Part 31 (1/2)
A sad story in truth Although it happened so o I weep as I write it--I weep as Umbelazi wept
CHAPTER XIV UMBEZI AND THE BLOOD ROYAL
After this I think that some of the Usutu came up, for it seemed to me that I heard Saduko say:
”Touch not Macumazahn or his servant They are my prisoners He who harms the, on my horse, and Scowl they carried away upon a shi+eld
When I came to I foundrocks, at the side of a kopje, and with me Scoho had recovered from his fit, but seemed in a very bewildered condition
Indeed, neither then nor afterwards did he re of the death of Umbelazi, nor did I ever tell hiht that the Prince had been drowned in trying to swi to kill us?” I asked of hi without, I knew that we must be in the midst of the victorious Usutu
”I don't know, Baas,” he answered ”I hope not; after we have gone through soof the battle”
I nodded my head in assent, and just at that , entered the place carrying a dish of toasted luourd of water
”Cetewayo sends you these, Macumazahn,” he said, ”and is sorry that there is no uard waits without to escort you to him” And he went
”Well,” I said to Scowl, ”if they were going to kill us, they would scarcely take the trouble to feed us first So let us keep up our hearts and eat”
”Who knows?” answered poor Scowl, as he cra mouth ”Still, it is better to die on a full than on an empty sto more from exhaustion than froth came back to us As we finished the last luh it had been only half cooked upon the point of an assegai, tasted very good, the Zulu put his head into the mouth of the shelter and asked if ere ready I nodded, and, supporting each other, Scowl and I lireeted us with a shout that, although it was hter at our pitiable appearance, struck st thesedown, looking very depressed I was helped on to its back, and, Scowl clinging to the stirrup leather, ere led a distance of about a quarter of a mile to Cetewayo
We found hi sun, on the eastern slope of one of the land-waves of the veld, with the open plain in front of hie scene There sat the victorious prince, surrounded by his captains and indunas, while before hi his titles in the i also--that is, professional praisers--were running up and down before hi hi out the nareat ones who had been killed in the battle
Meanwhile parties of bearers were co deadthealand It see too tired to walk over the field of battle, ordered that this should be done A these, by the way, I saw the body of eneral of the Amawombe, and noted that it was literally riddled with spear thrusts, every one of them in front; also that his quaint face still wore a smile
At the head of these lines of corpses were laid six dead, all nised the brothers of Uht on his side, and the half-brothers of Cetewayo A them were those three princes upon whom the dust had fallen when Zikali, the prophet, s froh and over the corpses of these fallen royalties, cut in the Zulu fashi+on to free their spirits, which otherwise, as they believed, would haunt the slayers, and stood in front of Cetewayo
”Siyakubona, Macu out his hand to h I could not find it in ood day”
”I hear that you were leading the A, sent down to help Ulad that you have escaped alive Also ht that they , I was general of that regih afterwards we quarrelled Still, I aiven orders that every one of them who remains alive is to be spared, that they may be officers of a neombe which I shall raise Do you know, Macui qosa? Oh, you are a great man Had it not been for the loyalty”--this as spoken with just a tinge of sarcasm--”of Saduko yonder, you would have won the day for Umbelazi
Well, now that this quarrel is finished, if you will stay with 's army, since henceforth I shall have a voice in affairs”
”You are mistaken, O Son of Panda,” I answered; ”the splendour of the Aainst a 's councillor and the induna of the Black One [Chaka], who is gone
He lies yonder in his glory,” and I pointed to Maputa's pierced body ”I did but fight as a soldier in his ranks”
”Oh, yes, we know that, we know all that, Macumazahn; and Maputa was a clever ht him how to jump Well, he is dead, and nearly all the Aiments but a handful is left; the vultures have the rest of theh by good fortune the spears ide of you, who doubtless are a ician, since otherwise you and your servant and your horse would not have escaped with a few scratches when everyone else was killed But you did escape, as you have done before in Zululand; and now you see here lie certain ainst whoht, I loved the best of all of them Now, it has been whispered in my ear that you alone knohat became of him, and, Macumazahn, I would learn whether he lives or is dead; also, if he is dead, by whose hand he died, ould reward that hand”