Part 19 (1/2)
She turned her head aside, and when she looked up again I saw that she eeping, really weeping this ti her eyes swim, as she did before
”Of course they will come to a bad end, Macumazahn,” she went on in a soft, thick voice, ”for I and all hom I have to do were 'torn out of the reeds' [ie created] that way And that's why I won't tempt you to run aith me any more, as I meant to do when I saw you, because it is true, Macumazahn you are the only man I ever liked or ever shall like; and you know I could h I a But I won't do it; for why should I catch you inmy people and your own? Go you your road, Macuive me a cup of water and let me be away--a cup of water, no more
Oh, do not be afraid for me, or melt tooover yonder hill There, thank you for your water, Macu, and-- I forgot; the Little Wise One said he would like to have a talk with you Good night, Macuht I trust that you did a profitable trade with Umbezi my father and Masapo my husband I wonder why such men as these should have been chosen to be my father and my husband Think it over, Macumazahn, and tell me when next we meet Give me that pretty mirror, Macumazahn; when I look in it I shall see you as well as myself, and that will please ht”
In another ure, norapped again in the hooded kaross, as it vanished over the brow of the rise behind us, and really, as she went, I felt a lu all her wickedness--and I suppose she icked--there was so horribly attractive about Malass with her, and the luan to wonder how much fact there was in her story She had protested so earnestly that she toldleft behind Also I remembered she had said Zikali wanted to see ht walk up that dreadful gorge, into which not even Scoould accompany me, because he declared that the place ell known to be haunted by imikovu, or spectres who have been raised froreeable walk, and soed on between those gigantic cliffs, passing now through patches of brightclumps of bush or round the bases of tall pillars of piled-up stones, till at length I ca cliffs at the end, which frowned down on ot to the end at last, and at the gate of the kraal fence was e ed fro scanned me for a h I were expected A minute later I found myself face to face with Zikali, as seated in the clear ed, apparently, in his favourite occupation of carving ith a rough native knife of curious shape
For a while he took no notice of rey locks, and broke into one of his great laughs
”So it is you, Macu my way and that Mameena would send you here But why do you co-that-should-not-have-been-born'? To tell me how you fared with the buffalo with the split horn, eh?”
”No, Zikali, for why should I tell you what you know already? Mameena said you wished to talk with me, that was all”
”Then Mameena lied,” he answered, ”as is her nature, in whose throat live four false words for every one of truth Still, sit down, Macuive me the knife and a pinch of the white ht for h how he knew that I had them with me I cannot tell, nor did I think it worth while to inquire The snuff, I remember, pleased him very much, but of the knife he said that it was a pretty toy, but he would not kno to use it Then we fell to talking
”What was Ma at your wagons?” he asked ”Oh, do not stop to tell ood Snake of yours, Macuers, when, if she chose to close her hand-- Well, well, I do not betray the secrets of o on to the kraal of the son of Senzangakona, and you will see things happen that will rel Masapo, her husband Truly she hates him well, and, after all, I would rather be loved than hated by Marel! Soon the jackals will be chewing his bones”
”Why do you say that?” I asked
”Only because Mareat wizard, and the jackals eat many wizards in Zululand Also he is an ene her soht in my mind
”Perhaps, perhaps, Macuood counsel I have my own road to walk, and if I can find some to clear away the thorns that would prick et her pay, who finds life dull up there a the Amasomi, with one she hates for a hut-fellow Go you and watch, and afterwards, when you have an hour to spare, come and tell me what happens--that is, if I do not chance to be there to see for e the subject, for I did not wish to become privy to the plots that filled the air
”I areat, that it overshadows all the royal kraal I think that Mameena wishes to sleep in the shade of it And now you are weary, and so a ht But be sure to return and tell me what chances at Panda's kraal Or, as I have said, perhaps I shall meet you there Who knoho knows?”
Now, it will be observed that there was nothing very remarkable in this conversation between Zikali and reat prophecy It may be wondered, indeed, when there is so much to record, why I set it down at all
My answer is, because of the extraordinary ih so little was said, I felt all the while that those feords were a veil hiding terrible events to be I was sure that some dreadful scheme had been hatched between the old dwarf and Mameena whereof the issue would soon become apparent, and that he had sent me away in a hurry after he learned that she had told , because he feared lest I should stumble on its cue and perhaps cause it to fail
At any rate, as I walked back to e, the hot, thick air seemed to me to have a physical taste and se of the tropical trees that grew there, when now and again a puff of wind stirred theht do in their last faint agony The effect upon ons I was shaking like a reed, and a cold perspiration, unnatural enough upon that hot night, poured from my face and body
Well, I took a couple of stiff tots of ”squareface” to pull th went to sleep, to awake before daith a headache Looking out of the wagon, to my surprise I sal and the hunters, who should have been snoring, standing in a group and talking to each other in frightened whispers I called Scowl to , Baas,” he said with a shamefaced air; ”only there are soin and out of it all night”
”Spooks, you idiot!” I answered ”Probably they were people going to visit the Nyanga, Zikali”
”Perhaps, Baas; only then we do not knohy they should all look like dead people--princes, soht froround”