Part 14 (1/2)
The poor girl's infatuation for his cousin was already known to Leigh, through the medium of his betrothed, and he now quite broke down; his sorrow, however, was nothing to the lamentations of the warlike Zulu at this fresh and overpowering calamity. ”Ow! my little sister,” he cried, ”why host thou left thy brother? Thou wast to me the chiefest among ten thousand friends? Alas, alas, for the lovely flower of Utah!”
Slipping down the rock, Amaxosa quickly followed the young girl's tracks, and soon ran out of sight, only to return shortly after with the news that she had evidently taken the quagga, and ridden off at speed towards the far west.
The perceptions of this sweet little woman had been keener than the affectionate cousin's, keener than the crafty Zulu warrior's; all her faculties had been sharpened by intense and self-denying love, and instinctively guessing that the Mormon burial-ground would also form the place of execution, thither she had driven her strange mount as fast as she could ride him, arriving, as we have seen, just in the nick of time to save Grenville's life for the moment, at the cost of her own.
Quite at a loss to understand what object Rose could have had in taking the direction she had done, the party prepared to spend a wretched night, and just before midnight Amaxosa pointed out to Grenville that the Mormon city, which had lain in utter darkness all evening, was brilliantly lighted up, and very shortly a merry peal of bells came floating like music across the veldt, carrying woe and weeping to our friends, for they realised that this was a paean of triumph over their own departed comrade, and probably also over the capture of poor little Rose.
Early in the morning--in fact, by grey dawn--the Zulu was down the rock, building an enormously thick zareba of thorn-bushes, to be fixed on top of the plateau to const.i.tute an additional, and by no means despicable, defence.
The day pa.s.sed in anxious watching, and in attempts to make sh.e.l.ls as suggested by Grenville, and that night Amaxosa actually again entered the Mormon town, and, keeping practically under water all the time, learned the whole crus.h.i.+ng story of the disaster to both the friends he loved.
There was now nothing left, he said, but to revenge them, and on regaining the plateau, he was, along with Leigh and Dora Winfield, discussing what best to do next, when suddenly casting his eyes into the darkness by his side, the courageous Zulu, to Leigh's utter astonishment and consternation, uttered a frightful yell and rushed away to hide in the sleeping cave, whilst at that instant his beloved and lamented cousin Grenville calmly strode into the firelight, with the body of Rose in his arms, and, placing his precious burden tenderly on the rock, turned and offered Leigh his hand; but the other, with a stifled exclamation of joy, threw himself on Grenville's neck, whilst Miss Winfield sobbed on his shoulder, and Amaxosa, who had recovered his equanimity, timidly grasped the outstretched hand of ”his father,” and finding, as he said, that it was indeed the great white chief himself, and no spook--for he had a great objection to spooks (ghosts)--he fairly danced a war-dance, only moderating his exuberance to utter further laments over the body of poor Rose.
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
RETRIBUTION.
Grenville was so obviously suffering from hunger, fatigue, and exposure, that his friends, eager as they were to question him, forebore, for his appearance was such--especially the corpse-like hue of his face--that Amaxosa might well be excused from being startled into believing him a ghost. Finis.h.i.+ng the welcome food placed before him, Grenville went to sleep with the last morsel between his teeth, and would have fallen forward into the fire had the watchful Zulu not interposed his ready arm.
And now, with their hero amongst them, it was astonis.h.i.+ng what a change had come over the little party. All were once again positively cheerful, in spite of the depressing effect produced by the sight of poor little Rose's body, which had been laid by itself in one of the caves.
The mere fact that Grenville's active and energetic personality was again present with them was such a relief that all slept peacefully, and at breakfast next morning the re-united ones were, Leigh said, even hopeful of their ultimate success.
Grenville smiled peculiarly, but merely told them that he had been in the water for the whole of one night, and had almost died of exposure; but, though weak and ill, had managed to scramble up the cliffs by a rocky path, and had eventually regained the glade, where he had found poor Rose's body lying among the tombs. How he had ever reached the plateau in his half-dying condition, still carrying his ghastly burden, was a miracle; but it was one of the finest traits in his character, which went to prove what a combination of pluck and determination the man was.
Leigh noted, too, that his countenance was harder now, and looked older; and knowing his cousin as he did, he felt certain that he had even now conceived a fearful vengeance, which nothing short of the cold hand of death would prevent him wreaking upon the wretched Mormons.
