway, every sheeting flash not much less dangerous
than a shell from hostile artillery.
To-night, however, the elements are at peace, but man is represented by
a single unit.
Natives, as a rule, are not given to wandering about alone at night, but
this one is obviously here with a purpose. Like a statue he stands,
gazing down the road as though on the look-out for something or
somebody. He is a tall man, and ringed: and as he wraps his blanket
closer around him--for there is a tinge of chill in the night air--and
takes a few paces, it might be seen that he walks with a slight limp.
Another hour goes by, and still he stands, ever watchful, and suffering
nothing to escape him, for the patience of the savage is inexhaustible.
And now a glow suffuses the far horizon, widening and brightening; then
the broad disc of a full moon soars redly aloft, and lo, the land is
steeped in subdued unearthly light--plain, and ridge, and distant
mountain, all stand revealed; and the clusters of domed huts in the
broad valley beneath show out sharply defined. But these are no longer
silent. First a low, long-drawn wail, then another and another from
different points, culminating in still more drawn out howls, and the
dismal sounds echo through the silence in weird cadence. Half the curs
in the slumbering kraals are baying the newly risen moon.
Her light falls full upon the watcher, throwing out his tall form into
statuesque relief, and glinting on the polished shine of his head-ring.
But for the limp his gait as he slowly paces up and down would be a
stately one. Even then there is an unconscious dignity about the man,
as with head held proudly aloft, he gazes out over the moonlit expanse,
and it is the dignity of a natural ruler of men.
Suddenly he stops short in his walk, and stands, listening intently.
You or I could have heard nothing, but he can, and what he hears is the
sound of hoof-strokes.
Down the road now he takes his way, walking rapidly, and soon the
hoof-strokes draw very near indeed. Then he stops, and starts singing
to himself in a low, melodious croon.
The horseman appears in sight, advancing at a pace that is half
jog-trot, half canter. The moonlight reveals a thick-set, burly figure,
encased in a suit of clerical black. But the face which now shows
between the bow of the white "choker" and the wide-awake hat is not many
shades lighter than the whole get-up.
"_Saku bona, Mfundisi_," is the greeting of the watcher, whose singing,
purposely turned on to guard against the horse shying or stampeding at
the sudden appearance of anything living, has had that effect.
"_Yeh-bo_," answered the other. "Do I see Manamandhla, the Zulu?"
"Of the People of the Heavens am I, _Umfundisi_," was the reply, but the
tone in which the speaker enunciates the word "Umfundisi"--which means
"teacher" or "missionary"--contains a very thinly veiled sneer. "The
people down there have been awaiting you long."
"In the Cause, brother, in our holy Cause, no man's time is his own,"
answered the horseman, sanctimoniously. "_Whau_! have not I been
inoculating its sacred principles into the people at Ncapele's kraal--or
striving to, for Ncapele is old, and when a man is old enthusiasm is
dead within him. It is the young whom we have to teach. Wherefore I
could not turn my back upon him too soon."
The speaker did not think it necessary to explain that the undue time it
had taken to roast the succulent young goat which Ncapele had caused to
be slaughtered for his refection had had anything to do with the
lateness of his arrival. For that chief, although "a heathen man," was
not unmindful of the duties of hospitality. Which definition applied
equally to Manamandhla the Zulu; wherefore the attitude of that fine
savage towards the smug preacher to whom he had undertaken the office of
guide, was one of ill-concealed contempt.
"And the people--the people of Babatyana," went on the latter, "are they
ready to hear the good news--the glorious gospel of light and freedom?"
"They are ready," answered Manamandhla, who was striding beside the
other, easily keeping pace with the horse. "They are ready--ah-ah--very
ready."
"That is well--very well."
Here was an edifying picture, was it not, this zealous missionary,
labouring day and night to spread the good news among the benighted
heathen, and he one of their own colour? They, too, waiting to welcome
him, to give up their night's rest even, in order to hang upon his
words--truly a heart-stirring picture, was it not?
We shall see.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guided by Manamandhla by short cuts across the veldt, the traveller was
not long in reaching his destination. His arrival had been momentarily
expected, and with the first distant sounds of his horse's hoofs, the
carcase of a recently slaughtered goat had been quartered up and placed
upon a fire of glowing embers. The preacher rubbed his fat hands
together with anticipatory delight as his broad nostrils snuffed from
afar the savoury odour of the roast.
"Ah brother, the people are ever hospitable to those who bring them
tidings of the Cause," he remarked, complacently.
"And to those who do not," rejoined the Zulu.
Assuredly the emissary had no reason to complain of the substantial
nature of his reception, and so decided that worthy himself, as he sat
within the chief's hut, tearing the juicy meat from the ribs with his
teeth, and washing it down with huge draughts from the bowls of _tywala_
which had been brought in. Ah, it was good to live like this. Meat--
everywhere--plenty of it, wherever he went--meat--fresh, and succulent
and juicy, as different as day from night to the dried up, tasteless,
insipid stuff to which he sat down when in civilisation. _Tywala_ too--
newly brewed, humming, and, above all, plentiful. Yes, it was good! He
had taken off his black coat and waistcoat, mainly with the object of
preserving them from grease. Indeed had he followed his own inclination
it is far from certain that he would not have taken off everything else.
It was a disgusting spectacle, this fat, smug, black preacher, sitting
there in his shirt, his white choker all awry, tearing at the steaming
bones like a dog, his face and hands smeared with grease; a revolting
sight, immeasurably more so than that of the ring of unclothed savages
who were his entertainers and fellow feasters.
Nothing was heard but the champ of hungry jaws. Such a serious matter
as eating must not be interfered with by conversation. At last there
was very little left of the carcase of the goat but the bones, and one
by one the feasters dropped out and leaned back against the walls of the
hut.
The latter was lighted by two candles stuck in bottle necks, a device
learned from the white man. Babatyana and several others started pipes,
also an institution learned from the white man. But Manamandhla, the
conservative Zulu, confined himself to the contents of his snuff-horn.
Secretly, in his heart of hearts, he held his entertainers in some
degree of contempt, as became one of the royal race. Babatyana was an
influential chief, but only so by favour of the whites. What was he but
a Kafula [term of contempt used by Zulus for Natal natives]? But
Manamandhla was far too shrewd to impair the success of his mission by
suffering any of his secret feelings to appear.
All the same, although he lived on the wrong side of the river from the
other's point of view, there was very little admixture of baser blood in
Babatyana's system. His father had been a Zulu of pure blood and his
mother very nearly so. They had crossed into Natal as refugees, after
Nongalaza defeated Dingane, and had there remained. Seen in the dim
light of the candles, Babatyana was an elderly man, with a shrewd, lined
face; in fact there was no perceptible difference in his aspect or
bearing from that of those who affected to despise him. Now he turned
to his guest.
"The news, brother, what is it?"
"The news? _Au_! it is great. Everywhere we have our emissaries;
everywhere the people are listening. They are tired of being dogs to
the whites: tired of having to send their children away to work, so as
to find money to pay the whites. Soon our plan of deliverance will be
complete, soon when we have brought home universal brotherhood to those
of one colour--and, brothers, the time is now very near."
"And that time--when it comes--who will lead the people, _Umfundisi_?"
asked an old head-ringed man who was seated next to the chief.
"The leader will be found," was the ready answer. "It may be that he is
found--already found."
"Is he found on this side of the river or on the other?" went on the old
man, who was inclined to "heckle" the visitor.
"That, as yet, is dark. But--he is found."
A murmur went round the group. They were becoming interested. Only
Manamandhla remained perfectly impassive. He made no remarks and asked
no questions.
The conversation ran on in subdued tones, which however grew more and
more animated. The emissary was glib of tongue and knew how to hold his
audience. At last Babatyana said:
"It sounds well, Jobo. Now is the time to tell it--or some of it--to
the people outside. They wait to hear."
The Rev Job Magwegwe--by the way the name by which the chief had
addressed him was a corruption of his "Christiana" name--was an educated
Fingo, hailing from the Cape Colony, where he had been trained for a
missionary, and finally became a qualified minister in one of the more
important sects whose activity lay in that direction. But he promptly
saw that in the capacity of missionary he was going to prove a failure.
Those of his own colour openly scoffed at him. What could he teach
them, they asked? He was one of themselves, his father was So-and-So--
and no better than any of them. The whites could teach them things, but
a black man could not teach a black man anything. And so on.
But luck befriended the Rev. Job. The Ethiopian movement had just come
into being, and here he saw his chance. There was more to be made by
going about among distant races where his origin was not known, living
on the fat of the land, and preaching a visionary deliverance from
imaginary evils to those well attuned to listen, than staying at home,
striving to drill into a contemptuous audience the "tenets" of a
dry-as-dust and very defective form of Christianity. So he promptly
migrated to Natal, and being a plausible, smooth-tongued rogue soon
found himself in clover, in the official capacity of an accredited
emissary of the "Ethiopian Church," whose mission it was to instil in
the native mind the high-sounding doctrine of "Africa for its natives."
CHAPTER SIX.
A NATIVE UTOPIA.
The open space outside the kraal was thronged. Hundreds had collected
in obedience to the word of the chief. More were still coming in, and
the preacher rubbed his fat hands together with smug complacency. Your
educated native is nothing if not conceited, and the Rev Job Magwegwe
was no exception to this rule. Here was an audience for him; a noble
audience, and, withal an appreciative one.
His appearance was greeted by a deep murmur from the expectant crowd,
which at once disposed itself to listen. He had resumed his black coat
and waistcoat and settled his white choker; he was not going to omit any
accessory to his clerical dignity if he knew it.
He led off with a long prayer, to which most of those present listened
with ill-concealed boredom, but the smug self-conceit of the man had
captured his better judgment, and he was only brought up by Babatyana
remarking in an audible aside that the people had not assembled to take
part in a prayer meeting but to hear the news. So he took the hint and
started his address.
He began by sketching the history of the people, within their own time.
Since the days of the old wars they had increased immensely and were
still increasing, so that soon the land would not be able to hold its
population. It would hold them but for the white man. The white man.
But was this the white man's land? Did Nkulunkulu [Literally, "The
Great Guest." one of the names for the Deity] give him this land? No.
The white man came over the sea in ships and took it. Nkulunkulu said
"This is the black man's land and here have I placed him," yet the white
man took it. The whites came over in small numbers, then more. But
even now what were their numbers? Why, a handful, a mere handful. The
whites who ruled them could live in an ostrich's nest, when compared to
the blacks whom they had dispossessed. And why had they been able to
dispossess them? Because there was no unity among the native nations.
Each was jealous of the other and none could combine. The time,
however, was at hand when these dissensions should be of the past; when
all the native nations should unite, when their native land should
belong to them and not to the white man, when the Amazulu and the
Basutu, the tribes in Natal and the Amampondo and the Amaxosa should all
possess their own again, should all dwell together as brothers, none
lording it over the other, should dwell together in peace and unity in
the land which Nkulunkulu had given to them--to them and not to the
white man.
The preacher was working himself up to a pitch of eloquence that
impressed his audience--and a native orator can be very eloquent indeed.
Murmurs of applause greeted his periods, and now as he paused to wipe
his clammy forehead with the white handkerchief of civilisation, these
grew quite tumultuous. Only Manamandhla the Zulu kept saturnine
silence. He knew who, in this wonderful brotherhood of equality, was
going to have the upper hand, and any idea to the contrary moved him to
mirth, as too absurd to be worthy of a moment's consideration.
But the ways of Nkulunkulu--went on the preacher unctuously--though
sometimes slow were always sure, and now He had revealed His will to
some who had come across great distances of sea to bring it to them; not
white men but black like themselves. These had come hither with a
message of deliverance to all the dark races, and he himself was a
humble mouthpiece of such. But there were many such mouthpieces. They
were everywhere, and were being heard gladly. Who could refuse to hear
them? The people of this land were being oppressed and trampled upon;
and so it was wherever the white man set down his foot. Let them look
at the past. Where were the nations that dwelt proudly in their own
lands? Gone, utterly gone, or slaves to the white man; who planted his
own laws upon them and punished them heavily if they did not obey.
The crafty rascal however found it convenient to ignore the fact that
the worst that the white man had ever done to them was a joke when
compared with the treatment formerly meted out to the black man by his
brother black. Then he proceeded to quote from the Scriptures.
There was a fair sprinkling of _amakolwa_ among his audience, i.e. those
who had been converted to Christianity--of a sort--and these now
listened with renewed zest. They would appreciate his arguments, and
afterwards make them plain to their fellow countrymen not so privileged,
in their discussions from kraal to kraal.
He deftly quoted from the history of the Israelites, and their
deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, making out that these were in
similar bondage, that the promises made to Israel were given to them
too. He went further. He even assured them that they were offshoots of
Israel, cleverly citing numbers of their national and tribal customs,
some obsolete but many still in force, which exactly corresponded with
the precepts of the Mosaic law. The great book of the white men which
revealed the will of Nkulunkulu, he declared, was wrongly so called, in
that it was not revealed to white men at all, but to dark men. The
whites had stolen it, as they stole everything.
A deep bass hum of applause broke from his audience. It was a strange
scene. The vast assemblage held spellbound, the preacher, arrayed as
one who preaches the gospel of peace, instead, swaying this multitude of
dark savages with the gospel of revolt and war, and all the ruthless
atrocity of horror which such represents. All spellbound there in the
clear light of the broad moon, flooding down upon ridge and valley, and
loom of mountain misty against the stars.
For upwards of another hour the preacher went on, the entranced audience
drinking in every word. They could have listened to him all night, but
he had too much natural astuteness to risk repeating himself.
"Brothers," he concluded, "I have shown you your bondage. You are
increasing, as the chosen people of old, and the more you are increasing
the more you have to pay in taxes to the white man; the more you have to
submit to his slave-imposing laws. You may say--as many have
said--`What can we do? The white man has cannon and we have the
assegai, what chance then have we?' But even the white man's cannon is
not able to go everywhere, and even if it could, there is a more
powerful weapon still. There are those who rule the whites who will
lift up a voice in your behalf. Who will say--`Stop. This has gone far
enough. We will not have our black brethren butchered solely because
they are black.' I know what I say, for I have seen and talked with
such. `Stop,' they will say. `Bloodshed must cease.' And the nation
will approve because war costs money, and white people are no fonder of
having to pay than are black people. Then when their fighting men are
withdrawn--then we will rise in our might, in one overwhelming black
wave, and sweep all these whites back into the sea, whence they came.
Be patient. You will have `the word' in good time and that time soon.
I have shown you your bondage, now I am showing you your way out, for it
is the will of Nkulunkulu. I have done."
A deep murmur arose. The vast multitude, moved to the core, took some
time to realise that the proceedings were over. Then it broke up. Many
remained on the ground, squatting in groups, eagerly discussing the
points put forward; others broke up, and in twos or threes, or singly,
departed for their homes. Among the latter was Teliso the native
detective.
Not all, however, so went. There was a disposition among some of the
headmen to probe further the speaker's statements. Who were these
rulers among the Amangisi [English] who would call upon their countrymen
to stop the war? enquired the old man who had shown a disposition to
heckle the preacher in Babatyana's hut. He was old, but he had never
heard of the chiefs of any people who would seek to turn that people
back in the moment of their victory. _Whau_! this was wonderful news,
but--who were they?
"M-m! Who are they?" hummed the others. But the Rev Job was not
nonplussed.
"They are among the head indunas of the nation," he replied. "The ways
of the white man are not as our ways, else that which I have been
telling you would seem so much childish folly. Brothers, you will
remember how the indunas of the Amangisi treated the Amabuna [Boers]
when they had conquered them many years ago. They gave them back all
their lands, and went away. They lost hundreds and hundreds of fighting
men at the hands of the Amabuna, yet they gave them back all their
lands, nor did they even exact any tribute. And what happened
yesterday? After three years of fighting, wherein thousands and
thousands of Amangisi were slain, did they not pay the Amabuna largely
to make peace? Are they not preparing even now to give them back their
lands once more? _Whau_! And even so will they deal with us."
"And the King?" put in Babatyana with his head on one side. "The King
of the Amangisi? What will he do with such indunas as they?"
"He will do as his indunas advise, brother, for such is the way with the
Amangisi."
"A king who is ruled by his indunas is as a dog that is wagged by its
tail. U' Tshaka!" returned Baba tyana vehemently, swearing by the name
of the great Zulu. And the others murmured assent.
"Yet it is so, _amadoda_. I, who have seen, I, who know, tell you so."
And the confidence with which the speaker declared this, the certainty
in his whole manner and look, staggered the doubters. In such wise was
the venom drop injected by these snakes in the grass fostered and
educated all unknowingly by the agencies of philanthropy and
civilisation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great news have we heard this night, brothers. But, even though we
drive the Amangisi out, have we not to reckon with the Amabuna? They
are terrible fighters. Not all the tribes in the world could drive
_them_ out, _impela_!"
The speaker was Teliso, who had joined a group which was discussing what
they had heard.
"Not all the tribes in the world!" repeated one, derisively. "Hear
that!"
"Even that Lion, Dingane, had to flee before them," urged the detective.
"Ha! Was there not another Lion of Zulu that roared louder, and divided
the nation? But for this they had been driven out themselves."
"M-m!" hummed another. "That is as the preacher says. Combine--do not
divide."
"And this preacher--will he speak again here?" asked Teliso innocently.
"Not here. At Nteseni's Great Place. There will he speak. But many
will go from here to listen."
The detective was on the point of asking whether he was likely to cross
to the other side, and talk with the chiefs in Zululand, but judged it
wise not to seem too curious. He could find that out later, for he had
made up his mind to be one of those who should go on from here to
Nteseni's Great Place.
For Teliso was having a good time. There had been a fair season and
food was plentiful. The people were hospitable; and he was just as fond
of meat and _tywala_ as any other native. He was faithful to his
employers, the Government, according to his lights, but his pay was not
on a luxurious scale, and the risks he ran were at times considerable.
So he made up his mind to combine pleasure with business--to lay himself
out to have a good time. And--who shall blame him?
CHAPTER SEVEN.
OF A DAY OF REST.
Sunday had come round--had dawned, just such a morning as anybody could
have wished, cloudless, glowing--warm of course, it would be hot in an
hour or so, but Elvesdon, like other people, was used to this at the
time of year and cared not a rush for it, especially as he was dressed
accordingly.
His horse was being led up and down before the stoep by his native
servant. The animal was chafing impatiently as though aware that it was
bound for its old home. It was the horse that Thornhill had pressed
upon his acceptance, and somehow Elvesdon could not help wishing that he
had not. The animal was a fine, useful, well-looking beast--this he
fully appreciated; but somehow he could not shake off the idea that it
was a sort of compensation for what he had been able--privileged--to do,
and this idea he did not like in the least.
Well, after all, it was a mistake to be too thin-skinned, he decided.
Probably the donor did not look at it in that light at all. At any rate
he was going to put in a long, enjoyable day in the company of the said
donor--and in that of somebody else; so, in the best of spirits, he
raised the stirrups by a hole or two and swung himself into the saddle.
"So long, Prior," he called out to the clerk, who was standing by,
watching his departure. "I may or may not be back to-night, but in any
case shall be here in the morning in time to open as usual."
"All right, sir. So long."
The young man gazed after him, perhaps a trifle wistfully. The day
would be a bit dull without him. He had grown to like his new chief
more than a little, as we heard him admit to Thornhill in no uncertain
tones, and enjoyed his conversation. Well, he would get through the day
as he had got through so many other Sundays--taking it thoroughly easy;
with a pipe, and the last illustrated papers out from England and a
magazine or two: then a snooze in the heat of the afternoon, and perhaps
a smoke and chat with the sergeant of Mounted Police. And he was used
to it.
Elvesdon rode on, his pulses keeping pace with every elastic bound of
his steed. He was in the very heyday of his prime, and in the full
health and strength of his physical being rejoiced in the sheer joy of
living. Higher and higher mounted the flaming wheel of the sun above
the roll of those golden plains; and sheeny winged birds, flashing from
frond to frond, seemed to echo in their gladsome piping the exaltation
which thrilled through his own heart. What was it that had given rise
to this new exaltation, this new interest? He did not trouble to answer
the mental, unformed question; he realised it, and that was sufficient.
From the open, undulating plains his way dived down suddenly, by a rocky
path, into the rugged broken country where deep kloofs, dense with thick
growth, fell away, their black slopes overhung perchance with craggy
rock walls whose ledges gave anchor to the spiky aloe, or scarlet hung
Kafferboen. Each labyrinthine defile widened out into another, or to a
grassy bottom shaded by the smooth wall of a red ironstone krantz rising
majestic and sheer. The chatter of monkeys skipping among the
tree-tops, mingled with the clear whistle of spreeuws in the cool shade,
the whole dominated by the deep, hoarse bark of the sentinel baboon,
aloft among the crags, keeping wary watch upon the unseen troop digging
for succulent roots on the hillside below.
On high, beyond the wildering trees cresting the ridge on the further
side of the valley, a great red turret stood forth against the blue of
the heavens. Elvesdon recognised that he was near the scene of the
adventure, and now the deep-mouthed baying of dogs, as though suddenly
roused, yet somewhat distant, showed that he was nearing his
destination; for the clink of hoof-stroke, and the jingle of bit,
carries far in a still, clear atmosphere and hilly country.
A rush of dogs, bellowing, open-mouthed, met him as he paced up the last
slope, but their hostility died down to muttered grumblings as they
recognised the horse, if not the rider, as they escorted both to the
house. Thornhill came forth.
"Glad to see you," he said as they clasped hands. "Going to be hot, I
think. Come inside."
Then a hail having extracted a boy, from somewhere behind the house,
Ratels was taken away to be off-saddled, and was soon seen, prancing and
neighing in an adjoining paddock, as though in sheer delight at finding
himself at home again. Then Edala appeared. Her greeting of the
visitor was perfectly frank and self possessed, but Elvesdon was
surprised to find himself feeling, for the moment, a trifle disappointed
that there was not a little more cordiality about it. But the straight
glance of her blue eyes was charming, so too was the lift of upper lip
shewing the gleam of white teeth, in her welcoming smile.
"I've kept my resolution, Mr Elvesdon," she said. "I haven't been out
by myself without a shot-gun since. In fact, I believe I've caught
myself almost wishing another _indhlondhlo_ would show up so that I
might try conclusions with him, this time not at a disadvantage."
"I wouldn't like to insure the snake, Miss Thornhill," laughed the
other.
"Thanks. You know--old Tongwana was round here a day or two afterwards,
and he was saying you must be _tagati_ indeed to have escaped. In fact
I don't think he and the others who were with him more than half
swallowed what had happened--a set of unbelieving Jews."
"Well, do you know, it would make rather a tall story. It was so
absolutely a case of poetic justice. I don't believe I should get more
than seven people in ten to swallow it myself--and snake stories always
are received with prejudice."
"Rather," said Thornhill. "And yet more than one fact I have actually
known in my up-country experience would knock out anything I've ever
heard, or read in fiction for sheer incredibility of coincidence."
Elvesdon pricked up his ears.
"I'd like to hear about those," he said.
"Some day perhaps," answered the other carelessly. "Edala dear, get Mr
Elvesdon something after his ride. I believe he'd appreciate it, and I
know I should--although I haven't had a ride. It's a `dry' sort of
morning. Then I move that we go and sit under the fig-trees, and smoke
pipes."
"Carried nem. con.," pronounced Edala.
"Pipes and all--all round I mean, Miss Thornhill?" said Elvesdon.
She looked at him with a smile of half lofty merriment.
"I'm surprised at you, Mr Elvesdon. Disappointed too. Really I am.
That's too thin, yet you could not resist it."
"Frankly it is," laughed the culprit. "I'm surprised at myself. Will
that do?"
"This time--yes. But--" with a deprecatory shake of the golden head.
"Well, let's make a move."
"This is no end of a jolly spot whereon to laze away a restful morning,"
declared Elvesdon, as snugly disposed in a cane-chair he puffed out
contented clouds of smoke.
"Isn't it?" said Thornhill, who was similarly employed. "And it's
always cool here, however broiling it may be outside, unless of course
there's the hot wind on. That always rakes everything."
Overhead the boughs of the tall fig-trees, with their wealth of broad
leaves, made a most effective canopy. Behind was a high pomegranate
hedge, in front young willows fringing a small runnel fed by the dam
lower down, where bevies of finks fluttered in and out of their
pendulous nests, making the air lively with their cheerful twitter.
Glimpsed through an opening here and there the warm sun-rays shot down
in golden kiss upon drooping loads of peaches and pears hanging from the
fruit trees beyond.
"What's the latest, Mr Elvesdon? Is there any fresh development in
this unrest movement?"
It was Edala who spoke. Elvesdon had been contemplating her with a
furtive but admiring satisfaction, as she sat there in her low chair,
the gold aureole of her head resting back against her clasped hands.
There was something in her every movement--her every pose--that
fascinated him; yet not an atom of self-consciousness or posing was
there about her. And her very attire. The well-fitting blouse of light
blue, set off the blue of her eyes, the gold of her hair; the cool white
skirt, from which peeped one white shoe--all, he decided, was perfect.
At the question he half started.
"The latest?" he echoed. "Well, Miss Thornhill, I don't think there is
any `latest.' Things are much the same as ever, and likely to remain
so."
Her eyes were full upon his face, which they seemed to be reading like
an open page. She shook her head slightly.
"Ah--you are not going to tell me. You won't say anything before me
because I'm a girl. That's what you're thinking. Now--isn't it?"
Elvesdon, whom we believe we have shown was as far from being a fool as
the small minority of people, felt a little disconcerted, and only hoped
he was not showing it. As a matter of fact that was exactly what he had
been thinking. All his official instincts were dead against discussing
official matters in the presence of the other sex; and the question she
had asked certainly covered very official matters; far more official--
even delicate--at that juncture than his light and ready answer should
have led his questioner to believe. Equally, as a matter of fact, she
was not deceived by its lightness and readiness for one moment. But
before he could frame a second answer Thornhill came to the rescue.
"What should there be of the `latest,' child?" he said, dropping a
sinewy sun-browned hand caressingly upon her long slim, and yet also
sun-browned one. "You shouldn't rush Mr Elvesdon in his official
capacity you know. It isn't playing the game. Besides, it's a sort of
`day of rest' remember, so we mustn't talk shop."
"Ah-ah-ah! That's all very well," she answered, with a laugh, but not
wholly a mirthful one. "If you two were alone together you'd be talking
no end of that very kind of shop. I know."
Elvesdon had quite recovered his self-possession. His official
susceptibilities were somewhat ruffled by the remark. It was not a
question thoughtlessly put by a mere thoughtless girl. This was nothing
of the kind, but a woman, with infinite capacity for thought. The
question was nothing, but the manner in which the answer had been taken
argued something of petulance, even obstinacy. Now the latter is not an
attractive quality in the other sex, he decided, even less, if possible,
than in his own.
Then he mentally damned himself for a suspicious and most
ill-conditioned curmudgeon, an official prig. This girl with the
thoughtful eyes, and quick, bright, intelligent mind, had asked him a
mere harmless question--only for information, for she was interested in
everything; not out of motives of curiosity--and lo, he had shrunk into
his official shell, and had more than half snubbed her; snubbed her by
implication at any rate. But--how she puzzled him. He had seen her but
once before, but he had thought of her a good many more times than that.
She was so totally unlike any other girl he had ever seen in his life.
"Have you been drawing much lately, Miss Thornhill?" he said,
interestedly, as though to make up for his former answer. But the
remark had just the opposite effect. He was `talking down to' her now,
Edala was thinking. Drawing, painting, singing--those were interests
enough for a girl. She must not raise her eyes to weightier and more
human matters. But her nature was an intensely self-concentrated one,
and self-controlled.
"Oh, yes," she answered easily, and as if the other matter had clean
passed from her mind. "I'm thinking of going in for native studies.
Would they catch on in Europe should you think, Mr Elvesdon?"
"They'd have the advantage of originality, at any rate," he answered. A
merry peal escaped Edala.
"What a good _official_ reply," she cried. "Never mind, Mr Elvesdon.
I like it. If you had declared they could not do otherwise I don't know
what I should have thought of you, if only that never having seen a
sample you couldn't possibly know that they were any good at all."
"Why, obviously," rejoined Elvesdon, secretly pleased with himself for
having refrained from giving utterance to a second banality. "I'm
afraid I'm too old to launch out into paying compliments; and"--he added
slyly--"too _official_."
Thornhill chuckled. He, silently emitting puffs of smoke, was watching
the battle of wits between the pair and keenly enjoying it. Moreover he
rejoiced that Edala should have found a foeman worthy of her steel, one
with whom she could sharpen wits. It would relieve the dulness of her
life, render her more contented perhaps. Nor did the admiration which
would now and then shine out prominently in the eyes of their visitor,
when the latter was animated, and therefore off his guard, escape him.
So he listened, and smoked complacently, as they branched off from one
topic to another, sometimes indulging in a passage of arms, frequently
agreeing enthusiastically. Yes, it was a pleasant way of getting
through the morning of a "day of rest."
CHAPTER EIGHT.
HER "AERIAL THRONE."
"I know what we must do this afternoon, father," said Edala, when dinner
was nearly over. "We'll take Mr Elvesdon to the top of Sipazi."
Elvesdon looked puzzled.
"Do you mean on to the roof, Miss Thornhill?" he said.
The girl went off into another merry peal; the point of the joke being
that the farm was so named, after a certain striking mountain which
stood opposite, but this their visitor did not know.
"I don't believe you meant that seriously," she said.
"But I did. Why not?"
"When you come to know your own district a little better, Mr Elvesdon,"
she pronounced with mock severity, "you will know that that flat topped
mountain over there beyond the kloof--the one with that splendid red
krantz at the top--is called Sipazi-pazi, on account of the glimmer
which seems to set it on fire when the sun gets on to it at a certain
angle."
"Good name that," he answered, looking at the stately pile with renewed
interest. "But then, unfortunately, I have only just come into my `own
district' and haven't quite had time to `know' everything."
"Well then, this place is named after the mountain," she went on,
loftily ignoring the retort. "But the doubled word is too much of a
mouthful, so we cut it down, and call both just Sipazi. In fact so do
the natives themselves."
"I shall be delighted to make the acquaintance of its summit. When
shall we start?"
"Oh, not yet. When it's cooler. It doesn't take long to go up, and the
sunsets from there are simply indescribable."
Throughout dinner Edala had seemed quite outside of herself. She had
descanted volubly on all her favourite topics; had bantered, and argued,
and pretended to disagree for the sake of arguing again. Her father was
not a little astonished. He had never seen her as animated as this for
years--certainly not since she had been grown up. Elvesdon was amusing,
and talked well, but Thornhill would never have suspected him of being
able to draw Edala out of her shell as he had succeeded in doing.
Dinner was over at last, and an uncommonly good one it had been; so much
so as to move Elvesdon to congratulate his host on the excellence of his
cook.
"Oh, he's a coolie," answered Thornhill. "He's a great rascal, and was
kicked out of one of the hotels in Maritzburg for boozing. I take jolly
good care he gets no chance of that here, but he must have been bad if
they had to get rid of him, for he _can_ cook."
[Coolie: In Natal all natives of India, of whatever occupation or
profession, are so called. It is an absurd misnomer of course; about as
much so as to talk about a `Boer Judge' or a `Boer engineer'--but it
sticks, and always will.]
"By Jingo he can!" assented Elvesdon emphatically. "Those sasaatjes
were simply divine."
"Mr Elvesdon clearly appreciates good `skoff'," said Edala. "Great
minds skip together, for so do I."
"I appreciate good everything, I believe," he answered as they got up,
"especially good singing. Won't you give us a song, Miss Thornhill? I
haven't heard you yet."
"Immediately after dinner? Why, I should positively croak. No, that's
no time for vocal exercise. To-night perhaps--you will stay the night,
won't you? Well, so long. I am going to take it easy in private life
until it gets cooler. Meanwhile I'll leave you to exchange _official_
news," she added maliciously, over her shoulder.
"I can't think what you've done to that child, Elvesdon," remarked his
host, when they were sitting alone together on the stoep. "I never saw
her so lively before, or anything like it; certainly not since she was a
little girl. Yet you managed to `draw' her most effectually."
Elvesdon was human, and at this profuse anointment of his self-esteem he
mentally purred. Yet he did not know what the very deuce to answer. He
could not, for instance, tell his host that this sort of life must be
rather a monotonous one for a girl, and therefore anyone from outside,
he supposed would make a welcome change.
"I don't know how it was done," he said, with a deprecatory laugh.
"Your daughter evidently has very artistic instincts, Thornhill. I
can't say I have, but I've been a bit among people who cut in for that
sort of thing, and may have absorbed some of their jargon. I suppose
that is what interested her."
"Heard any more about that suspicious stranger I came over to tell you
about the other day?" said Thornhill, characteristically changing the
subject without any sort of prelude.
"Yes, I have. As you supposed, he's a Zulu from beyond the river, one
of Mehlo-ka-zulu's chief men. He's got no business at all in these
locations, but you know as well as I do that it's sometimes sound policy
to shut one eye. To interfere with him just now would do more harm than
good; the tax-collecting time is coming on, and the people want
smoothing down, not brushing up."
"That's so," said the other, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "Oh he
belongs to Mehlo-ka-zulu does he? M'yes. Mehlo-ka-zulu's a fine fellow
but a bit of a firebrand. If anything went wrong here it wouldn't be
long before he had a finger in the pie. At least--so _I_ predict."
Thus they talked on, airing official matters even as Edala had declared
they would. Elvesdon for his part rejoiced at finding a man such as
this, right at his very door, so to say; from the well of whose
shrewdness and experience he could draw at will. Then they went round
to the stables, and soon the slant of the sunbeams told that the heat of
the day was passed.
"Well, are we ready for Sipazi? The sun is going off the valley, and we
shall have it splendidly cool."
They turned. Edala was looking fresh, and even, for her, rosy, after
her nap. Elvesdon almost started. This dash of colour was all that was
needed to render the face absolutely a lovely one.
"Look, Mr Elvesdon," she went on. "Now is the time when the sun gets
on the big krantz, and makes it gleam like fire. Look."
He did look. The majestic mountain towered up from the sombre moist
depths of the now shaded valley below, its slopes striped with tongues
of dark bush, shooting up to where they culminated in a sheer wall of
cliff, smooth, absolutely perpendicular where not overhanging. Upon
this now, the slanting rays of the westering sun were striking at an
angle, and the whole face of the gigantic rock wall, scarcely less than
three hundred feet sheer, was glowing and sparkling as though it had
suddenly burst into flame.
"_Wo! Sipazi-pazi_!" exclaimed Edala, shading her eyes, in laughing
imitation of the natives. "Now, haven't we got something to be proud
of, Mr Elvesdon? Fancy owning such a fragment of the globe as that--
you see, I can't help bragging about it. Now come along and let's get
to the top. Here are the horses."
Those useful quadrupeds were being driven in by a mounted boy, and soon
the saddles were on them and the three were in the saddles. In about
half an hour they had dived down through the broad, shaded valley
beneath, now delightfully cool, and stumbling up a rugged bush path had
gained the tree-lined ridge, or saddle, which connected the splendid
mountain with the opposite range.
"We'll leave the horses here," said Edala. "You can ride to the top by
the other side but it's an awful long way round, nearly an hour, whereas
here we can climb up by a cleft in the rock in about a quarter of an
hour. Can you climb, Mr Elvesdon?"
"I believe I can do most things when I'm put to it."
"Well then come along," she cried, taking the lead. "There are such
jolly maidenhair ferns, too, all the way up."
"I think I'll wait for you here and smoke a pipe," said Thornhill.
"No, no, father. You must come up too."
"Well, I will then. By the way Elvesdon. Take care how you move about
when you're on top. There are some rock crevices there, hidden away in
the long grass, and if you got into some of them we should have to send
round to about ten farms before we could get hold of enough combined
length of reims to get you out, even if we could then."
"By Jove, are there?"
"Never mind. I'll take care of you," called Edala. "Come on after me."
And in her lithe agility she drew herself up from rock to rock, now
poising for a moment on one foot, then springing higher to another point
of vantage.
The place they were now in was a very steep, chimney-like rock gully,
such as would be known in Alpine parlance as a `couloir.' To those of
weak nerve or dizzily inclined heads it would have looked formidable
enough, for, besides its own height, from a little way up it seemed as
if it overhung the whole depth of the valley. Above, too, craggy
jutting rocks, shooting forth savagely against the sky, looked as though
about to fall on and overwhelm the invaders of their mountain solitude.
In hard fact it was safe enough, being indeed a gigantic natural
stairway thickly coated with oozy moss, while the sides were festooned
with masses of beautiful maidenhair fern.
"Here we are at last," cried Edala as they gained the summit. "Confess.
Doesn't this repay any amount of trouble?"
"I should think it did," answered Elvesdon, "or would, rather; for
getting here has been no trouble at all."
It was as though they were poised in mid-air. Beneath, the homestead
lay, like a group of tiny toy buildings. Around, everywhere billowing
masses of mountain, dark recesses of forest grown kloofs, gleaming
cliffs now catching the westering sun's parting kiss; the roll of the
mimosa strewn plains seeming absolutely flat from this altitude. Here
and there too the circle of a native kraal surmounted by its inevitable
thread of blue smoke, and far-away in the distance the dim peaks of the
Drakensberg range.
"Come and look over the Sipazi krantz," said Edala, at length, when the
awed silence with which this stupendous panorama could not fail to
strike a newcomer, had been broken.
"Look over it!" echoed Elvesdon. "Why it seems to me that the ground
slopes down to its brink at a pretty steep angle. You can't lie flat
there. You'd tilt over head first."
"You'll see," was the answer. And the speaker proceeded to climb down,
face to the mountain, a very steep grass slope indeed, so steep as to be
almost a precipice. Tough roots, however, grew here, strong enough to
afford a securer hold than might have been expected; then where the
slope ended she stopped. A stunted tree grew here on the very edge of
the abyss, and horizontally over the same, shooting first slightly
downwards and then up, the bend of its trunk forming a seat. And into
this seat did the girl by a deft movement, and without the slightest
hesitation, quickly glide.
"This is how you look over the Sipazi krantz," she laughed up at him,
her blue eyes dancing. "It's the only way in which you can look over it
at all. _What_ a drop!"
Holding on to the bough above her shoulder with one hand she sat there,
gazing down, her feet dangling over the ghastly abyss. Elvesdon seemed
to feel his blood freeze within him, and his knees knocked together.
Even the tree shook and trembled beneath her weight.
"Isn't it rather dangerous?" he called out, striving to master the
tremulous anxiety of his voice. "The tree might give way, you know."
"It never has yet, which of course is not to say it never will--as you
were about to remark," she laughed back. "Well, I'll come up."
"Yes do," he said, bending over the brow of the grass-roll as though to
help her. But she needed no help. She sprang up, lithe, agile as a
cat, and in a moment was beside him.
"Would you like to try it?" she said eagerly, as if the feat was the
most ordinary one in the world. "Would you like to look over Sipazi? I
can tell you it's worth it. It feels like flying. But don't if you
think you can't," she added, quick to take in the not to be concealed
momentary hesitation.
That challenge settled it; yet the words were not meant as a challenge
at all, but as sheer practical warning. She would not have thought an
atom the worse of him if he had laughingly declined, but Elvesdon did
not know this. Was he going to shrink from a feat which a girl could
perform--had often performed? Not he.
"Yes. I think I should," he answered. "I should like to be able to
brag of having looked over Sipazi."
Yet as he let himself down over the grass and root-hung brow which led
to the actual brink, he owned to himself that by no possibility could he
ever tell a bigger he, and further, that at that moment he would
cheerfully have forfeited a year's pay to find himself standing safe and
sound on the summit again. Well, he would not look down. He would get
through the performance as quickly as possible, and return.
He was out on the tree, grasping the branch her hand had held on by.
Yet why did the confounded trunk tremble and sway so, and--horror! it
seemed to be giving way, actually sinking under him. The ghastly
thought darted through his mind that there was all the difference in
their weight--that that which would carry her would break down with him.
