Part 4 (1/2)
”Indeed,” answered the dwarf, nodding his great head ”This clever whitewalk in the sun to coe of presenting you with a weapon of great value in return for a service that anyin such company?
”Son Saduko, because my eye-holes are hollow, do you think it your part to try to fill them up with dust? Nay, the white man has come because he desires to see hireat deal when he was but a lad, and to judge whether in truth he has wisdom, or is but a common cheat And you have come to learn whether or no your friendshi+p with him will be fortunate; whether or no he will aid you in a certain enterprise that you have in your mind”
”True, O Zikali,” I said ”That is so far as I a
”Well,” went on the dwarf, ”since I am in the mood I will try to answer both your questions, for I should be a poor Nyanga” [that is doctor]
”if I did not when you have travelled so far to ask them Moreover, O Macu o, before your father was born across the Black Water, Macuer work for a reward--unless it be froakona--and therefore, as you uess, work but seldom”
Then he clapped his hands, and a servant appeared fro ate
He saluted the dwarf and stood before him in silence and with bowed head
”Make two fires,” said Zikali, ”and give me my medicine”
The man fetched wood, which he built into two little piles in front of Zikali These piles he fired with a brand brought from behind the hut
Then he handed his
”Withdraw,” said Zikali, ”and return no more till I summon you, for I am about to prophesy If, however, I should seeive this white ain and ithout a word
When he had gone the dwarf drew fro a bundle of twisted roots, also some pebbles, from which he selected two, one white and the other black
”Into this stone,” he said, holding up the white pebble so that the light frolow, it was noing dark--”into this stone I am about to draw your spirit, O Macumazana; and into this one”--and he held up the black pebble--”yours, O Son of Matiwane Why do you look frightened, O brave White Man, who keep saying in your heart, 'He is nothing but an ugly old Kafir cheat'? If I ahtened? Is your spirit already in your throat, and does it choke you, as this little stone ht do if you tried to s it?” and he burst into one of his great, uncanny laughs
I tried to protest that I was not in the least frightened, but failed, for, in fact, I suppose estion, and I did feel exactly as though that stone were indoards ”Hysteria,” thought I toovertired,” and as I could not speak, sat still as though I treated his gibes with silent contempt
”Noent on the dwarf, ”perhaps I shall seem to die; and if so do not touch ain and tell you what your spirits have told me Or if I do not wake up--for a ti as I have lived--after the fires are quite out, not before, lay your hands upon one to soa as fast as the spirits of this place will let you, O ye ould peep into the future”
As he spoke he threw a big handful of the roots that I have mentioned on to each of the fires, whereon tall fla flames which were followed by columns of dense, white s odour quite unlike anything that I had ever sh e as an apple and felt as though so it upwards with a stick
Next he threw the white pebble into the right-hand fire, that which was opposite to :
”Enter, Macumazahn, and look,” and the black pebble he threw into the left-hand fire saying: ”Enter, Son of Matiwane, and look Then come back both of you and make report to me, your master”
Now it is a fact that as he said these words I experienced a sensation as though a stone had come out of my throat; so readily do our nerves deceive us that I even thought it grated against e At any rate the choking was gone, only now I felt as though I were quite eh I were not I, in short, but a , all of which doubtless was caused by the stench of those burning roots Still I could look and take note, for I distinctly saw Zikali thrust his huge head, first into the smoke of what I will call my fire, next into that of Saduko's fire, and then lean back, blowing the stuff in clouds from his mouth and nostrils
Afterwards I saw him roll over on to his side and lie quite still with his arers seemed to be in the left-hand fire and reflected that it would be burnt off In this, however, I must have been mistaken, since I observed subsequently that it was not even scorched
Thus Zikali lay for a long while till I began to wonder whether he were not really dead Dead enough he seemed to be, for no corpse could have stayed hts fixed on Zikali or anything I ht one ho whatsoever to do They did not interestinto Zikali, because I was not there, but in a warmer place than I hope ever to occupy, naht-hand fire
So ht in a drealoas left The only light re fires, which just sufficed to illu on his side, his squat shape looking like that of a dead hippopotarew heartily sick of the whole affair; I was tired of being so eth the dwarf stirred He sat up, yawned, sneezed, shook hi embers of my fire with his naked hand Presently he found the white stone, which was now red-hot--at any rate it glowed as though it were--and after exa it for a moment finally popped it into his mouth! Then he hunted in the other fire for the black stone, which he treated in a si I reme, were burning very brightly again, I suppose because so
”Come here, O Macumazana and O Son of Matiwane,” he said, ”and I will repeat to you what your spirits have been telling ht of the fires, which for some reason or other was extremely vivid Then he spat the white stone fro hand, and I saw that noas covered with lines and patches like a bird's egg
”You cannot read the signs?” he said, holding it towards me; and when I shook my head went on: ”Well, I can, as you white men read a book All your history is written here, Macumazahn; but there is no need to tell you that, since you know it, as I do well enough, having learned it in other days, the days of Dingaan, Macue future,” and he scanned the stone with interest ”Yes, yes; a wonderful life, and a noble death far away But of these matters you have not asked me, and therefore I may not tell them even if I wished, nor would you believe if I did It is of your hunting trip that you have asked me, and my answer is that if you seek your own coo A pool in a dry river-bed; a buffalo bull with the tip of one horn shattered Yourself and the bull in the pool Saduko, yonder, also in the pool, and a little half-bredabout upon the bank Then a litter hs and you in it, and the father of Ma lamely at your side Then a hut and you in it, and theat your side