Stern though Grenville was, he fairly broke down and sobbed when Dora brought him Rose's packet, addressed to himself. ”Ay,” he said at last, ”I will accept it, for her sake; and woe to every Mormon I come across, in any part of the world, now or hereafter. Dearly shall the whole accursed brood pay me for the loss of her who loved me so devotedly and gave her life to save me.”
That day Grenville kept all employed in baking huge clay b.a.l.l.s, which he filled with powder, b.a.l.l.s, stones, and _debris_ of all sorts--these being the best obtainable subst.i.tutes for hand-grenades.
”They will,” he said to Leigh, ”not meddle with us just yet; the attack will, I expect, come off in three or four days' time, the interim being employed in the manufacture of more infernal machines--but without gunpowder this time, for they haven't a grain of it left, thanks to the success of my gunpowder plot.”
The result proved that he was right, and on the second night Grenville led Amaxosa on one side, and held a long and private conference with him--interrupted now and then, as Leigh and his betrothed could hear, by genuine bursts of astonishment from the Zulu. ”Ow!” they heard him say, ”ow, my father, thou art indeed a wise and cunning man, and I, Amaxosa, am thy faithful son.” But when the conference terminated, and Grenville quietly opened the breast of his s.h.i.+rt, and withdrew the charm he had taken from Myzukulwa's neck, handing it to the Zulu, the chief's delight knew no bounds, and he poured forth in fluent and sonorous Zulu the thanks of the whole people of the Undi for the preservation of this mighty token, which belonged only to the chiefs of his own most ancient house, and which established his own precedence and seniority in the nation beyond the possibility of a doubt, and had indeed ”made his heart very glad.”
What, however, was the surprise of Leigh and Dora when Amaxosa, after shaking hands cordially with Grenville, gravely saluted them both, took his weapons, and disappeared down the face of the rock. Nor would our friend answer any of their eager questions, merely telling them that the Zulu had gone upon an errand which, though fraught with some little danger, should, he thought, be easily and speedily executed; and if it were so, would, he believed, result, not only in the speedy release from East Utah of the whole party, but in the most fearful vengeance upon the Mormons for the death of poor Rose, whom they had reverently buried that very day.
”Our only difficulty,” said he, in conclusion, ”will be to hold the plateau long enough to let Amaxosa execute his part of my scheme perfectly; but I could not spare him before, and he will make all the haste he can--so we must do our best.”
The men kept watch by turns until dawn, and then both slept whilst Dora kept guard for a couple of hours; and after all had breakfasted, the Mormons were seen approaching in a compact ma.s.s, which, as Grenville estimated, must contain the whole nation; and at this he, to his cousin's surprise, expressed his satisfaction.
Our friend now descended to artifice, blackening his face and hands with burnt wood, in order to pa.s.s at a distance for one of the Zulus, as he had no wish at present to reveal his own dreaded ident.i.ty to the enemy.
As soon as the ma.s.ses got within a thousand yards, the repeaters opened fire, killing the Mormons at a longer range than they had ever before been treated to; still, however, the advance was steadily persevered in, and Grenville soon saw at least five hundred Mormons established within three hundred yards of his position, and almost entirely protected from his fire by immense rubber half-houses on wheels, which gradually, though continually, approached nearer and nearer to the rock. Watching these carefully, it soon appeared that the game was to get the shelter close up to the plateau and then charge up the path in an irresistible stream. The plan was well devised, but the thorn-bushes of Amaxosa ruined it, and the twenty picked Mormons who tried the first rush perished miserably to a man.
The shooting of the besieged was beautifully accurate, for, in no fear of their fire being returned, they were able to expose their persons at will, and aim with murderous precision.
Now, however, two houses were planted at one time, and as two men, even with Winchesters and posted behind a zareba, are rather short odds to cope with forty, Grenville washed his face, got ready a sh.e.l.l, and, as the Mormons charged, coolly stepped up to the very verge of the rock, and threw the lighted bomb amongst them. None who heard the awful yell of terror which went up from these miserable and superst.i.tious men could ever forget it, and the whole Mormon army echoed the name of Grenville in a shout which almost drowned the thundering and deadly explosion of the first sh.e.l.l. For such decidedly amateur handiwork, the missile acted very well indeed and between its results and the Winchesters, which Dora and Leigh plied unceasingly, not half a dozen men survived the second charge.