His nerve was tottering. His face grew icy cold, and the hand which
held the bough trembled violently. He was perched over that awful
height even as she had been. He was not unused to heights, but to be
suspended thus between heaven and earth in mid-air--no, to that he was
not used. Beneath him the face of the great rock wall sloped away
_inwards_. Anyone falling from here would strike the ground about
thirty feet from its base. All the world seemed going round with him--
not even the thought that Edala had just done the same thing availed to
pull him together. He must go--must hurl himself off and end this agony
of nightmare--when--
"You down there, Elvesdon? Well, come up, because it's getting late,
and it's time to think of getting back."
The calm, strong, matter of fact tones of Thornhill broke the spell like
magic. This was an everyday performance after all, was the effect they
conveyed. Elvesdon's nerve had returned. He was himself again.
"Let's see. What's the best way of getting off?" he asked, trying to
suppress the tremor in his voice.
"Same as you got on. Grab hold of that root above, there under the
stone, and--don't look down. Look up. That's all right," as Elvesdon,
panting somewhat, stood once more on the summit beside them.
"Well done," cried Edala enthusiastically. "You are the only one
besides myself who has ever looked over the Sipazi krantz. Several have
tried but none of them had the nerve to get as far as the tree. Some
wouldn't even go at all."
"The only sensible ones of the lot," said Thornhill shortly. "It's a
fool's trick, anyway."
"Have you done it yourself, Thornhill?" asked Elvesdon. "I suppose you
have?"
"Not any. Anyone could see that the thing wouldn't stand my weight for
a minute: even if I were such a--" He checked himself, remembering that
his guest had just qualified for the uncomplimentary substantive he had
been on the point of defining. "But I'm going to have a charge of
dynamite brought up here and the thing blown to blazes. It's too silly
risky."
Elvesdon was rather astonished. Thornhill was undergoing the process
known as `working himself up.' Yet when he himself was down there, his
host's tone had been absolutely level. And Thornhill himself was making
up his mind to talk very seriously to Edala on the subject, little
thinking that before any opportunity of doing so should come round, that
might occur which should put any such idea clean out of his mind.
CHAPTER NINE.
THE ZULU AGAIN.
"You're going to do nothing of the kind, father," said Edala, taking up
the challenge. "I'm not going to have my aerial throne blown to blazes
at all. Why it's a curiosity--one of the sights. I bring everybody up
here to see it."
"And to sit on it?" rejoined Elvesdon, mischievously.
"Only that no one ever has, except you. Tell me. What did it feel
like, for the first time?"
Her straight, clear glance was full upon his face. He was thinking that
`the first time' felt uncommonly like being the last. But he answered:
"Well, I don't know. It was a queer experience--for the first time. To
be absolutely candid I won't pretend that I completely enjoyed it."
"I know you didn't. I could see that your hand on the bough was not
quite steady. That makes it all the more a big thing to have done."
"What did you yourself feel like the first time, Miss Thornhill, and--
what on earth put the idea into your head?"
"I felt just as I do now, how glorious it was being suspended in
mid-air,"--the listener felt creepy in the calves of the legs, as the
words brought back his own feelings. "What put it into my head? I was
up here one day with another girl and it occurred to me it would be good
fun to go and sit there, overhanging space. She didn't believe I meant
it, but I just climbed out on to the tree and sat there. She nearly
fainted."
"Well, nerve isn't a monopoly of our sex. Look at the wonderful things
women do--diving from a ghastly height into a narrow tank--or looping
the loop on a bicycle, and so on. By George! it's enough to make your
hair stand on end to watch them."
"We've missed the sunset," cried Edala. "Never mind. You can see
plenty of sunsets, but you can't sit on my aerial throne every day.
Why, where's father?" looking around. "Oh, there; over by that flat
rock."
Thornhill had strolled away while the two were talking and was standing,
shading a match to light his pipe, when--
"_Inkose_!"
He started slightly. The mountain top was flat and he had seen no one
on it but themselves. The salute, however, had proceeded from a tall
native, who had risen from behind the flat boulder before mentioned.
This man now advanced, and in the limp of his gait, the other recognised
him as the Zulu. Then--Heavens and earth! He had wondered where he had
seen him before. Now he knew.
But it was ghastly. No, the thing could not be. It was only a striking
likeness. Moonlight is untrustworthy--and now, this light up here in
the afterglow of the sunset was dusking. The Zulu stood--contemplating
him with a faint, ironical grin.
"There are `mouths' on this mountain top," he began, "waiting to swallow
up men--and women," he added, with a glance at Edala who together with
her companion had now come up. "_Whau_! it is easy to fall into such.
There are those that only half swallow, and return their prey, such as
that,"--pointing with his knobstick to the mouth of a crevice a few
yards on the other side of the boulder. "Yet it may be that the prey
though it returns to life does not do so unbitten. There are other
`mouths' who do not return their prey at all, and if it is sought for it
is too late, for it is already dead."
To two of the listeners this bit of dark talking was intelligible
because they were familiar with the tricks and turns of the Zulu
language. The speaker merely meant to convey that some of the crevices
were more dangerous than others. But to the third there was nothing
`dark' about it. And then, either from the fact--which no one but
herself would have noticed--that her father's voice had lost some of its
imperturbability, or by some mysterious conjunction of weird telepathy--
Edala began to think there must be some deeper, darker meaning
underlying the words. All sorts of ghastly conjectures shot through her
mind, but all vague, shadowy, nebulous. Through them she heard the
voice of Elvesdon questioning the stranger.
"Who are you?"
"Manamandhla, son of Gwegula."
"Of the Zulu?"
"_Yeh-bo 'Nkose_."
"And your chief--who is he?"
"The Government."
"But your own chief?"
"The King."
"Which king?" said Elvesdon, becoming `short.'
"_Au_! are there then two kings? I had not heard that."
This answer given so quietly and innocently would have caused the other
two to smile, only they were in no smiling mood.
"But who is your chief in Zululand, your Zulu chief?" went on Elvesdon,
growing impatient. But the deprecatory smile on the other's face was
beautiful to behold. He replied.
"Now _Nkose_, I would ask--Are there any chiefs in Zululand other than
the Government? Not to-day--Government is our chief."
"Not Mehlo-ka-zulu?"
"He is my relative."
Elvesdon burst out laughing.
"Confound the fellow, he reminds one of the Irish witness in `Handy
Andy'," he said. Then to the Zulu: "Where is your kraal?"
"_La-pa_. Over there." And the speaker pointed with his stick in a
direction which conveyed the idea that he resided anywhere between the
further side of the valley and the North Pole.
Elvesdon did not press the point, knowing perfectly well that he could
find out all he wanted from other sources. Then, too, the deft way in
which the Zulu fenced all his questions appealed strongly to his sense
of the ridiculous. There was, moreover, nothing to be gained in
particular by continuing his catechism; and One of the secrets of his
success in the handling of natives was that he knew when to humour them
and when to draw a tight rein.
"Do you know who I am?" he said.
"_Inkose_ is the magistrate--the new magistrate--at Kwabulazi."
"That is so. But new only as regards Kwabulazi," returned Elvesdon
meaningly. "So knowing who I am it is not surprising if I ask: `What
has a Zulu from beyond the border to do in Babatyana's location on this
side?'"
"_Inkose_--I have always heard that under the King's rule all men are
free, whether white or black, as long as they do no harm. And I am
doing no harm."
"As long as they do no harm," repeated Elvesdon, with a touch of
significance. "That is well, Manamandhla--that is well." And he turned
away.
"Where are these crevices, Miss Thornhill? It's curious how they occur
in some of these mountain ranges. I got into one myself once, but
fortunately it wasn't particularly deep, or I should be there still."
"Where was that?"
"In the Cape Colony. I was there on leave, and put in a time with an
old official pal of mine. We went reebok-shooting in the mountains, and
I got into such a hole as one of these, stepped backwards into it.
Fortunately my pal was near enough to hear me sing out, or I might not
have been able to pull myself up."
"This is a deep one," said Edala. "Come and look. If you drop a stone
over, you hear it clanging against the sides ever so far down. Listen,
now."
She dropped a stone over, and both stood listening.
"By Jove, but it is deep," said Elvesdon. "And beastly dangerous too,
almost hidden in the grass."
Thornhill had not joined them. He was seated on the flat rock, puffing
away at his pipe. The ghastliness of the situation was known to him and
to one other there present--and here was this unthinking girl dropping
stones into this particular cleft, of all others on that mountain top--
of all others in the world.
"That is one of the `mouths' that gives not back its prey," said the
deep voice of Manamandhla. "_Whau_! It retains that which it
swallows." Then with a word of farewell greeting he withdrew, but in
the opposite direction to that by which they had ascended.
"Hadn't we better go down?" said Thornhill. "It'll be dark directly."
"And it's shivery now," said Edala, looking round with a shudder. "Come
along."
By the time they were off the moss-grown natural stairway it was nearly
dark. The horses, hitched to a bush by the bridles, shook themselves
and whinnied at their approach.
"What would be the effect of your `aerial throne' by starlight, Miss
Thornhill?" said Elvesdon, as they passed beneath the mighty cliff,
whose loom cut straight and black against the myriad stars which came
gushing out into the velvety vault.
"I've never tried it. I believe I'd be afraid. You know--the Kafirs
say the Sipazi mountain is haunted, that all sorts of _tagati_ sounds
float off from the top of it at night."
"You afraid? Why I don't believe there's anything in the world that
could scare _you_, after what I've seen."
"Oh isn't there? I'm rather afraid of lightning, for one thing."
"Are you?"
"Yes. You see, it's a thing that no precaution on earth will guard you
against. You can stick up conductors on a house, or any sort of
building, but you can't stick one on your hat, when you're out in the
open. I always feel so utterly helpless."
"Well, of course it's risky. But you must remember the very small
proportion of people who get hit compared with the numbers who spend a
large slice of their lives exposed to it."
"So I do, but somehow it seems poor consolation when everything is
fizzing and banging all round you and you expect every second to be
knocked to kingdom come. No. I don't like it a bit--in the open that
is. Under cover, though it's even a Kafir hut, I don't mind."
"You wouldn't like to be seated on the `aerial throne' then, eh?"
laughed Elvesdon.
"No, indeed. Look. There's a fine shooting star."
A streak like a falling rocket, and the phenomenon disappeared.
Elvesdon gratefully admitted to himself that this homeward ride through
the soft dews of falling night was wholly delightful. Yes, but--would
it have been equally so were he alone, or with any other companion at
his side--his host for instance; who had lingered behind to light a
pipe, and had not taken the trouble to catch them up again? He was
constrained to own to himself that it would not. This girl was of a
type wholly outside his experience, so natural, so absolutely
unconventional. Her ways and ideas struck him somehow as peculiar to
herself--and then her appearance--as striking as it was uncommon. He
had not begun to fall in love with her, but could not ignore the
possibility that he might, and in that case Heaven help him, for he felt
pretty sure he would meet with no reciprocity.
Meanwhile, there was nothing to be gained by discounting potentialities,
wherefore he laid himself out to make the most of the present time, and
succeeded admirably well. If his host was rather abstracted and silent
throughout the evening, Edala more than made up for it. She chatted
away on every subject under the sun; and played and sang--both well--so
that by the time he went to bed Elvesdon had come to the conclusion that
he had never enjoyed himself so much--or got through such a jolly day in
his life.
CHAPTER TEN.
A CHIEF--OUT OF DATE.
Zavula sat in his hut smoking, and--blinking.
Zavula was an old man. There were wisps of white beneath and above the
dull, uncared for head-ring, for being a Natal native he did not keep
his head scrupulously shaved, as the way of the ringed Zulu is. But his
eyesight was very weak, wherefore he sat--and blinked. And he was
alone.
A small fire burned in the bowl-like hollow in the centre of the hut.
Into this Zavula was gazing. Perhaps he was dreaming dreams of the
past--when he had been somebody, when he was looked up to and respected
by thousands of tribesmen; when, too, he had gallantly led in person
these same tribesmen, at the call of the white man's Government, against
the hosts of Cetywayo the Great King, on the red plain of Isandhlwana--
only to retire, in helter-skelter rout, together with such of the whites
who had it in their power to do likewise, before the on-sweeping wave of
the might of Zulu. Then, in those days, his word was law. He had been
called upon to assist the Government, and he and his fighting men had
done so loyally. It was not their fault if the white leader had been
out-generalled by Tyingwayo, who had learned the art of war under Tshaka
the Terrible. They had done their best, and had been thanked for it and
remembered, when Cetywayo's power had melted into air, and the horns of
that Bull, which had gored where they would, had been blunted and
rendered harmless for ever.
And now here were his people engaged in running their heads against a
rock. _Whau_! was ever such foolishness known? His people! He had no
sons living. The two he had--both were slain in the waters of Umzinyati
while striving to escape from the pursuing spears of the Great King--
after Isandhlwana. His people, to whom his word had been law, had now
turned to Babatyana. He himself was a chief no more.
Babatyana was his brother's son, and Babatyana was not old. Since the
teaching of the white people had found footing in the land, and, worse
still, since the teaching of certain black people from a far off country
beyond the salt water, had come among them the old were no longer
respected, no longer listened to. He, Zavula, was old, but Babatyana
was not; wherefore the people turned to listen to the words of
Babatyana. And Babatyana was plotting against the whites--against the
Government. _Whau_! was ever such foolishness known?
What did Babatyana, and the fools who were listening to him, think they
would gain--think they would do? The whites, who overthrew for ever the
House of Senzangakona and the might of Zulu at the very zenith of its
power and glory--were they to be overthrown in their turn by a few
unorganised tribes all unskilled and unpractised in the art of war? The
whites, who could bring guns to bear, each of which could fire a hundred
bullets in every direction while a man could count scarce half that
number--why Baba-tyana and his fools might as well run their heads hard
against the nearest cliff and strive to beat that down as attempt such a
thing as this. _Whau_! was ever such foolishness known?
They reckoned on help from the Amazulu? Well, what then? Even if they
got it, where were the Amazulu now? They were no longer a nation. The
power of the House of Senzangakona was gone for ever; and even if the
splendid army of the last of those Elephants were here to fight on their
side--what then? Even more now--ten times more--were the whites able to
disperse such, like smoke; for their weapons were ten times better than
any they had possessed at the time of the breaking up of the great
House.
_Whau_! was ever such foolishness known!
And for what were the people plotting, these fools? Because they had to
pay a little more in taxes than formerly, to pay for their own
protection? Their own protection, for how would it have been with them
had the Amabuna [Boer] come out best in the late struggle? The rule of
the Amangisi [English], when the very worst had been said against it,
was mild and merciful compared with what that of the Amabuna would be,
were these masters of the land. Under this every man could enjoy his
own and be free. And he was free, no man freer. But--under that?
Again. Even if these strange preachers who had come among them with
this poison under their tongues spoke truly; that the tribes were to
combine and drive out the white man--whether Amabuna or Amangisi--what
then? Somebody must be chief. There was no such thing as all men, all
tribes and nations, being equal. The very idea was foolishness. Who
then would be chief. Who then would be king? There was still a son of
the House of Senzangakona alive. And the thinker, for his part,
preferred the rule of the white man to that of the House of
Senzangakona.
All of the above he had put before his people, and that not once only.
But they had turned a deaf ear, or had listened but coldly. The spirit
of unrest coursed high through their blood. The strange preachers were
promising them a great and glorious future--and Babatyana had turned
towards them a favourable ear. Zavula was old, they said among
themselves; Babatyana was in his prime. He knew. He could walk with
the times. The time had come for Zavula to go to sleep. Which sense
may have accounted for the fact that Zavula now sat in his hut alone.
So the old chief sat there, gazing blinkingly into his dying fire,
wondering why he should not be allowed to lay down his old bones in
peace, instead of being hustled by a great crowd of idiots bent on
seeking their own death. Had either or both of his two sons been alive
how different things would have turned. He had taught them sound
commonsense, at any rate, and would have been willing that the
leadership of the tribe should devolve upon them. But Babatyana?
_Whau_, Babatyana!
Now he was roused from his musings by a sound outside. It was the voice
of someone singing--calling to him the tribal _sibongo_, or praise. The
door of the hut was pushed open and a youth crept in, saying that a
stranger craved leave to speak with the chief.
Zavula, though old, and shorn of much of his tribal dignity, had plenty
of the latter left--of a personal character. He did not hurry, and
after a space of full five minutes he intimated that the stranger might
come in.
A man crept in through the low doorway, and raising his right hand gave
the chief _sibongo_. The latter acknowledged it with a murmur, then for
a moment there was silence. The new arrival was a middle-aged ringed
man, and though he had described himself as a stranger this was only as
a term of humility. As a matter of fact he was one of Zavula's most
influential headmen.
"I see you, Nxala," said the chief. "And now? What is the news?"
There was ever so faint a twinkle in the speaker's eyes as he asked the
question, ever so ironical a _soupcon_ in his tone.
"My father, things are moving. The news is great, but not to be cried
aloud. The people are nearly ready."
"M-m! Nearly ready? Ready--for what?"
"The people are crying aloud for their father, the Chief of the
Amahluzi, but he takes no part in their councils. His voice is not
heard."
"The Chief of the Amahluzi takes no part in the councils of fools,"
returned the old man in tones of cold irony, looking through the other.
"Of fools?"
"Of fools--and worse. When children listen no more to the counsel of
their fathers then are those children undone."
Again there was silence. Then Zavula raised his voice in a hail. In
response two women appeared, and having received an order, returned in a
minute or two bearing a large bowl of _tywala_ and two smaller drinking
vessels. Into these they poured some of the liquor, which creamed up
with a pleasant frothing sound. Then, each having taken the preliminary
sip, required by native etiquette, they withdrew.
The headman took a long pull at his beer, and then another. The
firelight glowed upon the placid countenance and short white beard of
the old chief and upon the shine of the new arrival's head-ring, and
still there was silence. At last the latter spoke.
"The people are tired of the white man's exactions, my father. They
have to pay more and more, and they are tired of it. They wish to hear
the voice of their chief."
"They have heard that voice already, Nxala--not only once nor only
twice. They have heard it as foolish, rebellious children. They will
hear it no more. But the time is very near when they will wish, through
blood and through tears, that they had listened to it."
An unpleasant look flitted across the crafty face of the headman.
"But they murmur, my father," he said. "They are saying--`Lo, our
father, Zavula, is old, and he is asleep. But Babatyana is not old, and
he is awake.' So say the people."
"_Whau_, Babatyana!"
The infinite contempt in the old man's tone was quiet and cutting. The
evil look deepened in the face of the other. To hide it he took up his
drinking vessel again, and drained it. His host at once refilled it
from the large bowl, and also his own.
"Has the Chief of the Amahluzi no word for Babatyana?" went on Nxala.
"_Whau_, Babatyana!"
This time the contempt in the old man's tone was more cutting than
before. The other appreciated it to the full.
"And to the people, father? The people, thy children?"
"The people? Fools--all fools. But to them I have one word--one last
word. Let them come here with the rising of to-morrow's sun and hear
it. Fools--because only a fool wants the same word uttered into his ear
again and again."
If it be wondered that during this talk nothing definite was said--no
plan propounded--it must be remembered that the colloquial process known
as coming straight to the point is an attribute vested in the civilised
man. To the savage it is utterly foreign, even abhorrent. These two
knew perfectly well what was in each other's mind. There was no
occasion to formulate anything. In matters of moment safety lay that
way, a tradition fostered through countless generations. Now
Babatyana's emissary knew that his mission had failed. Babatyana's
chief--the chief of the Amahluzi tribe--was as firm as a rock. Suddenly
Nxala's countenance lit up.
"_Whau_! The spear! The great spear!" he exclaimed. "That is the
spear with which my father met the might of Cetywayo, and slew two
warriors. I would fain gaze upon that spear once more."
Zavula turned his head, following the speaker's glance. Behind him hung
a fine assegai, of the broad-bladed, short-handled Zulu type, which he
had wielded with effect at Isandhlwana as leader of the Native
Contingent, before he was forced to fly before the weight of numbers.
But as he turned his head the hand of Nxala shot out by a quick
movement; perhaps two inches, and no more. But Zavula, though old, was
not the fool that the other--and, incidentally, the bulk of his people--
chose to take him for.
"Ha! The spear?" he answered, in the genial, pleased tones of a veteran
invited to enlarge once more on bygone deeds. "It was great, this
_umkonto_, was it not? And now it must be kept bright or it will rust;
for there is no more use for it."
He rose, and turning his back full upon his guest, stood, deliberately
taking down the weapon from where it hung behind him. For half a minute
he thus stood, gazing lovingly upon it as he held it in his hand. But
in a fraction of that half minute the hand of Nxala again shot out till
it rested above the chief's drinking vessel, and as quickly withdrew.
The latter sat down again leisurely, the assegai in his hand.
"Yes. It is a great spear," he went on meditatively, but carefully
refraining from handing it to the other. "And there is no more use for
it. But--we will drink to its memory."
He raised the bowl before him. The other watching him, could hardly
suppress the gleam of satisfaction which flitted across his face. But
it faded in an instant. The bowl dropped from the chief's hand on to
his knees. The liquor gushed forth on to the floor.
"The bowl, my father," cried Nxala eagerly. "Break it into pieces--in
small pieces--for it is bad _muti_ to drop it at the moment of
drinking."
"It is worse _muti_, sometimes, to drink the moment before dropping it,"
answered the old man, tranquilly, setting the bowl beside him. "I will
have another brought." And again he raised his voice in a hail. Again
the women appeared, and having supplied another bowl, and also a fresh
brew of _tywala_, withdrew.
Nxala, watching, could scarcely restrain himself. The first part of his
diabolical scheme had miscarried. Was it time for the second act? And
there before him sat the old chief, the fine assegai in his hand--yet
held in a firm grip, he did not fail to notice--crooning words of
_sibongo_ to it, as he recalled its deeds in past times. Had the scheme
succeeded all would have gone so easy. This kraal of Zavula's was an
insignificant cluster of a dozen huts, whither the old chief loved to
retire. He was old--what more natural than that he should die in
retirement? Yes--it was time for the second act. He would give the
signal.
"Have you heard, my father; the new song that the people have made?" he
said. "The new war-song? Listen. This is how it runs."
But before he had uttered three words of it a trampling of hoofs was
heard outside the hut, and a lusty European voice--though speaking
faultless Zulu--enquiring which was the hut of the chief. Following on
the answer there came through the low door of the hut a man, a white
man--and he was known to both as the magistrate's clerk from Kwabulazi.
"Greeting to you, father," he cried, falling into the native idiom, and
shaking Zavula heartily by the hand.
"Greeting, my son," answered the old chief genially. "Sit. Here is
_tywala_. Have you ridden far?"
"Far? Have I not? And I am come to sleep at your kraal, for Kwabulazi
is another stage away, and it is night, and my horse is dead lame."
Nxala, taking in the situation, was beside himself with inward rage,
which, in fact, had got nearly to that pitch where the Machiavellian
caution of the savage is apt to forget, and lose itself in an outburst
of uncontrolled, unthinking blood lust. But he had not overlooked the
fact that the new arrival had, slung around him, a remarkably
business-like revolver. No, the time was not yet.
A dozen armed savages, lying in wait in the dark bush shadows a little
way beyond Zavula's kraal, had sprung up at the first words of the new
war-song, which was to be the signal, but subsided again at the sound of
the approaching horse-hoofs. Now, after a muttered consultation, they
withdrew to a distance to await their leader's reappearance and
instructions. But there was an armed white man, and he an official,
sleeping at Zavula's kraal, which made all the difference.
Twice that night the life of the chief of the Amahluzi had hung on a
hair. It was saved--for the present.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
"GOOD NIGHT, ZAVULA!"
Elvesdon was seated in his inner office, busied with his ordinary
routine work. It was afternoon and hot, and he had thrown off his coat
and waistcoat, and sat in his shirt and light duck trousers smoking a
pipe of excellent Magaliesberg. Court was over, he had disposed of the
few cases, mostly of a trumpery nature, before lunch, and now the office
work was not of a particularly engrossing character; wherefore perhaps
it was not strange that his thoughts should go back to his Sunday visit,
which, of course, spelt Edala Thornhill.
The worst of it was she had been occupying his thoughts of late, and
that even when he had seen her but once. Now he had seen her twice--had
spent a whole day in her society. And she was occupying his thoughts
more than ever. Yet--why?
He was not in his first youth, nor was she the first of the other sex he
had been interested in. He had had experiences, as a fine,
well-looking, well set up man of his stamp was bound to have had. Yet
the image of this girl had stamped itself upon his mind in a way that
the image of no one else had ever been able to do for years; since what
he pleasantly liked to term to himself--his salad days. And he did not
know what to make of this interest. It was not even budding love--he
told himself--only a strong interest in what seemed an interesting
character. Yet behind it was an unmistakable longing to see more of
her. The feeling rendered him vaguely uncomfortable.
He relit his pipe, and sat back to think. There came a tap at the door
and his clerk entered, bringing some official letters to be signed.
"Anything new. Prior?" he asked carelessly, when this process had been
accomplished.
"There is, sir. Teliso has come back, and there's been an infernal
rascally Ethiopian preacher stirring up Babatyana's location. He's gone
on to Nteseni's."
"I know. I captured that information from two fellows I was talking
with this morning. I'll see Teliso directly. But what can you do--at
this stage of affairs? I'm keeping my eyes open, but you mustn't be too
zealous in our Service, Prior, or you're bound to come out bottom dog.
The chap I want particularly looked after is this Manamandhla. He's a
crafty swine and not over here for any good. I had a talk with him the
other day and he's as slippery as the proverbial eel."
"Did you, sir? Well, I can tell you something about him. He's gone to
squat on old Thornhill's farm."
"To squat?"
"Yes, so they say. It seems fishy, to say the least of it."
"How so?"
"Why he's a biggish man over on the other side. What should he want to
come and squat here for?"
"What do you mean by `squatting,' Prior? I should say Thornhill was not
the sort of man to allow squatters on his place."
"Well, sir, that's what I've got at through the people. Anyway it
simplifies the watching part of the business, for we've got Manamandhla
bang under our noses."
Elvesdon sat meditatively, burning his middle finger into the bowl of
his lighted pipe. More and more was it brought home to him how anything
concerning the house of Thornhill spelt interest to him, even vivid
interest, he could not but own to himself. And Thornhill was rather a
mysterious personality, and his daughter even more out of the
commonplace. What did it all mean--what the very deuce did it all mean?
Then he said:
"I don't quite know what to make of it just now, Prior. Things are
shaping out. But you keep your ears open. You were born and bred on
this frontier, and you know these chaps and their ways a good deal
better than I do. You can grip things that I should probably miss
entirely. So don't let anything pass."
It was just by such frank and hearty appreciation of their capabilities
that Elvesdon endeared himself to his subordinates, hence this one's
dictum upon him to Thornhill on a former occasion.
"You may rely upon me, sir," answered Prior, intensely gratified. "I'll
do my very best--all along the line."
"And that will be a very good kind of best, Prior, judging from my short
experience of you. Hullo! Come in."
This in response to another knock at the door. It was opened and there
entered a native constable.
"_Nkose_! The chief has arrived. The chief, Zavula. He would have a
word with _Nkose_."
"Admit him," said Elvesdon, cramming a fresh fill into his pipe.
There was a sound of light footsteps, made by bare feet, outside, and
old Zavula appeared in the doorway. His right hand was uplifted, and he
poured forth words of _sibongo_ in the liquid Zulu. Elvesdon arose and
shook the old man by the hand. He was always especially courteous to
men of rank among the natives--a fact which they fully appreciated.
"Greeting, my father. I am glad to see you," he said. "Sit. Here is
snuff. It is a good accompaniment for a talk."
Zavula subsided on to the floor--a native of course would be supremely
uncomfortable on a chair. Prior, with ready tact, had withdrawn. There
were those who said that Elvesdon was too free and easy with natives,
that he allowed them too much equality. Well, he had never found his
official dignity suffer by the line he took, but that line he knew where
to draw, and occasionally did--with effect. But Zavula was one of
Nature's gentlemen.
The old chief, having spent two or three minutes filling up his nostrils
with snuff, began--
"It is good to see _Nkose_ again. I have seen him but once when he
first arrived here, and could see that the Government had sent us a
man--one who could understand us--and my heart felt good. Now I see him
again."
"Those who rule over the people are always welcome, my father," returned
Elvesdon. "What is the news?"
"News? _Au_! I know not, Ntwezi. Is this a time for news? Or a time
for quiet? I am old, very old, and my sons are in the land of the Great
Unknown. You, who are young, of the age they would be were they still
here, to you comes news from all the world."
The old man's eyes shone with a kindly twinkle. He had used Elvesdon's
native nickname--not in itself an uncomplimentary one--instead of the
respectful `_Nkose_' such as he should have used when addressing his
magistrate, yet the latter thoroughly appreciated the difference. There
was no fear of the old chief encroaching upon his official dignity by
this momentary lapse into speaking of him in the same breath as his dead
sons.
They talked a little on commonplaces--yet not altogether, for both were
fencing up to more serious import. Elvesdon, with his knowledge of
native ways, did not hurry his visitor. He knew, instinctively, that
the latter had come to see him on some subject of more or less
importance: how much so he had yet to learn. He noticed, too, that
Zavula had brought in with him a bundle--an ordinary looking bundle of
no size, done up in a dingy rag. His quick, deductive instinct had
taken this in, where most white men would have overlooked it
completely--especially if hide-bound by officialism. A chief of
Zavula's standing did not carry his own loads, however small.
Elvesdon's curiosity was aroused, and grew, with regard to that bundle.
It, now, Zavula proceeded to untie. From the wrapper he produced an
ordinary drinking bowl of black, porous clay. It was not a clean bowl
either for the inside showed thick smears of dried up _tywala_. This he
placed carefully upon the ground before him. Elvesdon watched this
development with growing curiosity.
"_Nkose_," said the old man, looking up. "Where is Udokotela?"
This, which was a mere corruption of the English word `doctor,' referred
to the District Surgeon.
"You will have far to go to find him, Zavula. Are you then sick?"
"_Whau_! My heart is sick, for there are some who think I have lived
too long. It may be that they are right. And--they are of my children
too."
There was infinite pathos in the tone, as the speaker dropped his glance
sorrowfully down to the object before him. Elvesdon's interest kindled
vividly. He began to see through the situation now.
"There is death in this," went on the old chief touching the bowl. "I
would like Udokotela to examine it."
"Leave it with me, Zavula, and I will take care that he does. It will
be safe here."
He unlocked a cupboard and stowed away the vessel carefully. "Now--who
is it that thinks their chief has lived too long, Zavula?"
"_Au_! That will become known. But the time is not yet. What I have
shown _Nkose_ is between him and Udokotela."
Elvesdon promised to respect his confidence and the old man got up to
leave. Would he not eat and drink? No. The sun would have dropped
before he reached his kraal, and he liked not being abroad in the dark
hours. Perhaps he was too old, he added with a whimsical smile.
Another day, when he should come over to hear the word of Udokotela as
to the hidden _muti_ then he would have more time.
Elvesdon and the clerk stood watching the forms of the old chief and his
one scarcely less aged attendant, as they receded up the valley.
"That's a grand old boy, Prior," said the former. "A dear old boy. If
we had a few more of his sort around here we needn't have bothered
ourselves about the lively times that any fool can see are sticking out
ahead of us."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two old men held steadily on their way, walking with an ease and
elasticity that many a youth might have envied--over rough ground and
smooth--now and again sitting down to take snuff, which is far too
serious an operation to be performed during the process of locomotion.
As nearly as possible they travelled in a direct line, accomplishing
this by taking short cuts through the bush by tracks known to
themselves, but to a mounted man quite, impracticable, and so faint that
a white man would get hopelessly lost.
Following one of these, they were about to come out upon opener ground.
The sun had dropped, and in the black gloom of forest trees it would be
night in a very few minutes. In front however showed a temporary
lightening where the foliage thinned. Overhanging this opener ground
was a tumble of rocks and boulders rising to no great height.
"I would fain have been earlier, brother," murmured Zavula. "My eyes
are over old to see in the dark, and--"
He did not finish his words; instead he dropped to the earth, felled by
the murderous blow which had crashed upon his unsuspecting head from
behind. His companion sprang aside just in time to dodge a like blow
aimed at him, and raising his stick leaped furiously at the foremost
assailant, determined that one should die at any rate. It was a futile
resistance, for what could an old man with nothing but an ordinary stick
do against half a dozen armed miscreants. These sprang at him at once,
yet even then so energetic was his defence that they drew back for a
moment.
"Have done!" growled a voice from behind these. "Make an end. No--no
blood," as one fiend was poising an assegai for a throw. "Make an end,
fools, make an end."
"It is Nxala who hounds on these cowardly dogs," jeered this brave old
man, recognising the voice out of the darkness. "_Whau_! Nxala!"
It was his last utterance. A heavy knobstick, hurled with tremendous
force, struck him full between the eyes, and he, too, dropped.
The murderers were upon him at once, battering his skull to atoms with
their knobsticks, in the fury of their savagery forgetting their
instigator's warning as to the shedding of blood.
While this was happening old Zavula had half raised himself.
"Dog's son, Nxala," he exclaimed. "I have found my end. Thine shall be
the white man's rope."
These were his last words. The murderous fiends, springing upon him,
completed their atrocious work--this time effectually. A slight quiver,
and the old chief's body lay still and lifeless.
The tumble of rocks and stones contained, from the very nature of its
formation, several holes and caves, and to these now were the bodies
dragged. To fling them in, and cover the apertures with stones, was the
work of a very short time.
"_Hlala-gahle_, Zavula! Good night, Zavula!" cried Nxala, raising a
hand in mockery. "Rest peacefully. _Whau_! Our father has left us.
We will depart and cry the _sibongo_ to Babatyana the new chief."
"_Yeh-bo_! Babatyana the new chief."
And the cowardly murderers departed from the scene of their abominable
deed, and the darkness of black night fell suddenly upon the graves of
these two old men, thus barbarously and treacherously done to death;
heathen savages both, but estimable and useful according to their
lights. And it might well be that the mocking aspiration of the
cowardly instigator of their destruction was from that moment to be
fulfilled.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
TWO LETTERS.
"How much longer is that man going to hang about here?" said Edala,
gazing, somewhat frowningly, from the window of her father's book room,
which looked out upon the cattle-kraals and the group of huts, occupied
by the native servants, which stood adjacent thereto.
"Who? Oh, Manamandhla! Not for long, I should think. Do you know,
child, he's rather an interesting chap to talk to and has become quite
civil. He asked me to let him stop on here a bit, and he'd help with
the cattle now we're short-handed."
"Well, we shall be more so soon, for old Patolo can't stand him. He'll
be clearing next, you'll see."
"Not he. They'll strike it off all right. Patolo has been
cattle-herd-in-chief to me nearly all your life, and knows where he's
well off. And Manamandhla may prove useful in other ways."
The object of their talk, and the girl's animadversion, had just emerged
from one of the huts. For a moment he stood gazing at the weather, then
drawing his ample green blanket close around his tall form, he strode
away over the veldt.
"Why have you got such a down on him, child? He's respectful and civil
enough to you, isn't he?"
"Oh yes--at least for the present."
"Why should he not continue to be?" went on her father.
"I don't know. No, I don't. I suppose it's--instinct."
She still stood gazing out of the window, and her face was troubled,
even resentful. She could not forget the expression that had come upon
her father's face, fleeting as it had been, when they had first met this
man yonder on the summit of Sipazi mountain. It was not his first
meeting either, for he had brought home the story of the Zulu's
insolence on that other occasion. She felt puzzled--even suspicious,
and therefore resentful.
It was a grey, drizzling afternoon, and the splendour of forest and
mountain, lovely in the sparkle of blue sky and dazzling sun, was
blotted out by rain and mist, with dreary and depressing effect. Low
clouds swept along the base of the heights, whirling back now and then
to display some great krantz such as the face of Sipazi, its altitude,
multiplied by the dimness, looming up in awful grandeur, to fade again
into the murk.
Instinct! Thornhill did not like that word, and it was no mere flash in
the pan either. The child was so confoundedly sharp at leaping to
conclusions; generally accurate ones too, and that with nothing to go
upon. He had tried to assume his normal unconcern of speech and manner,
in talking on this subject--for this was not the first time it had been
brought up--and could only wonder if he had succeeded.
"Are you afraid of him, then?" he said at last.
"Afraid? No. But I don't like him, and I wish he'd clear. I don't
believe he's up to any good at all here."
"Now, dear, aren't you just a trifle unreasonable as to this particular
`bee' of yours?" said her father, somewhat annoyed. "You say you're not
afraid of him, and I've told you the man is useful to me in ways. Now
am I to run this farm or are you? That's the question."
"I don't want to run the place, of course. I'm only afraid this paragon
of yours is aiming at doing that. What a perfectly beastly afternoon,"
she broke off, turning away from the window.
"Ah well, we can do with rain," he answered. "Another night's downpour
'll make all the difference in the world. Getting hipped, eh? Go and
thump the keyboard a bit--you never get tired of that--and forget the
existence of the obnoxious Manamandhla."
"If I shan't disturb you."
"You know, dear, _you_ never do disturb me," he answered, tenderly.
The girl passed into the other room, and sat down at her piano.
"What a little beast I am to him," she was thinking--"and yet--and yet!
It all seems too awful. How I wish he would let me go away, as I wanted
to."
The notes came gurgling out under her deft touch, but for once her mind
was not in her art. But for the rain she would have taken refuge in
some outdoor pursuit; anything, even if it were to climb up to what she
called her `aerial throne'--dangling between earth and heaven; anything
for movement. But the steady rain came down in monotonous drip--drip;
moreover, it was a cold rain, and under no circumstance was out-of-doors
inviting.
Thornhill sat in his library, and took down book after book, but somehow
he, too, could not settle down to his favourite pastime. His thoughts
were of this child whom he had always idolised, and still did; yet she
repaid him by consistently turning away from him. Perhaps if he had
affected a like indifference it might have told--women being what they
were. Yet, in this case, he could hardly think so; knowing the nature
of the cloud that hung between them; even the venom from beyond the
grave, and the effects of which he had hoped that time would dim. But
time had not done so.
Then his thoughts took another turn--towards his surviving son, to wit;
and, in the result, a great longing to see him again. He, at any rate,
did not share Edala's attitude. His faith in his father was full, frank
and perfect; and he made no secret of the fact. Why should he not come
down on a visit. These stock-broking chaps at the Rand nearly always
hunted in couples like other predatory professionals. Hyland would be
sure to have a partner, or someone who could take charge of his job
while he was away. He would write to him, and by Jove, this was post
day--in fact the boy who rode post over from Elvesdon's was almost due,
only was usually late. However, it didn't matter: he could be detained.
Thornhill got out sheets of paper. Edala, at the present moment, seemed
to be literally obeying his injunctions to `thump the keyboard,' for she
was in full swing in the middle of a fine lilting song, to a somewhat
thunderous accompaniment, in the other room.
"My dear Hyland," he began:
"Don't you feel like a change of air and scene after your ten months of
labour in the City of Gold--dust; and that dust all and entirely in the
air, save when it's in the larynxes and lungs of its eighty odd thousand
inhabitants--mostly Hebrews? If so, I should think you could get your
brother--shark--to take on your share and his own too, of the process of
fleecing the child-like and unwary investor--even as you did--between
you--of late, in the matter of a certain ancient relative of one of the
firm--who shall be nameless--and that on the ground that there were not
sufficient Heathen Chinee-s on the mines. Well then, do so, and load up
on board the train as soon as you like after receipt of this, and _trek_
down here for as long as you like. Edala is getting a bit hipped. I'm
not sure the same doesn't hold good a little of her--and your--
unrespected parent.
"Things here are much the same, except that we've got a new man at
Kwabulazi in the room of old Carston transferred, as the official
letters say--a chap named Elvesdon, an exceedingly wide awake, smart
chap, and devilish good company. You're sure to like him. Old Tongwana
often asks after you. We've also got a new man here--black--named
Mana--"
Thornhill stopped, then carefully erased the last phrase--he did not
know why, perhaps it was due to what Edala had called `instinct.' Then
he went on--
"There are rows and rumours of rows about possible bother among the
people here, mainly over the new poll-tax, as, by the way, you will of
course have heard--since all the doings of the known world are known at
that hub of the Universe, Johannesburg, about forty-eight hours sooner
than they are known--say in London. But it will probably end in smoke.
