Part 2 (2/2)
With the help of the spare oxen we crossed the river safely at the ford, although it was very full, and on the further side were received by a guard of men, tall, soldierlike fellows, all of theers had been They led us up to the cattle enclosure in the centre of the tohich although it could be used to protect beasts in case of eency, also served the practical purpose of a public square
Here soress, for soldiers stood round the kraal while heralds pranced and shouted At the head of the place in front of the chief's big hut was a little group of people, aaunt reat and very long axe hafted ire-lashed rhinoceros horn, laid across his knees
Our guides ledafter on had stopped outside the gate), across the kraal to where the heralds shouted and the bigAt once I noted that he was a very re, tough-looking arms and a fierce face which rereat hole in his head above the temple where the skull had been driven in by so eyes
He looked up and seeing ht me for the chieftainshi+p of the People of the Axe? Well, he is a small one”
”No,” I answered quietly, ”but Macuht, has coaas; Macumazahn whose naaas”
The Chief heard and rising froreet you, O Macuh you are sreat indeed in fah Saduko slew hiave up the six hundred head of cattle to Tshoza and the ht with you, the cattle that were your own? Have I not heard how you led the Tulwana against the Usutu and staih, alas! because of an oath ofto do with those that spring froly of it, Macus concerning you, though until now it has never been ht, and therefore I greet you well, Bold one, Cunning one, Upright one, Friend of us Black People”
”Thank you,” I answered, ”but you said so of the sort, let us get it over If you want to fight, I am quite ready,” and I tapped the rifle which I carried
The grih and said, ”Listen By an ancient law any ht ht and conquered him who held it before h of late none seems to like the business But that laas uns, or men like Macumazahn who, it is said, can hit a lizard on a wall at fifty paces Therefore I tell you that if you wish to fight ive in and you ain in his fierce fashi+on
”I think it is too hot for fighting either with guns or axes, and Chieftainshi+ps are honey that is full of stinging bees,” I answered
Then I took ht for aas, after which the ceree to all and sundry to coht the Holder of the Axe for the chieftainshi+p of the Axe without the slightest result, since nobody see of the sort Then, after a pause, U his forht of conquest he was Chief of the Tribe for the ensuing year, an announceain the heralds surievances, to come forward and to state them and receive redress
After a little pause there appeared a very handsoe eyes, particularly brilliant eyes that rolled as though they were in search of someone She was finely dressed and I saw by the ornaments she wore that she held the rank of a chief's wife
”I, Monazi, have a coht of the huaan sleith her children, I aaas”
”That I knoell enough,” said Ulect lected Zinita for Nada the Beautiful, Nada the witch I am childless, as are all your wives because of the curse that this Nada left behind her I demand that this curse should be lifted from me For your sake I abandoned Lousta the Chief, to wholected and childless”
”Am I the Heavens Above that I can cause you to bear children, wo to Lousta, my blood-brother and my friend, whom you lament, and left me alone”
”That still may chance, if I am not better treated,” answered Monazi with a flash of her eyes ”Will you disive me back my place, and will you lift the curse of Nada off me, or will you not?”
