Part 12 (1/2)
[Note: Baqulusini, sa Northern Zululand]
Thus, _Nkose_, did Ithat the King, if he detected any difference, would attribute it to the difficulty these people had in pronouncing Zulu words; and, in fact, he e in favour of thy ers?” said the Great Great One, haughtily
”_And is this secret, indeed, known but to thee alone, and to no other?
Not even to a dog_?” I put it
”To , Black Elephant,” said the chief But his answer I turned into:
”_This is all I have to urge, O Black Elephant If it is not enough, I must even die_”
And now I felt safe Nor could I help s to myself, for the words I had put into the mouth of Tauane were the words of a brave reatest of cowards when face to face with death And, indeed, I deserved gratitude froood as dead; and it was better to die with the words of a bravewhine of a coward
Yet, just then, the laugh disappeared fro near old Masuka Bent double, tottering with age, he crept along, and squatted, just a little apart, behind the _izinduna_
”Now,” I thought, ”if the King chooses to converse yet longer with Tauane through the old Mosutu, then, indeed, I am undone”
But the Great Great One see me to approach, he whispered a feords, and seldo up, I passed round my orders to the warriors, and in a moment Tauane and those that res
Then the King spoke, and his tones never were softer:
”Yonder is a round ithin another Within those walls two hout the shi+ning of yesterday's sun--fought against a twofold eneainst fire! And one of these two ain, those walls shall witness a reat and overpowering odds The re-reat many more than two, shall, to-day, strive within those round walls But they shall fight there against one enemy only--one enemy instead of therein I am more merciful than they And that enemy shall be fire! Go now, ye who reht where ahle_!”
The wave of the hand hich the King concluded was our signal The warriors hailed the Great Great One's words with roars of accla thean dragging them off to the round stone walls, which stood up fro ruins of the town of the Bakoni Others, fleet-footed, had run on in advance, and by the tiathered and piled up a dense ring of brushwood and dry grass The prisoners, bound, and shrieking and kicking, were flung within the inner wall, where they were heaped up, one upon another, a tossing, struggling ahle_!” I cried ”Not so fast! The chief must crown the pile It is only due to his rank”
The warriors laughed, and went on flinging in the wretched Bakoni
”Ha, Tauane,” I said, speaking in his own tongue, ”it is not good to shake weapons in the face of the King's er And know this Not to thee alone is the secret of the Queen of the h the darkness of the earth, to an outward chale's nest, there lies hidden she in whose veins runs the pure blood of the Ale with that of kings I know the place beside thyself--I alone”
He stared at --yes,” he --I only,” I jeered ”Not the King; thy words did not travel so far”
”Yet he would have given iddily around Then, as it seean to scream aloud the story; but none there understood a word, and before he could say n fro hiht over the talls, where he fell upon the living struggling mass of all that rereat piles of dry stuff crackled and flared, and the flames and smoke drove across the bodies of those who had taken the places ofthe death to which they had destined us And, as the flareat circle our warriors formed around as near as the heat would allow them to draw, and the thunderous stamp of the war-dance drowned the wild shrieks of the last of the victiers And that was the end of Tauane, the chief of the Bakoni, of the People of the Blue Cattle
That night, when the fires were lighted, the King ordered a great dance of the _Tyay'iga of names,” when those named by their captains for deeds of valour should have an opportunity of recounting their clai and the whole nation
And, awali, who, in hisalone amid the circle of warriors, reminded me not a little of ana on a like occasion However, the King ”pointed at” hia_ Yet his admiration for the female captives we had taken fro hi, he should choose his bride froirls of our own nation For so jealous was U the old Zulu blood pure and strong, that, as yet, he would hardly ever allow a young irls of an inferior race And when the _Tyay'igahter of cattle--the blue cattle of the Bakoni--and the night was spent in feasting and singing And in thewe moved on further away still from this place of death And behind us, where the abodes of the destroyed race had been--although the houses had long since burnt out--yet above the s up; and, high overhead in the blue heavens, their pinions dazzling white in the sun, like flakes of driving snow, floated clouds of vultures For in those days the ht ever be followed and s: a cloud of smoke and a cloud of vultures
CHAPTER TWELVE
”YOU--AN INDUNA?”
Many days went by before I was able to return and visit Lalusini in her strange hiding-place, and herein I found that it was not always an advantage to be great For Untuswa the _induna_ was aabroad, heads would be turned to see whither he was going, whereas Untuswa the _uo where he would and nobody would be at the trouble to sohis business Howbeit, I was ever known as a great hunter, and keen in the pursuit of garound alone, I found opportunities of wandering afar
I climbed the mountain of death, and there, indeed, so plenteous had food been that there were not enough vultures and crows and jackals to devour it all; for more than half the dead bodies were untouched, and lay, shrivelled and withered, just where they had been slain For it is our custom, _Nkose_, to rip the bodies of those who fall beneath our spears, in order that they should dry up and spread no disease; and, re hoe ”ate up” whole nations in those days, the custom was a wise one Carefully I tookin and out between the skulls and fleshless ribs, and fearful lest I ht be seen froained the cleft in the ground, and began to descend into cold darkness, I felt a strange feeling, for all was silence, and I wondered whether I should indeed find Lalusini still there So I began to sing, and presently I heard that soft voice answering, as I had heard it at first