If it doesn't, such a fire eater as yourself will be more in your
element here than there, I should think, after your experiences in
Matabeleland, and of the pom-poms of Brother Boer.
"Well, load yourself up on the first train you can capture, old chap,
and hasten to smoke the pipe of peace under the welcoming roof of--
"Your old Governor."
This characteristic letter Thornhill read over, with a chuckle or two,
stuck down the envelope and directed it.
_Hyland Thornhill, Esq_.
_P.O. Box Something or other_,
_Johannesburg_.
Just then Edala came in.
"Hullo. What's that you're sending, father?"
"Never you mind," throwing it on the blotting pad, face downwards.
"It's a secret--another secret," he could not refrain from adding,
maliciously.
"But I will see," she returned, making a playful, but tolerably
determined snatch at the envelope. "Is it to Hyland? Is it?" as a
brown and iron hand effectually baffled her attempt. "You are telling
him to come--are you? Are you?"
"Ah-ah! Curiosity, thy name is woman!"
She had got him by the shoulders, and was shaking him, quite child-like
and boisterous. He loved this mood.
"There are more people in the world than Hyland," he said. "Why should
I bother about an impudent neglectful rascal who hardly ever takes the
trouble to communicate with the author of his being, let alone to come
in person and ascertain whether that worthy is dead or not?"
"It _is_ to Hyland. I know it is. And you are telling him to come.
You are, father? Say you are. Do you hear? Say you are."
"Oh, keep cool," ironically, for she was still shaking him by the
shoulders. "Learn to trust in--the fulness of time."
It may be that the double meaning was not lost on her. But at that
moment there befel an interruption. The dogs at the back of the house
had sprung up and were barking furiously.
"Post, I suppose?" said Thornhill going to the window.
"There! I thought it was to Hyland!" cried Edala, who took the
opportunity of snatching up the letter, which lay face downward on the
table, and reading the address. "You are telling him to come, aren't
you?"
"Time will show," he answered teasingly. "But telling him's one thing,
whether he'll do as he's told is another. A lifelong experience of him,
and, incidentally, of his sister, would move me to bet on the latter
contingency."
A trampling of hoofs and then the postboy appeared, mounted on an
undersized pony and clad in a long military surtout of ancient date.
The rain was dripping from the ragged brim of his battered hat, but this
affected him not at all, for his black shining face split into a
dazzling white grin as he raised his hand in salute. The dogs, who knew
him, had retreated, muttering, as though resenting being done out of
hostilities; though even now they were sniffing around his utterly
indifferent legs, not altogether reassuringly, as having dismounted he
came to the door.
"Well Gomfu--what is the news?" said Thornhill, taking the leather bag.
"News? _Au! Nkose_ will find all his news in there."
"But nearer than that. Here, I mean."
The boy grinned slyly.
"U Jobo is preaching around the locations. _Whau_! but he is telling
news to the people--great news."
This, as we have said, was the native name of that estimable Ethiopian
apostle the Rev Job Magwegwe. Thornhill had heard of him.
"Why does not the Government send the police after him, _Nkose_?" went
on the other. "Or are the ears of the Government stopped? Or those of
Ntwezi?"
Thornhill laughed.
"You are not a kolwa [Christian native] then, Gomfu?"
The other clicked contemptuously.
"I am not a fool, _Nkose_, The _Abafundisi_ [Missionaries] preach to us
what they do not believe themselves. They say that their God made all
men equal, black and white, but what is that but childishness? Equal?
_Nkose_--who ever heard of a white man becoming the servant of a native,
but it would take years to count the natives in all the land who are the
servants of white men. Equal? _Whau_!"
"That is so, Gomfu."
"_Nkose_. Again. What if the son of--I do not say a common man but of
a chief such as Tongwana, or Zavula, were to send _lobola_ for the
daughter of an _umfundisi_, and many of them have daughters--what would
be the answer? Would it not be anger at a native presuming to dream of
marriage with the daughter of a white man?--of a white man who preaches
that black and white are all equal? Certainly it would, and rightly.
And we natives who are not fools know this. We want no _Abafundisi_
telling as childishness, particularly Amafengu, such as U Jobo. Equal!
_Hau_!"
"_Nkosazana_!"
The latter in salutation of Edala, who appeared at the door.
"Father, when you've quite done trying to make Gomfu a worse heathen
than he is already, and, incidentally, than you are yourself, it might
occur to you to bring in the post-bag," she said.
"Gomfu's quaint theology has the merit of being logical, eke simple," he
answered coming back into the room. "Here's the bag. Where's the key?
Now then," he went on, having unlocked the bag and turned out its
contents. "_Graphic. Country Life. Natal Witness. Eastern Province
Herald_--that's enough journalism. Letters? None for you. M-m. One,
two, three--all business Four--no. Number 4 isn't biz, but--yes it is--
it's English. They make our stamps and the English ones so much alike
now that there's no telling the difference. Now I wonder who that can
be from," scrutinising the direction narrowly. "There's no one in
England likely to write to me."
"Father. Look again. You must be getting blind. Why it is one of our
stamps after all, and the postmark is Durban--or what's left of it."
"Has Durban, then, met with nearly total destruction?" he inquired,
tranquilly.
"Now, don't be absurd. You know I meant the postmark."
"Oh, the postmark? Small wonder I was in doubt, for the sole use of the
average postmark is to throw a hopeless blind on both the locality and
the date of posting."
"Well the best way of solving the mystery, and the shortest, would be to
open the letter and look at the signature."
"Ah! Ah! A woman's way of reading a novel--looking at the end first."
"Father, are you going to open that letter or are you not? If you have
no curiosity on the subject of an unknown hand I have. And--it's a
feminine hand too."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
MANAMANDHLA'S BEEF.
"Yes, it's a feminine hand," he echoed, gazing critically on the
envelope. "There's character in it too. Now I wonder who the deuce it
can be from."
"Father, _will_ you open it? Can't you see I am dying with curiosity?"
"Now, I'm not--not one little bit," he answered, delighted to tease her.
"In fact I wouldn't mind postponing the further investigation of this
mysterious missive for at least a week. Letters in unknown hands are
generally of that character. For the matter of that, only too often so
are those in known ones."
For answer she suddenly snatched the letter from his hand and tore it
open. "There now. Will you read it?" she said, giving it back.
"Certainly." Then as the name at the end caught his eyes, a whistle of
surprise escaped him. His fun sobered down while he read:
"The Royal Hotel,
"Durban.
"My dear distant Relative,
"We are related, but I believe distantly, at any rate poor mother
always gave me to understand so, and latterly she talked a great deal
of you. You may or may not have heard that we lost her between five
or six months ago; but towards the last, when she was talking about
you so often, she made me promise that I would find you out, and renew
our acquaintance; though I don't know about the `renewing' part of it,
for I was much too small in those days to remember anything of you
now. However she gave me your address, and though it is an address of
ever so many years ago it may still hold good, or at any rate be the
means of finding you out eventually."
Thornhill paused in his reading, and frowned. The reference to an
address of `ever so many years ago' awoke unpleasant memories. His
address at that time was fairly public property, and it was the same one
that he owned now.
"I have not been many days here," the letter went on, "but it seems a
delightful country, and I should like to see more of it. Can you take
me in for a little while, and if so, please write or wire how I can
get to you, and when. I have always heard that colonial ways are
unconventional, and colonial houses `elastic,' which sounds perfectly
delightful, and emboldens me to sink ceremony. Hoping this will find
you,
"Yours very truly,
"Evelyn Carden."
"Read that, and tell me what you think of it, Edala," said Thornhill,
handing over the letter.
The girl took it eagerly.
"I don't know," she said, when she was through with it. "It sounds as
if she might be nice. I see she writes from the Royal in Durban. But--
when? She gives no date."
"Of course not--being a female. Nor does the postmark help any, as I
said before."
"Well, the postmark is neither designed nor executed by `females',"
retorted Edala.
"True, O Queen. You have me there. Well? What do you think of it?"
"Wire her to come, by all means. I like her free and easy style. She
ought to be nice. But what's she like, and who is she, when all's said
and done?"
"First for the wire. Gomfu is waiting as it is. Then we can enter into
explanations."
He got out a telegraph form and wrote:
"Miss Carden Royal Hotel Durban Train to Telani will meet you there
only give a day or two for reply wire very welcome address Care of
Elvesdon Kwabulazi: Thornhill."
"Wa Gomfu!" he hailed.
"_Nkose_!"
The boy was round in a moment.
"Here. See that this goes directly you get back. Have they given you
coffee in the kitchen, for the night is cold?"
"_Nkose_ is my father. Ramasam is a very induna of the fire. Never
have I met such coffee as his."
"Well, here is _gwai_," handing him a span of Boer tobacco. "Now go--
and here is yet a letter to take."
"_Nkose_!"
The boy disappeared and soon the retreating hoofs of his undersized pony
could be heard splashing through the sludgy surface of the saturated
veldt. The dogs growled again, presumably because having seen the same
postboy appear regularly twice a week and go away again those sagacious
animals must needs sustain their world-wide reputation for sagacity by
doing something, though quite unnecessary--or possibly to vary the
monotony of a wet and very dismal day. Anyhow they growled.
"You wanted to know about this new and distant relative," said
Thornhill, coming back into the room. "Well, I can't tell you anything
about her personally, because, as she says, she was too much of a kid to
remember me, and I, for my part, just remember her as an ordinary kid,
usually smeared with jam or some other sticky form of nastiness. Just
that and nothing more."
"But this mother she talks about--who was she?" went on Edala.
"Poor Mary Carden. Oh, we got rather friendly. She was a bit older
than me though. I had something to do with the settling up of her
affairs when she was left a widow--not that there was much to settle up,
poor thing. By the bye, and yet this girl writes in rather an
independent way, and dates from the Royal at Durban. Well, you know,
hotels in this country aren't cheap, and the Royal isn't one of the
cheapest by any means, although it's good. They may have had a windfall
since I knew them; probably have, since she seems to be out here for
fun."
"How old would she be, father?"
"Let me think now. Let me think back. She must be some years older
than you, child. But it'll be a good thing for you to have a companion
for a time, who isn't an old fogey. Of course we are both talking round
our hats, as neither of us have the ghost of a notion what she's like,
and won't have till we see her."
"Well, we'll chance it," said Edala.
"That's the best way. And now I think I'll get on a horse and take a
turn round. Old Patolo may be letting his cattle stray in this mist."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manamandhla the Zulu strode over the sopping veldt quite indifferent to
the rain which beat down upon his bare head, and strove to permeate the
thick folds of his green blanket, and while he walked he was thinking
out a plan.
The subject of his thoughts was not tragical, not even weighty except as
regarded his own immediate wants. He was tired of goat, he wanted beef
and plenty of it. How should he get it? He thought he knew.
He could not expect Thornhill to kill a full grown beast, or any kind,
even for him. But beef he hankered for, and have it he must. So now he
held straight on over the veldt to where he knew he should find the
cattle.
The mist was all in his favour, in fact it had suggested his plan, which
was an ingenious one. He ascended the nearest ridge of the Sipazi
mountain, his ears open. Presently both sound and scent told him he had
come upon the object of his quest. In a moment more the forms of
grazing cattle all round him, told that he was in the middle of the
herd.
Some of the beasts snuffed and started, showing a tendency to canter
away; others merely raised their heads and went on grazing as though
nothing had happened. But this was not how he proposed to obtain beef.
He had a broad assegai beneath his blanket, but he would not use it--not
yet.
He crooned a milking song in a low tone as he went through the herd This
had the effect of keeping quiet any of the wilder animals which might
have been disposed to panic and stampede at the suddenness of his
appearance in their midst. But he kept on edging more and more to the
left; with the result that the animals on that side gave way more and
more in the same direction, as he intended they should.
The cloud wreaths on this side took the form of spiral twirls, and a
fresh, cold draught struck Manamandhla on the left ear. This was as it
should be. Here the ground ended and the cliff began.
It was not the great overhanging cliff at the summit of the mountain,
but the beginning of the same, and might have meant a sixty or seventy
feet drop. But between the apparent brow of the krantz and the actual
one was about ten feet of grass slope--a slope so steep as to be
well-nigh precipitous, and in weather like this, deadly slippery. Now,
as Manamandhla uttered a quick bark, at the same time flapping his
blanket, the suddenly terrified animals between him and the brow,
started at a run, plunging wildly, some this way, some that, to gallop
off in wild panic. Not all though--all save one--and that a nearly full
grown call It, he saw disappear over the brow, instinctively seeking
safety upon the precipitous slope.
The Zulu chuckled. Crouching low, he was upon the brink in a moment,
and peering over. There stood the poor stupid beast--a white one--its
head down, and with difficulty keeping its footing. Manamandhla sprang
up suddenly, again uttering a bark and flapping his blanket downwards.
The poor animal, frenzied now with panic, made a wild frantic plunge,
lost its footing and slid over the brink of the sheer cliff.
Manamandhla had obtained his beef.
He emitted a chuckle of glee as the dull thud of the fallen carcase came
up from below, then turned--to find himself face to face with--
Thornhill.
The latter was standing some twelve or fifteen yards away, his right
hand in his right pocket. Ever quick of perception, the Zulu grasped
this fact and its significance. Instinctively he dropped into a half
crouching attitude--the attitude of a wild beast preparing for its
spring--and the grip of the broad assegai beneath his blanket tightened.
"No use, Manamandhla. You would be dead before you had taken five
steps."
The Zulu knew this. Even were it otherwise he had no wish for the
other's death--not just yet, at any rate. It was more profitable to
himself to keep him alive. But for the moment he felt like a cornered
animal, quick, desperate, dangerous.
"One of the beasts has gone over, Inqoto," he said. "I would have
prevented it, but when I tried to drive it back I drove it over instead.
It is a pity."
"It is. You were in want of beef, I think, Manamandhla," was the
answer, faintly mocking.
"_Whau_! Inqoto has not a very open hand, and I was tired of goat.
There are `mouths' on this mountain that do not return that which--those
whom--they swallow. But there is one which can be got into by men with
long lines. And--what would they find? Ah--ah! What would they find?"
The Zulu felt secure now, and yet, had he only known it, he had never
stood in more deadly peril in his life. Thornhill had been waiting for
some such chance as this and now it had come. For, from the moment he
had arrived unobserved upon the scene all its opportunities had flashed
upon his mind. The Zulu had deliberately driven one of his cattle over
the krantz, and on being detected in the act had rushed upon him with an
assegai; for he could pretty shrewdly guess what the other held
concealed beneath the blanket. He had shot his assailant dead, in self
defence, as he had no other alternative than to do. Thus he would be
rid of this incubus, this blackmailer, and once more would be at peace.
The time and opportunity had come.
Manamandhla must have read his thoughts. Hard and desperately, yet with
the quickness of lightning, he was calculating his chances. A sudden
zig-zagging spring might cause his enemy to miss, and he would be upon
him before he had time to fire again. The two--the white man and the
dark man--thus stood fronting each other in the spectral wreaths of the
drear mist, each resolved that one or other of them should not leave
that spot alive. Thornhill spoke again.
"I am tired of you, Manamandhla. You can leave this place, do you hear?
and it will not be well for you to come near it again. You are of no
further use to me. So you may go. _Hamba gahle_."
But these last words of farewell, which the speaker intended should
signal Manamandhla's departure in a very different sense, were scarcely
uttered. A dark form, the form of a man, immediately behind the Zulu,
and in a direct line with him, loomed through the mist; and the voice of
old Patolo, the cattle-herd, was raised in greeting to his master. The
latter knew that his opportunity had passed. He could not shoot
Manamandhla in the presence of a witness, and of course the could not
shoot old Patolo at all.
"_Nkose_," said the latter. "I fear that the cattle will be difficult
to collect in the thickness of this cloud. But those that remain out
will not stray far, and we can collect them in the morning."
"One has fallen over this cliff, Patolo," said Manamandhla, as calmly as
though no deadly tragedy had been averted by a mere moment of time.
Then to Thornhill: "_Nkose_, had I not better go over to the location
and collect some boys to skin and cut up the beef? It may be that there
is some of it yet uninjured and good enough for the Great House."
"That you had better do, Manamandhla," answered Thornhill, with equal
_sang-froid_. "And lose no time, before it grows dark."
And, turning, he left them, to go back to where he had left his horse.
This was how Manamandhla obtained the beef he hankered after--and plenty
of it.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
MANAMANDHLA'S STRATEGY.
A week went by, and Thornhill got an answer to his letter. His son
could not possibly get away just then. His partner was seriously ill,
and as for business--why, if not as brisk as might be wished, there was
quite enough of it to keep one man's hands full. He was awfully sorry,
but would take a run down as soon as ever he could break away. So wrote
Hyland.
Thornhill was bitterly disappointed. He seemed to feel it far more than
he had thought it possible for him to do. He would have given much at
that juncture to have had the boy at his side, he told himself. He felt
very isolated, very much alone. Edala, though now and then she broke
out into fits of playfulness--and these, he suspected, were, more often
than not, forced--yet kept up a sort of dutiful reserve towards him.
There was no spontaneity in her affection, even when any sign of
possession of any such sentiment did appear. Well, ingratitude was
ingrained in the female. No one had better reason to realise that than
himself.
And this unknown relative who had written to announce her being--nothing
more had been heard of--or from--her. He had expected a wire by return
notifying her start, but a week had gone by, ten days, then a fortnight
and no wire, not even a letter. Did every member of the feminine
persuasion imagine that the universe was built for her sole convenience?
was his comment upon the omission to Edala.
The latter suggested that the telegram might have been twisted into a
wrong meaning by some chuckle-headed operator; would it not be as well
to send another? But her father was in no mood for doing anything of
the kind.
"I don't believe in that theory," he said. "Here's a feminine person
who writes to know if I can take her in. I reply post haste that I can
and welcome, and I hear no more about it. Well, she can stop away if
she prefers it. I'm not going routing around to beseech her to come."
Edala answered that she didn't care either way. As a matter of fact
though enthusiastic enough on the arrival of the unknown's letter the
thing had hung fire. And then, deep down in her innermost mind lay
another reason. She would not have admitted it even to herself, but it
was there for all that and--it spelt Elvesdon.
The latter had been a good deal over at Sipazi. He was an excellent and
astute official, but somehow, while neglecting none of his duties, he
had found time and opportunity to make frequent visits, and he was
always welcome. Thornhill and his daughter treated him, in fact, as if
they had known him all their lives, which caused him intense
satisfaction.
He was interested in this girl--indeed by that time powerfully
attracted. The fair refined face, the straight fearless eyes, the smile
that would light up the whole expression, the merry peal of spontaneous
laughter--all this had an effect upon him that was inexpressibly
bewitching. He had never seen anyone like her before--no, not in the
least like her. That picture of her, standing erect, wide-eyed and
fearless, waiting to be of use in the struggle with the monster serpent,
had never even begun to fade in his mind. She was grand.
Towards himself Edala for her part was undoubtedly attracted. She
looked forward to his visits, and greeted him with unfeigned pleasure
when he appeared. He talked so well, and never failed to interest and
amuse her. He had been about and had seen so much, and moreover there
was a subtle suggestion of strength about him that appealed to her
vividly. To most of her male acquaintance Edala assumed a sort of
unconscious attitude of stiffening up. The youthful side of it
represented to her so many puppies whose eyes had yet to open; the more
mature side so many prigs who bored or patronised her. This man did
neither. He neither talked up to her, nor down--she would have despised
him for the first and resented him for the second. He simply treated
her as a rational being with a full share of intelligence and ideas--and
no surer road could he have taken towards her approval.
Having said so much it is not surprising that Edala's feelings as
regarded her new relative's proposed visit should, by this time, have
undergone some degree of modification. This stranger--of whose very
outward appearance she was entirely ignorant--might conceivably prove
one too many, the more so that the stranger was what her father had just
described as "a member of the feminine persuasion." She was not in the
least in love with Elvesdon; she was far too evenly balanced to let
herself go like that at such short notice. But she felt a strong
proprietary interest in him as a friend worth having; wherefore in the
background lurked that cloud of half unconscious jealousy. Yet that
very jealousy itself ought to have warned her.
Thornhill, watching developments, was anything but displeased. As a
Civil servant Elvesdon was not likely to amass wealth, but he was a good
official and likely to get on. His personal opinion of the man we have
already set forth, and it he had seen no reason to modify. If the
present excellent understanding between him and Edala came to anything
more permanent, why so much the better.
A fortnight had gone by since Manamandhla's craving for beef had so
nearly brought that enterprising savage to an untimely end: and the Zulu
had been comfortably dwelling on the place ever since and showed not the
smallest symptom of moving. He made a show of helping here and there,
as an excuse for drawing his--plentiful--rations, nor was he ever out of
snuff, and he frequently enjoyed other luxuries. But for all this he
knew he was living on a volcano.
Thornhill was getting desperate. For hours he would lie awake at night
devising some scheme for ridding himself of his oppressor. If only that
plan had been carried out on the mountain that day! If only old Patolo
had arrived upon the scene half a minute later! It was no murder, he
decided. A blackmailer was a pest to the human race. Extermination was
only the just fate of such. This one was robbing him of his peace,
therefore his destruction was as nothing to the price he had paid to
purchase that peace. One day Manamandhla said:
"_Nkose_, my brother's son is paying _lobola_ for a girl, over there, in
Zululand. He still needs two cows to complete the price, but the son of
a richer man has offered one cow and a goat beyond the price he can pay.
Shall he not therefore have the two cows--as _Nkose_ has known me so
long and is as our father?"
The outrageous impudence of this demand hardly surprised Thornhill, who,
of course, was fully aware that the needs of the `brother's son' did not
exist. He gazed fixedly at the Zulu for some moments and the faces of
both men were like stone.
"I think I will give you the two cows, Manamandhla, but you can take
them away yourself and--not come back. Do you hear--not come back?"
The speaker's expression was savage and threatening. He felt cornered.
"_Au_! Not come back?" repeated the Zulu, softly.
"Not come back. Go all over the world, but this place is the most
deadly dangerous spot in it--for you. I solemnly advise you not to
return to it. This evening I will give you the two cows--for your
brother's son's _lobola_"--he interpolated with a sneer, "and you can go
back to Zululand and stay there."
"_Nkose_!"
This conversation took place at the back of the house and the concluding
remarks were overheard by Edala. She had never heard her father's voice
raised in that tone for many years, and now as she connected the
circumstance a dreadful suspicion came into her mind. This Zulu knew
too much, and now he was being bribed and threatened in about equal
proportions in order in induce him to make himself scarce. Her father's
reply that the man was useful, had struck her as hollow and half-hearted
at the time it was made.
"I have a bit of good news for you, child," said Thornhill that evening.
"Your aversion, Manamandhla, is going--if he hasn't already gone."
"A good thing too," answered the girl, to whom it was no news. "I hope
you won't let him come back."
"I think not," said Thornhill, with a dry laugh. "We have had enough of
each other."
Edala had been observing the change in her father of late, and now she
studied him more closely than ever. The harassed, worried look that had
been upon him had suddenly dropped off; simultaneously with the
departure of Manamandhla--she did not fail to observe. He became his
old calm, even-minded self. But a week later the Zulu returned.
"I would like to serve _Nkose_ a little longer," was his tranquil
explanation, when tackled by Thornhill. The latter looked at him in
silence for a few minutes. To the Zulu this deliberation gave no
anxiety.
"You can stay then," was the reply, uttered grimly.
"_Nkose_ is my father. He will care for me. Were I dead there are two
others, two of my own blood, who know that there are `mouths' on Sipazi
which swallow up men--who know which one it is that gives not back that
which it swallows--but yet that which it swallows could be brought back
with long lines. And I--_whau_, I know of one of these `mouths' which
gives back that which it swallows, but gives them back lame for the rest
of life."
Here was a contingency that had clean escaped Thornhill's calculations.
However, he showed no sign of being perturbed by the statement. Was it
true? A little reflection convinced him that in all probability it was
not. Manamandhla would never be such a fool as to share a momentous
secret--a, to him, valuable secret--with another, let alone with two
others. But he would pretend to believe it, all the same; so would the
blackmailer be thrown the more off his guard.
"Did your brother's son succeed with the additional two cows,
Manamandhla?" he said, airily, taking no notice of the Zulu's last
remark.
"Nearly. Not quite. It is in the air still. _Nkose_, two more would
complete the _lobola_, for the girl is fine and much sought after, and
her father--_whau_! he is miserly and loves cattle much."
"Yet I think one more will content him. We will talk further about it."
And Thornhill laughing to himself turned away.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So we have got that beast back again? I thought he had gone for good,"
said Edala, her straight, clear glance full on her father's face.
"Meaning Manamandhla? So did I, but I don't think he'll stay long--no,
not long."
Still she kept her glance upon him, and though the words were spoken
easily, naturally, and without any outward intonation of significance,
it seemed to Thornhill that the girl read his thoughts, his intent.
She, like himself, could school her face, yet not altogether. Its
expression now seemed to reveal horror, loathing, repulsion--yet not for
Manamandhla. Reading it, something moved him to say:
"I have been thinking things over, Edala, and perhaps, after all, I can
see my way towards letting you carry out your cherished wish--that of
going to Europe to study art seriously. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She made no answer. He had expected her to brighten up at the
suggestion.
"You are not happy here, and I--well perhaps I am getting more than a
little tired of living in an atmosphere of chronic suspicion and
repulse. And yet, child, the time may come--and come too late--when you
will bitterly regret the care of a father who has been to you as very
few fathers within my experience have ever been to their children--in
fact, I can hardly recall the case of one. But there--ingratitude is
only to be expected, in fact nothing else could be under all the
circumstances."
This with intense bitterness. His self control had momentarily broken
down. The girl, who had begun to soften, grew hard again.
"I don't know that I've anything to be so thankful and appreciative
over--under all the circumstances," she said, with a scathing emphasis
on the echo of his words. He looked at her fixedly, sadly.
"Not now, but that will come. That will come--perhaps when it is too
late."
His tone was quiet, and there was a sad conviction of prophecy in the
words that again softened her--almost frightened her--as he turned away.
In a moment a huge impulse moved her to go after him and declare that
she had no wish whatever to leave him; that she would give no thought in
the world to any consideration but himself; that she had been horribly
hard and ungrateful and selfish; but assuredly some demoniacal influence
was floating in the air just then, for the impulse passed. And her
father, too, was striving to harden his heart. Why not? A man never
ceased to gain in experience of life and human nature even if he lived
to a hundred; and he himself was only in his prime. Why then break his
heart over that which was only to have been expected?
By an effort he dismissed the subject from his mind. The latter then
reverted to the subject of Manamandhla, and the result of his
meditations boded no good to that ill-advised Zulu.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
A REVELATION--WITH A VENGEANCE.
"Then, it wouldn't have killed him, Vine?"
"I think not. I could not quite locate the stuff. You see I have had
no opportunity of making a study of these native drugs. They take
precious good care we shan't," answered the District Surgeon.
Elvesdon was conscious of a sense of relief at this verdict. It would
save complications at any rate. He would not now be obliged to open up
a serious enquiry at a time when the native pulse had to be fingered
very carefully.
"But why the deuce should they give him the stuff if it wasn't to get
him out of the way?" he said.
"Well, you see, a drug, even of a poisonous nature, may have other uses
than to cause death. It may be administered in sufficiently small
proportions to cause a sort of waking stupefaction, a semi-consciousness
in which the will power lies torpid, and the recipient may be made to do
or say anything which others may choose to make him do or say. Now
Zavula is an important chief--a very important chief--and respected as a
singularly able and level-headed one, consequently his `word' once
uttered would carry more weight than that of upstarts like Babatyana and
half a dozen others put together. See?"
"Yes. In other words he'd be of more use to them alive than dead?"
"That's it. But--by the way, Elvesdon, it's a pity I didn't have that
bowl a bit sooner. You know traces of some poisons are easier located
if investigated early."
"Yes, but we were both of us so infernally busy. And perhaps neither of
us took the thing sufficiently seriously."
The two were seated in Elvesdon's inner office, and were, so to say,
holding an inquest on the District Surgeon's investigation of old
Zavula's drinking bowl. The doctor was a sturdy, thick-set man, of
anything from fifty onwards but probably much more; grizzled and
red-faced; very downright in manner, but genial and well-liked. He and
the new magistrate had taken to each other at once.
"Think there'll be trouble Elvesdon--over the new tax for instance?"
said the doctor.
"The Lord only knows, and He won't tell. I'm doing all I can, but this
business of Zavula's looks more than a bit ugly. I don't mind telling
you. Babatyana's an infernal scoundrel, and he's practically chief of
the Amahluzi. Poor old Zavula is for all practical purposes only a
sleeping partner, I'm afraid."
"M-m," said the other.
"Well I think, as you can't certify that this stuff was enough to
constitute an attempt on old Zavula's life, there's nothing to be gained
by stirring up any mud over the job. He's cute enough, and obviously
able to take care of himself. The jolly old boy sent me quite an
affectionate message only the day before yesterday--no--it was the day
before that."
The grisly side to this statement lay in the fact that on the day named
the said `jolly old boy' was lying in his unknown grave in the rock
cleft--had been for some time--and the whole of the Amahluzi tribe was
in a simmering state of incipient rebellion.
"You see a good deal of the Thornhills, don't you, Elvesdon?" said the
doctor, changing the subject.
"Yes. I like them too. It's a jolly lucky thing, I reckon, to find a
man like Thornhill at one's elbow in a place like this. He's such a
rational, level-headed chap--cultured too, and rattling good company."
"And the girl--what do you think of her?"
"She's charming--so unconventional, and high bred to the finger tips, as
the French say, or, to put it literally, `to the ends of the nails.' I
don't mind telling you, Vine, that she's clean outside my experience."
The older man smiled queerly.
"Yes. She's a nice girl," he said, "but--peculiar."
Now Elvesdon had just reached that stage with regard to Edala that this
damning of her with faint praise rather jarred upon him.
"Well but--isn't she?" he retorted, unwittingly sharply. "Nice--I
mean."
"I said so," answered the other.
Still Elvesdon was not satisfied. There was something infernally,
provokingly, shut-up-like-an-oyster about the tone. He felt moved to
`draw' the utterer.
"Peculiar, you said," he went on. "Yes, that I can believe. Do you
know, Vine, the first Sunday I went over there, I had a queer
experience. You know that big mountain on their place just opposite the
house--Sipazi it is called?" The doctor nodded. "Well then, they took
me up there in the afternoon to show me the view. You'll remember that
tremendous krantz that literally overhangs the valley?" Again the other
nodded. "Well there's a beast of a tree that grows out from its brink,
horizontally at first, then upwards. There's just room for one--fool, I
was nearly saying--or one and a half, to sit on it. Well what does the
young lady do but climb down and sit on it as if she was in an armchair
on the stoep at home. It turned me nearly sick to see her do it, I can
tell you."
"I daresay."
"That's not all. She skipped up again, and--invited me to do the same."
"And did you?"
"Well I had to. It was in the nature of a challenge, you see. I tell
you squarely and as man to man, I would willingly have forfeited a
year's pay to have got out of it--when I got on to the beastly log, I
believe I would have forfeited five. But how could I have backed out of
doing a thing a girl had just done, and thought nothing of? Ugh! it
gives me the cold shivers all down the back even now, to look back on
those few moments when I sat, hung out in mid-air, over that ghastly
height. And, you must remember the krantz slopes away _inwards_ from
the top just there. Ugh!"
Vine sat back in his chair and chuckled. Elvesdon was obviously an
imaginative chap, he was saying to himself. Why, as he told the story
he was going through the experience again, and part of its horror had
taken hold on him.
"Well, what did she say when you came back?" he said.
"That I was the only one besides herself who had ever done it. She had
asked several, and they had all cried off. I don't say it to brag,
mind--in proof whereof I don't mind adding that she said she could see I
was in a beastly funk all the time, because my hand on the branch of the
infernal tree shook, and, by the Lord, it did."
"Reminds one of the old yam about the lady and the knight and the jay's
nest on the castle wall," said the doctor. "Never mind, Elvesdon. I'm
one of those who funked going on it. She asked me to once."
"The devil she did."
"Yes. I told her straight I was much too old and fat to launch out in
those circus experiments. But that excuse wouldn't do with an athletic
young 'un like you."
"Well, several other `athletic young 'uns' seem to have shied at it
anyway. Here, I seem to be bragging again but I don't mean to. Of
course a man's a fool to try and do a thing of that sort if he knows he
can't. Still, I thought I could--at a pinch." And again the listener
chuckled.
"By the way, Vine," said Elvesdon tentatively, "you've been here a long
time and I'm only a new broom. Did you know Thornhill's wife?"
"Yes."
"What was she like. You know I've been over at their place several
times, and have never seen any portrait of her of any kind. Nor have I
ever heard her alluded to in any way."
"No. You wouldn't be likely to."
Elvesdon nodded.
"I see," he said.
"No--not that. You're on the wrong track. Look here, Elvesdon," went
on the doctor, gravely. "You'd better have the real position from me,
since you're sure to have it sooner or later from somebody else, and
then probably more or less inaccurately given. The wonder to me is that
you've heard nothing about it already, but I suppose the few people
round here, seeing you were rather thick with Thornhill, concluded to
keep their heads shut."
"But, Vine, what _is_ the mystery? What the devil _is_ the mystery?
Let's have it."
He was speaking quickly, excitedly. For the life of him he could not
help it.
"Thornhill is supposed to have murdered his wife," answered Vine.
"Good God!"
Elvesdon had started up in his chair, as if he had suddenly realised the
presence of a pin in the cushion, and then sat back, staring at the
other; and indeed his amazement was little to be wondered at, for to be
suddenly told that a man for whom he had conceived a sincere liking and
regard, and a growing friendship, was a probable murderer, was
disconcerting, to say the least of it.
"`Supposed'? Exactly. But it was never proved against him?" he said,
recovering himself and feeling somewhat relieved. "As, of course it
couldn't have been or he wouldn't be where he is now. What were the
facts?"
"Mrs Thornhill disappeared."
"How and where?"
"`How' is just what nobody knows. `Where'--on their own place, same
place they're living on now."
"What would the motive have been?" Elvesdon had collected himself. He
was vividly interested but was becoming magisterial again.
"Motive? Plenty of that; in fact that's what made things look sultry
against Thornhill. She led him the devil of a life. To put it briefly,
Thornhill's version was that she rushed out of the house one night after
a more than ordinarily violent `breeze,' making all sorts of insane
announcements. He did not follow her immediately, as he said at the
time, partly because he wanted to give her time to come to her senses,
partly because--and here he was injudiciously frank, in that he supplied
motive and turned public opinion against himself--he honestly did not
care what happened to her, so sick was he of the life she had been
leading him. He said nothing about her disappearance at first,
explaining that he expected her back at any minute, in which case he
would have made a fool of himself all about nothing."
"Couldn't he have taken up her spoor?" said Elvesdon.
"Not much. There had been a succession of violent thunder-storms, and
the face of the veldt was washed smooth by torrential rains. No spoor
to be taken up."
"By Jove, it's a mysterious affair," said Elvesdon. "How long ago was
it, by the way?"
"Eighteen or nineteen years. He was arrested and kept in the _tronk_
for some weeks, while every hole and corner of his farm was searched.
They even dug up the cattle-kraals in search of remains--you know,
Elvesdon, like that Moat Farm business in England a year or two ago--
only of course in this case they found nothing. Thornhill half laughed
when he was told of this, only saying that he had never for a moment
imagined they would. Well of course, there was only one way out; for no
one knows better than yourself that a man can't be put upon his trial
for murder until it is proved that a murder has been committed, which in
this case it seemed impossible to do. So our friend was turned loose
again."
"Of course. But what of the general opinion. Was it believed he'd done
it?"
"That's just how it was. Not a man Jack or woman Jill but was firmly
convinced of it, and for a long time he was practically boycotted. For
the matter of that, even now they don't get many visitors you may have
noticed."
"Yes. That has occurred to me. By the way. Vine, what about the
children. How did the suspicion affect them as they grew up? Did they
believe it?"
"The boys didn't, but the strange and sad part of it is that the girl
did, and does still."
Elvesdon started.
"And--does still?" he echoed. "I see."
Now the situation stood explained. Edala's strange behaviour, the cold
aloofness with which she treated her father, except at rare intervals.
Heavens, what a ghastly shadow to lie between them! Yet, as it did so
he, perhaps her behaviour was not altogether unnatural.
"The boys didn't believe it?" he repeated.
"No--never. They grew up firmly refusing to believe it. They were fine
youngsters. Jim, poor chap, was killed in the Matopos in '96. He was
the eldest. Hyland is broking at the Rand. By the way, Thornhill was
telling me the other day that he expected him down on a visit."
"Yes, I know. There was someone else he was expecting, an English
relative. She wrote to him from Durban, inviting herself, and he wired
her back to roll up as soon as she liked. Then he heard nothing more
about her. By the _Lord_, I wonder," he broke off. "I wonder if she
got hold of this yam about him, and concluded to stop away. It might
be."
"So it might. But what I wonder at, Elvesdon, is that this affair
should be all news to you. Why it caused some considerable kick up at
the time."
"At the time. That's just it. It must have been during the couple of
years I was over in England and the States.--Come in," as a knock came
at the door.
"Please sir," said the native constable, who was proud of airing his
English, "dere's one lady--like see _Nkose_."
"One lady? Look here Isaac. Do you mean a `lady' or some _bywoner
vrouw_, come for a summons against somebody?"
"Dis one lady, sir. She ask for Mr Elvesdon, not for de magistrate."
"Oh, show her in. Don't go, doctor, till we see what she wants."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
THE NEW ARRIVAL.
The native constable was holding open the door. There was a soft rustle
of feminine attire as its wearer crossed the empty Court room, and the
newcomer entered.
"Mr Elvesdon, I believe?" she said, after a rapid glance at both men,
and easily identifying the right one. "I must introduce myself. My
name is Carden--Evelyn Carden--and you may have heard of me from Mr
Thornhill. He lives near here, does he not?"
"Yes. About two hours. Sit down, Miss Carden," handing her a chair.
"As a matter of fact I have heard of you. The Thornhills have been
wondering that they did not--after your letter."
The newcomer's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"The Thornhills not heard!" she exclaimed wonderingly. "But they must
have. Why I wired from Durban here, just as I was directed; but it was
to put off coming just then. And they never received it?"
"No. I can answer for that. Er--by the way, did you send it yourself,
Miss Carden?"
"Well, no. The fact is I didn't. I gave it, the wire, and also a
letter, to a coolie porter at a station just this side of Pinetown--I
forget the name--to send for me."
Elvesdon smiled.
"That accounts for the whole trouble," he said.
All this time he had been taking stock of the newcomer. She was of fair
height, and plainly but unmistakably well dressed. She had straight
features and a reposeful expression, an abundance of light brown hair,
and clear grey eyes. She had just missed being exactly pretty, yet the
face was an attractive one, and there was an atmosphere of refinement
and _savoir faire_ about her that left no room for doubt as to her
standing in the social scale. She seemed about two or three and thirty
in point of age--in reality she was not more than twenty-eight. All
this he summed up in a flash, as he went through the above preliminary
formalities.
"This is Dr Vine, our District Surgeon, Miss Carden," he said in
introduction. "Are you travelling alone, may I ask?"
"Yes. This time I thought I'd spring a surprise on my unknown relative,
so of course I was obliged to hire a cart at Telani--the driver is such
a disagreeable old man, by the bye. And the horses are wretched beasts.
Why I had to stop the night at a most abominable roadside place--an
accommodation house, I think they called it--presumably because
`accommodation' in every sense, was the very last thing they had to
offer." She laughed, so did the two men.
"Then there was a monster centipede kept appearing and disappearing on
the wall above my bed, so that I had to keep the light going all night,
and hardly got any sleep at all. And now one of the horses is dead
lame, and I am wondering how I am going to get on to Mr Thornhill's--
unless you can help me, Mr Elvesdon."
There was a something in the tone of this tail-off that conveyed to the
listeners the impression that she was very much accustomed to being
`helped'--in things great as well as small--and made no scruple about
requisitioning such help.