”As to the first,” answered Uaas, ”learn, Monazi, that I will not disued and truer-hearted than you are As to the second, you ask that which it is not in ift of Heaven, and barrenness is its bane Moreover, you have done ill to bring into this matter the name of one who is dead, who of all women was the sweetest and most innocent Lastly, I warn you before the people to cease fros or traffic with Lousta, lest ill coh he be s!” cried Monazi in a shrill and furious voice ”Does Us? Well, I have heard that Chaka the Lion left a son, and that this son has set a trap for the feet of hi has heard it also; perchance the People of the Axe will soon have another Chief”
”Is it thus?” said Uaas quietly ”And if so, will he be na wrath broke out and in a kind of roaring voice he went on, ”What have I done that the wives of ive aan and in reas slain, and my children with her Noould you, Monazi, betray ht to betray? Well, if so, bethink you and let Lousta bethink him of what chanced to Zinita, and of what chances to those who stand before the axe of Uaas What have I done, I say, that women should thus strive to work h, ”that you have loved one of them too well If he would live in peace, he who has wives should favour all alike Least of anything should he moan continually over one who is dead, a witch who has left a curse behind her and thus insulted and do wrong to the living Also he would be wise to attend to the matters of his own tribe and household and to cease froai, and them with hione!” said Uely, and it seemed to me not without fear
”Have you wives, Macumazahn?” he asked of
”Only a the spirits,” I answered
”Well for you then; moreover, it is a bond between us, for I too have but one true wife and she also is ao rest a while, and later ill talk”
So I went, leaving the Chief to his business, thinking as I walked away of a certain ed for hie came names that I had just heard, namely that of a man called Lousta and of a woht of the hints which in her jealous anger and disappointment at her lack of children, this woainst him who sat on the throne of Chaka, which of course uest-hut, which proved to be a very good place and clean; also in it I found plenty of foodI slept for a ti else on hand, since who knows for how long he ht? Indeed, it was not until the sun had begun to sink that athat the Chief desired to seehut which stood alone with a strong fence set round it at a distance, so that none could co of as said, even at the door of the hut I observed also that a ateway in this fence round which he walked froaas was seated on a stool by the door of his hut with his rhinoceros-horn-handled axe which was fastened to his right wrist by a thong, leaning against his thigh, and a wolfskin hanging froriht of the sunset playing on hireeted me and pointed to another stool on which I satmy eyes, for he said, ”I see that like other creatures which ht, such as leopards and hyenas, you take note of all, O Watcher-by-Night, even of the soldier who guards this place and of where the fence is set and of how its gate is fashi+oned”
”Had I not done so I should have been dead long ago, O Chief”
”Yes, and because it is not my nature to do so as I should, perchance I shall soon be dead It is not enough to be fierce and foremost in the battle, Macumazahn He ould sleep safe and of whom, when he dies, folk will say 'He has eaten' (ie, he has lived out his life), ue and even his thoughts! heof rats in the thatch and look for snakes in the grass; he must trust few, and least of all those who sleep upon his bosom But those who have the Lion's blood in thelect these matters and therefore in the end they fall into a pit”
”Yes,” I answered, ”especially those who have the lion's blood in them, whether that lion be man or beast”
This I said because of the ruhterer was in truth the son of Chaka Therefore not knohether or no he were playing on the word ”lion,” which was Chaka's title, I wished to draw hireat likeness to Chaka's brother Dingaan, whoaas had slain As it happened I failed, for after a pause he said, ”Why do you come to visit me, Macumazahn, who have never done so before?”
”I do not coaas That was not ht ht me, for I was on my way to Natal and could not cross the drifts”
”Yet I think you have a o a certain wandering witch-doctor who came here told me to expect you and that you had words to say to aas? Well, it is true that I have a h it is one that I did nothere, perchance you will deliver it, Macues and will not speak the here, I will deliver it, seeing that so it seems to be fated Tell reat, a certain Old One whose brain is young, a doctor who is called Opener-of-Roads?”
”I have heard of hienerations”
”Indeed, and if it pleases you to tell ht be the names of those forefathers of yours, who have heard of this doctor for generations? They must have been short-lived men and as such I should like to know of theaas shortly, ”since they are hlonipa (ie not to be spoken) in this land”
”Indeed,” I said again ”I thought that rule applied only to the nanorant white man who may well be mistaken on such matters of your Zulu customs”
”Yes, O Macu But what of thisstory, O Bulalio But since you seek to know, these were the words of it, so nearly as I can remember them”
Then sentence by sentence I repeated to him all that Zikali had said tome farewell, which doubtless he did because he wished to cut his e aas listened to every syllable with a curious intentness, and then asked ain, which I did
”Lousta! Monazi!” he said slowly ”Well, you heard those names to-day, did you not, White Man? And you heard certain things froive colour to that talk of the Opener-of-Roads It see in a low voice, ”that what I suspected is true and that without doubt I am betrayed”
”I do not understand,” I replied indifferently ”All this talk is dark to e of the Opener-of-Roads, or rather itsBy whom and about what are you betrayed?”