Part 11 (2/2)
As I approached my camp I saw that the oxen were being inspanned, as I supposed by the order of Scowl, who must have heard that there was a row up at the kraal, and thought it well to be ready to bolt. In this I was mistaken, however, for just then Saduko strolled out of a patch of bush and said:
”I ordered your boys to yoke up the oxen, Inkoosi.”
”Have you? That's cool!” I answered. ”Perhaps you will tell me why.”
”Because we must make a good trek to the northward before night, Inkoosi.”
”Indeed! I thought that I was heading south-east.”
”Bangu does not live in the south or the east,” he replied slowly.
”Oh, I had almost forgotten about Bangu,” I said, with a rather feeble attempt at evasion.
”Is it so?” he answered in his haughty voice. ”I never knew before that Mac.u.mazahn was a man who broke a promise to his friend.”
”Would you be so kind as to explain your meaning, Saduko?”
”Is it needful?” he answered, shrugging his shoulders. ”Unless my ears played me tricks, you agreed to go up with me against Bangu. Well, I have gathered the necessary men--with the king's leave--they await us yonder,” and he pointed with his spear towards a dense patch of bush that lay some miles beneath us. ”But,” he added, ”if you desire to change your mind I will go alone. Only then, I think, we had better bid each other good-bye, since I love not friends who change their minds when the a.s.segais begin to shake.”
Now, whether Saduko spoke thus by design I do not know. Certainly, however, he could have found no better way to ensure my companions.h.i.+p for what it was worth, since, although I had made no actual promise in this case, I have always prided myself on keeping even a half-bargain with a native.
”I will go with you,” I said quietly, ”and I hope that, when it comes to the pinch, your spear will be as sharp as your tongue, Saduko. Only do not speak to me again like that, lest we should quarrel.”
As I said this I saw a look of relief appear on his face, of very great relief.
”I pray your pardon, my lord Mac.u.mazahn,” he said, seizing my hand, ”but, oh! there is a hole in my heart. I think that Mameena means to play me false, and now that has happened with yonder dog, Masapo, which will make her father hate me.”
”If you will take my advice, Saduko,” I replied earnestly, ”you will let this Mameena fall out of the hole in your heart; you will forget her name; you will have done with her. Ask me not why.”
”Perhaps there is no need, O Mac.u.mazana. Perhaps she has been making love to you, and you have turned her away, as, being what you are, and my friend, of course you would do.” (It is rather inconvenient to be set upon such a pedestal at times, but I did not attempt to a.s.sent or to deny anything, much less to enter into explanations.)
”Perhaps all this has happened,” he continued, ”or perhaps it is she who has sent for Masapo the Hog. I do not ask, because if you know you will not tell me. Moreover, it matters nothing. While I have a heart, Mameena will never drop out of it; while I can remember names, hers will never be forgotten by me. Moreover, I mean that she shall be my wife. Now, I am minded to take a few men and spear this hog, Masapo, before we go up against Bangu, for then he, at any rate, will be out of my road.”
”If you do anything of the sort, Saduko, you will go up against Bangu alone, for I trek east at once, who will not be mixed up with murder.”
”Then let it be, Inkoosi; unless he attacks me, as my Snake send that he may, the Hog can wait. After all, he will only be growing a little fatter. Now, if it pleases you order the wagons to trek. I will show the road, for we must camp in that bush to-night where my people wait me, and there I will tell you my plans; also you will find one with a message for you.”
CHAPTER VI. THE AMBUSH
We had reached the bush after six hours' downhill trek over a pretty bad track made by cattle--of course, there were no roads in Zululand at this date. I remember the place well. It was a kind of spreading woodland on a flat bottom, where trees of no great size grew spa.r.s.ely. Some were mimosa thorns, others had deep green leaves and bore a kind of plum with an acid taste and a huge stone, and others silver-coloured leaves in their season. A river, too, low at this time of the year, wound through it, and in the scrub upon its banks were many guinea-fowl and other birds. It was a pleasing, lonely place, with lots of game in it, that came here in the winter to eat the gra.s.s, which was lacking on the higher veld. Also it gave the idea of vastness, since wherever one looked there was nothing to be seen except a sea of trees.
Well, we outspanned by the river, of which I forget the name, at a spot that Saduko showed us, and set to work to cook our food, that consisted of venison from a blue wildebeest, one of a herd of these wild-looking animals which I had been fortunate enough to shoot as they whisked past us, gambolling in and out between the trees.
While we were eating I observed that armed Zulus arrived continually in parties of from six to a score of men, and as they arrived lifted their spears, though whether in salutation to Saduko or to myself I did not know, and sat themselves down on an open s.p.a.ce between us and the river-bank. Although it was difficult to say whence they came, for they appeared like ghosts out of the bush, I thought it well to take no notice of them, since I guessed that their coming was prearranged.
”Who are they?” I whispered to Scowl, as he brought me my tot of ”squareface.”
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