"Certainly I can, Miss Carden," answered Elvesdon. "If you will allow
me I shall be delighted to drive you out to Thornhill's this afternoon.
Meanwhile it is just lunch time--if you will give me the pleasure of
your company--you too, doctor? Very well then, we may as well adjourn
at once."
During lunch Elvesdon was somewhat silent. He had directed his native
servants when to inspan his spider and to transfer the visitor's baggage
to that useful vehicle--further, he had arranged matters with the driver
of the hired cart, an unprepossessing specimen of what would be defined
in the Southern States as `mean white,' and while doing so, the
astounding revelation made to him by Vine had come back to him with all
its full force. He did not know what to think. Thornhill seemed to him
the last man in the world to commit a cold-blooded murder--and that the
murder of a woman--but--what if it was a hot-blooded one? Looking back
upon his observation of this new found friend he recalled a certain
something that contained the possibilities of such--goaded by the weight
of an intolerable incubus. And his sons believed in him and his
daughter did not? Well, Elvesdon leaned to the opinion of the sons, and
all his official instinct weighed on that side. There was absolutely no
evidence that any crime had been effected at all, and did not the legal
text-books teem with instances of disappearance for which innocent
people had been executed in the `good old times'? Why of course. No.
He at any rate was going to keep an open mind, and turn into fact the
time-worn legal fiction that the accused was innocent until he was
proved guilty.
So he was rather silent during lunch. The weight of Vine's revelation
was still on him; but the newcomer was quite at her ease and chatted
away with Prior and the doctor.
But later, when they were bowling away merrily behind a fresh, well
trotting pair of horses bound for Sipazi, he was obliged to put this new
train of thought out of his head, for the new arrival plied him with all
sorts of questions, as to the country and its natives, and other things;
then got on to the subject of Thornhill.
"I have never seen him, you know, Mr Elvesdon, since I was ever so
small. I don't know anything really about him beyond what my poor
mother told me. By the way--did he marry again?"
Elvesdon started unconsciously. In his present train of thought he was
wondering how much she knew as to the matter about which he had only
just heard.
"No. He has one girl at home now, and a boy away at the Rand."
"Oh. That's nice. Tell me. What is the girl like?"
"Charming. She's like no other girl I've ever seen."
The reply was made in a perfectly even tone, without any perceptible
enthusiasm. The other was interested at once.
"What's her name?"
"Edala. Peculiar name isn't it?"
"Rather. Do you think we shall get on?"
Elvesdon burst out laughing.
"I should think it highly probable that you would. She is very
unconventional--and you--well if you don't mind my saying so, Miss
Carden, I should think the same held good as regards yourself."
"Of course I don't mind your saying so; and it happens to be true. I
like being talked to rationally, and not talked down to--as you men are
too given to talking to us women. You know--a sort of humouring us, as
if we were a lot of spoilt children."
"But you must remember that if we don't humour you, `you women,' or at
any rate the majority of you, vote us disagreeable if not rude; a
favourite word with `you women' by the way. It has such a fine,
sonorous, roll-round-the-tongue flavour, you know."
Evelyn Carden laughed--and laughed merrily. Elvesdon noticed that her
laugh was light, open, free-hearted. There was no affectation, or
posing, about it.
"I like that," she said, "the more so that it is absolutely true. I
suppose you are often over at the Thornhills', Mr Elvesdon, as you are
so near?"
"Oh yes. I put in Sundays with them, and enjoy it. Your relative is a
particularly cultured and companionable man, Miss Carden, and in his
quiet way, very genial."
"And--Edala?"
This with just a spice of mischief, which the other ignored.
"I have already given you my opinion on that subject," he said.
"How delightful. I am so glad I came up here. I only put it off
because some people whose acquaintance I made on board ship asked me out
to stay with them at their place near Malvern. I do hope, though, that
Mr Thornhill won't be offended with me about the non-delivery of the
wire, but it really wasn't my fault."
Here Elvesdon did not entirely agree. He thought she ought to have made
more sure. But he said:
"You need have no uneasiness on that score. Thornhill is a man with a
large up-country experience, and I know of no better training for
teaching a man to take things as they come."
"Better and better," she pronounced. "Why, how interesting he will be.
But, you yourself, Mr Elvesdon--you must have some strange experiences
too?"
"Well, you see, one can't go through an official life like mine without.
But, for the most part, they are experiences of queer and out of the
way phases of human nature. I haven't had any serious adventures if
that's what you mean."
"No?"
"No. Never mind. I'm used to that note of disappointment. When I was
over in England on leave three years and a half ago, I was always being
asked how many lions I'd shot--the impression apparently being that one
strolled out after office hours and bagged a few brace--and I answered
frankly that I'd never seen a lion outside a cage--though I've heard
them, by the way, at a long and respectful distance--I went down like a
shot in general estimation. At last I began to feel like Clive, when
hauled up over the looting business, `astonished at my own moderation,'
and thought it time to invent a lion lie or two. But it was too late
then."
Again she laughed--heartily, merrily. She turned a glance of
unmitigated approval upon the man beside her. He, too, seemed rather
unlike other people, with his easy, unconventional flow of talk and
ideas; yet whether his life had been spent outside the sphere of
adventure or not, she felt certain that given an emergency he would
prove the strong, capable official, ready and able to deal with it at
the critical or perilous moment.
Elvesdon's mind, too, was running upon her and he was speculating as to
the effect her presence would have upon those among whom her lot was to
be cast for a time. She was bright, lively, natural; just the very
companion for Edala, though somewhat older. Thornhill, too, wanted
livening up; and now, seen in the light of the revelation he had heard
that morning, Elvesdon thoroughly understood the restraint which had
lain upon that household of two. This stranger from the outside world
was just the one to take both out of themselves.
They left the more open rolling country, where the road suddenly dived
down into the bosky ruggedness of a long winding valley, and here Evelyn
grew enthusiastic over the romantic grandeur of the black forest-clad
rifts sloping down from a great row of castellated crags. Here, too,
bird and animal life seemed suddenly to blossom into being. Troops of
monkeys skipped whimsically among the tree-tops chattering at the
wayfarers, and the piping of bright spreuws flashing from frond to frond
among the thorn bushes, and the call of the hoepoe, and the mellow
cooing of doves making multitudinous melody throughout the broad valley
into which they were descending, together with the quaint, grating duet
of the yellow thrush--then, too, the deep boom of great hornbills
stalking among the grass and stones, yonder, down the slope--all blended
harmoniously in the unclouded evening calm, for the sun was near his
rest now, and the stupendous krantz fronting the Sipazi mountain shone
like fire.
"Why, it is glorious," declared the newcomer gazing around. "What a
lovely country this is."
"There's our destination," said Elvesdon, pointing to the homestead
lying on the farther side of the valley beneath, whence already the dogs
were announcing their arrival in deep-mouthed clamour. "And there are
your relatives," he added, as two figures could be seen coming down from
the front stoep, "and they are already taking stock of us through
binoculars."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thornhill's greeting was quiet but cordial.
"Welcome to Sipazi," he said. "We had about given you up, but better
late than never. I am afraid you'll find it dull here, but after all,
it'll be a new experience I should think."
"Of course it will, Mr Thornhill, and a delightful one. So this is--
Edala." And the two girls kissed each other.
"How did you know my name?" said Edala, with a laugh.
"Why you don't suppose I haven't been `pumping' Mr Elvesdon all about
you during our most delightful drive out here, do you? Of course I
have." And then she began entering upon explanations as to the seeming
silence in answer to the telegram.
"Oh well, no matter. You're here now, anyhow," answered Thornhill
characteristically. And Evelyn Carden, looking up into the strong,
bearded, rather melancholy face, was deciding that she was going to like
its owner very much indeed; and Elvesdon superintending the process of
outspanning, was wondering whether these two girls were going to take to
each other; and Edala was thinking that they were.
But--somehow, with the faintest possible twinge of uneasiness, the
emphasis on those words `our most delightful drive' jarred on her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
A TRAP--AND A TRAGEDY.
Four men were seated together within a hut. This hut was one of half a
dozen which constituted a small kraal, standing at the foot of a smooth
perpendicular cliff.
Two of these four we have already seen and two we have not. The former
were Babatyana and Nxala; of the latter, one was Nteseni, an influential
chief whose kraals adjoined those of Babatyana, while the fourth was
Zisiso, a witch-doctor of great, though secret repute. As was to be
expected they were plotting. It was night, and the other inhabitants of
the kraal, if such there were, slept.
"So my _muti_ was not strong enough, Nxala?" the witch-doctor was
saying. "_Au_! I have never known it like that before."
"He who is gone was old, my father, and his hand shook," was the answer.
"Who, then, may say as to the strength of the _muti_ when scattered
upon the floor of a hut? And now Ntwezi has the vessel that contained
it."
"That should have broken in pieces," murmured Zisiso.
"Yet it did not, for it reached not the ground."
"Ntwezi is ever suspicious," commented the old man.
"Ever suspicious. But there is one who serves him who would serve him
no longer. He will be here to-night."
"That is well. We will hear him."
This witch-doctor, Zisiso, was a mild, pleasant, genial-mannered old
man, to all outward appearance, especially when he came in contact with
Europeans. Then, there was no limit to the gentle, self-deprecating
plausibility with which he alluded to himself. Elvesdon, for one, had
been completely taken in by him, and was, in fact, rather partial to
him. More than one missionary had taken him in hand; with conspicuous
success from the point of view of the missionary. But he never attended
their services or meetings. He was too old, he said. Still he was glad
to have heard such a good `word.' He would welcome death now, because
he was longing to see all the beautiful things which the _Abafundisi_
had told him were coming after.
The witch-doctor's trade is forbidden by the laws of the Colony, but it
is carried on for all that. The good old custom of `smelling out' has
of course disappeared, but what may not be done impressively and in the
light of day can be done just as effectively without making any fuss.
Someone obnoxious dies or disappears, there are plenty of ways of
accounting for his absence. He has gone away to the mines to earn
money, or he has trodden on a nail, and contracted tetanus, or his cows
gave diseased milk--and so forth. For old Zisiso was a past master on
the subject of both external and internal poisons.
It may readily be imagined in what respectful dread he was held among
the tribes. Even influential chiefs, such as these here assembled,
dared not incur his ill-will, otherwise it is probable that he would
have met with a violent and mysterious death long before; besides they
never knew when they might not be glad to turn his services to their own
account. Even the educated, semi-civilised natives dared not for their
lives have done anything to arouse his hostility.
The new Ethiopian movement was to Zisiso utterly laughable, and such
exponents of it as the Rev Job Magwegwe too contemptible for words.
But he was too polite to make public his views. A considerable section
of the people had thrown themselves into it, and the movement seemed
spreading. As an _isanusi_ all his instincts were to make a study of it
lest haply he might turn it to account.
Old Zisiso's professional instincts were not in themselves ignoble, in
that they were not dictated by lust of gain, or cupidity, beyond a
certain ingrained acquisitiveness common to all savages. Thanks to his
wide and mysterious powers, to which allusion has been made, he was
already rich in possessions beyond his needs, for he was too old to
_lobola_ for more wives. No, it was sheer pride in his profession,
similar to that which might prompt the civilised man of science to
welcome and investigate any new departure in scientific discovery. But
of course the aim towards which Magwegwe and his associates and
employers were supposed to be working, was, in the shrewd eyes of this
old sorcerer, the veriest humbug.
Personally he had no particular desire to see the whites `driven into
the sea'; an eventuality he was far too astute to believe for a moment
possible. He was old enough to remember how, under former kings in
Zululand, those of his craft, no matter how eminent and skilled, held
their lives and possessions on precarious tenure. Dingane and Mpande,
for instance, expected a great deal--a great deal too much--from their
sorcerers. Cetywayo, to be sure, did not bother his head about them, to
speak of. But there, under the rule of the _Amangisi_, he and his
brother witch-doctors could practise unhindered, always provided they
did so with due care and secrecy. What, then, was to be gained by
trying to upset the existing state of things?
These considerations should, on every ground of reason and
self-interest, have ranged old Zisiso on the side of law and order, yet
they did not. The South African native is a strangely complex animal,
and there are times when it is impossible to tell what line he may or
may not adopt, no matter how powerfully self-interest ought to move him
in a given direction, and such was the case with this one. Most
probably he was actuated by the sheer love of plotting which had
characterised his profession from time immemorial; which in fact, was
absolutely essential to the keeping-up of its very existence.
"He who comes this night," went on Nxala, "he who comes this night, will
bring back the drinking bowl of him who is gone. He has put another in
its place, and when the white doctor sees it, _au_! he will pronounce
that an _isanusi_ of the standing of Zisiso does not know what _muti_
is," he added quizzically.
"I trust not this dog of Ntwezi's," said Nteseni, gruffly. This chief
had a strong and heavy face, and though large of frame, unlike most of
his rank his size was not due to obesity--the result of a great
indulgence in _tywala_ and very little exercise. On the contrary he was
a savage of weight and muscle, and would have proved an uncommonly tough
customer even to a more than average white man if once they got to close
grips.
"Nobody trusts anybody, brother," murmured the old witch-doctor,
pleasantly. "Yet we will hear what he has to say."
"We will hear," echoed Babatyana, getting out his snuff-box, and passing
it round. Nxala prodded the fire with a stick, and the embers flared
up. There was silence as the four sat, taking snuff, the firelight
glinting on the shine of their headrings. Suddenly the raucous yaps of
a superannuated cur were heard outside.
"Here is the man from Ntwezi's, brother," said Babatyana turning to
Nxala. "Go out to him or he may be afraid."
He addressed obeyed. Those within the hut could hear the murmur of deep
tones. Then Nxala reappeared, followed by the stranger.
The latter was clad in European attire. As he stooped through the low,
arched doorway Nteseni gave the fire a vigorous kick. It flared up anew
in a sudden bright light. Nteseni had seen something--a something which
he had expected to see.
The newcomer saluted the chiefs, nor was his greeting of old Zisiso any
less respectful. The latter handed him snuff--then added humorously:
"_Ou_! I am old, I am forgetting. Those who are young, and who dwell
among the whites, take their _gwai_ in the form of smoke. Here is some,
my son," searching for a bag, "and doubtless thou hast a pipe. Fill it
then, and we will talk."
The other murmured a word of acknowledgment, and did as he was told.
Then, from the packet of his jacket--which bulged--he drew forth a
bundle. This he proceeded to undo, revealing many fragments of baked
clay, in short the fragments of a black drinking bowl.
"Here is what I promised my father," he said, addressing the
witch-doctor. "_Whau_! I put another in its place, and now I think the
_Dokotela_ will believe that Ntwezi is laughing at him."
"Yet it were better to have brought it whole," said Nteseni.
"That could I not do," answered the visitor, who was no other than
Elvesdon's native detective, Teliso. "The shape would have betrayed
it."
"M-m!" hummed the listeners.
Now Nteseni took the fragments and with extraordinary ingenuity and
patience began piecing them together. As to the latter--well they had
the whole night before them!
"There is not a piece missing," he pronounced, "no, not even a small
piece. To have left such would have been dangerous."
"Would it not, my father? But I desire the ruin of Ntwezi. He has
reduced my pay, and I would be revenged. Further, he has promised to
thrash me. I will not go back to him."
"No, thou wilt not," returned Nteseni, heavily. "I think thy place is
better here among thine own people."
"_Eh he_! That is true, my father. Among my own people."
Nteseni nodded and went out of the hut. There was nothing extraordinary
in this, and the new arrival sat there, letting his tongue go freely,
uttering, for the most part, sheer inventions--plausible inventions.
The while, he would never fail to pause so as to draw forth the comments
of his hearers. These, on their side, met him upon his own ground;
whether he was taken in or not they could not tell, but by that time it
was to them a matter of sheer indifference either way. Nteseni, who had
long since re-entered, was, for him, the most communicative.
Now Teliso was a brave man, even braver than those of his race who had
distinguished themselves on the battlefield, in that he took risks as a
matter of business and in cold blood, such as they would never have
dreamed of taking. But such risks, great as some of them had been,
especially of late, were as nothing to that which he was taking now.
And--all of a sudden he knew it.
His hand dropped carelessly to the right hand pocket of his coat--he had
acquired European ways so there was nothing extraordinary about this
move. Yet there was nothing whatever to have excited any suspicion on
his part. Not a sound had arisen outside. His entertainers sat as
before; no weapons were even visible. Old Zisiso seemed half drowsy,
and the same held good of Nteseni, while the other two, Babatyana and
Nxala were pursuing the conversation in an even, interested tone of
voice. No--it was hard to say where any suggestion of peril might have
come in, unless it was that wondrous, well-nigh supernatural intuition
characteristic of the savage. Yet at that moment Teliso, realised that
he had never been in deadlier peril in his life; no, not even when as a
very young _umfana_ he had raced, with bursting heart, and stumbling
steps, and labouring lungs, with the flying Native Contingent, for the
roaring, flooded passage of Umzinyati river, driven like dust before the
wind by Cetywayo's pursuing victorious destroyers at Isandhlwana.
At this moment he realised that he had one chance, but a desperate one.
He must shoot down, and that with lightning rapidity, at least two out
of these four, and one of the two must be Nteseni, but--what a
responsibility! Then too, he was but imperfectly skilled in the
handling of the weapon which he had instinctively brought for his own
protection. He hesitated, and--was lost.
"What is that, brother?" said Nteseni, seizing, with a grip of iron, the
wrist of the hand which held the butt of the concealed revolver. At the
same time, Nxala who was seated on the other side had pinioned his arms.
Both were powerful men, and against them Teliso had not the ghost of a
chance, even if Babatyana had not taken the opportunity of slipping the
noose of a hitherto concealed thong round his ankles, and drawing it
tight. Clearly it was useless to struggle, and in a moment he was
securely bound.
"Was this needed among `thine own people,' dog of Ntwezi?" said Nteseni,
holding up the revolver which he had drawn from the prisoner's pocket.
"No longer am! Ntwezi's dog," answered the latter.
"And was it not wisdom to bring away a useful weapon against when the
time comes?"
"Ah--ah! `When the time comes.' But the time has come--for thee, dog
of Ntwezi," sneered the chief. "There are those who talk with the
tongue of the Amangisi who heard Ntwezi himself tell another of thine
errand here to-night."
"And that other?" queried the prisoner.
"I answer no questions," was the contemptuous reply. "Thy treachery
deserves a slow and lingering death, yet we will be merciful."
He called through the doorway in a low tone, and immediately there
entered two men.
"Take him away," said Nteseni.
A wooden gag was thrust into the unfortunate man's mouth and he was
dragged outside, the three chiefs following. The old witch-doctor
remained behind.
Teliso knew that doom awaited him, but now he could not even
expostulate. The thong which bound his feet was relaxed sufficiently to
admit of his taking short steps and thus he was hurried along--whither
he had not the remotest idea.
A red moon, appropriately like a huge globe of blood, was rising over
the great cliff which dominated the kraal. On the brink, silhouetted
against it, a hyena stood and howled.
"He scents meat," said Nxala grimly. "Well he will soon have plenty."
For about half an hour thus they proceeded, their way lighted by the
lurid glow of the blood moon. Then they halted.
They had come to the brink of a high cliff which overhung a wild
desolate ravine.
"I had intended thee to be slaughtered like a goat, Teliso," said
Nteseni. "The death of the spear is not for such as thee."
With a desperate effort the prisoner had managed to slip his gag.
"The _Amangisi_ have many ropes," he said. "Even chiefs will hang by
some of them before long." Nteseni laughed.
"I think not," he answered. "Will yonder moon tell what it has seen?
Well, a high leap in the air is before thee, Teliso. Now--take it."
The unfortunate man hesitated. Those who held him stood aside.
"What? Is it then better to be slaughtered like a goat," said the chief
jeeringly. "Well then, Isazi," to one of the young men, "thy knife."
But the threat was enough. The doomed man closed his eyes, tottered,
then flung himself forward. A crash and a thud came up to the ears of
the listeners.
"You two," went on the chief, "go down yonder and take off the thongs;
his clothing was thick so they will leave no trace. And--I think Ntwezi
will need a new dog."
The redness of the blood moon lightened. Its globe grew golden.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
VENATORIAL.
"Father, I think we must take out Evelyn and show her how we shoot
bushbucks."
Thus Edala, one lovely morning at breakfast time.
"I don't mind. What do you say, Evelyn?"
"That it would be delightful. But shouldn't I be in your way?"
"Not if you keep quiet, and do as you are told," said Edala. "Oh, and
by the way, don't wear any colours. It's astonishing how you miss
chances that way."
"What have I got? Oh I know. I've got an old khaki coloured dress. At
the time of the Boer war, you know, some of us took on a fit of idiocy
in the way of khaki fever. It didn't last, of course, but I brought the
thing out here with me under a sort of vague impression it might be
useful in the veldt for knocking-about purposes."
"The very thing," cried Edala. "Now go and put it on, and I'll get into
my `Robin Hood' outfit. Father, you see about the horses."
"Anything else?"
"Yes--and the guns."
"But--but," protested the visitor, "I've never fired a gun in my life."
"You'll soon learn," returned Edala, tranquilly. "To-day, though, you
need only look on."
"What an Amazon the child is," laughed Evelyn. "Why I should never
learn. I'm much too nervous. Guns--kick--and all that sort of thing,
don't they?"
"Not if you hold them properly. But, that's where the `learning' part
of it comes in. Well, let's go and get our toggery on."
Thornhill did not immediately set to work to make arrangements for the
coming sport, instead he lit a pipe and sat thinking. Evelyn Carden had
been a guest under his roof for nearly three weeks now, and he was ready
to own that she had proved a very great acquisition indeed. She had
adapted herself so wholeheartedly to their way of life, and she and
Edala had taken to each other wonderfully. It was good for Edala to
have the companionship of someone approximately near her own age; the
difficulty hitherto had been to obtain such companionship for her. And
as regarded himself, why her demeanour was perfection. She could talk
brilliantly and well upon all his favourite topics, without ever
becoming contradictious or argumentative, as is the way of her sex. She
forestalled his every want, yet in such a tactful unobtrusive way; and
while perfectly frank and unconstrained, she always managed to bring
into her intercourse with him just that little scarcely perceptible
touch of deference which the difference between their ages rendered so
charming. It had more than once occurred to him that Edala might become
jealous, but with a certain grim sadness he had recognised that it might
not be altogether a bad thing if Edala did.
Now the said Edala reappeared, clad in what she termed her `Robin Hood
suit,' which by the way did not denote `bloomers' or any such atrocity,
but was merely an exceedingly workman-like blouse and skirt of sage
green, an excellent hue for blending with the prevailing tints of the
surrounding bush country. Her golden head was crowned by a soft felt
hat, without any adornment whatever.
"Father!" she cried, "you haven't done anything towards getting up the
horses, or getting things ready. And _we_ are ready."
"I don't see `we' all the same," he laughed. "I only see one. And the
day has hardly begun. Hullo! What's all that about?"
`That' was represented by an abominable and riotous clamour suddenly
raised by the dogs, who were lying outside. They had sprung up and were
pouring forth hideous defiance to the world at large. Quickly each had
seized the binoculars lying always handy for the scrutiny of new
arrivals or passers-by in the distance--and were out on the stoep.
"Why it's Elvesdon and--Prior," said Thornhill, lowering the glasses.
"And they've both brought guns. You didn't send word, did you, that you
were plotting this hunt?"
"No, and it's a beastly bore they've turned up just now," she answered
pettishly. "Now I can't take my gun."
"Why not?"
"You know I never shoot when there's a crowd."
"Oh well. We know Elvesdon well enough by this time, and Prior's only a
young 'un. I wouldn't let that count."
Edala did not want much persuading.
"We had better make a whole day of it then," she said. "I'll tell
Ramasam to put up lunch, and it had better be taken down to Bees' Nest
Kloof by one o'clock."
"All right, dear. Do that," said Thornhill rising.
By this time the new arrivals were riding up to the open space in front
of the stables; the dogs squirming and leaping around them and uttering
a perfectly frantic clamour. But it was an amicable riot this time, for
the guns carried by the two officials told those intelligent quadrupeds
that sport was afoot, wherefore they were simply beside themselves with
delight.
"Well, Elvesdon, how are you--how are you. Prior?" said Thornhill,
meeting the pair as they dismounted. "Why this is a case of the veriest
telepathy. Edala had just suggested we should show Miss Carden some
sport in the kloofs, and here you turn up, just in the very nick of
time."
"That so?" laughed Elvesdon. "Well, there was nothing particular doing
to-day, so this fellow here suggested we should invade you with an eye
to a buck or two."
"Glad of it. Come on in. Had breakfast?"
"Oh yes, before we left."
"Well, you'd better off-saddle for half an hour. We're not quite ready
ourselves."
Then the two girls came out. If Elvesdon, who was a sportsman to the
finger tips, had any misgiving that under the circumstances of two women
in the field the bag was likely to prove nothing very great, he decided
in his own mind, as he shook hands with Edala, that there were
compensations. The very plainness of her attire, the slight flush of
expectation in the flower-like face, the eager light in the clear blue
eyes, rendered the girl, in his sight, inexpressibly sweet and winning.
He thought he would contrive to keep her near him throughout the day,
even to the sacrifice, if need be, of his own share of the sport; which,
upon those terms, would be no sacrifice at all.
"And you, Miss Carden, are you a Diana too?" he laughed.
"No, no. I'm only going as a spectator."
"This little girl was shy about taking out a gun when she saw you
coming," said Thornhill, dropping a hand on to Edala's shoulder. "I
told her you wouldn't be hard on her if she misses."
"Er--I'm sure Miss Thornhill never misses," blurted out Prior,
immediately thinking himself an ass, an opinion in which Edala at the
moment freely shared.
"Well come on in, and have something after your ride," said Thornhill,
as a couple of boys came up to take the horses.
They were all very jolly and merry, chatting and making plans for the
day. Suddenly a tall figure appeared at the foot of the steps of the
stoep. The sight of it brought a queer look, though a momentary one to
Elvesdon's face.
"Oh, you've still got that chap, Thornhill," he said carelessly.
"Yes. I find him useful, and at times, rather interesting. I'll just
go out and see what he wants."
What Manamandhla wanted was this. The _Amakosi_, he perceived, were
about to have a hunt. Might not he come too, and help drive out the
bush? He loved to see a hunt, and could make himself of use.
Thornhill's thoughts on hearing this request were known to himself and
his Maker--incidentally, they may have been more than guessed at by the
Zulu--as he answered equably that the other could do so if he wished.
He was thinking how easy it was to mistake a man for a buck in thick
bush--and that a charge of Treble A at close quarters--And the laughter
and joking of those within came loud through the open windows; for
tragedy and mirth, are they not always more or less closely allied, and
running on parallel rails?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I say, Miss Thornhill, do let me carry your gun for you," said Prior,
eagerly, as he ranged his horse alongside. This was a new experience to
him. He had never seen a girl taking part in a hunt before, though of
course he had heard of this one doing so.
"Thanks, Mr Prior, but there's no necessity. Would you like to hold it
for me while I shoot? I am even capable of turning a door-handle for
myself at a pinch."
Elvesdon smiled, and Thornhill chuckled. Evelyn Carden did neither.
She was fond of being waltzed around, and generally thurificated.
Poor Prior dropped back snubbed. Five was an awkward number and the
track was narrow. He remembered too that he had come very near `riding
out' his chief. But the latter seemed not in any way perturbed.
Down the valley their way ran. At length they came to a neck,
overlooking a downward sweep of dense bush, intersected by a dry
watercourse. The dogs, all of a quiver with suppressed excitement,
squirmed and whined, yet ever in wholesome dread of their master's whip.
Thornhill proceeded to dispose the guns.
"Elvesdon, you go to the very bottom of the kloof--see, where those two
tree ferns stand," pointing out a spot about three quarters of a mile
away. "Prior, you take the other side, and both of you stand about
seventy yards from the _sluit_, and keep well up on the rise till you
get to your places. Edala, you take Evelyn with you. The usual place,
you know--by the red slab. There ought to be enough to keep all hands
lively to-day, we haven't hunted this kloof for half a year. I'll drive
down, with Manamandhla and Mlamvu. Give you all twenty minutes before
we start," getting out his watch.
"Right," cried Elvesdon. "Come along, Prior."
Their way lay together up to a certain point. Then Edala and Evelyn
plunged down through a straggling, gappy opening between the thicker
recesses of the bush.
"This looks as if it was going to be exciting," said the latter, none
too much at her ease among this kind of rather rough riding.
"By Jove, and it is," returned Edala, who in moments of animation was
apt to be unconventional in her speech. "We'll leave the horses here,"
she went on, sliding from her saddle, and giving her companion--who
although a good `seat' in the Row, was not quite so ready at getting on
and off as one who scarcely remembered when she could not ride--a
helping hand to doing likewise.
"Now, come along," she said, starting downwards among the loose stones,
yet hardly disturbing one of them, "and don't make any more row than you
can help."
A very few minutes of this descent brought them to a place where the
bush forked away into a comparatively open space. Below, the dry
watercourse ran, some sixty yards distant. About half that distance a
low, broad, flat rock of a reddish tint lay like a huge table.
"You always get a shot here," whispered Edala. "The bucks always scoot
along the same track, just the other side of the red slab. I pull off
on them at five yards this side of it, then, if I miss, I get them with
the second barrel when they show up beyond it."
"Shall we--shall you--get a chance to-day?" whispered the other, who had
caught her companion's excitement.
"Rather. You'll see. But get back a little more. You're showing too
much. An old bushbuck ram is no end of a _slim_ beast. The least sight
of you, and he'll double back. Ah! Now they're starting."
"Are these bucks dangerous?" asked Evelyn, her excitement for the moment
somewhat clouded by the feminine instinct of scare. It would have been
different, of course, had she been beside one of the men--her host or
Elvesdon for instance--but when her only bulwark was merely another
girl, why the thing seemed to take on a different aspect.
"Dangerous? Good Lord, no. But a wounded ram, who's still got the use
of his legs, well it doesn't do to go up to him. They've got beastly
horns, and I've twice seen a dog stuck through and through."
The English-bred girl looked at the Colonial one, with some curiosity, a
touch of increased respect and a great deal of admiration. The flush of
excitement which had come into Edala's cheeks, the sparkle in her
fearless blue eyes, rendered the face surpassingly beautiful.
"Oh, I'm not afraid with you, dear," rejoined Evelyn. "Only--you must
bear with an ignoramus."
"Ssh!" said Edala, holding up a hand. "No more talking now."
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
"DIANE CHASSERESSE."
For, from above, came a clamour of sound. Thornhill was riding along
the upper side of the kloof, Manamandhla was beating down the centre,
where the watercourse ran, and Mlamvu, the other native, was making
daylight hideous with the wild whoops and yells that marked his
progress. The dogs, questing to and fro, filled the air with their
deep-mouthed ravings.
This racket faint at first, drew nearer and nearer, where the two girls
stood, behind their cover of bush and stone. There came a sound of
crashing through the bushes, making straight towards them. Edala held
her gun in right business-like fashion--no mere toy-gun but an
up-to-date Number 12 hammerless--ready to bring to her shoulder. The
other was in a very whirl of excitement. Then the sound ceased.
"It has gone back," she whispered. "Never mind. Father will get it."
Even as she spoke the clamour of the dogs was renewed, and, with it, a
distant shot, away up on the hillside behind. But at the same time
another sound of disturbance, not so violent, but much nearer, and--this
too was coming straight towards them.
Edala set her lips. Her gaze was concentrated on a point where the more
open ground seemed to triangle into the thicker bush. Then, something
leaped into the open, and crossed in leisurely bounds in front of them.
It was a magnificent bushbuck ram--whose spiral horns, almost straight,
looked of record length. Edala's gun was at her shoulder and the report
rang out. The full charge of Treble A ripped through the dark,
chocolate coloured hide, and the beast fell, as though knocked over by a
stone, kicking and rolling, and uttering a raucous, agonised bellow.
"Oh, well done! well done!" cried Evelyn, clapping her hands and
springing forward.
"Keep back--keep back," warned Edala, restraining her. "Didn't I tell
you they could be dangerous? And this one has a kick left in him yet."
He certainly had, for although the charge had crippled him it had been
planted rather far back, and now the buck rose on his forelegs, still
bellowing savagely and shaking his needle pointed horns.
"I'll give him another shot," said Edala. "Wait now."
But before she had quite got her aim on, the dogs rushed out of the bush
and flung themselves open-mouthed on the wounded quarry. Snarling and
leaping, they avoided the formidable horns, and, making their attack
carefully from the rear, in a moment had pulled down the stricken
animal, not, however, before one of them had received an ugly gash along
the ribs.
"Well done, little one," sang out Thornhill, who was coming down the
slope towards them. "You've opened the day well, anyhow. What do you
think, Evelyn?"
"Oh, it was splendid. But I don't know. It's a little different to
pheasant shooting," she added, with a look at the copious effusion of
blood, which the dogs were eagerly lapping.
"Yes, of course. Oh well, you needn't look at this part of it,"--as
Manamandhla, who had come up, was setting to work on the butchering side
of the sport. "We'll drive on now and give those other two chaps a
show. By the way, I got another up there. It was only a half grown
ram, and rather far, so I downed him with a bullet."
"Come on, Evelyn. We'll help drive," cried Edala.
"No--no," struck in her father. "You girls would get torn to pieces
down there, with your skirts. You go along outside where the bush ends.
Very likely something'll jump out there."
But nothing did. They heard the sudden clamour raised by the dogs in
full cry, and could mark the course of the quarry by the tremble of the
bush fronds as it crashed through--then, far down the kloof, a shot rang
out from where Prior was posted. Suddenly there was a strange squawking
call, and two large reddish birds rose into the air.
"Vaal koorhaan, by Jingo!" ejaculated Edala, reining in her mount. It
was an old shooting pony and stood like a stone. Up went her gun--and
with the report one of the birds swerved violently while a cloud of
feathers puffed from its side; then it fell heavily to the ground. Its
mate still uttering the same squawking cry, was fast disappearing into
space.
"That's splendid," cried the girl sliding from her horse to pick up the
bird; which had been killed clean, and lay with outspread wings. "Fifty
paces or very near it. You know, Evelyn, vaal koorhaan are not common,
and you can hardly ever get within shot range of them. You can `down'
them with a rifle of course, but not often, for they're precious _slim_.
Lovely feathers too. You shall have them for a hat, in memento of your
first hunt."
"Thanks. That will be jolly," stroking the beautiful red-brown and
pearl-grey plumage. "And they're so soft. What sort of bird is it,
Edala?"
"Kind of little bustard," answered Edala, who was tying it on the `D' of
her saddle. "Ripping good skoff they are, too. I say--there's a
bombardment going on down there. Wonder what they've got."
For below, in the near distance, two double reports had rung out, then a
single one. The yelling of the dogs, and the whooping of the beaters
had arrived at a climax of clamour, then suddenly ceased.
"Look out," exclaimed Edala excitedly and in a low tone, as she slid
from her horse. "There's something coming out here. No. It has broken
back, whatever it is--" noting the tremulous line among the branches
beneath and an occasional faint thud as of hoofs. "Well, let's go down
and see what they've got."
On reaching the spot, where all now had foregathered, it transpired that
Prior had turned over two bushbuck ewes, while Elvesdon pleaded guilty
to shamefully missing a ram with both barrels.
"Never mind, we've not done so badly," pronounced Thornhill. "Four
bucks to four guns out of one kloof isn't altogether rotten. Edala,
what have you got there? A vaal koorhaan, by the living Jingo. Sitting
or on the wing?"
"As if I should answer that!" was the reply, in scathing accents.
"She shot it from the saddle too," put in Evelyn.
"From the saddle did she? Well done, little girl. Well, that is
something like."
Prior gave a loud whistle.
"By Jingo, I should think it was! Why, it's a record, Miss Thornhill."
"Oh, I don't know. Old Witvoet is very steady," said the girl. "It's
like shooting from an armchair."
They talked and laughed, and compared notes, while Manamandhla and the
two other natives--for one more had overtaken them according to
instructions--were engaged in gralloching the quarry; to them a
congenial task, for many a tid-bit in the shape of liver and heart found
its way surreptitiously into their mouths. The dogs pounced hungrily
upon the refuse that was thrown them.
"Not a nice sight, Miss Carden," said Elvesdon, who had noticed a slight
grimace of disgust. "Well, don't look at it. These are the little
unpleasantnesses inseparable from this kind of sport, you know."
"Oh of course. Why it was foolish of me to even seem to mind. I won't
again."
Then the word was given to move on. The quarry was placed in trees,
where it could be collected after the day's doings were over, and they
began on the next kloof. But it proved a blank, except for an ugly
bloated puff adder which Prior cut in two with a charge of shot on the
way to take up his position, and by the time they had beaten out the
bush, the sun and a fine healthy appetite owned to on the part of all
hands, warned that it was high time for something substantial in the way
of refreshment.
"Here we are," cried Edala, as they topped a rise, "and here comes the
skoff," as the figures of two native women, each with a substantial
basket on her head could be seen approaching by a narrow bush path.
"This is Bees' Nest Kloof, Evelyn. I've never brought you here yet.
Look. Half way up that krantz there's a good sized cleft which holds
the bees' nest, and it's always there because no one can possibly get at
it to take it out. If you get them against the sun you can see the bees
going in and out."
"So they are," said Evelyn shading her eyes. The krantz was a small
one, about fifty or sixty feet high, and in its shade they all
dismounted. In a trice the baskets were unpacked--knives and forks,
enamelled plates and cups, and several substantial looking parcels being
laid out on a rug. Thornhill extracted a comfortable looking bottle.
"Elvesdon, help yourself. Prior, have a glass of grog. We've all
earned it at any rate."
The while the boys had got together a fire and as by magic a boiling
kettle of coffee was before the party. And the cold viands were done
very ample justice to, for the open air in South Africa is the finest
appetiser in the world, and have we not said that Ramasam was an
exceptionally good cook?
"Well, this is the very jolliest kind of picnic," pronounced Elvesdon,
as he lay in cool comfort on the sward, after they had lunched, filling
his pipe.
"Hear hear!" cried Prior emphatically, beginning to perform a like
operation. "I say, sir. Give us a fill from yours. My _gwai_ has all
run to dust." Elvesdon chucked him his pouch.
The two girls were busy putting away the things. They had rejected
offers of help.
"We know where to pack the things and you don't," Edala had said. "You
sit still and smoke, then you'll shoot all the better for it."
"Thanks, Miss Thornhill," answered Elvesdon, remembering his double
miss.
"Oh, I didn't mean anything, really I didn't. Never mind. There'll be
plenty of chances of retrieving your character."
"Won't you come and stand near me at the next _voer-ly_?" he said.
"Then you'll have all the fun of being an eye-witness."
She laughed.
"Yes, you'd have to be on your mettle then. Well I'll come and
encourage you. I don't think I'll shoot just yet, myself. I believe
I've ever so slight a touch of headache. Later, perhaps--when it gets
cooler."
Then Prior had begun to express unbounded concern. Why of course Miss
Thornhill ought to keep quiet, and as much out of the sun as possible.
A headache! Fancy that! and no wonder, since it had been so jolly hot--
and so on, and so on--till his official chief experienced a savage
desire to kick him soundly, in that the blundering idiot was drawing
attention to a little arrangement he was wanting to bring off quite
unostentatiously.
However, that had soon passed, and now Elvesdon lay there, puffing out
smoke, and in full enjoyment of life and this situation therein. He was
not overmuch inclined to talk, either; a deficiency for which his
subordinate seemed abundantly inclined to make up. He was watching the
girl, as she moved about; the erect poise of the gold-crowned head, the
swift play of the thick lashes, the straight glance of the clear blue
eyes, the full throat, the mellow, clear, whole-hearted laugh.
Everything about her, every movement, so natural and unstudied; the
flash of each smile which lighted up her face--ah, all this had had too
large a share in his dreaming and waking hours of late.
Then he found himself comparing her with Evelyn Carden. The latter--
sweet, gracious, reposeful--would have appealed--appealed powerfully to
many men; but there was no comparison between the two, decided this one.
He looked at Thornhill, now as he had done since the doctor's
revelation, in a new light. How could it be true? How could such a man
as this have been by any means led into the committal of a cold-blooded
murder. No. The idea could not be entertained--not for one single
moment could it, he decided. And yet--!
