Part 23 (1/2)
”Be it so, O king I take your wager If I kill three vultures out of five as they hover over the hill, then I have your proo hence in safety”
”Yes, yes, Macumazahn; but if you fail to kill them, remember that the next vultures you shoot at shall be those that come to feed upon their flesh, for then I shall know that you are no one, Tho- on h you talk ue so badly, I would speak with you about the Boers”
So Halstead went, shrugging his shoulders andas he passed me:
”I hope you really _can_ shoot”
After he had left I sat alone for a full hour with Dingaan while he cross-examined me about the Dutch, theirto the confines of his country
I answered his questions as best I could, trying to reeary of talking, he clapped his hands, whereon a nuirls appeared, two of whom carried pots of beer, from which he offered me drink
I replied that I would have none, since beer made the hand shake and that on the steadiness of my hand that afternoon depended the lives of many To do him justice he quite understood the point Indeed, he ordered ht rest, and even sent one of his own attendants with me to hold a shi+eld over my head as I walked so that I should be protected froachle” (that is ”Go softly”), said the wicked old tyrant to uidance of Kambula ”This afternoon, one hour before sundown, I will meet you at Hloma Amabutu, and there shall be settled the fate of these Amaboona, your companions”
When I reached the ca for me, and with the a Welsh servant of his, a woe who, I remember, was called Jane
”Well,” said the Vrouw Prinsloo, ”and what is your news, young man?”
”My news, aunt,” I answered, ”is that one hour before sundown to-day I have to shoot vultures on the wing against the lives of all of you This you owe to that false-hearted hound Hernan Pereira, who told Dingaan that I aaan would prove it He thinks that only byvultures with a bullet, and as he is determined to kill you all, except perhaps Marie, in the form of a bet he has set me a task which he believes to be impossible If I fail, the bet is lost, and so are your lives If I succeed I think your lives will be spared, since Ka always makes it a point of honour to pay his bets Now you have the truth, and I hope you like it,” and I laughed bitterly
When I had finished a perfect storm of execration broke from the Boers
If curses could have killed Pereira, surely he would have died upon the spot, wherever he ht be Only two of theirl, and her father Presently one of them, I think it was Meyer, rounded on hiht now of that devil, his nephew
”I think there must be some mistake,” answered Marais quietly, ”since Hernan cannot have wished that we should all be put to death”
”No,” shouted Meyer; ”but he wished that Allan Quatermain should, which is just as bad; and now it has colish boy”
”At any rate,” replied Marais, looking at me oddly, ”it seems that he is not to be killed, whether he shoots the vultures or misses them”
”That remains to be proved,me ”But please understand that if all of you, htered, and Marie is to be put a this black brute's women, as he threatens, I have no wish to live on”
”My God! does he threaten that?” said Marais ”Surely you must have misunderstood him, Allan”
”Do you think that I should lie to you on such a an
But, before I could proceed, the Vrouw Prinsloo thrust herself between us, crying:
”Be silent, you, Marais, and you too, Allan Is this a time that you should quarrel and upset yourself, Allan, so that when the trial comes you will shoot your worst and not your best? And is this a time, Henri Marais, that you should throw insults at one on whoeance upon your accursed nephew? Come, Allan, and take food I have fried the liver of that heifer which the king sent us; it is ready and very good After you have eaten it youthe household of the Reverend Mr Oas an English boy called Williae This lad knew both Dutch and Zulu, and acted as interpreter to the Owen fa the absence on a journey of a certain Mr Hulley, who really filled that office While this conversation was taking place in Dutch he was engaged in rendering every word of it into English for the benefit of the clergyman and his family When Mr Owen understood the full terror of the situation, he broke in saying:
”This is not a time to eat or to sleep, but a tiaan may be turned Come, let us pray!”
”Yes,” rejoined Vrouw Prinsloo, when William Wood had translated ”Do you pray, predicant, and all the rest of you who have nothing else to do, and while you are about it pray also that the bullets of Allan Quatermain s to see to, so you must pray a little harder to cover us as well as yourselves Now you coive you indigestion, which is worse for shooting than even bad temper No, not another word If you try to speak any more, Henri Marais, I will box your ears,” and she lifted a hand like a leg of mutton, then, as Marais retreated before her, seized hty boy and led ons