Part 36 (1/2)
”Do you mean that he should kill himself, Zikali?”
”No, no; I mean that his own idhlozi, his Spirit, should be left to kill him, which it will do in tihost, which he calls the ghost of U he is host lives in him, or he iswith ghosts, and ghosts have a way of sharing their food with the , do you not?”
”Of course,” I answered; ”it is as plain as the sun”
”Oh! did I not say you were clever, Macuin, and why they are just the saer plain Look, it has sunk; and you would be on your road ish to be far fro You will pass the plain of Endondakusuka, will you not, and cross the Tugela by the drift? Have a look round, Macunise any old friends Umbezi, the knave and traitor, for instance; or soe What! You cannot wait? Well, then, here is a little present for you, soain, Macue little tale of Mameena with the Heart of Fire I wonder where she is now? Soreat eyes about him and sniffed at the air like a hound ”Farewell till we ain Farewell, Macumazahn Oh! if you had only run aith Maht have been to-day!”
I jumped up and fled from that terrible old dwarf, who what I believe? I fled fro him seated on the stone in the shadows, and as I fled, out of the darkness behind hter
Next ivenonce or thether I should not thrust it down an ant-bear hole as it was But this, soh noish I had Inside, cut from the black core of the umzimbiti wood, with just a little of the white sap left on it to mark the eyes, teeth and nails, was a likeness of Mameena Of course, it was rudely executed, but it was--or rather is, for I have it still--a wonderfully good portrait of her, for whether Zikali was or was not a wizard, he was certainly a good artist There she stands, her body a little bent, her arms outstretched, her head held forith the lips parted, just as though she were about to embrace somebody, and in one of her hands, cut also frorasps a human heart--Saduko's, I presuure rapped in a woman's hair, which I knew at once for that of Ma blue beads she used to wear about her throat
Sos had happened to me that need not be recorded here, when one day I found myself in a rather remote part of the Umvoti district of Natal, some miles to the east of a one to carry out a big deal in ood bit of ed into coons, which were overloaded with these confounded weevilly ot stuck in the drift of a sela that most inopportunely had coet the rain that soakeda fire or of obtaining any decent food, so I was about to go to bed supperless when a flash of lightning showed e kraal situated upon a hillside about half a mile away, and an idea entered my mind
”Who is the headman of that kraal?” I asked of one of the Kafirs who had collected round us in our trouble, as such idle felloays do
”Tshoza, Inkoosi,” answered the man
”Tshoza! Tshoza!” I said, for the name seemed familiar to me ”Who is Tshoza?”
”Ikona [I don't know], Inkoosi He cao with Saduko the Mad”
Then, of course, I reht when old Tshoza, the brother of Matiwane, Saduko's father, had cut out the cattle of the Bangu and we had fought the battle in the pass
”Oh!” I said, ”is it so? Then lead ive you a 'Scotch piece, so called because sorant fro the simple natives of Natal as substitutes for half-crowns)
Tempted by this liberal offer--and it was very liberal, because I was anxious to get to Tshoza's kraal before its inhabitants went to bed--the uide h bush and dripping fields of corn At length we arrived--for if the kraal was only half a lad enough was I e had waded the last streaate
In response to the usual inquiries, conducted as, I was informed that Tshoza did not live there, but soone to sleep and could not be disturbed; that he was dead and had been buried last week, and so forth
”Look here,rave and say to him that if he does not come out alive instantly, Macumazahn will deal with his cattle as once he dealt with those of Bangu”
Ie, the ht of the rain-washedtowardsof this history, had not been ela and many other troubles
”Macumazahn,” he said, ”is that really you? Why, I heard that you were dead long ago; yes, and sacrificed an ox for the welfare of your Spirit”
”And ate it afterwards, I'll be bound,” I answered