The place where they rested was an ideal of sylvan loveliness, the green
glade overhung by the rugged face of the cliff, from whose ledges and
interstices jutted here and there the spider-like spikiness of sprouting
aloes, or the slender stiff stem of the Kafir bean. Away on three sides
swept the tumbled masses of bush verdure; here a ridge, there a rift; in
whose cool, shaded depths the melody of bird voices made music without
ceasing. Beyond, a towering mountain cone, its steep sides shimmering
in the mid-day heat against the deep blue of an unclouded sky, and the
splendid air, warm yet invigorating, hummed to the music of
harvesting-bees. Even the group of natives, squatted a little distance
off, lent a picturesque feature as they talked in a drowsy undertone,
and the great, rough-haired dogs lying on their sides panting in the
shade bore their part in the picture. And the day was but half
through--and there was that gold-crowned head dazzling his glance as
though he were gazing at the sun--and life was very well worth living
indeed--and there, not so very many miles away, in just such a sweet and
restful spot as this, lay the mangled body of dead Teliso; for so do the
tragic and the idyllic run side by side on parallel rails. By and bye
these might be destined to converge.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
MANAMANDHLA'S ESCAPE.
The horses were caught and saddled up. As they rode forth from their
resting place, Edala was exchanging banter with Elvesdon, and in the
ring of her dear merry laugh there was no suggestion of a sufferer from
headache.
"Now then," said Thornhill, reining in at the head of a long, deep, wild
ravine. "We must arrange our strategy." And he looked from the one to
the other.
"I'll go and see Mr Elvesdon miss," said Edala, unhesitatingly. "I
know exactly where to place him, and he'll have the best chances of
missing he's ever had in his life."
There was a laugh at this, led by the victim himself.
"Then who'll take care of Miss Carden?"
Prior looked up eagerly, but before he could say anything, Evelyn
remarked quietly:--
"Do let me ride with you, Mr Thornhill. It will be just as interesting
to see how the things are driven out, as to see how they are shot."
"But, I'm going down into the thick of the kloof this time. How about
skirts?"
"Oh, that's all right. I'll keep behind you when it gets thick."
"Very well then if you do that. There's a tolerable attempt at a path
down there. Prior, you keep along the top, on the right--hundred yards
in front of us, or a little more."
Thornhill was pleased. He was glad to have Evelyn with him. There was
something about her that was both congenial and restful. And then she
was so tactful and considerate. As a matter of fact he had been
meditating whether to ask her to accompany him, but had decided not to.
Why should she be bored with an old fogey, while there were young ones
in the party? And she--well she must have read his thoughts, and of her
own initiative had offered to accompany him. This was the sort of thing
that Edala never did. Time had been, when as a child she had adored
him, when his every word was law, when she would give up anything and
everything to be with him. Now, all this was reversed. In these days
she never thought of consulting his wishes, let alone of forestalling
them; and the change had caused him many an hour of bitter reflection
and disappointment.
"We can start now," he pronounced. "Those two will have had time to get
into position."
They moved forward and downward, keeping near the bottom of the kloof,
while the three natives, spread out on each side, whooped and rapped
with their sticks. The way lay now through growth of some denseness,
now beneath overhanging trees, or a cliff in miniature, its brow lined
with a row of straight stemmed euphorbia. It was hot down here in the
kloof, in spite of the abundant shade.
But Evelyn Carden's thoughts were all upon the man riding in front of
her, and she had all but lost sight of the object of their being there
at all, sport to wit. This new relative of hers was clean outside all
her experience. She admired his strength, his decisive downrightness,
his easy refinement of speech and thought; and that in the teeth of the
fact that his earlier life had been rough and hard, and, not
infrequently perilous. Yet, throughout, those instincts of culture had
not only been retained but had developed, and she was forced to own to
herself that he was the most delightful companion she had ever met.
And Edala? She was fond of the girl--very--yet there were times when
she could not but feel secretly angry with her; she had too much _savoir
faire_, however, to let any trace of it appear. Edala did not
appreciate her father in the least: on the contrary she treated him with
coldness, even bordering upon repulsion. Of course, of any actuating
cause underlying such behaviour she was absolutely ignorant, for they
saw no neighbours except perhaps Elvesdon; nor even had they, it is
certain that to a stranger and a relative of those concerned, nothing
would have been whispered. Besides, was not the whole thing now matter
of ancient history?
As they rode along in the bosky shadiness of the deep kloof bottom, the
shouts of the beaters on either side, the sudden clangour of the dogs as
they struck the spoor of a recently alarmed buck, then the crack of a
shot down at the farther end, it seemed to Evelyn Carden that the
experience was wholly delightful and exhilarating. She could hardly
have told why--but it was so. She was not so very young, and she had
had some experiences of life. Perhaps she preferred not to tell herself
the `why.'
Thornhill, on his part, was not thinking of her at all by this time, or
if so it was only to wish she had elected to accompany someone else,
which at first sight seems blackly ungrateful of him. Still less was he
thinking of the sport, unless in a mechanical way. But Manamandhla,
moving parallel with himself some forty yards distant through the thick,
high bush; Manamandhla visible to himself, but both invisible to the
rest of the on-driving line, how easy to have mistaken him for a buck--
to have _mistaken_ him. It would be rather the act of a Johnny Raw, but
then, men of ripe judgment and lifelong experience had been known to
make similar mistakes. Surely such a chance would not occur again. If
only Evelyn had not volunteered to accompany him.
A fell, lurid obsession had seized upon this man's mind, yet not so as
to obscure his judgment, only to do away utterly with all sense of ruth
or compunction. This calm, patient savage, who had reappeared--had
risen, as it were, from the very dead, to blood-suck him--to batten upon
him for the rest of his natural life--had got upon even his strong
nerves. He was ageing, he told himself, and all through this. Again
the Zulu's broad back presented a magnificent mark for a charge of
Treble A. There would be an end of the incubus, and `_accidents will
happen_.' But then--there was Evelyn riding immediately behind him.
"Well, Mr Thornhill. We seem to have drawn this fairly blank, too,"
said her cheerful, pleasing voice, as the bush thinned out in front of
them. "Let's see what they've got There was a shot in front, wasn't
there?"
Elvesdon and Edala were standing, waiting for them. On the ground lay a
dead bushbuck ewe.
"`_Diane chasseresse_' again," cried the former, gaily. "Neat shot too.
Going like the wind."
"Well, you made me do it, you know," protested Edala. "I said I didn't
want to shoot any more just yet."
"Of course," laughed Elvesdon. "It was the first opportunity I've had
of witnessing your prowess, and I preferred that to your witnessing my
lack of it."
As a matter of fact the speaker was a first-rate shot, but there were
days when he was `off'--and this was one of them, he said.
"Well, it's better than nothing," pronounced Thornhill. "Still, we
ought to have got more out of there. We'll take the next kloof down,
then sweep round for home."
"All right," cried Edala. "Now Mr Elvesdon, we'll lay _voer_ again,
and this time I'm really going to see you miss."
"That'll be a new and delightful experience," said Elvesdon with his
usual imperturbability. As a matter of fact he meant every word he
said. He would have this girl to himself for the best part of another
hour, in the sweet sunshine of the golden afternoon. What did he care
for the business of the day. He could always get sport--but this--no.
So the pair started off once more by a circuitous way, to reach the
bottom of the kloof where they should conceal themselves. Thornhill,
watching them, felt well satisfied. Things were going just as he would
have them. Things sometimes went that way, and when they did there was
no point in interfering with them, or hurrying them from outside. At
any rate such was his philosophy.
"Now, Evelyn, I daresay Prior will take care of you," he said. "This
kloof is confoundedly tangled and difficult. There are _klompies_ of
_haakdorrn_ too, here and there, which would tear that pretty skirt of
yours into tatters."
"But--are you going to drive on again? You don't ever get a shot down
there in that thick bush," she urged, half reproachfully.
"Oh, don't I? I've an idea I shall this time. You get up along the top
side with Prior."
The fell significance of his words was apparent only to his own mind, as
indeed how should it be otherwise? Evelyn obeyed the order
unquestioningly. She only said, in a half undertone, "You take care
that everybody else gets the lion's share of the fun, anyhow."
The foremost pair were hurrying along the ridge, now cantering, now
walking. At length they reached their allotted station at the bottom of
the kloof. The latter was steep, like the other, only the bush was less
thick.
"I don't care for this end at all," said Edala, when they had
dismounted, and having hidden the horses, returned to take up their
position. "Look. I'm sure we'll be better up there," pointing to a
spot about a hundred yards higher up. "Let's stand there."
"Won't it be a bit risky? You see, your father will expect us to be
here, and supposing he were to fire at anything just at that point on
the strength of it?"
"That's not likely. Everything will have run out too far ahead of him
by the time he gets there. Come."
"Oh, all right."
They dived into the bush, penetrating it higher up into the kloof. By
the time they halted it was not the hundred yards it looked, but over
two.
"This will do," she said. "Now you're not to miss."
Their position was a little plateau, whence they could see without being
seen. First-rate shots could be obtained of everything that ran out--
and everything that did run out would pass within easy range, by reason
of the narrowness of the way. Above, too, they would have ample warning
of anything coming, for the bush though just thick enough, was not too
dense.
"_Diane chasseresse_, you are splendid to-day," whispered Elvesdon as
they took up their position. She looked straight into his face, and on
hers came a half resentful expression.
"Oh now, now. That'll do," she answered, half pettishly. "I suppose
you think because I'm a girl I've no business in this sort of thing at
all. I know I'm about the only one who goes in for it--except in
England. There you get the Duchess of this and the Countess of that,
and Lady Tom Noddy and all the rest of them placarded in the illustrated
weeklies in shooting costume, with their guns, and so on; but here--oh
no, the ordinary she-mortal mustn't touch sport, just because she is a
she. What?"
"Nothing. Don't be so petulant."
"Ah--ah! That's what you were thinking. I know it."
"Don't crow now. You're not a thought-reader. And,"--he added to
himself, "I sometimes wish you were."
She made an impatient movement--something, we believe, of the nature of
that which our grandmothers called a `flounce.'
"Why shouldn't I shoot bushbucks?" she said, defiantly. "Tell me."
"When you have told me when I said you shouldn't. Now why on earth have
you raised all this bother about nothing in the world? Tell me."
She looked at him for a moment as though not knowing whether to be angry
or not. But the insidious imitation of her tone in the last two words
was too much, and she burst out laughing.
"Ssh!" he said, reprovingly. "We mustn't make such a row, or Prior will
get all the shots. Nothing will come our way."
Hardly were the words out of his mouth than the dogs burst into cry
again. But the sound did not come their way, whatever had been roused
had broken away at right angles. Then away back and above there rang
out a shot.
"Prior again," whispered Elvesdon. "What did I tell you?"
They waited in silence. Then Edala whispered:
"Poor chance now. There's Manamandhla just underneath. The drive is
nearly over."
The Zulu was, as she had said, just beneath. He had halted, and bending
down seemed to be trying to get a thorn out of his foot. At the same
time Thornhill appeared in sight riding slowly down the other side.
Suddenly he caught sight of Manamandhla.
He was barely a hundred yards away. The very expression of his face,
the quick, stealthy manner in which he had dismounted--was apparent to
the two watchers--and then--Thornhill was taking deliberate aim at the
unconscious Zulu. At that short distance he could not miss.
The sharp, warning cry that escaped the pair came too late--yet not, for
the bullet just grazed its intended mark, and glancing off a rock hummed
away right over Edala's head, so near, indeed, that she involuntarily
ducked.
"Father. It's Manamandhla," she cried. "You nearly shot him."
"Did I. Serve him right if I had," came back the answer. "What's the
fool doing stalking on all fours instead of keeping on his hind legs?
That's the way to get shot by mistake in thick bush."
Edala and her companion had exchanged glances. Neither had meant to do
so, wherefore the glance of each was quick, furtive, involuntary. And
the glance of each revealed to the other that both knew that that shot
had not been fired by mistake at all.
"You nearly shot me too, father," Edala said, as he joined them, and
there was an unconscious coldness in her tone. Thornhill's face lost
colour.
"You had no business to be where you are," was all he said whatever he
may have felt. "Your position was quite two hundred yards further down.
Nothing brings about shooting accidents so much as people changing the
positions they arranged to take up."
"Lucky we did or Manamandhla would have been shot," she returned, and
felt angry with herself for being unable to restrain a certain
significance in her tone.
"That he most assuredly would. You sang out just too late to keep me
from firing but not too late to spoil my aim."
But the man most concerned, was the least concerned of all. Manamandhla
himself to wit. From his demeanour he need not have just experienced
the narrowest shave he was ever likely to have in his life. When
Thornhill rated him he merely smiled and said nothing.
"Well, we can reckon the day as over," said Thornhill, as Prior and
Evelyn joined them at the bottom of the kloof--the latter had bagged
what had been driven out in front of him, a duiker ram to wit. "We
might have done better, and we might have done worse. Five bushbucks
and a duiker among four guns--"
"And a vaal koorhaan," put in Elvesdon. "Don't forget the vaal
koorhaan, Thornhill. _Diane chasseresse_ has the honours of the day."
"Hear, hear!" cried Prior.
Thornhill laughed--easily, carelessly. He instinctively felt that both
his daughter and Elvesdon were aware that if his last shot had been
successful Manamandhla would have met his death by no accident at all.
But he was not the man to give himself away.
"Sorry for your ill luck, Elvesdon," he said. "We may get another
chance on the way home, even now."
"Oh that's all right. I'm a bit `off' to-day, I suppose. Better luck
next time."
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
PEACE--AND POTENTIALITIES.
"If I had had such a father as yours, Edala, I should simply have
worshipped him."
"I daresay. In fact it strikes me that that's just about what you're
doing with regard to mine."
The retort was crisp, not to say scathing. Evelyn Carden was angry with
herself for changing colour slightly, the while those clear blue eyes
were pitilessly searching her face. But she was not going to quarrel
with Edala, so she answered conciliatorily:--
"Now dear, you know I never meant to offend you. Why should I? We have
got on so well together. What I said was for your own happiness; that
and nothing else. Of course I've no earthly right to even seem to
`lecture' you."
"Not yet," was the still more scathing retort which arose to the other
girl's lips. Fortunately she checked it. She looked up, as though
waiting for more.
"I am not a gushing person, Edala dear, but I have grown very fond of
you since I have been here. I would not have said anything about this
estrangement but that it suddenly struck me--and struck me with horror--
that I might have been the unconscious cause of deepening it, or at any
rate that you thought I had been. So I think I will find some excuse
and--move on."
Edala softened. She was really fond of the other, and did not, in her
heart of hearts, wish to see the last of her.
"No, you won't, Evelyn," she answered with characteristic decisiveness.
"You'll stay where you are. Never mind me. If I said anything beastly
I'm more than sorry."
What Thornhill had half welcomed in advance had come about. Edala was
jealous. All that she might have done for her father, and had neglected
to do, was done by their visitor. Did he want anything found for him--
from some article mislaid, to some quotation in the course of his
recreative studies--Evelyn was the one to do it, not Edala. Or did he
want a companion in his semi-professional rides about the farm, Evelyn
never by any chance refused or made excuse, but Edala often did, not
only of late but when they had been alone together. In short, at every
turn he met with far more consideration from this stranger than from his
own child.
The incident which had led to the present discussion had occurred the
day before, and was of just such a nature. Edala did not care to go
out; it was too hot; besides, she had something else to do. But Evelyn
had made no such excuse.
"I'm afraid I'm straining your good nature to cracking point," Thornhill
had more than once remarked on such occasions. "It's rather more
cheerful having some one with you than not, but I believe you never say
`No' because you think it a duty not to."
"In that case a duty becomes a pleasure," she had answered with a laugh.
Now of late Edala had been set thinking, and as the result of her
searchings of heart a certain soreness had set in. Their visitor seemed
to be taking her place, and yet she could not blame the visitor. If she
would not do things for her father herself she could not fairly blame
another person for doing them instead; yet none the less did she feel
sore.
But since the incident at the wind-up of the bushbuck hunt the
estrangement had widened. That her father had intended to shoot
Manamandhla dead, she entertained not the slightest doubt. In the first
place a man of his judgment could by no possibility be guilty of such a
clumsy blunder as mistaking a human being for a buck under any
circumstances whatever. In the next place the expression of his
countenance had told its own tale, not only to herself but to the other
witness, Elvesdon. What was it, then, but an act of cold-blooded,
deliberate murder--in intent? Clearly there existed the strongest
reasons for silencing the Zulu? And then a ghastly thought came into
her mind. Could it be that he had been an accomplice in that terrible
tragedy whose shadow had so early darkened her young life? Her first
repulsion for the Zulu--which had begun to give way to a reaction in his
favour since his narrow escape from death--returned a hundredfold with
this new idea. Should she question him, she asked herself? What was
the use? He would tell her nothing.
"Don't think any more about it, dear," Evelyn now rejoined. "It was
only that I can see how bitterly your father feels your attitude towards
him that moved me to refer to a matter which you have every right to
tell me is no business of mine at all."
Edala hardened again.
"Has he been--complaining then?" she said, with a return of bitterness.
"Is it likely? Is he that sort of man, do you think? Ah child, you
don't know what you are doing when you are throwing away the affection
of such a father as yours, and repelling and wounding him at every turn.
And some day, when it is too late, you may--"
She stopped. The other had put out a hand and stopped her. Those were
just her father's own words, and now, for the first time, they struck
her as horribly prophetic. Her eyes filled.
"I'm several years older than you, Edala, and I've seen a very great
deal of life from all its sides. Mind, I'm not saying this to patronise
or talk down to you, only to emphasise what an appallingly scarce thing
real affection is. And I can't bear to go away without having made some
effort towards making you realise it too. That's all that lies at the
bottom of my `beastly interference,' as you are calling it within your
own mind," she added with a smile.
"`To go away'!" repeated Edala, with scornful emphasis, and dropping a
hand upon that of the other. "But you're not going away, so don't let's
hear any more about it."
"I've not come to live here, you know," was the laughing rejoinder.
"Well then, we won't talk any more about parting company just yet since
you're not quite so anxious to get rid of me as I thought. Do you know,
Edala, I have hardly any friends, almost none--acquaintances, yes,"--in
reply to the look of astonishment evoked by the statement--"plenty of
them. I am not exactly poor either--not in these days, though I have
known the meaning of cruel straits--and can do what I like and go where
I like, within modest limits. But I have been very happy here--I don't
know when I have enjoyed any time so much."
"I should have thought you'd have found it beastly slow," said Edala,
wonderingly, and speaking in the light of her own unsatisfied
aspirations. Her new relative was a great enigma to her. Why, for
instance, with all her advantages had she never married? though this to
her was nothing very wonderful, for she herself, given the same
advantages, would have thought of that time-honoured institution as so
remote a contingency as not to be worth consideration. Again she seldom
said much about her people, or her earlier life, except in a vague and
generalising sort of way.
"Anything but that," answered Evelyn. "Why I feel in twice the form I
was in when I came."
"You look it too."
This was bare fact. The joyous, healthy, outdoor life in a splendid and
genial climate, had set its mark upon Evelyn Carden; had heightened her
outward attractions, at the first not inconsiderable, as we have shown.
"You know," went on Edala, "there are precious few places in this
country where they five the life we live--I mean as far as we womenkind
are concerned. Anywhere else you'd have been stuck down to read, and
play the piano, and talk gossip--with an occasional ride or drive to
some similar and neighbouring place to go through the same exercises
within the limit of a day. They wouldn't have stuck you on a horse, and
romped you about over all sorts of rough country, bushbuck hunting and
all that. Why they'd be horrified at the bare idea--though, I forgot--
we haven't been able to teach you to shoot, yet."
Evelyn laughed.
"I'm sorry to say you haven't, and I'm sadly afraid now that you never
will. I suppose I haven't been caught young enough."
Both Edala and her father had done all they knew how to impart that
instruction. They had assured. Evelyn that within a week at the
outside she would be able to turn over her first bushbuck. But it was
of no use. She got plenty of chances, but when the rushing, frightened
antelope broke covert and bounded by like the wind, her nerve played her
tricks, and she would blindly lash off both barrels at anything or
nothing. And then, too, the gun would kick, as even the best gun will
do if badly held; and after a bruised cheekbone, and a badly aching
shoulder she had decided that that form of sport was not at all in her
line. They had, however, taught her how to handle a revolver, though
she was very far indeed from being able to make prize shooting with the
same.
The two were seated in the shade of the tall fig-trees during the hot
hours of the forenoon when this conversation had taken place--this
conversation which had opened with every sign of storm, and had drifted
into calm haven of peace. Edala, for her part, felt all her new born
jealousy allayed. She felt compunctious, even inclined to act on the
other's warning and advice. It was in quite a softened mood that she
turned to her father, who now joined them, looking hot and tired.
"Here, get into this chair," she cried, jumping up and pushing him into
hers. "You look fagged. I'm going in to get you something to drink.
I'm sure you want it."
"Yes do, darling," he answered seizing her for a moment to press a kiss
on the shining aureole of her gold-crowned head. "Well, what have you
two been talking about?" as he subsided thankfully into the comfortable
seat.
"Many things more or less interesting. Edala has at last come to the
conclusion that I'm a hopelessly bad case because I can't do anything
with that wretched gun. I told her I wasn't caught young enough."
"Ho--ho! Not young enough! That's good."
"Now don't you start making compliments, Inqoto, because they aren't in
your line at all," she answered, placidly. And then Edala reappeared
and the golden sparkle in the decanter and the cold gurgle in the porous
water `monkey'--was grateful sight and sound to a tired and thirsty man.
Evelyn often called him by his native name. It was a complimentary one
and therefore convenient. They all disliked the prefix of `Cousin,'
while if she conferred upon him the brevet rank of uncle why it made him
out so old. So this came in handy.
"That's good!" he cried draining the glass at one pull, and chucking it
down in the grass. "You girls look cool and comfy. What have you been
doing with yourselves?"
"Taking it easy."
"So it would seem," he laughed, looking at them both approvingly. He
was thinking how different life had been to him since Evelyn Carden's
arrival. She was so eminently companionable, so tactful and
sympathetic. And she looked so soothing and attractive, sitting there
opposite him now; and some day she would be going away. The thought was
unpleasant. The object of it looked up.
"What is troubling you? You heaved no end of a sigh."
"Did I, dear? I suppose it was one of contentment. I'm a little tired
and I'm resting. That may account for it. Getting old."
Evelyn laughed pleasantly.
"Don't fish, Inqoto. I've witnessed your prowess at shooting, but never
at fishing. I suspect you'd prove as poor a hand at that as you are
good at the other."
"Well, well, if you women won't take a man seriously, I suppose you
won't. By the way, I fell in with one of Elvesdon's boys with a
_brievje_ for me. I took it from him to save him the trouble of coming
any further. Elvesdon's down at Tongwana's collecting. He'll have
finished to-morrow, and wants us to go down there in the afternoon. Old
Tongwana's going to turn out a lot of his people and give a war-dance in
our honour. What do you say?"
"Say? Why yes--of course," said Edala decisively. "It'll be no end of
fun."
"Rather," said Evelyn.
"Well, I thought that would be the verdict, so I sent back a verbal
answer on the chance of it."
"It's awfully kind of Mr Elvesdon," went on Evelyn. "What a fine
looking man he is, by the way."
"Rather; and he's a smart all round chap as well with no nonsense about
him. I took to him from the very first," answered Thornhill. But Edala
said nothing, though it may be that she _thought_.
So they chatted on, seated there in the secure peace of the golden
morning, little recking that the hours of that peace might be already
numbered; that this might be the last of such days for a long and
terrible time to come--if not for ever.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
THE WAR-DANCE AT TONGWANA'S.
Elvesdon was seated at a table within an open tent, together with his
clerk--a table littered with official books and documents. He rose
quickly at the sound of horse-hoofs and went forth to welcome the party.
"Thornhill--how are you? Miss Carden--you are taking on a fine healthy
sunburn--and as for _Diane chasseresse_--why words fail."
He had taken to so nicknaming Edala since the bushbuck hunt and she
seemed rather to like it. They laughed, and after a little more banter
Thornhill said:
"Had any bother with the people, Elvesdon?"
"Not a grain. They've all paid up right willingly. It's when we get to
Babatyana's place that we may find trouble."
"Where is the dance to be held, Mr Elvesdon?" said Evelyn. "Here?"
"Why not? It's as good a place as any. I'll ask Tongwana."
He called to the old chief, who was seated on the ground among a small
group a little way off. Tongwana came forward, and saluted Thornhill,
and there was a lot of talk and banter.
"I have not seen thee since the day of the `king of serpents' my
father," the latter was saying.
"_Whau_! that was a great day, and a great snake," chuckled the old man.
"So that's the big chief?" commented Evelyn. "He doesn't look
particularly dignified."
"He's very old," explained Elvesdon. "But whatever he looks he's all
right. He and Zavula are the best men in authority we've got." Then
turning again to the old chief, "What has become of Zavula, my father?
Three times have I sent for him, and it is said that he is lying sick."
"I had not heard that, _Nkose_. But I am growing old. The young men
toss the news about from one to the other; but we old ones--_au_! It is
good night."
"It's rather a rum thing, Thornhill, but I'm not quite easy in my mind
about old Zavula. He came to the office to tell me a very queer story
the last time I saw him, and every time I ask after him they say he is
sick."
"H'm!" said Thornhill, drily.
"He's such a straight old chap too. Now I think we can shut up shop--
you ladies would like tea, I know, before the fun begins."
It was the middle of the afternoon, blue and cloudless. The camp was
pitched upon a slight eminence, the ground falling away, grassy and
open, on either side. Crowning another eminence less than a mile away
stood Tongwana's kraal--its numerous huts forming a circle after the
Zulu fashion, though not surrounded by a ring fence, and near it, along
a bushy ridge, stood several lesser kraals. In the clear stillness of
the air the voices of their denizens and the occasional barking of dogs
is distinctly borne hither.
"You'll see something now, Evelyn," said Edala. "A Kafir dance is no
end exciting. I always long to join in."
"How many will take part in it?"
"Oh I daresay Tongwana can turn us out a couple of hundred at a pinch,"
said Elvesdon. "Perhaps more."
Already dark forms converging in groups upon the chief's kraal seemed,
by their numbers, to give colour to the last statement.
"More, I hope," pronounced Edala.
The police escort, who, with Prior, were to convey back the proceeds of
the collecting, had saddled up and were all ready to march, when one
trooper stepped forward, and saluting Elvesdon begged to be allowed to
remain and witness the dancing. He was a fresh-faced intelligent
looking young fellow, probably not long out from home. The magistrate
could see at a glance that he was a `gentleman ranker.' He seemed so
eager and earnest about it that Elvesdon said:
"Very well, Parry. You can stay. Any objection, sergeant?"
"No, sir."
The boy's face flushed with delight. He had read plentifully about this
sort of thing--in fact such reading had had largely to do with bringing
him out to the country at all. Now he was going to see it--to see the
real thing.
Soon arose from Tongwana's kraal a weird, long-drawn cry. By this time
the chief and every native in the immediate neighbourhood of the camp--
except Elvesdon's servants--had disappeared. The cry was echoed, then
taken up by many voices till it tailed off into a kind of strophe-like
chant. Then from the distant kraal a broad dark stream was issuing, its
blackness relieved as it drew nearer, by many a patch of white.
Suddenly the chant changed to a lower key, and its sombre thunder-notes
harmonised to the measured tread of the marching warriors.
These, for their parts, offered a perfect spectacle of wild
picturesqueness. Each and all had discarded any article of European
clothing, and were arrayed in the fantastic, if spare adornments of
native apparel; the _mutya_ of cat-tails and cow-hide, beads and
bangles, jackal teeth necklaces, flowing tufts of cow-hair, and other
gimcrackery of the kind. Then too, the points of bright assegais
gleamed wickedly in the sunshine, and the variegated faces of broad
shields, lent colour to the wild array.
The column advanced, marching four deep. The rapping of assegai hafts
against shield sticks, beat a weird accompaniment to the war-song,
which, now risen to a deafening roar, ceased, with a suddenness that was
almost startling, as the whole array spreading out into crescent
formation, halted, and flinging the right hand aloft, shouted, as one
man:
"Amakosi!" ["Chiefs!"]
"They ought to have given the _Bayete_, to a representative of
Government--confound their cheek!" murmured Elvesdon, who was filling
his pipe. "That's the salute royal, you know, Miss Carden."
"Oh, it doesn't matter," was the answer. "They look grand--grand, but a
little alarming. Still I'm so glad we came."
"Don't know about a couple of hundred," remarked Thornhill. "More like
six or seven."
Now again the song and dance was renewed. So catching was the latter
that the European spectators found themselves beating time with their
feet. The stamping of the excited warriors shook the earth, sending up
long streams of yellow dust into the sunlit air. Young warriors would
dart from the ranks, and leaping nearly their own height from the ground
volley forth a torrent of words as they went through an imaginary
pantomime of their prowess, their eyeballs white and rolling, seeming to
burst from their faces, the flash of their bright blades like zig-zagged
lightning. Then, with an appalling roar, the crescent extended itself
on either side, and charged full speed up to the spectators hemming them
now in a complete circle. Evelyn Carden gave a little cry of alarm and
she felt herself growing pale.
"It's all right. It's part of the show," said Elvesdon reassuringly,
puffing at his pipe.
"Is it? Well, it's rather startling," she answered, reassured however,
by the fact that the rest of the party, including Edala, remained
unmoved.
There certainly was something horribly real about it. Six or seven
hundred frantic savages, worked up to the wildest stage of excitement,
hemming you in in a dense impenetrable circle of dark musky bodies and
waving blades, roaring like wild beasts and vociferating that the said
blades should shine white no longer, but red--red, may easily become a
situation somewhat trying to the nerves, especially to those of the
other sex. Then, suddenly, as if by magic, the uproar ceased. The
warriors saluted again, then crooning a low toned, rather plaintive
sounding chant, dropped back to their original position. Here they were
harangued by an orator, his periods being greeted by an expressive hum.
When he ceased, the whole body gathered up its weapons, and moved
swiftly away over the veldt--this time in silence.
"Curtain on Act One," said Elvesdon. "We'll stroll up now to yonder
ridge. We are going to see a sham fight, or rather a surprise. They
are about to attack and capture somebody's kraal--I couldn't catch his
name--over the other side, and make it as much like the real thing as
possible. I and old Tongwana arranged it all this morning. The last
harangue was with the object of bucking up the fighting men. So let's
get on."
"It's a splendid sight, sir," said the young police trooper diffidently,
as they walked. "I'm no end grateful to you for letting me see it."
Elvesdon turned to him good naturedly.
"Yes, it's an interesting show, isn't it, Parry? By the way, you might
add to your pay by knocking up a description of it for one of the home
magazines--or even two. The native question is likely to come very
prominently before the British public soon."
The young fellow flushed.
"I had thought of doing something of the kind," he said.
"All right. And if you want any information in addition I'll give it
you--of course if it's a kind I can give," added Elvesdon, with a
meaning laugh.
On reaching the ridge they looked down upon another kraal in front of
them. Its inhabitants were loafing about over their usual avocations or
lack of such, in apparent ignorance of the black destruction that was
about to overwhelm them. But of the assailants there was as yet no
sign.
Elvesdon who had been chatting a little further with the young Police
trooper was somewhat behind the party. Then he became aware of the
presence of a native--an old man--who, squatted under a bush, was
apparently hailing him. He stopped. The old man with shaking fingers,
was fumbling in his bag, to produce therefrom--a letter.
Such a letter, dirty, greasy, enclosed in a common looking envelope,
addressed moreover, to himself, in a sprawling, uneducated hand.
"Who gave you this?" he asked.
"That I know not, _Nkose_. One of the people."
Elvesdon was about to open it--but just then there were signs of renewed
activity below. The attacking impi was getting into position. He
thrust the envelope into his pocket. It would keep. It was only some
ill-spelt scrawl written by some half--educated native making excuses
for not coming to pay his taxes. He was often the recipient of such.
Of course it would keep. Then he rejoined the party.
"Come along, Mr Elvesdon," cried Edala, excitedly. "They are going to
begin."
"They won't really kill each other, will they, Mr Elvesdon?" asked
Evelyn, with some real anxiety.
"They seem to get so carried away, you know. What if they should come
to blows in real earnest? No, but that could not be, could it?"
He hastened to reassure her on that point. The whole programme was that
of a wonderfully dramatic and realistic show got up for their
entertainment. If she chose to let her imagination go, why that would
only add to the excitement--to her--he appended, with an easy laugh.
He stole a glance at Edala. She was standing a little apart eagerly
watching the manoeuvres beneath, a slight flush of excitement in her
cheeks, and the expressive eyes wide and interested. He had
deliberately come to the conclusion that it would be a difficult and
dreary thing to go on living without her, and yet how would she look at
it? He knew that she liked him, but he wanted her to do a great deal
more than that. In all probability however, she in the brightness of
her youth looked upon him as quite an old fogey. Well, he must make
some opportunity of putting it to the test. Why not do so this evening,
on the way home? Yes, he would; yet it was with some sinking of the
heart that he realised that the test would probably break down.
"What can you be thinking about? You look quite worried."
Edala had turned to him as he joined her, with wonder in her eyes. Here
was his chance had they been alone together.
"I am, rather," he answered in an undertone. For a moment her glance
rested full upon him, then turned away.
"They are beginning down there," she said.
The impi beneath was on the march, and they could trace its course,
pouring upward through grass and bushes towards the doomed kraal. Then
suddenly its stealthy advance changed into a swift charge, the while its
lines extended, throwing out the terrible outflanking `horns,' and with
a mighty roar it hurled itself upon its objective.
The kraal was in a state of indescribable confusion; men, women and
children pouring forth helter-skelter from the only side left open. In
vain. Here, too, those terrible horns closed up, and there ensued a
scene of discriminate massacre, to the accompaniment of the most
diabolical shouts and hisses. The spectators could scarcely believe it
was not real. Evelyn Carden's face had gone quite white, and even that
of Edala looked disturbed.
"What awful creatures!" said the former. "Mr Elvesdon, are you sure it
isn't real? I can hardly believe it."
"No--no. It's not real. But it's marvellously well counterfeited."
"It's too dreadful. I don't think I care to look at it any more."
"Well, look at this. They are retiring now."
The impi had formed up, and, raising a mighty song of victory was moving
away from the scene of the mock massacre. Down through the valley it
poured, with a movement that was partly a march and partly a dance, and
the deep-toned thunder-notes of the triumph song rose to a pitch of fell
ferocity that was rather terrifying, so realistic had the whole thing
been.
Elvesdon suddenly remembered the letter which had been given him; and
now that the show was over he thought he might as well investigate it.
But the first glance at the scrawl which he unfolded made him start.
This is how it ran:
"Mr Elvesdon, resident Magistrate.
"Sir,
"You are a good man. I not want to see you hurt. I not want to see
Christian ladies hurt. I am Christian too. Get your party away so
soon as you ever can.
"I not give my name--but--do.
"Remember Mr Hope."
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
AFTER THE WARNING.
Just as he had thought, decided Elvesdon. Clearly the letter was from
some half--educated native, but how different its import to that which
he had expected. Was it a hoax, he wondered? Anyway its substance was
sufficiently disquieting. Surely so tried and trusted a chief as old
Tongwana could not be guilty of any such ghastly act of treachery as
that hinted at. His people, too, had paid up their taxes without a
murmur. The thing looked like a hoax.
It might be well to be on the safe side; to get his party away at once.
But then his official _prestige_ and influence would be irretrievably
wrecked. He would be showing distrust--fear--of those over whom he held
authority. But the sting of the whole communication lay in the
concluding words, "Remember Mr Hope."
These referred to a tragedy, which had befallen a little over a quarter
of a century back. The victim had been a magistrate in Pondoland, and
had been treacherously set upon and murdered, together with his two
clerks, while witnessing just such an entertainment as had been provided
here to-day.
Elvesdon was a boy at the time but he had since served in Pondoland--as
we heard him tell Thornhill--and there at that time the event was still
sufficiently fresh. But for those concluding words he would have felt
inclined to set the communication down as a practical joke.
Rapidly his clear mind reviewed the position. His camp was quite a mile
away; they had strolled that distance in order to gain the point whence
they could overlook the mimic attack upon the kraal. The horses were
knee-haltered, and grazing under the charge of his two boys, and they
were a little beyond, on the other side of the camp. The impi was
marching down the valley in a direction which should take it rather away
from the camp than towards it. Tongwana's kraal seemed deserted; even
the women had hurried out to see the sham fight.
"We may as well get back to camp now," he said carelessly. "The show's
about over, and we shan't be home much before dark as it is."
But there were two upon whom his carelessness did not altogether
impose--Edala and her father. The girl, naturally sharp-witted as she
was, had not failed to note the ever so slight involuntary start which
had escaped him on the perusal of the missive, while Thornhill took in
by instinct that something was wrong. Both, however, forebore to take
any outward notice of the fact: for which he was devoutly thankful, for
at all costs he must avoid alarming the weaker ones of the party. He
would have given much for an opportunity of taking Thornhill into
counsel, but this would have had the very effect he was anxious to
avoid.
"There's an official matter I want to get home and look into as soon as
I can," he explained carelessly. "Here, Parry. You can ride on and say
I'm coming."
He took the young Police trooper apart, as they walked.
"Look here," he said, "and attend carefully. Go down to the camp as
fast as you can walk--can _walk_, mind, not run--and get the horses
saddled up as soon as you possibly can; ours first, you understand, not
the boys': and see that the girths are tight enough. Then all of you
bring them out here to meet us; and every minute you save in doing it is
a minute gained. You understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"If anything happens use your own judgment, but we must have the horses
as soon as ever we can, yet you must not run or show any sign of hurry.
It'll mean good for you my lad, very good. Now go."
The young fellow saluted, and started off down the slope at a brisk
springy walk which represented nearly four and a half miles an hour. He
was radiant with pride. Naturally sharp, he had to a certain extent
grasped the situation, and here, after a few months in the force, he
found himself entrusted with a real and critical mission, with the
promise of the good word of his superior. Visions of unheard of
promotion floated upon his mental sight, as he paced downward to the
camp, with rapid, elastic step.
Elvesdon strove to talk cheerfully, as they took their way down at a
perforce slower pace than that of the young Police trooper--but it was
difficult. The ridge was well between them and the impi now, but the
latter might at any moment appear over it, or where it ended farther
down. Had he been alone, or alone with Thornhill, he would not have
felt overmuch concerned. He was as brave a man as ever lived, and
endowed with his full share of nerve. He would, if the worst came to
the worst, have chanced the moral effect of a display of the confidence
of authority and absolute fearlessness. But now, with these two women
dependent on them for protection, why it was dreadful. He reproached
himself bitterly for having brought them into this peril; for, in the
disturbed and simmering state of the native locations, who could be
trusted? More bitterly still, perhaps, did he reproach himself for his
neglect to open the communication handed to him by the old man. Then
there would have been time for them to have acted upon the warning
conveyed therein, and to have withdrawn while the attention of the
savages was engaged by the mimic surprise of the kraal. Now it was in
all probability too late.
Now he began to revolve in his mind what should be done in the event of
Parry being unable to fulfil his instructions in time. He had a fight
revolver in his pocket, and he suspected Thornhill was not unarmed. But
of what use were they against an overwhelming crowd, all heavily armed,
and right out in the open? They might shoot down a few, but would not
this exasperate the savages into murdering the girls as well? Of course
it would.
The wide landscape slept in the golden sunshine, the rolling plains
unfolding out into misty dimness, on the one hand; on the other the
outlines of distant heights softened against the clear blue. From
Tongwana's kraal, crowning the adjacent eminence, a smoke reek rose
lazily upon the still air. An idea suggested itself to Elvesdon. Why
not take the bull by the horns and go straight to Tongwana's kraal?
Surely there, under, figuratively speaking, the roof of the old chief,
they would be safe. But just then he could see his emissary in the act
of faithfully fulfilling the duty laid upon him. Down at the camp the
horses were being led in. They might find safety at Tongwana's kraal,
but the Police trooper, caught alone, would certainly be murdered, if
things were as desperate as the warning embodied in the letter seemed to
convey. But--if only Parry would hurry up!
