Part 3 (1/2)

”Let that snake sleep Do not kick it with your foot Suffice it you to know that s upon this matter; that I am a rat in a forked stick, and if the stick is pressed on by a heavy hand, then where is the rat?”

”Where all rats go, I suppose, that is, unless they are wise rats that bite the hand which holds the stick before it is pressed down”

”What is the rest of this story of yours, Macuave you that e of it with my ears?”

”Certainly,” I answered, ”on one condition, that what the ears hear, the heart shall keep to itself alone”

Uaas stooped and laid his hand upon the broad blade of the weapon beside hi, ”By the Axe I swear it If I break the oath be the Axe my doom”

Then I told hi tobut a arrior-man As it chanced, however, I was reat deal, perchance because such pris than we iine; perchance for other reasons hich I became acquainted later

”It stands thus,” he said when I had finished, ”or so I think You, Macumazahn, seek certain women who are dead to learn whether they still live, or are really dead, but so far have failed to find the, you asked the counsel of Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, he who a other titles is also called 'Home of Spirits' He answered that he could not satisfy your heart because this tree was too tall for him to climb, but that far to the north there lives a certain white witch who has powers greater than his, being able to fly to the top of any tree, and to this white witch he bade you go Have I the story right thus far?”

I answered that he had

”Good! Then Zikali went on to choose you couards or servants I, Uhterer, called the Woodpecker also, was one of these, and that little yellow monkey of a man whom I saith you to-day, called Hansi, was the other Then younot to visit reat white Queen of whom he had told you, but to return to Natal Is that so?”

I said it was

”Then the rain fell and the winds blew and the rivers rose in wrath so that you could not return to Natal, and after all by chance, or by fate, or by the will of Zikali, the wizard of wizards, you drifted here to the kraal of me, Umhlopekazi, and told me this story”

”Just so,” I answered

”Well, White Man, how am I to know that all this is not but a trap for my feet which already seem to feel cords between the toes of both of theht? How am I to know that the Opener-of-Roads really sent ely by one ished to travel on another path? The wandering witch-doctor told n”

”I can't say,” I answered, ”at least in words But,” I added after reflection, ”as you ask for a token, perhaps Iproof to your heart, if there were any secret place--”

Uateway of the fence and saw that the sentry was at his post Then he walked round the hut casting an eye upon its roof, and ht thus There lived a certain wife of ht about the death ofthem of herself and of our children Enter All is safe Yet if you talk, speak low”

So ent into the hut taking the stools with us, and seated ourselves by the fire that burned there on to which Uaas threw chips of resinous wood

”Now,” he said

I opened ht of the fla about h touch it he would not Then he stood up and lifting his great axe, he saluted the ireat wizards because they are supposed to be the ho Medicine, the Medicine itself,” he said, ”that which has been known in the land since the tiacona, the father of the Zulu Royal House, and as it is said, before hie represents Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, as an old o?”

”I do not know,” he answered, ”but it is so Listen There was a certain Mopo, or as some called him, Umbopo, as Chaka's body-servant and my foster-father, and he told e, ”was sent to Chaka, and that each tie that came with it A third tie and then-where was Chaka?”

Here Uesture ast the Zulus

”Mopo,” I said, ”yes, I have heard the story of Mopo, also that Chaka's body became his servant in the end, since Mopo killed hiana Also I have heard that this Mopo still lives, though not in Zululand”

”Does he, Macu snuff fro at reat deal, Macuht think”

”Yes,” I answered, ”perhaps I do know too much, or at any rateof Mopo and son of-was the lady naaas stared at reat axe, half rose Then he sat down again

”I think that this,” and I touched the ie of Zikali upon my breast, ”would turn even the blade of the axe na happened, I went on, ”For instance, again I think I know-or have I dreamed it?-that a certain chief, whose mother's name I believe was Baleka-by the as she not one of Chaka's 'sisters'?-has been plotting against that son of Panda who sits upon the throne, and that his plots have been betrayed, so that he is in soaas hoarsely, ”I tell you that did you not wear the Great Medicine on your breast, I would kill you where you sit and bury you beneath the floor of the hut, as one who knows-too aas, one of the many that you have made But as I do wear the Medicine, the question does not arise, does it?”

Again he made no answer and I went on, ”And nohat about this journey to the north? If indeed I aas rose from the stool and crawled out of the hut, apparently to make soht was clear although there were heavy storm clouds on the horizon, by which I understood him to convey in Zulu er threatened from afar

”Macumazahn,” he said, ”we speak under the blanket of the Opener-of-Roads who sits upon your heart, and whose sign you bring to me, as he sent me word that you would, do we not?”

”I suppose so,” I answered ”At any rate we speak as man to man, and hitherto the honour of Macumazahn has not been doubted in Zululand So if you have anything to say, Chief Bulalio, say it at once, for I am tired and should like to eat and rest”

”Good, Macureater than he, have plotted to seize the throne of Zululand froreeary of my idleness as a petty chief Moreover, I should have succeeded with the help of Zikali, who hates the House of Senzangacona, though me, who am of its blood, he does not hate, because ever I have striven against that House But it seery woht or to-ht, or by the nextruaas?”

”By that wife of mine, as I think, Macumazahn Also by Lousta, my blood-brother, over whom she has cast her net and made false to me, so that he hopes to win her whom he has always loved and with her the Chieftainshi+p of the Axe Nohat shall I do?-Tell ht a moment and answered, ”I think that if I were you, I would leave this Lousta to sit in my place for a while as Chief of the People of the Axe, and take a journey north, Uaas Then if trouble co sits, it will come to Lousta who can show that the People of the Axe are innocent and that you are far away”

”That is cunning, Macuo north, who can say that I have plotted, and if I leave my betrayer in my place, who can say that I was a traitor, who have set him where I used to sit and left the land upon a private matter? And now tell , although until that o upon this journey, I who had come here to his kraal by accident, or so it seee

”You wish to consult a white witch-doctoress, Macu to Zikali lives far to the north, as to the dead Now I too, though perchance you will not think it of a black man, desire to learn of the dead; yes, of a certain wife of my youth as sister and friend as well as wife, whom too I loved better than all the world Also I desire to learn of a brother of mine whose name I never speak, who ruled the wolves withht For of hiht, and I would know if they still live anywhere and I ain when I have died as a warrior should and as I hope to do Do you understand, Watcher-by-Night?”

I answered that I understood very well, as his case seeaas, ”that all this talk of the dead who are supposed to live after they are dead, is but as the sound of hispering in the reeds at night, that co But at least ours will be a great journey in which we shall find adventure and fighting, since it is well known in the land that wherever Macuoes there is plenty of both Also it seems well for reasons that have been spoken of between us, as Zikali says, that I should leave the country of the Zulus for a while, who desire to die a man's death at the last and not to be trapped like a jackal in a pit Lastly I think that we shall agree well together though h at times, and that neither of us will desert the other in trouble, though of that little yellow dog of yours I am not so sure”

”I answer for hi also when once he is away from drink”

Then we spoke of plans for our journey, and of when and where we shouldtill it was late, after which I went to sleep in the guest-hut

CHAPTER IV