Part 18 (1/2)
CHAPTER IX. ALLAN RETURNS TO ZULULAND
A whole year had gone by, in which I did, or tried to do, various things that have no connection with this story, when once more I found myself in Zululand--at Umbezi's kraal indeed. Hither I had trekked in fulfilment of a certain bargain, already alluded to, that was concerned with ivory and guns, which I had made with the old fellow, or, rather, with Masapo, his son-in-law, whom he represented in this matter. Into the exact circ.u.mstances of that bargain I do not enter, since at the moment I cannot recall whether I ever obtained the necessary permit to import those guns into Zululand, although now that I am older I earnestly hope that I did so, since it is wrong to sell weapons to natives that may be put to all sorts of unforeseen uses.
At any rate, there I was, sitting alone with the Headman in his hut discussing a dram of ”squareface” that I had given to him, for the ”trade” was finished to our mutual satisfaction, and Scowl, my body servant, with the hunters, had just carried off the ivory--a fine lot of tusks--to my wagons.
”Well, Umbezi,” I said, ”and how has it fared with you since we parted a year ago? Have you seen anything of Saduko, who, you may remember, left you in some wrath?”
”Thanks be to my Spirit, I have seen nothing of that wild man, Mac.u.mazahn,” answered Umbezi, shaking his fat old head in a fas.h.i.+on which showed great anxiety. ”Yet I have heard of him, for he sent me a message the other day to tell me that he had not forgotten what he owed me.”
”Did he mean the sticks with which he promised to bray you like a green hide?” I inquired innocently.
”I think so, Mac.u.mazahn--I think so, for certainly he owes me nothing else. And the worst of it is that, there at Panda's kraal, he has grown like a pumpkin on a dung heap--great, great!”
”And therefore is now one who can pay any debt that he owes, Umbezi,” I said, taking a pull at the ”squareface” and looking at him over the top of the pannikin.
”Doubtless he can, Mac.u.mazahn, and, between you and me, that is the real reason why I--or rather Masapo--was so anxious to get those guns. They were not for hunting, as he told you by the messenger, or for war, but to protect us against Saduko, in case he should attack. Well, now I hope we shall be able to hold our own.”
”You and Masapo must teach your people to use them first, Umbezi. But I expect Saduko has forgotten all about both of you now that he is the husband of a princess of the royal blood. Tell me, how goes it with Mameena?”
”Oh, well, well, Mac.u.mazahn. For is she not the head lady of the Amasomi? There is nothing wrong with her--nothing at all, except that as yet she has no child; also that--,” and he paused.
”That what?” I asked.
”That she hates the very sight of her husband, Masapo, and says that she would rather be married to a baboon--yes, to a baboon--than to him, which gives him offence, after he has paid so many cattle for her.
But what of this, Mac.u.mazahn? There is always a grain missing upon the finest head of corn. Nothing is _quite_ perfect in the world, Mac.u.mazahn, and if Mameena does not chance to love her husband--” and he shrugged his shoulders and drank some ”squareface.”
”Of course it does not matter in the least, Umbezi, except to Mameena and her husband, who no doubt will settle down in time, now that Saduko is married to a princess of the Zulu House.”
”I hope so, Mac.u.mazahn, but, to tell the truth, I wish you had brought more guns, for I live amongst a terrible lot of people. Masapo, who is furious with Mameena because she will have none of him, and therefore with me, as though I could control Mameena; Mameena, who is mad with Masapo, and therefore with me, because I gave her in marriage to him; Saduko, who foams at the mouth at the name of Masapo, because he has married Mameena, whom, it is said, he still loves, and therefore at me, because I am her father and did my best to settle her in the world. Oh, give me some more of that fire-water, Mac.u.mazahn, for it makes me forget all these things, and especially that my guardian spirit made me the father of Mameena, with whom you would not run away when you might have done so. Oh, Mac.u.mazahn, why did you not run away with Mameena, and turn her into a quiet white woman who ties herself up in sacks, sings songs to the 'Great-Great' in the sky--[that is, hymns to the Power above us]--and never thinks of any man who is not her husband?”
”Because if I had done so, Umbezi, I should have ceased to be a quiet white man. Yes, yes, my friend, I should have been in some such place as yours to-day, and that is the last thing that I wish. And now, Umbezi, you have had quite enough 'squareface,' so I will take the bottle away with me. Good-night.”
On the following morning I trekked very early from Umbezi's kraal--before he was up indeed, for the ”squareface” made him sleep sound. My destination was Nodwengu, Panda's Great Place, where I hoped to do some trading, but, as I was in no particular hurry, my plan was to go round by Masapo's, and see for myself how it fared between him and Mameena. Indeed, I reached the borders of the Amasomi territory, whereof Masapo was chief, by evening, and camped there. But with the night came reflection, and reflection told me that I should do well to keep clear of Mameena and her domestic complications, if she had any. So I changed my mind, and next morning trekked on to Nodwengu by the only route that my guides reported to be practicable, one which took me a long way round.
That day, owing to the roughness of the road--if road it could be called--and an accident to one of the wagons, we only covered about fifteen miles, and as night fell were obliged to outspan at the first spot where we could find water. When the oxen had been unyoked I looked about me, and saw that we were in a place that, although I had approached it from a somewhat different direction, I recognised at once as the mouth of the Black Kloof, in which, over a year before, I had interviewed Zikali the Little and Wise. There was no mistaking the spot; that blasted valley, with the piled-up columns of boulders and the overhanging cliff at the end of it, have, so far as I am aware, no exact counterparts in Africa.
I sat upon the box of the first wagon, eating my food, which consisted of some biltong and biscuit, for I had not bothered to shoot any game that day, which was very hot, and wondering whether Zikali were still alive, also whether I should take the trouble to walk up the kloof and find out. On the whole I thought that I would not, as the place repelled me, and I did not particularly wish to hear any more of his prophecies and fierce, ill-omened talk. So I just sat there studying the wonderful effect of the red evening light pouring up between those walls of fantastic rocks.
Presently I perceived, far away, a single human figure--whether it were man or woman I could not tell--walking towards me along the path which ran at the bottom of the cleft. In those gigantic surroundings it looked extraordinarily small and lonely, although perhaps because of the intense red light in which it was bathed, or perhaps just because it was human, a living thing in the midst of all that still, inanimate grandeur, it caught and focused my attention. I grew greatly interested in it; I wondered if it were that of man or woman, and what it was doing here in this haunted valley.
The figure drew nearer, and now I saw it was slender and tall, like that of a lad or of a well-grown woman, but to which s.e.x it belonged I could not see, because it was draped in a cloak of beautiful grey fur. Just then Scowl came to the other side of the wagon to speak to me about something, which took off my attention for the next two minutes. When I looked round again it was to see the figure standing within three yards of me, its face hidden by a kind of hood which was attached to the fur cloak.
”Who are you, and what is your business?” I asked, whereon a gentle voice answered:
”Do you not know me, O Mac.u.mazana?”
”How can I know one who is tied up like a gourd in a mat? Yet is it not--is it not--”
”Yes, it is Mameena, and I am very pleased that you should remember my voice, Mac.u.mazahn, after we have been separated for such a long, long time,” and, with a sudden movement, she threw back the kaross, hood and all, revealing herself in all her strange beauty.