Now some inkling of danger seemed to have come over the weaker side of
the party. Elvesdon's silence had told--it was impossible for him to
keep up his attempts at manufactured conversation under the weight of
responsibility which lay upon him. They, too, were reduced to silence,
and, he became aware, were looking at him curiously and furtively.
"I don't know that I want to see one of these native performances
again," said Evelyn Carden. "Don't think me unappreciative, Mr
Elvesdon, but really this has given me the creeps. It all seemed so
fearfully natural."
"Ah, well. It isn't musical comedy, you know," he answered with forced
lightness.
"Old Tongwana ought to have figured in a swallow-tailed coat and a top
hat and a _mutya_" said Thornhill. "That might have given a Gilbert and
Sullivan smack to it."
The laugh that greeted this was feeble. But now Elvesdon noted with
intense relief that the horses had been saddled up at last--they
themselves had more than halved the distance to the camp by that time,
and of coarse could see everything that was going on there all the way.
Too late.
A burst of voices on the right front, and then the impi appeared,
pouring over the ridge, forming a dense black line between them and the
camp and, of course the horses. Then, extending, the warriors executed
the surround manoeuvre and having thus completely hemmed in their
guests--or their victims--they recommenced the war-dance.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Mr Elvesdon, tell them to stop and go away,"
said Evelyn Carden. "This is horrible, hateful."
Elvesdon called out to more than one whom he knew by name but if they
heard him they pretended not to. If the first performance had been
terrifying to the uninitiated this one was infinitely more so: the
roaring and the stamping, the sea of dreadful faces and gleaming bared
teeth, the forest of waving blades, and the animal-like musky odour--as
the frenzied circle tightened, its dense ranks drawing nearer and
nearer. It was of no use for both men to shout at the top of their
voices that they had had enough of the show, and that the ladies were
getting frightened. The roaring only increased and the foremost of the
frenzied performers shook their blades right in their faces. Elvesdon
was convinced that his last moment had come. This was exactly the Hope
programme repeated. It was hard to be butchered unresisting, but any
resistance would certainly involve the massacre of the girls as well.
A sort of gasp from Evelyn made him turn. She was sinking to the
ground.
"I feel rather faint," she murmured.
Elvesdon bent down to help her, and as he did so he was suddenly seized
from behind by several powerful hands, most effectively pinioning him.
At the same time half a dozen assegai blades were held against his
chest. And precisely the same thing had happened to Thornhill.
"Resist not, either of you," said an authoritative voice. "Any
resistance and all shall die--all, all of you."
"What does it mean?" asked Elvesdon, shortly.
"This, Ntwezi. For you two we have a use. For your women we have none.
They may go home. But, only if you make no resistance."
"We agree," said Thornhill. "But let us _see_ them--see them with our
own eyes, depart in safety. There are their horses."
Parry, although he was going into certain death, had ridden as near as
he could to the tumult. With some difficulty he was leading two horses,
and both of these were under side saddles.
"Kill him--kill him," began to be cried. "He is Only a common
policeman. He is of no use."
"But he is of use," shouted Elvesdon, who began now to see his way,
hearing this. "No common man is he. He is only playing at police."
This was effective. Three hostages were better than two. Parry's life
was saved--for the present, but he was ordered to dismount, and by the
advice of his superior he complied. His revolver was taken from him--
Thornhill and Elvesdon had been similarly disarmed--and he was
immediately hemmed in by a ring of blades.
"Now tell your women to go," said the man who appeared to be exercising
chief authority. "I will send men with them to see them safe to their
home."
"May I not bid my daughter farewell?" said Thornhill, with something of
a tremor in his voice, and instinctively taking a step forward.
Instantly a line of blades barred his way.
"Be content, be content," answered the chief. "You are still alive, and
your women are safe. Now walk."
"To Tongwana?"
No reply was made to this, but there was no help for it. Hemmed closely
in by the huge armed force, they were marched along over the very ground
which they had traversed so light-heartedly barely an hour before. No
indignity was offered them, but they knew that escape was as impossible
as though they had been bound with thongs--at any rate just then.
They had this consolation however. The chief had kept his word.
Looking backward just before they plunged over the ridge they could make
out the mounted figures of the two girls away over the plain, the armed
escort, keeping pace, distributed on either side--and they were making
for home, not for Kwabulazi.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
UNPROTECTED.
"What--will happen to--them?"
It was Evelyn who jerked this forth. For some time the two had ridden
in silence, neither daring to trust herself to speak. Perhaps the same
thought was in both their minds; they must not break down and display
weakness before these savages. Certainly it was in that of Edala--who,
raised among them, fully recognised the advisability of keeping-up a
show of dignity towards an inferior race.
"They will not be harmed," she answered, with a confidence she was far
from feeling. There might be some among their escort who understood
English, and it would never do to let an impression get abroad that such
a thing as offering harm to such men as Thornhill and the magistrate,
could even come within the bounds of possibility. "Who would dare to
lift a hand against them? Why it would mean the hanging of every chief
concerned, and a good many of the people as well."
"Then you think they are safe--you who know these people so well?"
The question was put in a quick eager tone. Edala's brows wrinkled.
"Don't talk so loud, Evelyn," she said, speaking quickly and, of design
rather indistinctly. "There may be some here who understand. Better
not talk about it at all, perhaps, until we're alone. Oh, hang it--we
must keep up," she broke off roughly, as she felt her eyes brimming.
"Can't give away the show. D'you hear? We _must_ keep up."
The other murmured assent. The escort, stepping along at a quick walk
so as to keep pace with the horses, was somewhat puzzled at the
demeanour of the pair, and the warriors were talking among themselves in
rapid undertones, as is the way of natives when they wish to disguise
their conversation. Edala was adapting their method to English.
"I can't make it out, Evelyn," she said, purposely talking through
closed teeth so as to be the more unintelligible to outside listeners.
"None of these here are our people. In fact I hardly saw one, during
the dancing, that was. I believe these are from--beyond the border."
"What? Real Zulus?"
"Don't mention names. That's what I think they are," purposely avoiding
even the enunciation of the word `yes,' for reasons given above. "For
instance, look at those two ringed men. Their rings are differently
sewn on to those on this side. You wouldn't notice it but I do. That
looks as if this was going to be a big affair, and had been carefully
planned. Oh, you think I'm taking it all remarkably coolly, Evelyn--"
she broke off, in the gusty voice she used in moments of excitement.
"But--we must keep up--we must keep up."
"Yes--yes," came the quick answer.
"There's just this I go upon," went on Edala. "If there are two men in
the world who could be reckoned on to keep their wits about them and do
the right thing at the right time, those two are father and Mr
Elvesdon. See my meaning?"
The other nodded.
"So we must hope for the best."
One thing that troubled Edala was that she could get no explanation
whatever from their escort. The head-ringed men had kept carefully on
the outskirts of the same, and when applied to to come over and talk had
ignored the appeal. After this she would not question the common or
unringed `boy,' so was obliged to practise patience and await
developments.
By the time they arrived at Sipazi it was nearly dark. Edala had more
than half-expected to find the homestead a mass of smouldering ruins--
but no. There it stood, yet there was a something that suggested the
unusual. There was no sign of life about the place for instance--no
smoke rising either from the kitchen chimney or from the huts of the
native servants. Could it be that the latter--together with the Indian
cook--had all been murdered? Edala drew rein, and addressed the escort.
"There is our home and now we are safe. If you would return you have
fulfilled your mission. If you would rest, there is food and drink
yonder."
They looked at each other and laughed queerly.
"Ride on, Nkosazana," said one of the ringed men.
Now there was sign of life with a vengeance, for the four great dogs
came charging down upon the new arrivals, open-mouthed, barking and
snarling savagely.
"Don't kill them, _amadoda_," said Edala, as assegais were detached, and
held with suggestive readiness. "They will not hurt."
But the savages were not going to be done out of their fun. A number of
them rushed forward. Assegais showered through the air, and the
unfortunate beasts lay transfixed by several of them, apiece, kicking
feebly in their death throes.
"I--jji! I--jji!" went up the death hiss from their slayers, together
with great hoarse shouts of laughter.
"The cruel wretches," murmured Evelyn, in shuddering disgust. Edala's
lips tightened, but she restrained herself. Their own lives were none
too secure, and this she knew.
Meanwhile the savages having tasted blood, even though only that of
animals, began questing inside the deserted huts, but found no one. No
cattle was in the kraals, either, or anything about the house, except a
few fowls, which they promptly assegaied.
Edala said nothing now. To have offered them hospitality after this
outrage would have been to have shown that she feared them. The two
girls slid from their saddles, and entered the house. Both were sick
with apprehension. It was growing dusk now, and here they were at the
mercy of these barbarians. Edala went to her room, and seizing her
revolver slipped it into her blouse. But no one followed. Through the
window they could see that the side saddles had been flung from the
horses, to be replaced by a couple of ordinary ones which had been found
in in the stable. Then two of the ringed men having mounted, the whole
crowd moved off without another word.
The two girls looked after them, then at each other.
"No--no," said Edala, shaking a warning finger, as she saw the other on
the verge of a breakdown--her own eyes were dimming suspiciously. "We
haven't got to do that, you know. We've got to prove to ourselves that
the old libel--only it isn't a libel--that the first thing women do in a
difficulty is to howl, has its exceptions."
"Yes--yes. You are wonderful, Edala. I could not have believed that
any girl could show the coolness and pluck you have shown. What's the
next thing to do?"
"Do? Anything--everything rather than sit still and think. To-morrow
early, we'll start for Kwabulazi."
"Yes. Let's. But now--do you think any of those horrible brutes will
come here again to-night?"
"No--I don't. Those weren't our own people, you know, Evelyn, as I told
you. I'm not sure, quite, what to do. If we weren't safe at Tongwana's
I don't know where we shall be. So well start early so as to get there
before it's hot. But--I forgot. Can you walk? It's thirteen miles
every inch, and all our horses are gone."
"Yes. I think I can. At any rate I shall have to."
"Well we'll shut the shutters so that no light will leak out if there
are any wandering gangs about. Come along and help me, Evelyn. We
can't walk thirteen miles--we two feeble females--on nothing, you know."
The other saw the drift. Both were to be kept busy. There must be no
time for thinking. It may be that each saw into the other's mind.
Soon a fire was started in the kitchen, and coffee brewed.
"I wonder what has become of Ramasam," said Edala, when they sat down to
their meal. "He's an awful coward, and must have bolted with the
others. Yet, I wonder how they first got the alarm. If it wasn't that
old Patolo is as reliable as death I should have thought that he had
cleared out all the cattle and goats, for decidedly someone has."
Evelyn had not noticed this little detail in the excitement and
apprehension attendant on their strange home-coming. More and more she
wondered at the other's strength, her almost awful coolness.
But in spite of their efforts real cheerfulness would not prevail.
Neither cared to open her heart to the other.
"I think we'd better get some sleep," said Edala presently. "We shall
have to start soon after midnight."
"Hark! What's that?" The speaker's face had gone white, and under the
circumstances, with her nerves all strung to high tension, even Edala
had started.
A low, indescribably hideous, moaning noise had arisen. It came from
the back of the house.
"Oh, it's nothing," she answered. "Come and see."
They went to the kitchen window, which looked out on the back. The moon
had risen, and the ghostly light revealed the form of a large bull. He
stood stamping and pawing the ground, uttering the while his hideous
uncanny moanings.
"Oh, I'll soon scoot him," said Edala, returning to the passage to take
down a raw-hide whip. "Only it's not much use. The brute'll be sure to
come back."
"Edala! You're never going out to face that dreadful beast!" cried
Evelyn, laying a detaining hand on her arm. Edala laughed shortly.
"You'll see him run directly."
But before she could reach the door the animal was seen suddenly to run
forward, and disappear behind the cattle-kraal, where his moaning, in
various keys, recommenced. Then he trotted back, tail in the air,
emitting a shrill, half terrified bellow. To one, at any rate, of those
who witnessed this performance the effect was indescribably weird.
"What does it mean?" she said.
"Nothing. The cattle often come round and make that row around the
place where the goats are killed. It's the blood, you know."
Then she suddenly stopped, for it flashed upon her that the spot at
which the moaning of the bull was at its highest and most excited pitch
was not that whereon the goats were killed.
"Anyhow, I'll just go out and scoot him. You stop here."
Evelyn watched her go outside. At sight of her the bull paused in his
stamping and scrapings and threw up his head, snuffing the air. Edala
swirled the whip-lash as she advanced towards him--she would not crack
it, for fear the sound might reach other ears. Then the beast lowered
his head as if to charge her--backed a few paces--then thought better of
it, and, turning, galloped madly away, uttering that--as it sounded in
the silent and ghostly moonlight--shrill unearthly bellow.
Edala looked after the retreating beast. Her weaker instincts were all
to return inside and bolt and bar the door. But some stronger motive to
investigate took hold upon her--leading her steps to the spot where the
beast had been most moved to his weird and mysterious rumblings.
As she turned the corner of the cattle-kraal her heart beat quicker, and
her hand stole by sheer mechanical instinct to the butt of the revolver
inside her blouse, not that it would be of any use against that which
she expected to see and--did see.
There, in the moonlight, just out from the fence, lay a form--a human
form; and it did not require two glances to determine that it was a dead
human form. Mastering her overpowering horror the girl advanced. The
body was ripped right open, and in the dead face, its sightless eyeballs
upturned to the moon, she recognised that of the faithful old
cattle-herd Patolo.
What was this? Old Patolo! Dear old Patolo, who had known her from her
childhood! Never a time that she could not remember old Patolo. And
now here he lay, barbarously murdered! A rush of tears came to her
eyes, and with a fierce longing for revenge upon his brutal slayers, she
unconsciously gripped the butt of her revolver, and perhaps it was as
well, or the shock of the awful sight might have had disastrous effects.
"Oh--hh!"
Edala turned quickly, at the shuddering exclamation, uttered as it was
in accents of the most indescribable horror. Evelyn, dreading to be
alone, even for a moment, had followed her out.
"Go back!" she cried. "You need not see this."
But Evelyn had seen it. Her face wore a set, stony stare.
"Come in. Come in," said Edala, in her most brusque commanding tone,
taking the other by the arm. And then that hideous moaning sound arose
just behind them, together with the stamp of feet. The great bull had
returned, and stood, not ten yards from them, his massive head, grim and
formidable looking to the last degree in the moonlight. Evelyn
collapsed. She slid to the ground in a dead faint.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
"THE PERILS AND DANGERS OF THIS NIGHT."
What was to be done? The great, grisly brute stood there pawing and
scraping, keeping up the while his gruesome moanings, his shrill bellow.
But there was now a note of savagery in these: whether it was that the
smell of blood, and a great deal of it, had worked him up, together with
the fact of finding himself all alone, so far as his kind went--his
voice took on that strange growling note which enraged cattle take on at
times, and then--look out for mischief. And the girl stood, absolutely
unprotected, the prostrate form of her friend lying there at her feet,
helpless. Had any been there to see it her face wore the same look that
it had worn as she stood holding the big stone ready to throw, what time
Elvesdon came between her and the great snake.
She let go the whip-lash with a resounding crack in the direction of the
menacing beast. He was of the large homed kind that would have been the
delight of a _Plaza de Toros_, and looked horribly formidable, tossing
his white sharp horns in the moonlight. Then he charged.
Edala did not yield an inch as she stood over the body of her friend.
She calculated her distance to a nicety, and as coolly as if she had
been fly-fishing, she sent out the whip-lash again. Fortunately the
charge was a half-hearted one, and the cutting _voerslag_, catching the
enemy full in the eyes, brought him up as sharp as though the cruel
_banderillas_ had suddenly been stuck in his withers in the _plaza_ in
old Spain. She gave him no law. Twice in rapid succession again she
gave him the _voerslag_, and the blinded beast, mad with pain, backed,
then trotted unsteadily away.
Edala's breathing came in spasmodic gasps as she watched him out of
sight, and the reaction made her knees tremble beneath her. Oh hang it!
She must keep up, she told herself. She could not afford to follow
Evelyn's example, or what would become of them both? So this girl, with
the glorious gold-crowned head, alone there under circumstances of peril
and horror, started to work out the situation for the safety of both.
"Come Evelyn. Pull yourself together, and get up!" she cried, half
carrying, half dragging the other to the house door. "Lord! I shall
have to shy a bucket of water over her yet!" she added almost savagely,
panting from her exertion.
But this drastic remedy proved unnecessary, for Evelyn opened her eyes,
then sat up, staring about her in a dazed kind of way.
"What is it? I've been dreaming--something horrible," she said.
"Yes, you have. Never mind. Buck up now, and come inside. It's
beastly cold out here."
"Why yes. I feel tottery though. Oh Edala, what a fool you must think
me."
"No. Only, don't do it again," was the reply, accompanied by a curious
laugh. Edala was thinking--though not resentfully--of how a day or two
ago the other was lecturing her: in a way talking down to her, while
disclaiming any intent to do so. Now she was the one upon whom
everything depended. The situation was in her hands.
They went inside, and Edala mixed a glass of brandy and water.
"You drink this," she said. "Then go to sleep for an hour or two and
we'll start for Kwabulazi."
"But I hate spirits--Ugh!" with a shudder.
"So do I; and I hate medicine too; but both are necessary sometimes.
Down with it."
Evelyn obeyed, with more than one additional shudder. But the end
justified the means, for, sitting back in a low roomy armchair, she soon
felt drowsy and dropped off to sleep.
Edala felt no inclination to follow her example, on the contrary she had
never felt more wakeful in her life. She wandered from room to room.
There was her father's library, and his favourite chair and reading
lamp. There were his cherished books, and all the surrounding was alive
with his presence. She could hardly realise that he was no longer
there, but instead was a prisoner--a hostage--in the hands of
insurrectionary savages; whose wild mad scheme of rebellion could end in
no other way than that utterly disastrous to themselves, and then--?
She looked around the room, and a terrible wave of compunction, or
remorse came over her. How hard, how selfish, how unloving she had been
towards him. Who was she that she should judge him? Yet she had, and
that at every moment of the day.
All the affection and care and consideration he had lavished upon her
came back now. It would, when it was too late, he had more than once
said in his bitterness--Evelyn too had all unconsciously echoed his
words. And it had. Should she ever see him again--ever look upon that
loving presence--to whom she had been all in all for the whole of her
young life, and whom she had met with ingratitude and repulsion? In the
lonely silence of the still midnight the girl who had faced physical
danger with a calm front, and rare readiness of resource, broke down.
"Father darling--darling! come back to me," she moaned. "Only come back
to me, to your little one again, and all shall be so different, so
different."
She had dropped upon her knees, her head buried in the chair--his chair.
Her heart seemed breaking in her sobs--her great sobs--which hardly
relieved it. What if she should never see him again, to tell him how
his words had been surely fulfilled--never--never? No, she could not
realise it. This room, which more than any other in the house seemed
sacred to his presence and--now empty of it. A large portrait of him
hung on the wall. Rising she went over and pressed her lips to the
cold, not too carefully dusted, glass again and again.
The sound of stirring in the other room now came to her ears. It
brought her down to the hard, material side of the situation. She
dashed the tears from her eyes, fiercely, determinedly, and went to join
her relative. Evelyn was awake again, and was looking around in rather
a frightened way.
"Oh, here you are, Edala! Shall we start? I feel ever so much
refreshed now. But you, child--have you had some sleep?"
"Yes--no," was the half-absent reply. "Start? Yes, as soon as you're
ready. Wait though. I'll go and get some supplies for the way. Later
on you'll find it no joke walking thirteen miles across the veldt on
nothing but air."
She was all material and practical again now. In a marvellously short
space of time she returned with a well packed wallet stored with
provisions.
"You sling this on," handing the other a vulcanite water bottle. "I'll
carry the skoff--and the gun. It's a pity you couldn't learn to shoot,
Evelyn, or you might have carried another. As it is we'll hide the
other two--inside the piano. No Kafir would think of looking for them
there."
This was done, then having carefully extinguished the lights and being
well wrapped up, for the nights were fresh; and in dark attire, for
safety's sake, they went forth.
"I wonder if we shall ever see the old house again," said Edala
bitterly. "It'll probably be burned to the ground, and all father's
treasured books,"--she added, with the catch of a sob. "These brutes--
who have known you all your life, and then even they fall away from you!
They'll stick at nothing."
There was silence then as they started upon their long tramp. The
bodies of the poor dogs lay where they had been slain, plainly outlined
under the cold moon, whose light glared down too upon that other mangled
human relic, which, fortunately they could not see. High in the air
invisible plover wheeled and whistled, and down in the blackness of the
kloofs, right across their way, the answering bay of hunting jackals,
and the deeper voice of the striped hyena, echoed eerily upon the night.
Evelyn shuddered.
"Oh, that's all right," said Edala. "Nothing to be afraid of there--
quite the contrary. It means that our way is clear, or no animal would
be kicking up all that row. That's just what we want. Hallo--here's
our friend back again," she broke off, as a trample of hoofs, and a
quick shrill bellow, told that the bull had returned. Again Evelyn
shuddered.
"Will he attack us?" she said.
"I hope not, because this time I shall have to shoot. A charge of
Treble A. at ten yards'll split even his tough skull. But the last
thing I want to do is to loose off a shot at all. By the way, that's
old Blue Hump. He must have got cut off from the herd when they drove
it off--or cleared on his own. He's a vicious old brute, anyway."
The animal was trotting parallel with their course and every now and
then they could make out the great branching horns above the bush
sprays. But he must have grown tired of it, or feared to come to closer
quarters, for presently they Saw no more of him.
"There's a pathway here that cuts a considerable corner," said Edala.
"Whew! how cold it is."
It was, and in spite of the exercise and plentiful wrapping up, both
girls shivered. There were stealthy rustlings in the darkness of the
brake, and once a great ant-bear rushing across the road, looking pale
and uncanny in the moonlight, drew a stifled shriek from Evelyn. The
other laughed.
"They're the most harmless things on earth. Hyland and I and poor Jim
used to hunt them often at night with assegais."
Thus they travelled on, and soon Evelyn became accustomed to the
unwonted experience of walking all night across wild country in
potential peril at every step: fortunately she was in hard physical
training by now. Once Edala's quick vision had detected a puff adder
lying in the path, but a few stones hurled from a little distance, soon
drove the bloated, hissing reptile to seek safety somewhere else. Now
and again a great owl would drop down right in front of their faces, and
they could see his head turning from side to side as he sailed along on
noiseless pinions, uttering his ghostly hoot: or the `churn' of the
nightjar would echo weirdly from beneath some overhanging rock; or
again, a tiger-wolf howled, and big beetles in blundering flight, boomed
through the air. So the voices of the night were never still.
They had sat down for a brief rest, and some refreshment, then on again.
Suddenly Edala grew uneasy. A white mist was settling down upon the
land. This was serious; for not only might they run plump into those it
was all important to avoid, but there was grave danger of getting
`turned round' and finding themselves back at Sipazi again. The mist
deepened, and so did Edala's growing anxiety. It was one of those thick
white mists which settle down upon the land in the small hours of the
morning, fearfully disconcerting from a wayfarer's point of view, but
which melt away as by magic before the sun is an hour high. But that
was small comfort to these two. They wanted to be at Kwabulazi before
the sun was above the horizon at all. Suddenly Edala started.
"Hark!" she whispered, stopping short.
In front--directly in front--was audible a deep, confused murmur of
sound, rolling, as it seemed, from one point to another, and drawing
nearer and nearer. And with it came another sound. Those who have
heard it can never mistake it, and these two had heard it all too
significantly of late. It was the quivering rattle of assegai hafts.
From the sounds, spread out as they were right across their front, it
was manifest that a large body of natives was moving towards them in
open order. The fact that they were all armed told its own tale. This
was a rebel impi, and but for the friendly mist these two would have run
right into it.
"Quick, Evelyn! This way!" breathed, rather than whispered, Edala.
Holding her companion's hand she drew her after her. The way she was
taking now ascended sharply, but it was the only way. The rime rolled
along, now in gusty puffs. This seemed to tell that they were gaining
some height. Both were panting from their exertion, but there was no
such thing as pausing, for now from the sounds beneath it was evident
that the savages had suddenly altered their line of march, and were
coming on in the same direction as themselves. Had they heard the sound
of their steps, the clinking of a stone--what not? Anyway they could
not go down, these two. That was out of the question.
On and upward. A puff of damp air, now nearly in their teeth, showed
that they had attained the summit of some height. Suddenly Edala seized
her companion's hand in a strong grip and held it--and its owner.
"What is it?" whispered the latter.
"We are on the edge of a big krantz, that's all. Three or four more
steps and we should have been over."
It was even as she had said. The ground ended just in front of them,
and the blast of air coming up denoted a cliff, and one of considerable
height.
But now it was lightening, and they could make out the long smooth edge
of the height stretching away on their left front. And--good Heavens!
Now the voices sounded from that direction--_advancing_ from that
direction as though to meet the owners of those coming up behind. These
two were in a trap, caught between two fires. It was evident that the
savages suspected their presence--the presence of somebody--and were
quartering the ground in order to clear up the mystery. And there was
nowhere to hide. The mountain top was flat and grassy. Suddenly Edala
gave a violent start.
"I know our bearings now," she whispered. "We're on the top of Sipazi.
Now Evelyn, there's one chance for us, and one only--if you've the nerve
to take it."
"And that?"
"My `aerial throne.'"
The other gasped. She remembered how her flesh had crept before, when
Edala had taken her to see the famous tree, how she had turned away
almost faint, as she watched the girl spring out fearlessly on to this
dreadful seat--with a careless laugh as though she had just dropped into
an armchair. And now she too must sit dangling over the awful height.
At that moment she almost preferred to take her chance of the assegais
of the savages. But that chance might possibly mean even a worse one,
and the thought decided her, as Edala whispered impatiently:--
"It's got to be done. It's our only chance. But you can't fall. I'll
take care of that. Come."
The deep voices sounded alarmingly near now. We have said that the brow
of the mountain went down by a grass steep that was almost precipitous,
to the stump of the tree. Edala let herself down this with cat-like
security of footing, keeping ever a firm hold upon her companion--her
gun she wedged into the root of a stunted bush growing out from the
grass.
"Now we're all right," she whispered, as they sat wedged upon the
projecting tree trunk, their feet dangling over space. "You can't
possibly fall, you know, as long as you hang on to that root, and I'm
holding you. It's a triumph of matter over mind instead of t'other way
on, and as long as you forget there's more than six foot of drop between
this and the ground why you're as jolly here as in an armchair on the
stoep."
And the other was somewhat reassured, although the situation to her was
ghastly and horrible in the extreme. But now the voices drew very near
indeed, were right overhead. Fortunately the mist had suddenly
thickened, and the tree, which was some little way down, was quite
blotted out to the vision of those above. To Edala, who understood what
was said, the moment was one of awful tensity. Someone had been upon
the mountain, of that they were convinced. But where could they be?
There was no hiding place. Unless they had fallen over the cliff they
would be here now.
Thus the discussion flowed on. Even the vibration of the tread of feet
above caused the tree trunk to quiver slightly. At any moment the mist
might lift. And it seemed to these two, suspended over awful space, an
eternity. Then with unspeakable relief and thankfulness they heard the
footsteps and voices retreating.
"Not yet," breathed Edala. "Not yet. We must let them get clear away
first. See. It's getting lighter."
It was. The dawn was at hand; in fact had already begun to break. The
outline of the cliff above was visible now, plainly visible, and
devoutly thankful did Edala feel that this lightening had been deferred
as long as it had.
"My `aerial throne' has its uses, Evelyn--eh?" she whispered.
Then something moved her to look up again. Her exaltation was dashed,
shattered to the ground. On the brink, calmly gazing down upon them,
stood the tall figure of a man--a dark man--and the outline of his
figure and head-ring stood out against the sickly murk. She recognised
Manamandhla. The bitterness of death had come.
For a few moments the Zulu thus stood, his eyes meeting hers. Then,
without a word, he turned away and disappeared.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
OF A HOME-COMING.
The kraal of the chief, Ndabakosi, was in a state of somewhat unusual
excitement. Men were passing from hut to hut, but there were few women
to be seen. The blue smoke reeks rose to bluer sky, and the odour of
kine was in the air. Around, the veldt, dotted with feathery mimosa,
lay shimmering in the afternoon heat.
The kraal was a fairly large one, but somewhat of a strain must have
been put upon its capacity for accommodation, for a considerable number
of people seemed to be gathered here--not all together, for they kept
continually passing and re-passing from hut to hut, and hardly ever in
the same groups. Quite a number of them too, carried assegais, and, not
a few, shields. Clearly something was in the wind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The horseman, pacing along the dusty track of road, was not in a good
humour. We regret to have to record that more than once he swore--swore
right heartily too. Nothing is more conducive to such behaviour than
the discovery, in the course of a hot and tedious journey, that one's
mount has gone lame. This one had just made such a discovery--
wherefore--he swore.
Dismounting, he looked again at the defaulting hoof, felt the pastern.
Seen thus, he was a tall, broad shouldered young fellow, light-haired,
blue-eyed, straight as a dart. He was puzzled. There was nothing to
account for this sudden lameness. The steed was not of the best, but it
was the best he could hire when he got off the train at Telani, at an
early hour that morning, in his impatience to get home. And now it was
out of the question that he should reach home that night. The horse was
not very lame, certainly; but it was likely to go lamer still with every
mile or so.
"It's just possible I might borrow a horse at old Ndabakosi's place," he
said to himself, "and that can't be more than a mile further on. Yes
there it is," as, topping a rise, he could discern a ring of domed huts
crowning a _kopje_ a little way off the road in front. "These nigger
gees are beastly screws as a rule, but `needs must, etc.,' and it may
get me as far as Kwabulazi to-night at any rate. He's a decent old chap
is Ndabakosi, and a long cool pull of _tywala_ won't come in badly just
now. Gee up, you brute!"
Hyland Thornhill's visions of home-coming were pleasant in spite of the
above-detailed _contretemps_. It would be no end jolly to see the old
man again--he and his father had always been more like chums than
anything else, and the confidence between them was perfect. And little
Edala--she was wrong-headed on certain points, but still--what times
they would have. And the strange visitor? He wondered what she would
be like. Well, the more the merrier--anyway, he was going to have a
ripping time of it now he had broken loose at last. He had put up a
surprise visit on them, and it would all be great fun.
But between himself and Sipazi there lay--Ndabakosi's kraal.
The latter, for a moment had been unwontedly lively; then it was as
dead. When Hyland Thornhill rode up to it, two ringed men stood
watching his approach with listless curiosity.
"_Saku bona 'madoda_!" he cried. "And the chief--how is he?"
They returned his greeting.
The chief was asleep, they said. In fact he was getting old, and was
not very well.
"_Au_! That is bad news," returned Hyland. "But--we are old friends.
I would like to look upon his face once more. Tell him Ugwala is here,"
giving his native nickname.
The two, whose faces were strange to him, looked at each other. Then
one went in the direction of the chief's hut, while the other went in
another direction. The while Hyland had not dismounted. Presently the
first returned.
The chief was awake, he said, and would see Ugwala presently. Meanwhile
would he not dismount?
But a very strange kind of instinct had come over Hyland Thornhill,
warning him to do nothing of the kind. It happened that as he sat in
the saddle waiting, he had happened to see, by a side glance, the hut
which the other man had entered. The doorway, for one brief moment, had
been crowded with faces, whose expression there was no mistaking. His
glance had also caught the gleam of assegais. All the rumours he had
heard on the way down and, especially when he had got off the train at
Telani, where in fact he had been seriously warned against taking this
journey all alone--came back to him. He remembered, too, that many of
the more reliable chiefs were reported to be disaffected.
"I will not wait, then," he answered. "I must reach Kwabulazi to-night.
_Hlala-gahle_."
The other grunted a sullen reply. Hyland, as he pushed his lame horse
along, did not feel at all easy in his mind. He would have felt less so
still had he seen what happened a few minutes afterwards. Hardly was he
out of sight of the kraal than a number of armed savages issued from it,
racing over the veldt at an angle of forty-five divergent from the
direction he was taking. But they knew their own plan. They knew
moreover that he was riding a lame horse. And they never intended he
should reach Kwabulazi that night--or ever.
As he held on his way his uneasiness took a new turn, and that on behalf
of his father and sister. If things were going from bad to worse Sipazi
was a lonely place. Surely his father would know better than to remain
on there. Perhaps they were already in laager--he had heard that in
some parts the farmers were going into laager--and again and again he
cursed his luckless mount which had had the unfortunate foolishness to
go dead lame just as he wanted him to put his best foot foremost.
Stung by these obtruding apprehensions, Hyland lashed his steed
savagely. It sprang forward into a half-hearted canter, and again he
lashed it. In front rose a long acclivity, the straight road ribanded
out in red dust, in contrast to the green of the veldt. Then began a
race--all unconsciously on the part of one competitor, but not so on
that of others. Threescore armed savages were straining every muscle to
gain the top of that acclivity the first, advancing stealthily through
the mimosa bushes and long grass.
Up this the sorry horse cantered half heartedly. But Hyland Thornhill
was in a bad temper now, a condition of mind begotten of growing
anxiety. What was a mere quadruped to him then? And again the raw-hide
lash curled round the animal's ribs. It gave a feeble kick or two, but
started off at a fairly respectable pace.
"Get on, you brute!" he growled savagely.
It may grieve the moralist, but it is hard fact that that outburst of
bad temper saved the rider's life. For by just the time saved by the
enforced acceleration of the horse's pace did he gain the top of the
rise first and--became alive to what he had, by such a shave, escaped.
The crawling forms were not a hundred yards distant on his right when he
sighted them, and on realising that they were discovered, they bounded
forward with a roar. But it was downhill work now, and Hyland sent his
steed along at its best pace, soon leaving his enemies behind.
"Near thing that, damn it!" he muttered grimly, turning in his saddle to
see if he was being pursued.
He was. Dark forms, strung out like a pack of hounds, were sprinting
along the road in his rear. He had got a good start, but what if this
confounded screw should stumble and fall? Then--good night! And
Kwabulazi was not exactly near, either. He had a good, business-like
revolver slung round him, concealed by his coat; but what was that
against such odds? It would mean selling his life at the price of four
or five of theirs, and keeping the last bullet for himself.
He had served in Matabeleland as well as in the Dutch war. He was
hardened and resourceful, but among the things he had learned in the
former campaign was the accepted fact that it did not do to fall into
the power of hostile savages, helpless and unarmed.
But no more did he see of his pursuers, and he felt almost
affectionately disposed towards his defaulting mount, as he topped the
last neck, and looked down upon Kwabulazi.
What was this? The place was all alive with people. The tents of
several waggons showed up white in the evening glow, and as he drew
nearer he could see a number of men digging for all they were worth.
They were making entrenchments. The place had gone into laager, then.
His father and sister would be there, and safe. After his own
experience he was filled with unutterable relief and thankfulness as he
realised this.
Several of the surrounding farmers had gathered here with their families
for mutual defence, and an outlying storekeeper or two, and all hands
were turning to with a will to bank up an adequate breastwork. Within
this the waggons, together with boxes and bales, should form an inner
line of defence. There was a lull in the work as Hyland rode up.
"Dashed if it isn't young Thornhill!" said one--an old man with a bushy
grizzled beard.
"Dashed if it isn't old Seth Curtis," responded Hyland, coolly.
"Well that's a damned respectful way to talk to a man old enough to be
your father," growled the other.
"Old enough to be, but thank God he isn't. I'm quite content with the
one I've got," answered Hyland shortly. He was not inclined to be
cordial towards the speaker, or towards anyone there. He resented the
attitude the neighbours had taken up towards his father, and didn't care
how much they knew it. "Where is he, by the way?"
There was no answer. A sort of blankness came over the group which had
gathered. Each looked at the other. Hyland felt his face growing white
and cold. His fists instinctively clenched.
"Can't some idiot answer?" he snarled savagely, glaring at the blank
faces, with a murderous longing to run `amok' and dash his fists in to
them all. Then a girl's voice sounded forth clear and full.
"Why--it's Hyland."
"Edala--where is he?" was the first question in the midst of a hurried
embrace. "Not killed?"
"No--not that."
"What then? Wounded?"
"No. But--they've got him."
"Good God!"
"Come with me and I'll tell you all about it quietly," and she led him
to Elvesdon's house where she and Evelyn had taken up their quarters.
The latter's presence he hardly noticed as he acknowledged their
introduction mechanically. Then Edala gave him all particulars of the
semi-tragic termination to Tongwana's war-dance.
"Why the people have known him all their lives," said Hyland. "What can
be their object? I could understand if they had killed him--them--but
to keep them prisoners--Oh Lord! Edala, can nothing be done to rescue
them? We can't sit down and let things slide."
And he began to pace about the room. Edala shook her head, dejectedly.
"Mr Prior has been doing what he can. He has sent out two of his
native detectives to try and find out where they are, and bribe the
chiefs to release them. He does not believe that Tongwana had any hand
in it. Nteseni might have, or Babatyana. He, by the way, has broken
out, and there are rumours that old Zavula has been murdered by him."
"Well, it's quite likely. Yet that paying dodge is about the only
chance at present that I can see," said Hyland, gloomily. "We must
first find out where they are, and if they're alive I'll get 'em out, or
go under myself--even if I have to do it alone, for I don't suppose any
of these white livered curs round here would risk their skins to lend me
a hand. They're first-rate at snapping at a man's heels though," he
ended savagely.
Edala knew to what he was referring, and secretly writhed. The lash was
stinging her too.
"Hy, darling--it's a perfect godsend that you have come. Oh, we must do
something," she said, her eyes filling. Edala the light-hearted, the
careless, the somewhat hard--had softened marvellously since that
experience.
Then Prior came in, and Hyland greeted him cordially, for they had been
great friends; in fact the magistrate's clerk was one of the very few in
the neighbourhood with whom he would exchange much more than a word, for
the reasons given above. Now he gave him his experiences at Ndabakosi's
kraal, and subsequently.
"If I'd got off that horse I should have been a dead man," he concluded.
"So I should be if I hadn't got my shirt out, and quilted that poor
lame old crock rather sinfully. Well, you see--you can trust none of
these chaps after all. If there's one nigger in all Natal I should have
sworn was straight it's old Ndabakosi."
So they talked on. Prior, by reason of his official position, and as
the deputy of his absent chief, found himself in a sort of post of
command--the detachment of Mounted Police, too, being under his orders,
and it looked as if Hyland Thornhill by reason of a masterful force of
will was going to share it with him, in the active line at any rate, if
they came to blows with the rebels. Than this Prior asked nothing
better and said so with unfeigned satisfaction.
We last saw Edala and her companion poised on the dizzy altitude of what
the former called her `aerial throne,' surrounded by peril. Moreover
they had just been discovered. Manamandhla had seen them, as to that
there could be no doubt. Every moment they had sat there expecting the
return of those they had heard above--then death; and every such moment
was bitter with the bitterness of death. Yet, when they climbed up
nearly an hour later and stood, cramped and shivering, the summit of
Sipazi was clear. Sorely was Edala puzzled. Clearly the Zulu had not
betrayed their presence. What strange unfathomable motive could he have
had in sparing their lives--hers especially, thought Edala, whose father
had deliberately attempted to take his? Yet he had done so.
And in the result Prior was astounded to see at about mid-day, instead
of his chief returning--for he had taken for granted the latter was
spending the night at Thornhill's--two tired and haggard-eyed girls
walking up to the place; and more astounded still when he recognised
their identity, and learned the strange doings they had to tell of.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
THE DEFENCE OF KWABULAZI.
All round the earthwork men were posted, many for the air was keen and
biting. The stars, not yet faded, shone frostily, but there was no
mist; and for this they were thankful. Each man had a gun of some sort,
from an up-to-date Mauser or Lee-Metford, down to a double-barrelled
shot-gun.
The first dull red streaks had begun to appear in the eastern sky, and
at the sight a thrill of excitement ran along the circle, for such is
almost invariably the time chosen by the wily savage for making his
murderous rush. These were all prepared to give him a most unhealthy
reception.
