Part 16 (1/2)

CHAPTER IX

THE MEETING IN THE DESERT

Now I do not propose to describe all our journey to Kendahland, or at any rate the first part thereof It was interesting enough in its way and weadventures, also some others But there is so much to tell of what happened to us after we reached the place that I have not the time, even if I had the inclination to set all these h owing to political events the country happened to be rather disturbed at the tireat difficulty For here my name was a power in the land and all parties united to help ers, half-bred borderof the Mazitu, as Hans had suggested that I should do, advising hiht, and the yellow ht-in-Darkness and Lord-of-the-Fire, were about to visit hions beyond a certain point where there was a river called the Luba, unfordable by anything on wheels, I requested him, ht be necessary, to meet us on the banks of that river at a spot which was known to both of us These words the ers promised to deliver for a fee of five head of cattle apiece, to be paid on their return, or to their families if they died on the road, which cattle we purchased and left in charge of a chief, as their kinsman As it happened two of the poor fellows did die, one of theh which they took a short cut, and the other at the teeth of a hungry lion The third, however, won through and delivered the ht in the northern parts of Zululand, to give tiet sorass was plentiful even in the dry season, we trekked forward by a route known to Hans and myself Indeed it was the same which we had followed on our journey from Mazituland after our expedition in search for the Holy Flower

We took with us a sh they were difficult to feed in a country where no corn could be bought, proved fortunate in the end, since so ed to abandon one of the wagons, which oods it contained th we reached the banks of the river, and caht by three tall peaks of rock which the natives called ”The Three Doctors,” where I had instructed the ers to tell the Mazitu to meet us For four days we remained here, since rains in the interior hadI clilasses looked over its broad yellow flood, searching the wide, bush-clad land beyond in the hope of discovering the Mazitu advancing to meet us Not a , as the river had now become fordable, we deter wagon, which it was i over its rocky bottom, to be taken back to Natal by our drivers

Here a difficulty arose No promise of reould induce any of our Zulu bearers even to wet their feet in the waters of this River Luba, which for some reason that I could not extract froati_, that is, bewitched, to people of their blood When I pointed out that three Zulus had already undertaken to cross it, they answered that those men were half-breeds, so that for theht that even so one or more of them would pay the penalty of death for this rash crime

It chanced that this happened, for, as I have said, two of the poor fellows did die, though not, I think, owing to the ical properties of the waters of the Luba This is how African superstitions are kept alive Sooner or later so of the sort fulfils itself and then the instance is reenerations, while other instances in which nothing out of the cootten

This decision on the part of those stupid Zulus put us in an aard fix, since it was ie and alad was I when before dawn on the fifth on, in the after part of which Ragnall and I were sleeping, and informed us that he heard h how he could hear anything above that roar of water passed ain we climbed the tallest of the ”Doctor”

rocks and stared into the th it rolled away and there on the farther side of the river I saw quite a hundred men who by their dress and spears I knew to be Mazitu They saw roups of the swept away Thereupon our silly Zulus seized their spears and formed up upon the bank I slid down the steep side of the ”Great Doctor” and ran forward, calling out that these were friends who came

”Friends or foes,” answered their captain sullenly, ”it is a pity that we should walk so far and not have a fight with those Mazitu dogs”

Well, I drove theht happen if the two peoples met, and then went down to the bank By now the Mazitu were near, and to ht at the head of theeneral, Babemba, a one-eyed h the water he plunged with great bounds and reaching the shore, greeted me literally with rapture

”O Macuain I should look upon your face Welcoht-in-Darkness, Lord-of-the-Fire, Cunning-one whose wit saved us in the battle of the Gate But where is Dogeetah, where is Wazeela, and where are the Mother and the Child of the Flower?”

”Far away across the Black Water, Babemba,” I answered ”But here are two others in place of thee by their native naeza and Bena

He conte to Ragnall, ”is a great lord, but this,” pointing to Savage, as much the better dressed of the two, ”is a cock of the ashpit arrayed in an eagle's feathers,” a reger vacuously

While we breakfasted on food prepared by the ”cock of the Ashpit,” who a an excellent cook, I heard all the news Bausi the king was dead but had been succeeded by one of his sons, also named Bausi, whoreat fire that destroyed the slavers, and ly fortified than before Of the slavers theo either, though the Mazitu declared that their ghosts, or those of their victims, still haunted the island in the lake That was all, except the ill tidings as to two of our ers which the third, who had returned with the Mazitu, reported to us

After breakfast I addressed and sent away our Zulus, each with a handsoe the reon and our servants, none of whom, so their song of good-bye, saluted and departed over the rise, still looking hungrily behind them at the Mazitu, and ere very pleased to see the last of them without bloodshed or trouble

When we had watched the white tilt of the wagon vanish, we set to work to get ourselves and our goods across the river This we accomplished safely, for the Mazitu worked for us like friends and not as do hired men On the farther bank, however, it took us two full days so to divide up the loads that the bearers could carry theed and we started Of theto tell, except that we completed it without notable accidents and at last reached the new Beza-Tohich reat public reception

Bausi II hiate on that very ht, where the bones of the gallant Mavovo and h I could hear their deep voices joining in the shouts of welcoht, while the Mazitu feasted in our honour, we held an _indaba_ in the big new guest house with Bausi II, a pleasant-faced youngwehis hope that the visit would be prolonged I replied, but a few days, as ere travelling far to the north to find a people called the Kendah ished to see, and hoped that he would give us bearers to carry our goods as far as the confines of their country At the name of Kendah a look of astonishment appeared upon their faces and Babemba said:

”Has madness seized you, Macu?

Oh surely you ht us mad, Babemba, e crossed the lake to Rica Town, yet we came back safely”

”True, Macuo were but as the smallest star before the face of the sun”