"Don't light that silly pipe, Jenkins," growled Hyland to his next door
neighbour. "D'you hear? What are you doing, man? D'you think we want
'em to know we're anxiously waiting to welcome them?"
The man addressed snarled.
"Who the 'ell are you?" he grunted. "I'm not taking orders from
anyone." Still he hardly dared disobey. Hyland Thornhill had a
reputation for being a terror with his fists, and he was as strong as an
elephant.
"I'll knock it out of your silly jaws if you attempt to light it," was
the uncompromising answer. "Hallo!" as he became aware of another
presence just behind him. "What are you doing here, Edala? Go in at
once."
"I'm going to take a hand in this game," she answered, showing her
revolver--her brother had impounded her gun, having none of his own.
"Not if I know it. Clear back in again at once, d'you hear." Then in a
tender undertone, "Be sensible, little girl. Go inside, and keep all
those women from yelling themselves to death with funk directly. You
can do it."
She obeyed, with no further demur.
"`The Lord is King,'" quoted with a sneer, the man just taken to task,
to his neighbour on the other side. "But it seems to me that old
Thornhill's pup is king over Him."
"Meaning yourself?"
"Oh, you're so damn funny, Bridson. You'll bust yourself if you don't
watch it," rejoined the other resentfully.
Hyland, the while, was occupying himself by drawing a cross-nick with a
pocket-knife on the apex of each of his Lee-Metford bullets. The gun
was a rifle and smooth bore, and with a heavy charge of Treble A in the
shot barrel, was calculated, as he put it, to stop the devil himself at
no distance; anyhow many black devils would probably undergo the
experiment before the day was an hour older. He had just finished on
the last bullet when something caused him to throw up his head, rigid
and motionless, listening intently. He had caught the faintest possible
suspicion of that unique sound--the quiver of assegai hafts.
"Pass the word round `Stand by'," he whispered to each of his
neighbours. One ignored it--he recently rated, to wit. Who the devil
was young Thornhill, to come here skippering the whole ship? he wanted
to know--to himself.
Hyland was sighting his piece. In the fast lightening dawn his keen
vision had detected a tongue of dark figures flitting stealthily out of
the mimosa bushes some couple of hundred yards away--and striking out a
line which should bring them round to the back of the entrenchment.
This was the encircling manoeuvre, he decided. And then he let go.
But the detonation, and the wild yell of more than one stricken savage--
for he had fired into them bunched up--was drowned by an appalling roar,
as a dense mass sprang up among the low bushes on that front, and,
waving shield and assegai, charged straight for the earthwork.
"Aim low--aim low," was each man's injunction to his neighbour as the
firearms crashed: in the semi-light making a circle of jetting flame.
With effect too, for the front rows went down like mown corn.
"Ho-ho-ho! Haw-haw! Hooray!" were the varying forms of hoarse guffaw
that went up, and the joke was this. Those immediately behind the
fallen ones, pressed on over the bodies of the latter, intending to rush
the earthwork before the defenders should have time to reload. But
they, too, went down in sheaves, and that before another shot had been
fired. They had got into an entanglement of barbed wire, which had been
stealthily and quickly fixed round the defences the night before, but
_after dark_, lest the watchful eyes of scouts should perceive it and so
prepare their countrymen, for this surprise. And now the surprise was
complete.
"Give it 'em again!" shouted Hyland, setting the example. This time the
fire was not directed upon those who had fallen among the wire
entanglement, but on those immediately behind them. The effect was
awful. The whole roaring, struggling mass fell back upon itself--then,
dropping to the ground, glided away like snakes among the long grass,
and many were picked off while doing so. Then, those especially who had
shot-guns, played upon those who were trying to extricate themselves
from the wires. They could not take prisoners, and they had their
families to defend. The odds were tremendous against them: it was
necessary to read the enemy a severe lesson, to inflict upon him a
stunning loss. Hyland Thornhill for one, the probable fate of his
father clouding his brain as with lurid flame, raked the struggling
bodies again and again with charges of heavy buckshot. The carnage was
ghastly, sickening, but--necessary. The alternative was the massacre of
themselves and of their women and children.
The latter had been stowed within the Court house for safety, and now
with the lull in the attack the frightened screeches of some of the
former, and the unanimous howling of most of the latter were dismally
audible. Edala had carried out her brother's injunction and was trying
to reassure and pacify them. Evelyn too was ably seconding her, and
soon with some effect. The sight of these two, calm and unconcerned,
carried immense weight.
"What's that you're saying, Prior?" said Hyland Thornhill, turning his
head, for he had not moved from his post. "Not come on again? Won't
they? You'll see. I'm only wondering what devil's move they're up to
this time. They're too many, and we're too few for them to give up in
any such hurry. Pity that infernal wire has been cut or we'd soon have
them between two stools."
This was in allusion to the telegraph, which early in the previous
afternoon had been discovered to be not working. The magistrate's
clerk, and some of the older farmers had been holding a hurried council
of war.
"Let's get in one of these shamming cusses and question him," went on
Hyland. "He's sure to be, but it'll help pass time. Hey--you!" he
called out in the vernacular. "You with the scratched toes. Get up and
come over here at once, or I'll blow twenty holes into your carcase with
a very heavy charge of shot. You know me. I'm Ugwala."
The name was magical. The man addressed, a sturdy muscular fellow who
had been shamming death, raised his head and asked to be reassured on
the word of Ugwala that his life should be spared. This was done, and
he clambered over the earthwork.
"Whose people are these?" began Hyland, who had risen and joined the
rest. "Those of Ndabakosi?"
"All people, _Nkose_," was the reply. "Some of Babatyana, some of
Nteseni, some from over the river."
"Do they expect to take this place?"
"_Au Nkose_! They knew not that Ugwala had come into it," answered the
man, with a somewhat whimsical smile, the inference being intended that
had they known of his presence they would not have attempted such a
forlorn hope.
"Are you from beyond the river?"
"_E-he, Nkose_."
"Who are leading these?"
The man looked at him, and shook his head. But he made no reply.
Hyland repeated the question.
"I cannot betray my chiefs," was the answer.
"Oh then you'll have your brains blown out," came the savage rejoinder.
But it was not uttered by Hyland. It came from the man whom he had
prevented from lighting a pipe. He had drawn a revolver and was
pointing it right into the face of the Zulu. But in a moment Hyland's
arm flew up, and the pistol, jerked from the other's grasp, spun away
into the air.
"I have the promise of Ugwala," said the savage, calmly, showing no sign
whatever of trepidation.
"That's quite right," said Prior emphatically. "Damn it. The fellow's
quite right not to give away his chiefs. Hallo--what's up now? Here,
sergeant, shove him into the lock-up with leg-irons on. We can't have
him escaping just now, anyway."
All possibility of any pursuance of the quarrel on the part of the
aggrieved Jenkins was at an end--for the present at any rate. All hands
saw that which told that their work was by no means done. They would
need all their coolness and energy for the next half hour--after that,
things wouldn't much matter either way. The horses were picketed
inside, and outside the defences a large enclosure had been hastily
constructed of thorn bushes, and into this the trek oxen were driven at
night, making quite a respectable herd. Three sides of this kraal were
well covered by the fire of the defenders, but the fourth, of course,
was not. Losing no time after their first repulse the assailants had,
with incredible rapidity, breached this fence and were driving out the
whole herd. But not as spoil--no not yet. For them they had another
purpose, and grasping its import the defenders realised what new peril
threatened.
Away up the valley the oxen had been driven by a number told off for the
purpose, and now they were returning. By this time the animals were
becoming uneasy and excited--tossing their heads and throwing up their
tails, and bellowing wildly as they ran.
"Here, Prior. Is there any paraffin about, or kerosene?" asked Hyland
eagerly. "Because I have an idea. Only--sharp's the word."
"Yes. Come along."
They went into the store and in a second Hyland had got off the head of
a paraffin tin. There were some old sacks in the corner. Seizing one
of these he quickly deluged it with the liquid. He rolled his eyes
around impatiently.
"A pole--Prior, damn it! I must have a pole of some sort."
"Here you are," dragging one out from under some rubbish. It was an old
pole which had been used for hoisting a flag on occasions of national
festivity. Hyland seized a chopper, and having split the thinner end of
the pole, inserted the paraffin-soaked sacking in such wise that it
should be held gripped within the cleft. Then they went out.
"Now you fellows," he cried. "They're going to drive the oxen bang over
us and rush us under cover of them, and I'm going to _split the herd_.
Cover me well when I skip back, but don't shoot wild."
A hurried murmur of applause. It was a feat whose daring was about
equalled by the quickness of resource which had devised the plan.
The oxen were coming on now at a canter, about a hundred all told. The
impi had thrown out `horns' so that the terrified animals, beset by a
leaping, yelling crowd on either side, had no option other than to rush
blindly ahead.
Hyland Thornhill leaped over the breastwork, armed with his impromptu
torch. Carefully avoiding the wires, he advanced about fifty yards and
lighted it. The oxen were about twice that distance from him--rendered
frantic by the yells and whistling of the savages urging them on behind.
The flame roared up the soaked sacking, and as he waved this about, on
a level with the eyes of the animals, Hyland fired off a series of
appalling yells worthy of the savages themselves. Would his plan
succeed? Those watching it seemed turned to stone. The oxen were
almost upon him--they could not stop. Then, as he charged them with the
flaming ball, they were suddenly seen to split off into two sections,
and in wild mad career to dash through those who would have turned them
back, galloping away into distance. Almost before the enemy, coming on
behind, could take in this feat its daring perpetrator was back within
the defences again. A ringing cheer broke forth. It was answered from
the other side.
_Usutu_! _'Sutu_!
The roar of the terrible black wave as it rolled forward. It was full
daylight now, and the tossing shields, and broad blades gripped in each
right hand were clearly discernible. The war-shout of the late King
told that these were largely made up of those from beyond the river.
The defenders had to meet the dreaded Zulu charge.
Would it never be turned? The guns of the defenders grew hot, with the
rapidity of the fire. Assegais came whizzing over the breastwork--one,
striking a man between the shoulders as he lay at his post, literally
pinned him to the earth--but no one had time to notice this. That awful
raking of the front ranks, combined with a wholesome dread of the barbed
wire, whose disastrous effects they had witnessed, had brought the
savages to a halt. Assegais, however were hurled in showers, killing
another man and wounding several. For a moment the fate of the day hung
by a hair, but the terrible incessant fire, and that from guns that
seemed to need no reloading, was too much. The line wavered, then
dropping to the ground, the assailants crawled away among the grass and
bushes as before.
A sigh of relief that was almost a murmur, escaped the defenders. Grim,
haggard-eyed, they looked furtively at each other, and each, in the face
of his fellow, saw the reflection of his own. Each and all had been
within the Valley of the Shadow. It had seemed not within their power
to turn that last charge, but--they had done it. An odd shot or two was
fired at long range after the retreating army, and then men found
speech, but even then that speech was apt to be a little unsteady.
"I say, Prior!" cried one devil-may-care fellow, who had borne a tiger's
share in the fight. "How about `The Governor of North Carolina'? We
must drink Thornhill's health. He saved this blooming camp."
"_Ja-ja_, he did," was the response on all sides.
"Oh damn all that for bosh!" was the half savage, half weary, comment on
the part of him named.
There was a laugh--a somewhat nervous laugh--the effect of the strain.
"All right," said Prior. "Elvesdon has some stuff, but we mustn't clean
him out of it all, you know. Ugh! These dead devils look rather
disgusting," for he was not used to the sight of bloodshed. "We must
keep the women from seeing them."
"Master," said a timid voice, on the outskirts of the crowd. "I make
good dinner now for all gentlemen?"
There was a roar of laughter and a cheer. The voice had proceeded from
Ramasam, Thornhill's Indian cook, who had spent the time of the fight in
the kitchen of Elvesdon's house, green with scare.
"Well done, Ramsammy. So you shall," cried Prior.
"Zulu nigger all run away now, masters?" queried the Indian. Whereat
the roar redoubled--the point of the joke being that the speaker was a
very black specimen of a Madrassi, some shades darker than the darkest
of those he had defined as "Zulu nigger."
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
"CAN THE `ETHIOPIAN' CHANCE HIS SKIN?"
"Well, we've managed to run our necks into a nice tight noose,
Thornhill," was Elvesdon's first remark as he realised that they were
virtually prisoners in the hands of insurrectionary savages, which meant
that their position would grow more and more dangerous every day.
"The next thing is to get them out of it," rejoined Thornhill fighting
his pipe, and puffing away calmly as he walked.
"What about the ladies--will they be safe?"
"Oh yes. If they'd wanted them they'd have brought them along with us."
"Sure?"
"Dead cert."
Elvesdon felt immeasurably relieved. Now, more than ever; now that he
was separated from her; might never even see her again; he realised what
Edala had become to him. She had fascinated him from the very first,
and of late had become part of his life. But it would not do to give
way to depression. If Thornhill, who knew these people better than he
did, had no anxiety about his daughter's ultimate safety, why surely he
himself need have none.
"You see, this hasn't come to anything as yet," went on Thornhill,
"whatever it's going to do. Now they know that to interfere with white
women in any way would be to bring about a general bust-up, which as
yet, they're probably not ready for. But likely enough they've got wind
that there's an idea of arresting some of the chiefs, and are holding us
as sort of hostages. Have you any notion that there's any such idea on
foot?"
"I've heard nothing about it officially or in any other capacity. But
if such a programme is on the boards we shall get our throats cut if
it's carried out. Is that the meaning?"
The other nodded.
"Well Parry," went on Elvesdon, cheerfully, "you wanted to see the
war-dance but you didn't bargain for this, eh? I suppose you've read
about this sort of situation too."
"Often, sir. But people always manage somehow to get out of it I
notice."
"And so shall we."
Cheered by the optimistic demeanour of his official superior, and the no
less calm one of his other companion in adversity the young Police
trooper began to enjoy the situation. What would his people at home say
if they could see him now, a prisoner in the hands of armed savages?
It was no end exciting; for of course they would manage to escape. As
he had said, people always did--in books. Poor boy!
Those who custodied them, even as those forming the escort for the two
girls, were not communicative. To the question as to where was Tongwana
the reply was short. The chief had gone away. To that as to where they
were bound for it was shorter still. They would see.
It was dark when they reached a large kraal, situated in a wide, bushy
valley. The country as they journeyed had become more and more wild and
broken. Thornhill declared they couldn't be far from the Tugela Valley,
which seemed to point to an intention on the part of their custodians to
rush them over the Zulu border, for the sake of better concealment.
Their arrival seemed to provoke no curiosity, or, at best a languid one;
certainly there were not many about to evince it. Thornhill, though not
seeming to do so, was keeping a bright look-out. Two or three faces he
thought he knew, but the bulk were those of strangers. They were taken
to a large hut in the centre of the kraal, and ordered to enter. But
when Parry would have followed the other two in he was promptly and
roughly stopped. It was in vain that both Thornhill and Elvesdon
pleaded that he might not be separated from them. He was only a boy,
they represented, and could not talk with their tongue. Let him remain
with those who could. One stalwart scoundrel who appeared to be in a
position of some authority, bent down and shook a bright, wicked looking
blade within the low doorway.
"Keep quiet, _Abelungu_! You are not masters here. If you come forth
without orders, that is death."
"_Abelungu_!" "White men!" That was a pretty insolent sort of way to
address a Government official, together with a man of Thornhill's
standing. It bore its full significance too. But they were helpless.
Two men unarmed against a large armed force! Of course they were
helpless.
"Poor boy," said Elvesdon as they were left alone. "I'm afraid he won't
find it so exciting now."
"In a way I'm glad we're alone together for a time at any rate," was the
answer. "We can talk things over more freely. And we'll not have to do
that too loud either, for there's a good sprinkling of these chaps who
know English--though they won't let go that they do--thanks to the
mischievous idiots who have gone in for educating them."
"If we come through this all right, I'll put in all the good word I can
to get that youngster on in the force," said Elvesdon. "He showed pluck
and readiness to-day, never lost his head for a single moment."
"More he did. Now I wonder who wrote you that letter."
"Oh don't refer to the beastly thing, Thornhill. If only I had opened
it at first--as I ought to have done. No--it won't bear thinking about.
Wait--I'll burn it, in case it might compromise the writer, if the
worst comes to the worst."
He twisted the letter into a screw and set it alight, kindling his pipe
with it. Anyone might come in at any moment, and such a proceeding
would, in that event, look less suspicious.
Someone did come in, but it was rather a welcome entry, for it was that
of a couple of women, bearing food; roasted mealies and some grilled
beef, which latter, however, neither looked nor smelt very tempting.
"What's this? Water?" said Elvesdon, investigating the contents of a
bowl. "The stingy swabs might have sent us some _tywala_ while they
were about it."
Putting it to the women, who were kindling a fire in the round hollow in
the middle of the floor, one of them replied that beer was scarce.
There were so many men in the kraal--she supposed they must have drunk
it all. Elvesdon put his hand into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out
a shilling.
"See if you can find some," he said. "Here. This is for you--for the
two of you. You can halve it."
But the recipient, carefully placing the coin in her bag, replied
stolidly that she could not halve a gift. Elvesdon laughed and found a
similar coin for the other. It proved, however, a bad investment, for
no _tywala_ was forthcoming.
"This looks more cheerful," he went on, when they were alone again, and
were discussing the food. "It was beastly cold, too, without a fire.
Wonder where they've put the young 'un. It rather handicaps us being
apart from him in case we saw a chance of doing a bunk, for of course we
can't leave him behind."
"No, we can't, but we shall get no such chance just yet. Hear that."
All round them was the sound of voices, deep voices. Some were right
against the hut which was their prison. A strong odour of roast told
that their custodians were enjoying themselves in the most enjoyable way
known to savages--feasting, to wit. Once Elvesdon opened the door to
look forth. In a moment two savages, armed with assegais, sprang before
the entrance and ordered them to keep it shut.
"I've a notion," said Thornhill, "that this is Nteseni's `great' place,
and if so we've fallen into bad hands."
"That bears out what Teliso used to say. He always maintained that
Ntesini was a bad egg."
"M-yes. I wonder where the said Teliso is now. You know I hinted to
you that he might require a little watching himself."
"He's been away a precious long time. By the way I wonder if he wrote
that letter. He could talk some English but I don't know about his
ability to write any. He may have been murdered for all we know."
"He _may_, or--he may not."
Elvesdon was impressed. A qualm of misgiving came over him that he
might have trusted Teliso too much. What, by the way, if he were at the
bottom of their seizure? He might be. There was no trusting anyone.
Decidedly there was something suspicious about the length of time Teliso
had been away on his mission, and that without sending in any
communication whatever.
Poor Teliso! His cracked and whitened bones lying in the lonely ravine
beneath the krantz, picked clean by the tiger-wolves and jackals, could
not now rise up under the stars to testify whether or not Nteseni was--
as Elvesdon had put it--"a bad egg."
The next morning to their intense relief they were allowed some measure
of liberty. They could stroll about outside the kraal, for instance,
but even then only in the open, and with groups of armed men constantly
on their steps. If there was any considerable body gathered at the
kraal those composing it must assuredly have kept within the huts;
possibly sleeping off the heaviness of the feast the night before.
Decidedly it was strange to these two, accustomed as they were when
visiting or passing such places to meet with deference at every turn--
now to find themselves actually obliged to obey orders from those over
whom one of them at any rate had partially ruled. But the ruled now
aspired to be the ruling, and, certainly, into far as they themselves
were concerned, had succeeded.
They were threading their way among the huts when, from one of them
there emerged suddenly a man--a black man--but not blacker than his
coat, nor very much blacker than his dingy tie that had once been white.
He had crawled through the low doorway, and stood upright before he was
aware of their presence. The instant he became aware of it he brought
his hand to his mouth with an ejaculation of amazement and dismay, and
stood staring, surprised for the moment out of all self-possession.
Both looked at him--Elvesdon especially--with an expression of aversion
and contempt.
"So!" was all that Elvesdon said.
It seemed difficult to tell on which side the surprise felt was the
greatest. In the fat, greasy features both the white men recognised the
Rev Job Magwegwe, the Ethiopian preacher.
"You not get my letter, sir?" said the latter, hurriedly, eagerly.
"Your letter? Oh, I see," replied Elvesdon.
"I warned you sir; you not take my warning. It not my fault you here,
sir."
"It's damned well your fault there's a `here' for us to be in, and the
fault of those who sent you, you scoundrel," returned Elvesdon bitterly,
and perhaps a little unjustly. For again the self-reproach in not
having taken the warning in time, came uppermost, and here was some one
to vent it on.
"I help you sir--now if I can,"--said the Fingo, earnestly. "But--it
not easy and--"
"_Whau_! Jobo!" cried a great voice as two hulking Zulus came up.
"Here is much white men's talk--too much. Get back to thy preaching--
that is more in thy line. _Whau_!"
They were Zulus from beyond the river, and cared nothing for
missionaries and their methods--let alone for a greasy humbug of an
inferior black man. The Rev Job Magwegwe slunk away before their
great domineering voices and manner. And the two white men felt
immeasurably more drawn to these.
"So that's the chap who sent the letter!" remarked Elvesdon. "He's an
infernal rascal all the same. `Help'! Fat lot of help he'll give us--
even if he could."
"Don't you be too cock-sure about that, Elvesdon. I've known queerer
things in my time than even that. It's astonishing how things can work
round--not when--but _where_ you least expect them. It's something to
know we have a friend among the enemy let me tell you. He might be of
use to us yet."
"Well if he is I'll forgive him--or try to. These swine, though, are
responsible for nearly all the mischief. I'd hang the whole `Ethiopian
Church' if I had despotic power, or, at any rate, give its infernal
mischievous emissaries a hundred apiece with the cat and then disband
the whole rotten organisation. But, Thornhill. Do you think this
_schelm_ really would help us if he could?"
"I sort of do. You see when these chaps get partly civilised, although
it deteriorates them as savages it has often the effect of making them
all unconsciously cling to the white man. Now this one is a Fingo, and
his traditions would make all that way. He no more wants to set up a
universal black Power than you or I do; he knows where he, and all his
like, would come in under it. At present he's paid to preach it but I'm
perfectly certain he no more believes it possible than you or I do
either. So let's make use of him if we can; though I doubt if we can,
for they don't seem to trust him overmuch here from what we've just
seen."
"`Can the Ethopian change his skin?'" quoted Elvesdon, sourly.
The day wore on. Both men--Elvesdon, especially, being the younger--
were wistfully trying to glean from the talk they could overhear, what
was going on outside. They tried questioning those around them but
without result. They asked too, about their fellow prisoner, the young
Police trooper, who had been so arbitrarily separated from them; but
beyond the fact that no harm had been done him, they could get no
further. The while both were sizing up every chance for effecting an
escape, but even had such offered it was out of the question they should
have availed themselves of it at the price of abandoning a
fellow-countryman--a fellow-countryman, too, who was doubly helpless, in
that, being a new comer, he was entirely unversed in the language and
ways of those who held him in durance.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
A DEVIL-DEED.
The third day of their captivity had dawned, and waned. It seemed that
those around had grown rather more used to them, for they would chat at
times, while dexterously evading any attempts to extract news. But it
struck them that there was an atmosphere of tension, of expectation, as
though events were expected on the outside. Moreover the number of
armed men about the kraal seemed to have diminished by eight-tenths.
With the chief, Nteseni, they could get no speech, although they
repeatedly asked to see him. Moreover, did either or both of them catch
sight of a face they knew, that face was promptly turned away, and the
owner of it never risked the chance of their seeing it again. So far
this was a good augury they agreed, for had their deaths been already
decided upon it would not matter whose faces they recognised or whose
they did not. By this time they had almost got used to the strangeness
of the feeling that they were captives in their own land; that where
they were accustomed to lord it they were now obliged to obey. Many
times, too, and oft, they speculated as to what course would have been
adopted by those who had not been required to share their captivity.
"Edala has got her head screwed on the right way," Thornhill had said,
on one of these early occasions. "Depend upon it she will have warned
everybody within hail. What d'you think, Elvesdon? Will Prior have had
the sense to wire sharp to Police headquarters and laager up your
place?"
"Of course he will. We've often discussed contingencies, though not
such an unlooked-for one as this. Oh, he'll have made that all right."
That evening a surprise awaited. There was a sound of voices outside.
The wicker-slab that constituted the door of their hut was pushed, and
an English voice called out.
"It's me. Can I come in?"
"Why Parry, of course you can," cried Elvesdon, promptly undoing the
fastenings. "How are you? Glad to have you back again. We've been
trying all we knew to make them let you come back to us, but for some
reason they wouldn't. Have some skoff. We're half through ours. Well,
it'll be an invaluable experience to you afterwards."
"Thanks, Mr Elvesdon. You're awfully good," answered the young fellow.
"I don't know. I thought I was afraid of nothing--but somehow these
black devils with their beastly spears, threatening to stick you for a
couple of days and nights, rather saps your nerves, especially when
you're all alone, and can't talk to them either. I've been in the
roughest scrimmages at football and never knew what it was to funk, but
somehow now--I don't know--I've expected to be stuck ever since they
lugged me away two nights ago."
"Oh, they won't do that or they'd have done it before," answered
Elvesdon cheerily, though his cheerfulness was more than half-affected.
"Fact is you've been reading too much William Charles Scully, and Ernest
Glanville, and these other Johnnies who write up the noble savage within
an inch of his life. You've taken an overdose of them and of him.
Here--have some of this _tywala_: I've managed to raise some at last:
the stingy devils began with us on water. That's right. Now fall to."
The boy did so, nothing loath, and soon his spirits revived: he was not
more than twenty-one, and accustomed to a gregarious life, wherefore the
solitary confinement had told upon him.
"Light your pipe," said Elvesdon, when they had done. "We needn't stand
on etiquette now. We're all fellow-prisoners. By George, I've sent a
good many into that condition in course of duty, but never thought to
become a prisoner myself. Funny, isn't it?"
The boy laughed. Elvesdon could see that his first estimate was
correct, that he was a `gentleman ranker' and was not long in drawing
from him, with his usual tact and acumen, all his simple family history.
He was the son of a country vicar, and had had a great ambition towards
the army, but lack of means, as usual, stepped in, and he had turned to
a colonial Mounted Police force as many and many another likewise
circumstanced had done.
"Well Parry, I shall make it my business to see that you don't lose
anything by your behaviour the other day," said Elvesdon, "if my word is
good for anything. You carried out your orders to the letter, and that
as sharp as sharp could be."
The boy flushed up with pleasure.
"Thanks awfully, Mr Elvesdon," he said. "I'd like to get on in the
force. The dear old dad was always rather against my coming out to
join: said it was like enlisting as a private in the Army, and so on--
and that I'd much better try for a clerkship--a lot of good I'd have
been at quill driving! No, I didn't want that sort of life, but I was
going to do for myself so here I am."
"That's quite right," cut in Thornhill. "You're the sort of chap we
want out here, Parry. And even if you don't stick to the force a few
years' training in it'll do you all the good in the world."
And then the boy, all ideas of the difference between a Police trooper
and the Resident Magistrate forgotten for the time, opened his heart,
and got back to his home in the pleasant English country, and his
schooldays, only, comparatively speaking, a matter of yesterday. He had
not been coddled either, but had had to take the rough with the smooth--
and more rough than smooth--therein. And eagerly and enthusiastically
did he let himself go to his older listeners, his fellow-captives, here,
in the night-gloom of this savage hut, lighted only by the dimness of
the dying fire: forgetting everything, forgetting that he might never
see that English home again; might never see the setting of another sun;
and causing them almost to forget it too. Poor boy! Poor boy!
He was eloquent on the big trout he had taken out of the mill-pool in
the rippling moonlight in the sweet early summer, with a white moth; the
big two-and-a-half pounder he had tried for so often; on the
sparrow-hawk's nest in the straight, slippery stemmed Scotch fir on the
border of the most carefully watched covert of the countryside, also in
the moonlight, and the hanging on by one hand--for an awful half minute
to a greasy, slippery bough, with sixty feet of clear drop beneath him--
on his brothers and sisters, and the first pipe which he and two of the
former had smoked, with doubtful satisfaction, in the depths of a
clay-sided ditch overhung with brambles, a little way below the vicarage
garden--on the splendid old copper-beech beneath which they used to take
tea on sultry summer afternoons. Elvesdon, listening sympathetically,
encouraged him to talk on--Thornhill was already snoring. At last the
boy himself grew drowsy.
"Well, Mr Elvesdon, I'm keeping you awake," he said. "But I can't tell
you how kind you have been to me. I hope, if we get out of this, and
you are ever in England you will go and see my people, and I hope still
more that I shall, by some chance or other, be there too to welcome you.
I'm so thankful we're together again; it was awfully lonely stuck away
there all by myself among these brutes."
"Why Parry, that's a first-rate after-dinner speech," laughed Elvesdon,
dropping a kindly hand on the lad's shoulder. "I hope all that you say,
too. And now--go to sleep."
The other obeyed. Elvesdon however, sitting there, did not feel in the
least inclined to follow suit. He felt uncomfortably wakeful, and
unwontedly depressed. He groped around for some fresh twigs to throw on
the fire, and found a scanty remnant. As the flame flared up, making a
shimmer on the shining backs of innumerable cockroaches studding the
domed roof, he got out his pouch, and as he filled his pipe he thought
how there was about enough to stand him in for another day's smoke, and
that only. He also thought of Edala.
It was nothing new. He had been flunking of her all the time. Now,
however, he thought of her with a vividity of concentration that almost
seemed to bring her presence here within this squalid hut. Would she
miss him, or would her anxiety be all on account of her father? He did
not know what to think--he could only hope.
His companions were slumbering peacefully. Hour followed hour and still
he sat. The fire burned low, then went out altogether. The keen
breaths of the night air chilled him to the bone. Rolling his blanket
around him--they had been allowed the use of a blanket apiece by their
captors--he lay down and suddenly sleep came to him.
But not for long. Hardly five minutes seemed to have passed before he
was awake again--in reality it was as many hours. Daylight was
streaming into the hut through the wicker-door, but what had really
awakened him, and the other two as well, was a hubbub of voices outside.
"What the devil is that infernal racket?" he growled--a man awakened in
the soundness of a much needed sleep is apt to growl.
"Don't know. I'm listening," returned Thornhill. And the purport of
the said listening made the listener grow rather grave. Then the door
was violently banged against, and excited voices ordered those within to
come forth.
"What is it?" exclaimed Parry, springing up eager and alert. "Are we
rescued?"
But to his two elder companions an idea suggested itself. Had a white
force suddenly appeared and was threatening the kraal? If so the more
excuse they could find for delaying to come forth from the hut the
better.
"What is it?" called back Thornhill. "Wait now. _Gahle_, _gahle_! we
must dress ourselves."
They had lain down in their clothes, of course, but anything for an
excuse to gain time. But those without did not see things in the same
light. The uproar redoubled.
"Come forth! Come forth! _Au_! Dress yourselves? You shall be
dressed--in red."
Thornhill and Elvesdon looked at each other, and the look was that of
men who knew that their last hour had come. The third, of course, did
not understand what was being said, or rather howled, outside.
"Well, you can wait," called back Elvesdon. "I am an official of the
Government--of the most powerful Government the world has ever seen. I
am not accustomed to be hurried, and I will not be. When we are ready
we will come forth."
It was the boldness of desperation. If an attacking force was advancing
it might be here at any moment. They were not going forth to hold out
their throats to be cut.
There was silence at this answer, save that a few deep voices were
vehemently debating in a wholly indistinct undertone. Elvesdon and
Thornhill looked around for a weapon, even a stick. There was nothing
of the sort within the hut. They even put up their hands and groped
among the thatch in the hope of finding concealed assegais--anything for
a weapon! Same result. There was nothing.
"The chief would see you, _Abelungu_," now called out a voice in more
conciliatory tones. "The chief--_Au_! he would speak with you."
"Well, I suppose we must chance it," said Thornhill. Elvesdon nodded.
The other, of course, had no say in the matter. The trio passed through
the low doorway, and stood upright. What was this? They were in the
midst of hundreds of armed warriors. The latter looked dusty and travel
soiled. Some, even, had wounds bound up, the blood which had filtered
through the filthy rags, browned and hardened upon them.
"Where is the chief?" cried Elvesdon. "As a Government official I talk
to no common man."
A growl arose, and assegai hafts rattled ominously. But the policy of
boldness answered here. No aggressive move was made.
"There he is, _Abelungu_," said one or two.
They passed between the armed ranks, to where a tall man was standing.
He was a sullen, heavy-faced savage, black-bearded, and holding his
shining head-ring as proudly thrown back as though he were the Zulu
king, at least.
"Greeting Nteseni," said Thornhill. "It is not long since we met, and
now we meet again. I am glad to look upon your face, and having done
so, I think now we will go home."
The chief returned no answer, save for a sullen grunt. The armed men
however made up for his silence, for they crowded up, in a kind of
war-dancing step, and their clamour was for blood, to make up for the
blood that had been shed, to make the _muti_ which should put into those
who tasted it the strength that should enable them to avenge that blood.
So they howled, and stamped, and clamoured, crying again and again that
these should be given over to them. Here was a curious contrast.
Little less than half of them had been quiet, civil, peaceable storeboys
or rickshaw drawers in the towns until a few months ago--some, even,
still wore the decorative horns affected by those pursuing the latter
useful calling--ready to greet their present prisoners with smiles and
civility; to exchange chaff with them, and to receive the reward of
their labours with whole-hearted geniality. Now, as by the wave of a
magic wand, they had reverted to their original barbarism. Every
vestige of civilised clothing had been discarded, and they now stood
forth, naked, bloodthirsty savages, rattling shields and assegais, and
thirsting for all the cruelty of barbarian vengeance.
Nteseni made a hardly perceptible sign. There was a sudden,
overwhelming rush forward. The young Police trooper was swept away from
the other two. There was a confusion of leaping, howling forms. It was
in vain that both Thornhill and Elvesdon strove to make themselves
heard. The tumult was too deafening. They were borne back, assegais
flashing zig-zag lightning before their eyes. They went through a
hundred deaths. But of their comrade in adversity they saw no more.
He the while, was dragged to the feet of the chief and barbarously
butchered. Then into his poor bleeding, mutilated body these fiends
drove their assegais, again and again, anointing themselves with the
blood, in some instances even licking it. And the roar of their
devilish blood-song reached these other two, sitting within the hut into
which they had been forced back, looking into each other's faces with
stony horror, with a glance that seemed to say: "What could we have
done?" And the answer could only be: "Nothing."
But their turn would come next. And there was no escape.
In gloomy horror thus they sat, listening to the dreadful clamour of
many voices outside like ravening beasts all howling for their blood.
For upwards of an hour this continued, and the strain became so great
that it was all they could do not to go forth, and say, "Here, work your
will." Then, suddenly, the hubbub ceased and an authoritative voice was
heard addressing the multitude. And then indeed did Thornhill, at any
rate, know the very depths of all hope abandoned, for the voice was that
of Manamandhla--of Manamandhla, for every reason under the sun, his own
particular enemy.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
OVERHEARD.
"And I say it's a judgment on him. He killed that poor wife of his and
now the Kafirs have killed."
"But it never was proved against him."
"No, it weren't, but everyone knows it. He couldn't prove he never did
it, now could he? Tell me that."
This essentially feminine line of argument proceeded, needless to say,
from one of that sex, which was also the sex of the other party to the
conversation. The latter was taking place a few yards from Elvesdon's
house, a day or two after the successful defence of the laager. The
speakers were stock-raisers' wives, of the unrefined and little-educated
class.
"Well if he couldn't prove he never did it they couldn't prove he did,
so he ought to have--what do they call it--the benefit of the doubt,"
came the rejoinder, though not in any tone of real conviction.
"Benefit of the fiddlestick. Why it was like looking for a needle in a
haystack trying to find her poor body among all those krantzes and holes
and caves. But it's there, you may take your oath to that. The Bible
says those that take the sword shall perish by the sword, don't it?
Well here's a case of it. Oh he's a deep old fox and a wrong bad 'un is
old Thornhill, and now he's--"
But what he was or where--was not destined to be supplied. From the
open window Edala's voice rang out clear.
"Ladies--if it amuses you to wickedly slander my father, who may not be
alive at this moment, don't you think it would show better feeling to go
and do so out of my hearing."
The tones were cutting like a whip-lash. The girl's face was deathly
white, with a burning red spot in either cheek, and her blue eyes fairly
blazed. The two women started as if they had been shot: then gasped as
if they were going to say something, but couldn't--then moved quickly
away without a word; which perhaps, under the circumstances was the best
course they could have adopted.
Edala turned back into the room. Evelyn's face was as ghastly as her
own. For a moment the two stood looking at each other, then Edala flung
herself into a chair, dropped her arms upon the table and buried her
face in her hands. The great sobs that shook her frame seemed as if
they would tear it in pieces.
"Darling, don't give way like this," adjured Evelyn with an arm round
the bowed shoulders, and brushing away the fast dropping tears from her
own eyes. "Those wicked slanderous brutes--they ought to have their
tongues cut out! How could they utter such shameful lies!"
But the sobs seemed to intensify. Suddenly Edala flung up her head.
"I--believed--it--myself. God--help me!"
"No--no--no! You couldn't have," and the momentary instinct to shrink
away from the utterer of this terrible self-denunciation, passed. "You
have been so frightfully upset, Edala, and you hardly know what you are
saying. Why I have known your father for weeks only, and you have known
him all your life, and yet I would no more believe him guilty of--of
what those horrible wretches were saying than I would yourself. It is
impossible that you could have done so."
"But I did. I don't now--and it is too late. _He_ predicted that that
would happen, and so did you. Too late--too late!"
And again her face was buried in her hands.
No one living was farther removed from the hysterical tendency than
Evelyn Carden, but now she required every effort of her will to command
her own nerves--not to break down herself. The inconceivable despair
with which those last words were uttered was awful. Quickly again Edala
looked up.
"If he does not come back to me," she said, slowly and solemnly, "that I
may tell him what a horrible wicked wretch I've been to him, I shall go
and tell him in the other world. I shall kill myself. As sure as there
is a God above I shall kill myself."
The words were not uttered passionately. There was a calm solemnity
about them which caused the other to believe that she would keep her
word. What comfort could be administered to such remorse as this?
Then, in a moment, the scales dropped from Evelyn's eyes, and she stood
there as one who beheld a new revelation. Everything stood clear now,
the aloofness with which the neighbourhood had treated her relatives and
for which Thornhill had, with good-humoured contempt, pronounced himself
duly thankful; in that the said neighbourhood consisted of a rotten
crowd, the bulk of whom were scarcely able to write their own names, and
the residue perhaps too well able to write those of other people.
Edala's attitude, too, stood explained. If she believed that her father
had done this thing why the estrangement was only natural. If she
believed--but--how could she--how could she? Before Evelyn could reply,
however, a step was heard outside, and the door opened.
Hyland half drew back, then entered.
"Now, now, you two. This won't do you know. Didn't you promise me to
keep up?" he said but there was a suspicious quaver in his own voice
which rendered his tone gruff. "The more so that I've got some news for
you."
"News. Quick! What is it?" Edala sprang to her feet, while Evelyn's
face lightened.
"He is alive."
A gasp escaped both girls.
"Where? Where?"
"At Nteseni's `Great Place.' Don't interrupt and I'll tell you all
about it. Well then, you remember the fellow I questioned during the
fight, the prisoner I mean? He sent for me this morning, and said he
could tell me something I would like to hear; and after a little beating
around he told me that father and Elvesdon are still alive, and if I
promised not to turn him over to the police along with the other
prisoners he'd tell me where they were. Of course I promised, and he
said at Nteseni's. How did he know? Well he did know, and it didn't
matter how, but if we wanted to get them away we must lose no time.
"How did I know he was telling the truth, I asked. Easily, he answered.
If we were going to make an attempt to get them out, we could take him
with us. All he asked was that he should be allowed to escape when we
had found them. I talked this over with Prior and he agreed, so I went
around on the quiet beating up volunteers. I got about two dozen, and
we're going to slip off quietly as soon as it's dark. By pushing the
horses a bit we can do it, and be back here again to-morrow morning--
with them."
"Oh Hyland, for God's sake do," said Edala. "But what if this man is
only trying to lead you into some trap?"
"We shall take precious good care that in such an eventuality he'll be
the first man to go under--and he jolly well knows it. We're keeping
the jump-off on the strict Q.T. though, so don't you go giving it away."
"Of course not. It's a long time to wait, though, until dark."
"It's just as long to me--you may swear to that," answered Hyland. "But
it would simply wreck the whole biz if we moved a moment before."
A troop of Mounted Police had arrived at Kwabulazi later on the same day
as the repulse--perhaps an inkling of their approach on the part of the
rebels had had something to do with the abandonment of the attack.
Other refugees, too, had come in, and the place was now a large and
important laager. The prisoners were set to work to bury the slain, and
the wounded were attended to in the camp hospital under the direction of
our former acquaintance, Dr Vine, and things were ship-shape again.
Ndabakosi's kraals had been burnt, but the old chief and some of his
headmen had surrendered; he declaring that he had nothing to do with the
attack upon the place, the impi being composed almost entirely of
strangers; a statement which Hyland Thornhill for one, remembering his
experience at Ndabakosi's kraal, took with a considerable dash of salt.
Now Hyland's praises were in everybody's mouth. His coolness and daring
during the fight had been witnessed by all, and his brusque and almost
commandeering manner was quite forgiven him. Men will overlook--
especially at such a time as this--a great deal in one who has given
them ocular proof of the above-named qualities; moreover all there knew
that this one was undergoing at heart an intense grief and apprehension.
So when he went about quietly, asking the most likely men to back him
up in his perilous venture he met with no single refusal. He could have
doubled his force had he so wished, but he did not. This was to be a
run-through venture, not a fighting one, and for such a purpose a small
force was better than a larger one.
During the afternoon one of the detectives sent out by Prior slipped
quietly into the camp. He confirmed the statement of the Zulu in every
particular. The prisoners were at Nteseni's kraal. One had been
murdered, that morning, and that was the Police trooper. He had been
killed by order of the chief, and the impi had been `doctored' with his
blood. The others would have shared the same fate had not another
chief, one presumably of higher authority than Nteseni, prevented it,
and he had only done this with some difficulty. These facts had the
detective been able to gather owing to the wonderful and telegraphic
swiftness with which news spreads among natives; for it must not be
supposed that he himself had been at the scene of the tragedy--or
anywhere near it.
Here was grand comfort for the two sorrowing women, but the lamentable
side of the story, the murder of poor young Parry was kept from them, as
indeed it was from the camp at large until the expedition should have
returned. They could hardly find words for their thankfulness and hope.
But would those leaden hours of sunlight never cease to drag on?
"Hyland, darling," pleaded Edala, as she hung around her brother's neck
as the time came to start. "You will not be reckless will you? When
you have got them you will come straight back--you won't delay for the
sake of a fight unless you are obliged--you are always tempted to do
that, you know. Think what I--what we--shall be suffering all the
time."
"No--little one. You may take your oath I'll do nothing of the kind.
But I'll bring him--them--back or I won't come back myself. That, also,
you may take your oath to," he answered huskily, gruffly. "Now--
good-bye--good-bye."
He disappeared into the darkness. No lights were shown--no fuss was
made about seeing them off. So the two women were left alone to weep--
and perchance to pray.
Had it been light enough as the horsemen moved away it might have been
seen that they led among them two spare mounts. It might also have been
seen that there was another led horse, but it was not a riderless one.
On its back, his feet tied beneath its belly with a raw-hide thong, sat
the Zulu prisoner. Though firmly convinced of the good faith of the
latter, Hyland had no idea of taking any risks. To a savage, even
though riding in their very midst, to slip off into the darkness of the
thick bush and disappear would be no impossible feat, but to do so,
firmly bound to the horse itself, would be: and this had been explained
to him. But he took it with characteristic imperturbability.
"What I have said I will do I will do. What Ugwala says he will do he
will do. I am content," was his unruffled comment upon this apparent
indignity.
"Attend, Njalo," whispered Hyland, ranging his horse alongside that of
the captive. "If you are true to us now and we rescue those whom we
seek, letting you escape is not all that will happen to you for good.
Cattle shall be yours--cattle that will make you almost a rich man among
your people, after the troubles are all over. That will be good, will
it not, and such is my word to you?"
"_Au! Nkose_ has an open hand," answered the man in a gratified tone.
"And I think that the two whom you seek will return with you."
"The _two_ whom you seek," he had said. Not until afterwards did it
occur to Hyland to wonder how it was the speaker knew that there were
only two left to seek. Here again that wonderful, mysterious native
telegraphy must have come in.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
MANAMANDHLA'S STORY.
To the said `two' it seemed that life could contain no further horrors,
and that they had better get it over and done with, and this held good
especially of Elvesdon, as the younger and less hardened. Thornhill was
speculating as to how it was that Manamandhla, so far from hastening
their death, seemed to have averted it. The tumult had not been
renewed, and nobody had come near them. Then later on they had been
allowed to sit outside, and even to stroll about a little as usual. But
there seemed to be very few people at the kraal, and, noting this, they
looked at each other as though inspired by a new hope.
The day wore on. The unrolled panorama of bush and cliff and spur grew
purple and dim in the declining sun. In the mind of both was the
thought--Would they see the set of another sun?
"Look here, Thornhill," said Elvesdon as though seized with a sudden
impulse. "I don't know whether either of us will get away from here
alive, or both. But I want to say something. In case we do, have you
any objection to my trying to win your daughter's love?"
If the other was startled he did not show it. The two were seated upon
a rock just outside the kraal, watching the changing lights over the
far-away kloofs as the sun sank behind the highest ridge to the
westward. Both were scraping together the last shreds of their
remaining stock of tobacco, which might perhaps afford them a last half
pipe apiece.
"Why no," was the meditative answer. "But do you think you can do it,
Elvesdon?"
"I had hopes. But why I mention it--here and now of all places--is
because if you should get away and I should not, I should like Edala to
know that my last thoughts were of her, as indeed all my thoughts have
been ever since I've known her. She is unique, Thornhill. I don't
suppose there's another girl in the world in the least like her."
"First of all Elvesdon, don't talk of me getting away, and you not. Is
that likely now? We stand or fall together. And if they want a second
blood feast--the damned butchering brutes--they can take it out of me.
You're the younger man of the two, and have a sight more life in front
of you than I have. So you skip away if you see a chance while they are
busy with me."
Elvesdon laughed, rather mirthlessly.
"That would be such a noble way of returning to Edala, wouldn't it? How
she'd thank me for coming to tell her I'd left her father to be chopped
to pieces in order to save my own precious skin on her account, wouldn't
she? No, I'm afraid you must `ask us another,' Thornhill."
The latter suddenly sprang to his feet.
"Come on Elvesdon. We must buck up, man. We're both getting too much
into the holy blues. But the sight of that poor young devil being
butchered this morning got on to even my tough old time-hardened nerves,
I allow. Well, to get back to what you were saying. If we're lucky and
get out of this, you are welcome to try your chances with Edala--from
what I've seen of you I can say that wholeheartedly. Only I warn you
that--to use your own words--she _is_ unique. But I daresay you've more
than half fixed it up between you before this."
"I wish we had," was the answer. And then at a signal from the armed
group that watched them, they returned to the hut.
But they found it already tenanted. A man was seated there warming
himself by a fire to which he had just applied a light, and the gleam of
the darting flames was reflected from his head-ring. Then indeed was
astonishment depicted on the faces of both--especially on that of
Thornhill--as they recognised the features of Manamandhla.
The Zulu returned their greeting, and sat silent for a few minutes. So
did they. Blank amazement was in the mind of one, but the other--hoped.
And he had the least reason to hope anything from the man before him,
but he remembered that this man's voice had been raised powerfully for
their protection that very day, wherefore he hoped--on his companion's
behalf if not on his own. Then Manamandhla spoke.
"My life is yet my own, Inqoto, which is well for some."
Thornhill understood the allusion and--hoped still more. He made the
usual murmur of assent.
"Listen _Abelungu_," went on the Zulu, "and I will tell a story. There
were two children--brothers. They fought in the ranks of the _ibuto_
called Ngobamakosi what time the impi of the Great Great One was
defeated _kwa Nodvengu_. [Historically known as the battle of Ulundi.]
Both were wounded in the battle, and could not flee far, so when the
white horsemen poured forth in pursuit they soon overtook these, who lay
down, already dead. The horsemen thundered down upon them, and seeing
that they still moved--for who at such a time sees anything but red?--
pointed their pistols. But another white man rode there too and he
pointed his pistol too--not at those who lay there but at those who
threatened them. They were angry, and words rose high, but they rode on
and left those two children, of whom one is alive to-day."
The speaker paused, and began deliberately to take snuff. Elvesdon was
interested; Thornhill was more, as he bent his glance keenly upon the
dark face before him.
"Time--a long time--rolled on, and one of those `children,' then a young
man no longer, but ringed, sought out the white man who had saved him
and his brother from death. He found him and--_au_! he himself became
lame for life. For he fell--but he arose again. Then twice after that
he escaped death."
Thornhill's face became rigid. He had entertained an angel unawares and
had, all unconsciously, done his best to transform him into a devil.
Elvesdon, too, began to see through the veil--though not entirely. He
recalled the incident in the kloof when his friend had fired straight at
this man, and but for his timely interruption and that of Edala would
certainly have shot him dead. The Zulu for his part knew exactly how
much to render clear to both and how much to keep dark from one.
"And now Inqoto," he went on. "Thy daughter? What of her?"
"She is safe." There was a rigid eagerness in the tone that by no means
conveyed the assurance intended to be conveyed.
"She is safe," was the answer, and Thornhill sank back with a sigh of
relief. "Hers was one life saved by those of the two children _kwa
Nodwengu_. She, and another, had taken hiding on the tree which grows
out from Sipazi-pazi. Two eyes saw them, many others who sought for
them on the mountain top--ah ah--on the mountain top--did not. She is
safe at Kwabulazi--both are safe."
A great sigh of relief went up from both listeners. They could fill in
all the details. But Thornhill, to his companion's amazement went
through a strange performance. He leaped to his feet, and the next
moment was swinging the narrator to and fro as he sat, with a vice-like
hand upon each shoulder.
"Manamandhla, my _brother_!" he exclaimed in a deep, quivering tone.
"You saved her life like this? You? See now. Before I am killed here
I will write that on paper which shall give you after the trouble is
over what will make you a rich man, and what will protect you if you are
known as having taken part in the trouble. Now--now I see everything.
I did not before."
At first the Zulu looked astonished at this outburst, and then his
magnificent white teeth showed in a gratified smile.
"_Whau_!" he exclaimed. "A life for a life--that is a safe rule. The
life of a woman does not count. The oxen which Inqoto has given to my
brother's son pay for that. But the lives of the two `children'--
warriors in the _ibuto_ known as Ngobamakosi--such are the lives of men.
And these I give ye two--so far as I can," he added somewhat seriously.
"Listen. I am not chief here, Nteseni is. But Nteseni is away with
most of his people. This night you must leave. To-morrow may be too
late. Here are the weapons you came with--"
From under his blanket he produced two revolvers, the same which had
been taken from them at their capture.
"--For food, if you have none, that I cannot help, but you are both
strong. Listen. Now I am going out hence, and I shall draw those who
watch this hut away with me. When you no longer hear voices, then go
forth, but be careful to leave the door of the hut in its place.
_Hambani gahle_!"
He crawled through the low doorway and was gone, leaving the two staring
at each other in speechless amazement. To Thornhill, especially, it
seemed like a dream. He remembered the long-forgotten incident now
recalled, and how in the rout after Ulundi he had saved two youths who
had sunk down exhausted in their flight, from being ruthlessly pistolled
by two of his own comrades in the troop of irregular Horse in which he
was serving--and now this was one of them: this man of whom he had gone
in dread as a witness against him, whose blood he had sought with deadly
persistency and on two occasions had nearly shed It was wonderful--
wonderful.
And this man--this savage--had been the means of saving Edala--his
darling--his idolised child--from a bloody death or worse brutalities at
the hands of the fiends who sought her! By the side of that the fact of
the saving of their own lives counted as nothing--nothing.
"Well, Elvesdon. I think it's time to skip," he said as at last the
sound of deep-toned voices died into silence.
Cautiously they took down the door and slipped out, taking care to place
it in position again. There was no sign of life in the kraal, except
the muffled murmur of a few drowsy voices coming from one or two of the
huts. In a minute they had gained the welcome darkness of the bush.
"Now I think we can steer our way," whispered Thornhill. "Our nearest
is by old Zisiso's kraal, but that's a regular path, and we don't want
that. We'll keep a bit up, and we shall have the double advantage of
avoiding the enemy--every Kafir is an enemy now--and being able to get
an occasional outlook over the country. If we don't fetch Kwabulazi by
sunrise we shall have to lie low all through to-morrow."
Steadily they held on. Thornhill was a master of veldt-craft, and
Elvesdon did not come very far behind him in that line for all that he
was professionally an official. The night air blew keen and chill, very
chill, but the walking exercise largely counteracted that. And the
sense of freedom again was exhilarating in itself--still more so was the
sense of the impending reunion.
They did not talk as they travelled--when they had occasion to do so it
was in the barest whispers. In ordinary and peaceful times they would
not have encountered a living soul, for the native is strongly averse to
moving about at night. Now, however, it was different. They might run
into an impi at any moment, travelling swiftly across country to take up
its position for attack or observation.
The night was dark, but, fortunately there was no mist. The stars to a
certain degree piloted their direction, as they do, or should do, to
every dweller in the free, sparsely inhabited open. Only this was not
so sparsely inhabited, in that twice they came upon a large kraal where
the inhabitants were alert and on the move, a thing they would never
have been at that time of night, in peaceful times.
Now as they got almost within the glow of the red fires of one of these
there was a rush and an open-mouthed clamour of curs, and that in their
direction. The inhabitants, too, seemed to pause, and gaze suspiciously
upwards--fortunately they were above them, on the apex of a ridge.
"_Gahle_, _Gahle_! Elvesdon!" whispered Thornhill. "They've spotted
us. This way. Don't rattle more stones than you can help."
They plunged down the other side of the rise. Ah but, they were many
wearisome miles from safety--and they were unmounted.
Along the hillside they made their way, but how slow did that way seem
to men unaccustomed to doing that sort of travelling on foot. The dawn
began to show signs of breaking, and they were still a long way from
Kwabulazi. A weary day of close hiding and starvation lay before them.
It was light enough now to distinguish the surroundings. Suddenly
Thornhill stopped and was listening intently.
"All up," he said. "Look."
The other followed the direction of his gaze. The tops of the bushes
were shaking in a long quivering line. Clearly their enemies had been
tracking them like hounds, throughout the dark hours.
"We can make a stand here as well as anywhere," growled Thornhill. "We
hold five lives apiece, and the last bullet for ourselves--if we get
time. Oh-h!"
A burning, blinding flash came before his eyes. Everything whirled
round him, and he sank to the earth. Elvesdon set his teeth, with
something like the snarl of a wild beast as his revolver bullet thudded
hard into the naked form of the savage who had just hurled the deadly
assegai, at the same time dropping another who was in the act of
following it up by a second cast. For the moment none seemed anxious to
take the risk of that quick, deadly aim.
Elvesdon glanced down at his unconscious friend, from whose head the
blood was pouring. The assegai had struck him on the temple, and the
blade, glancing along the skull had laid it bare in a frightful gash,
with the effect of momentary stunning. The position was a low bush, the
ground being open for more than a score of yards from it on the side of
the attack, but this none of the assailants seemed eager to take the
risk of crossing. He crouched down low so as to offer as small a mark
as possible, and cool with the deadly calmness of desperation watched
his chance.
It came. A movement among the bushes told that their enemies were
making a surrounding move. For less than a second one of them showed,
and again the pistol spoke, but whether with effect or not he was unable
to determine. And then, if there was room for any addition to the utter
despair which was upon him, Elvesdon's quick, searching glance became
alive to something else. On the roll of the slope, approaching from the
direction they had been taking, the bushes were agitating in the morning
stillness, and there was no breeze. His assailants were being
reinforced, and as though to prove that fact beyond a doubt, there was a
report of firearms, then another, and something hummed unpleasantly
near. They had got rifles then? Well they could not go on missing him
all day.
"Lie flat, Mister, and give us a chance of letting 'em have hell."
The loud, hearty English hail was as a voice from Heaven. With
characteristic promptitude Elvesdon obeyed, and then came a dropping
volley, as the rescuers advanced in a line through the bushes, getting
in their fire whenever an enemy showed himself. They were on foot,
having left their horses just beyond the rise, with the object of making
a silent advance and thus surprising the savages the more effectively.
The latter did not wait. They were in sufficient strength to tackle two
men, but not such an opponent as the relieving force, of whose very
number they were ignorant. So they wriggled away as swiftly and
noiselessly as so many snakes, not, however, entirely without loss.
"Hallo. Who's down?" cried Hyland Thornhill, coming up to the group
standing around the two. "Eh? Who the blazes is down?"
They made way for him in silence.
"Oh, good God!" he cried, staggering to the ground beside the wounded
man. "He isn't killed--no damn it--he isn't killed," gritting his
teeth. "Oh, dear old dad--tell me you know me, for God's sake."
A wave of returning consciousness swept over the face of the wounded
man. He opened his eyes, and there was a gleam of recognition in them.
Then he closed them, knitting his brows as though in pain.
Thus Hyland Thornhill succeeded in rescuing his father--but--was it too
late?
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
THORNHILL'S STORY.
"Will you go in and see him, Evelyn? No, it's not you Edala. He wants
to talk to Evelyn this time."
Hyland had just come from his father's sick room. Both girls, awaiting
the summons, had started up. Some days had passed since the rescue
party had returned to Kwabulazi, but the wounded man did not seem to
improve. The doctor feared lest erysipelas might set in, it was even
possible that the patient might lose his sight, for the wound had
perforce been dressed in rough and ready fashion at the time--indeed but
that they had put their best foot foremost in the retreat they would
have been attacked by a force whose overwhelming strength would have
rendered massacre almost a certainty. As it was they were pressed hard
to within a mile of the entrenchments; but some at any rate among the
savages had had experience in trying to rush that very entrenchment, and
had no stomach for a repetition thereof. So the impi had drawn off.
To her dying day Edala will never forget the return of that rescue
party--and the lifting down of her father's half--unconscious form from
the horse on which Hyland had supported him--the deathly pallor of the
drawn face, the beard all clotted with dried blood, the hands limp and
nerveless. So utterly did she give way, in the plenitude of her grief
and gnawing remorse that several of the men had to turn away with a
suspicious choke.
"Too late! Too late!" she moaned, throwing herself on the ground beside
him. "You said it would be, and it is."
"But it isn't," struck in Hyland. "He's got a bad knock on the head,
but old Vine'll be able to put that right. Come, get up, Edala dear.
We must put him to bed, you know."
The tone was decisive, practical, but the speaker felt far from as
confident as he would have his sister believe. And Dr Vine's diagnosis
was by no means reassuring. He feared complications. So the wounded
man was carried into the airiest and most comfortable room in Elvesdon's
far from luxurious house, where all was done for him that could be done.
There was difficulty with Edala. She refused to leave the bedside day
or night. It was only when her father recovered full consciousness that
they were able to get her away, when she had poured out her soul to him
in an agony of remorse and self-reproach. Then he had soothed her, and
insisted upon her taking rest and food; and she had obeyed
unquestioningly. His lightest word was law now--as it had been in the
times long past. She was allowed to help her brother and Elvesdon in
their unremitting care of the wounded man, and the same held good of
Evelyn Carden. But it was once and for all decided that neither of the
girls should be allowed to overdo it, and this was adhered to no matter
how much they begged and pleaded.
Elvesdon had taken up the reins of office again, and found his hands
very full indeed. The telegraph wire had been repaired, and messages
kept flashing in, communicating matters which demanded his constant
attention, some necessary and some not. But at night he never curtailed
one single half hour of his vigil at the bedside of his friend in
recently and narrowly escaped peril. They had gone through a furnace
together.
Strong man as he was the strain was beginning to tell upon Elvesdon. He
looked pale and fagged, and his spirits became depressed. His
conversation with Thornhill in the hour of their mutual danger was fresh
in his mind, but although he saw a great deal of Edala there was nothing
in the girl's look or manner to show that she regarded him in the light
of any other than an ordinary friend, a jolly good chum with no nonsense
about him, and whom she could treat with the same free, frank
_camaraderie_ as her own brother. This, of course, was no time to urge
any further claim upon her: he recognised that. Still he felt
depressed.
While feeling a little more so than usual there came a knock at his
office door. It was late afternoon and he was wondering whether he
could venture to shut up for a time before any more of those beastly
wires came in.
"Miss Thornhill would like to see you, sir," said Prior, entering.
"Will you see her?"
"Why of course. And--er--Prior. I don't want to be disturbed, no
matter who by. See?"
Prior did see, and if the Governor himself had appeared on the scene
until that door should open again, decidedly His Excellency would have
had to wait.
"And now, to what is this unwonted honour due?" he began, closing the
door behind his visitor. "First of all, sit. Why, _Diane chasseresse_,
you have not been obeying orders I'm afraid. You are looking a little
bit--well, overdone."
"That's better than feeling a good bit underdone," she rejoined with
something of her old, bright laugh.
"How's the patient? Any further improvement?"
"Rather. Old Vine says we needn't be anxious any more."
"That's right royal news. We ought to give three cheers. But it was
sweet of you to come and tell me this, Edala."
The name came out half-unconsciously. He had taken to using it of late:
their new _rapprochement_ in the circumstances of a mutual care and
anxiety had seemed to render it natural. And she had never resented it
or shown any sign of astonishment.
"I didn't come to tell it you," answered the girl, in her direct
straightforward way. She had risen from her chair, and the clear blue
eyes met his full, yet he thought to detect in them a shade of
embarrassment. "What I came to tell you was--is--what an ungrateful,
unappreciative little beast I must have seemed all this time never to
have said a word about your bravery--your heroism. You saved father's
life. You stood over him and kept off those brutes when--when--"
She broke off, with a little stamp of the foot. Her eyes were beginning
to fill. Elvesdon's face flushed uneasily.
"No--no--no. `Bravery! Heroism!' Bah!" he answered. "You don't
suppose I was going to run away and leave him, do you? Why even Ramasam
would hardly have done that. Besides--if I had wanted to ever so much I
couldn't have got far. We were unmounted remember. And, if you only
knew it, I've been cursing myself and my own idiocy right roundly in
having been such a blithering idiot as to get us into that hobble at
all. I daresay I shall get a kick down in the Service on the strength
of it when my full report goes in, and I haven't spared myself in it I
can tell you."
"Have you sent it in yet?" asked the girl, speaking quickly.
"No--but I shall to-morrow."
"Then promise me you won't--until you've rewritten it. If you don't I
shall make Hyland, and anyone else who's likely to be of any use, blazon
the whole thing out in every paper in the Colony, and in all South
Africa too. Now promise me you won't."
The colour had come into her cheeks, emphasising the clearness of the
dilated blue eyes. She looked lovely. As she stood there, drawn up
erect, again came back to him that vision of her on that exciting
occasion of their first meeting. He felt a trifle unsteadied, a trifle
thrown off his balance.
"It's of no use belittling the thing," she went on, her words tripping
over each other's heels, as it were. "You men who _do_ things are too
fond of doing that--"
"Are--_they_?" rejoined Elvesdon, with a touch of humour. "I've
sometimes noticed it's rather the other way on." And then a sudden
whirlwind of feeling seemed to sweep him off his feet. "Edala, when
your father and I were in that very tight fix together--I mean just
before either of us knew that we were going to have the feeblest chance
of escape--I put a question to him. Would you like to know what it
was?"
"Yes."
"Then you shall. I asked him whether, in the event of us ever getting
away again, he would have any objection to my trying to win your love."
"What did he answer?"
"He answered by another question. Did I think I could do it?"
"Well--and do you?"
She stood--the lovely flower-like face transformed with sweetness. He
had already taken a couple of steps towards her, in his uncontrollable
tension, and then--
"Yes, I think you can--darling," she whispered, into his shoulder a few
moments later. "In fact--you have."
"This is a strange sort of surrounding for such a climax--my own," he
murmured--after an interval. "A fusty, dusty old office."
"Well, and what could be more appropriate,"--she returned--"under the
circumstances."
The while Prior had sent at least two damning Government transport--
riders away, using dreadful language because being _after office hours_
they could not get their way-bills checked, and wondering what was the
_blanked_ use of blanked Resident Magistrates or blanked _blanked_ Civil
servants _blanked_ anyhow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evelyn Carden got up in obedience to the summons, to go to her relative.
"You don't mind, do you, dear?" she said, with her usual tactful
consideration.
"No--no. Of course not," answered Edala, yet still conscious of that
faint remaining twinge of jealousy. But the two had become drawn to
each other like sisters now. They had been through strange experiences
together, and each had come fully to rate the other at her own worth.
The room was cool and restful if not luxurious. Thornhill's tall form
lay there under the coverlet, a pathetic embodiment of strength laid
low. Even the bandages round his head, unsightly as all bandages are,
did not detract from the reposeful dignity of that calm strong face.
Evelyn stooped and kissed him on the cheek, taking, in her cool grasp,
the hand which was searching for hers.
"Well Inqoto, and you are much better now?" she said, and there was a
sort of cooing softness about the tone.
"No--I am not particularly--by the way, you seem to have got your tongue
round that dick at last."
"Practice," she answered smilingly.
"I'm not better, and I don't want to be. I've run out my time. Who
cares how soon I'm dead? I don't, for one." The pathos in the
naturalness of the voice brought something of a lump into the listener's
throat.
"Who cares?" she echoed after a moment of suspicious pause. "What about
Hyland for instance?"
"Hyland? Ah! Dear boy, he always believed in me."
"So does Edala," said the other boldly.
There was no answer. What was she to say? thought Evelyn.
"She does now," she went on. The wounded man opened his eyes wide.
"Does now? Rather late in the day. But," as if it had suddenly dawned
upon him, "what do you--I've had a whack on the head you know, and it's
left me rather stupid--what do you--know about things?"
"Nothing. Because there's nothing to know," came the cheerful confident
rejoinder. "Listen Inqoto--I believe it's useless, and worse, any
beating about the bush between you and me. Shall I speak plainly?"
Thornhill looked at her long and earnestly. As he did so a whole world
of reassurance came into his eyes. "Yes, of course," he said. "Talk as
plainly as you like."
"Well, I overheard a couple of silly cackling geese under the window the
other day, but the subject of their cackle was too farcical for words--
about you of course. Edala heard it too."
"Edala heard it?"
"Yes. Then we talked it out, and she said she didn't believe it
either."
There seemed no necessity on the part of Thornhill--perhaps from force
of mental habit no such occurred to him--to ask what the said `it' might
be.
"She has believed it up till now, anyhow," he said.
"And if you could have seen the awful agony of self-reproach she was in
that day!" urged the other. "It seemed almost like someone blind
restored to sight when I put the whole thing to her in a few words.
Under any other circumstances it would have been laughable--the quick
transformation, I mean."
"Yet they had something to go upon--something to go upon," repeated the
wounded man slowly. "I may as well tell you all about it, though
there's not much to tell."
Evelyn's clasp of the hand she held, tightened.
"You know I was under arrest years ago on suspicion of doing away with
my--legal partner in life?"
Evelyn nodded. Since she had overheard the two women's gossip she had
gone straight to Hyland and got the whole story out of him. Thornhill
went on.
"The strange part of the whole thing is that I didn't do it."
"I never for one fraction of a second supposed _you_ did."
"You stand pretty well alone there," answered Thornhill with a pressure
of the hand. "To cut a long story--and a very unpleasant one, for even
now the taste comes back--short, the party to whom I had given my name,
when I was young and foolish, and who, incidentally, gained far more by
the transaction than I did, led me a most shocking life. No--it wasn't
owing to drink, it was sheer innate devilishness. This went on for
years--by the bye you can still see some of its results in the way Edala
has turned against me ever since. That process, however, had begun
before, and not only with this child but with all of them. Well let's
get to the end of the abominable rotten episode, for the bare telling of
it makes me sick."
"Then don't tell it, Inqoto. Why should you?" adjured Evelyn earnestly,
and very uneasily as she remembered the doctor's injunctions that the
wounded man was not to be allowed to excite himself in the least degree.
Yet, now, his face was flushed and he was moving restlessly in the bed.
"I'd better get it over. Fact is I haven't mentioned the matter to
anybody--since--since it happened. You are the first. One night--after
raising a particularly shameful and scandalous scene--good Lord! it's
lucky the walls at Sipazi can't talk--she rushed out of the house
swearing that she was going to put an end to herself. Candidly I didn't
in the least care if she did, to such a pass had things come; however I
thought I should probably be suspected of murder if such a thing
happened. So I started to follow her, and didn't overtake her all of a
sudden either. When I did she had got among the rocks and crevices--
never mind what part of the farm or even if on it at all. I tell you
then, she was just like one possessed. I thought the devil must be
standing there before me, but I tried to warn her that she was ramping
dangerously near an ugly crevice that might be any depth. She answered
she didn't care. She was going to jump into it if only to get me hanged
for her murder. Well hardly were the words uttered than she tripped on
something and hurtled bang into the crack. I could do nothing, you
know. I was fully twenty yards off. Horrible, isn't it?"
The listener bent her head gravely.
"You were not to blame," she said. "The thing was sheer accident."
"So it was. I have had a great many years wherein to look back, and I
have never been able to blame myself in the affair in any single
particular. Well at the time my first feeling was one of intense
relief--shocking again, wasn't it? Then a horrid thought struck me.
Our relations with each other were well known, were matter of common
scandal. I began to feel the tightening of a noose, for who the devil
was likely to believe my version? Just then I saw someone watching me.
"I must have been mad. I don't know how it happened, but instead of
treating any witness as a friendly and invaluable one, I at once assumed
this one's hostility. I decided that one of us must not leave the spot
alive. I flung myself upon him and--didn't we have a tussle! Well, he
did exactly the same thing--stepped back into a crevice, and--stayed
there. That man was Manamandhla."
"Then he got out?"
"Well, of course. But I didn't know he was alive from that night until
a few weeks before you came. And he saved all four of our lives--but
that part of the story you know. Well that's all--and, thank God it
is."
The narrator closed his eyes wearily and lay still. The listener sat
there, still holding his hand. Her glance rested upon the firm, fine
features, and a great yearning was round her heart. What a tragedy had
this man's life been. Her thoughts went round to Edala. Had she been
in Edala's place would she have taken everything on trust? She thought
she would: she was sure she would.
"Why didn't you tell Edala all this, Inqoto?" she asked. "When she was
old enough I mean."
"She wouldn't have believed me. Do you?"
He had opened his eyes and was fixing them full on her face. But not
the slightest sign of doubt or misgiving did he read there. On the
contrary the expression was one of complete trust.
"Haven't I already said so?" she answered.
"Do you know, Evelyn, since I have been lying here I have found myself
wishing you had never found us out at all."
She looked hurt. "Why, Inqoto?"
"Because child," and he smiled a little at her still slight difficulty
with the dick. "I am wondering how I am ever going to do without you
again. You did threaten to take yourself off once you know."
"Well I can't inflict myself upon you for ever," she answered, with a
laugh. "But I have been very happy at Sipazi--very."
"Happy? I should have thought you'd have been bored out of your
immortal soul, shut up all this time with only another girl and a
sober-sided, boring, old fogey."
"Stop that now, Inqoto," she said quickly, dropping her other hand on to
his, and there was a ring in her voice that his ear might or might not
have caught. The air seemed charged with some sort of unwonted force.
"Well, what I was trying to screw up courage to say was this," he went
on. "If you have been so happy here why not continue to be so on the
same terms, for the rest of our natural lives--that is if you can put up
with the old fogey aforesaid `for better or for worse,' as the rigmarole
has it, probably the latter? What do you say, dear?"
A flush had come over her face, giving way to a momentary paleness, then
it returned. The light in her eyes burned dear and soft. She looked
wonderfully attractive.
"I say--`Yes,'" she answered. "But oh, dearest, are you sure of
yourself. You are weak and ill you know. Had we not better treat this
as though it had not been until you are your own strong self again, and
even then if you wish it?"
"No--we had not. Well? You said yes just now. Say it again."
She did so. And she bent down and kissed him again, this time on the
lips.
"I've never seen anyone like you before," she whispered tenderly.
"Never."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Gee-yupp! Strikes me I've looked in at the wrong time."
Evelyn sprang back, flushing crimson. Hyland was standing in the
doorway, with the most mischievously comical expression of countenance.
The coolest of the three was the patient himself.
"No you haven't," said the latter. "Come in Hyland, and shut the door.
Evelyn here has agreed to take me on for better or for worse--probably
worse, I tell her. What d'you think of that?"
"Good old step-ma!" cried Hyland, seizing hold of Evelyn, and bestowing
upon her cheeks a hearty kiss--Hyland was nothing if not boisterous. "I
say dad, though, I've got a bit of news for you--and very much of the
same sort. Edala's gone and got engaged to that fellow Elvesdon. What
d'you think of that?"
"Well, it doesn't come upon me as a wild surprise. When did they put up
that bargain?"
"Now. This afternoon; half an hour ago."
"That's odd, the coincidence I mean. So did we."
Hyland whistled.
"My hat!" he exclaimed, "but it's a rum world."
"--And very much given to match-making," supplied Thornhill
complacently.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
ENVOI.
The table was laid out in the cool shade of the fig-trees, but the birds
which loved to depredate in crowds in the garden at Sipazi had taken
themselves off to the further end of the same with that object, for it
was not quiet here; not by any means. A small, but very jovial party
was assembled, a party of six. And it was Christmas day.
The afternoon heat of the midsummer day shimmered without, but there was
no hot wind, wherefore here in the cool shade it was delightful. Nearly
a year had gone by since we first made acquaintance with the spot, and
the party here gathered; nearly half a year since we last saw the latter
brought safely through the times of peril and anxiety which that year
had brought forth. And upon the third finger of the left hand of two
members of that party was a plain ring of somewhat suspicious
brightness--which had not been there then.
"I say," cried Hyland, getting up to pop off another of the gold-headed
bottles which stood in a _vaatje_ of water. "We've drank all our own
healths and everybody else's. Now we ought to drink the health of this
jolly ghost party."
"Contradiction in terms, boy," said his father. "Who ever heard of a
`jolly' ghost?"
"Well, ain't we? We're all in white."
"Lucky we're not all in black," said Edala, half seriously.
"Hear--hear!" cried Prior.
"Appropriate colour for Christmas," put in Evelyn.
"And the heat," supplied Elvesdon.
"Who ever saw a ghost with a very red and skinned nose either?" observed
Edala, with a severe glance at her brother, whose face still bore traces
of the exposure of a hard campaign.
"Look here, Mrs Elvesdon, don't you make personal remarks," retorted
Hyland. "Two can play at that game, and I for one never saw you look so
dashed fetching as you're doing now--and that's saying a great deal.
Gee-yupp!" pretending to dodge the bottle which his sister pretended to
throw at him. "Elvesdon, keep your wife in order, can't you. It's a
bad example for us two old bachelors--eh. Prior? Two poor old
bachelors!"
"The remedy for that pitiable state lies in your own hands, Hyland,"
said Evelyn serenely. "Why don't you apply it?"
"That's what I might have been going to do, if the dad there hadn't been
so beastly _slim_ in cutting me out," retorted the incorrigible rascal.
"I don't know what to say about Prior. Pity you haven't got any
sisters, Evelyn."
"Plenty of other people have, Hyland," said Elvesdon. "A man crowned
with your laurels, you know, isn't likely to go begging."
"Oh here, I say, shut up," was the reply, made half seriously, the point
being that the speaker had served all through the campaign and that with
some distinction.
"No fear," cried Edala. "You started the campaign of chaff, Hyland, and
you can't yell out if you get the worst of it."
"Ah. I like to see--er--pals, shall we call it? stand by each other.
Now then Elvesdon--back her up."
Of course all this was precious poor repartee or wit, especially in cold
print. But given the circumstances--a jovial reunion coming close upon
vivid recollections of peril and storm--now a setting of peace and
serenity and happiness--and Christmas Day--and it is obvious to anyone
not possessed of a churlish soul that very little makes towards fun and
jollity and mirth. And this held good here.
The rising, a far more formidable affair than the home public ever seems
to have realised, and of which this narrative only deals with in its
earlier stages, had been very effectually quelled, through the bravery
and devotion of Colonial troops and the high efficiency and _personnel_
of Colonial officers; and that without the aid of a single Imperial
soldier. As such the campaign stands unique in the annals of South
African warfare. The pluck displayed in several fierce battles, the
splendid grit and endurance, never failing, under every difficulty, in
hard and almost unnegotiable country, has been in evidence before in
such warfare, but never more so than during this last campaign in Natal.
Well it was over now, but in it Hyland Thornhill as we have said, had
borne his full share, and that with distinction. Elvesdon, as a Civil
servant, had perforce taken no active part in the subsequent operations,
but indirectly, ever at his post during that wearing anxious time he had
borne his share in it by smoothing down many a difficulty--in the matter
of facilitating supplies, and so forth, for those who had; so much so
that his superiors were led to re-consider their first impressions to
the effect that he had rather muddled the situation in the matter of
Babatyana. Anyhow, here he was, still at Kwabulazi, and with him the
faithful Prior.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Please--one man want to see master. He say he Zulu nigger."
The interruption came from Thornhill's Indian cook. There was a laugh,
and Hyland fairly roared.
"I'll swear he never said that, Ramasam," said the latter, "Who is he?"
But before the other could answer a tall figure strode up and halted in
front of them, uttering a sonorous hail.
"_Whau! Manamandhla_!" cried Hyland. "This is good, good to meet again
here, for I think the last time we looked on each other's faces was
among the rocks and bushes of the Mome. Here is _tywala_ that I don't
suppose _you_ ever drank before," creaming up a large tumbler with
champagne, and handing it to the new arrival.
"That have I never, Ugwala," said the Zulu with a smile, after a good
pull at the sparkling beverage. "How a man--an impi--could fight if
doctored with such _muti_ as this, say in the Nkandhla!"
There was a humorous twinkle in the speaker's eyes, the point of the
allusion being that he and Hyland had twice met in battle face to face,
but the assegai of the one and the revolver of the other had
simultaneously turned upon another enemy.
"We'll have no end of yarns now from the other side," went on Hyland.
Then to the Zulu. "I was saying Manamandhla, this is a good day to have
arrived on--Christmas Day--but then, you don't know what that is."
"I have heard U 'Jobo tell the people some story about it--" was the
answer.
"U 'Jobo!" cried Hyland, "_Whau_! U 'Jobo! It will be a long time
before he tells `the people' any more of his stories--_impela_!"
"He's a considerable swine and deserves all he's got," said Elvesdon.
"Still I'm glad I was able to help the poor devil a little. After all
he did try to warn us."
For the Rev Job Magwegwe had fallen upon evil days. He had been
arrested at an early stage of the rebellion, and tried, on several
charges of holding seditious and inflammatory gatherings under the guise
of prayer meetings; and in the result was sentenced to two years' hard
labour and thirty-six lashes. But Elvesdon's representations had
procured the remission of the lashes and of six months of imprisonment.
They sat thus chatting for some time, and then Thornhill suggested that
his visitor should go with Hyland and choose a fat beast to kill, for
himself and the farm people, and any others the latter might like to
send word to--by way of making a Christmas festivity for themselves in
the evening.
"Good idea!" said Hyland, "I'm getting tired of sitting still. A ride
over to the herd will do all right. Coming, Prior?"
"Rather."
Now, by all rights, Manamandhla should have been arrested as an
arch-rebel, and sent for trial: but--he was not.
So the remaining four sat on there, and the hours of the golden
afternoon rolled on, and the birds piped and twittered down the valley
in the lengthening sunbeams, and the great red krantz, frowning down
majestically from the face of Sipazi, glowed like fire in the westering
sun. But upon these lay the sunset of a perfect content and peace.
The End.
End of Project Gutenberg's The White Hand and the Black, by Bertram Mitford
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE HAND AND THE BLACK ***
***** This file should be named 32911.txt or 32911.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/9/1/32911/
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
