Part 3 (2/2)

THE LION AND THE AXE

Next day early I left the town of the People of the Axe, having bid a for in a voice that all could hear that as the rivers were still flooded, I proposed to trek to the northern parts of Zululand and trade there until the weather was better Our private arrangeht of the next full moon, which happened about four weeks later, we should reat, flat-topped mountain known to both of us, which stands to the north of Zululand but well beyond its borders

So northward I trekked, slowly to spareas I went The details do not matter, but as it happened I met with more luck upon that journey than had coh I worked on credit since nearly allto my repute I could always do in Zululand, I ains in cattle, and to top up with, bought a large lot of ivory so cheap that really I think it must have been stolen

All of this, cattle, and ivory together, I sent to Natal in charge of a white friend of mine whom I could trust, where the stuff was sold very well indeed, and the proceeds paid toduly reood fortune was such that if I had been superstitious like Hans, I should have been inclined to attribute it to the influence of Zikali's ”Great Medicine” As it was I knew it to be one of the chances of a trader's life and accepted it with a shrug as often as I had been accustomed to do in the alternative of losses

Only one untoward incident happened to 's soldiers under the command of a well-known Induna or Councillor, arrived and insisted upon searching ht at first in connection with that cheap lot of ivory which had already departed to Natal However, never a word did they say of ivory, nor indeed was a single thing belonging to nant and expressed s to the Induna in no etic, and explained that what he did he was obliged to do ”by the King's orders” Also he let it slip that he was seeking for a certain ”evil-doer” who, it was thought,his real character, and as this ”evil-doer,” whose name he would nota strong guard with hiaas, butthat I was not in the habit of consorting with evil-doers

Still unsatisfied, the Induna questionedthis journey of mine in the Zulu country I told hi others-because I was sure that already he knew all my movements well-the town of the People of the Axe

Then he asked aas or Bulalio I answered, Yes, that I had ht hireed e that perhaps I did not kno remarkable Next he asked me where he was now, to which I replied that I had not the faintest idea, but I presumed in his kraal where I had left him The Induna explained that he was not in his kraal; that he had gone away leaving one Lousta and his own head wife Monazi to administer the chieftainshi+p for a while, because, as he stated, he wished to make a journey

I yawned as if weary of the subject of this chief, and indeed of the whole business Then the Induna said that Iand repeat to him all the words that I had spoken I replied that I could not possibly do so as, having finished o north to shoot elephants He answered that elephants lived a long while and would not die while I was visiting the King

Then followed an argu that to the King I must come, even if he had to takewhat to say or do and leant forward to pick a piece of wood out of the fire ith to light my pipe Now my shi+rt was not buttoned and as it chanced this action caused the ivory i about es The Induna saw it and his eyes grew big with fear

”Hide that!” he whispered, ”hide that, lest it should bewitchbewitched It is the Great Medicine itself”

”That will certainly happen to you,” I said, yawning again, ”if you insist upona week's trek to visit the Black One, or interfere with me in any way now or afterwards,” and I liftedhim steadily in the face

”Perhaps after all, Macu,” he said in an uncertain voice ”I will go andof this evil-doer”

And he went in such a hurry that he never waited to say good-bye Nextbefore the daent also and trekked steadily until I was clear of Zululand

In due course and without accident, for the weather, which had been so wet, had now turned beautifully fine and dry, we careat, flat-topped hill that I have h, sparsely-tion This peculiar hill, known to such natives as lived in those parts by a long word that means ”Hut-with-a-flat-roof,” is surrounded by forest, for here trees groonderfully well, perhaps because of the water that flows froh this forest, which was full of game, I reached its eastern foot and there caht of full aas

That I should meet hiht it very probable that he would have changed his , and secondly for the excellent reason that I expected he had gone to call upon the King against his will, as I had been asked to do It was evident to ainst Cetywayo, in which he was the old dwarf Zikali's partner, or rather, tool; also that his plot had been betrayed, with the result that he anted” and would have little chance of passing safely through Zululand So taking one thing with another I iri axe for the last tih at first the idea had appealed to oose, or itch chase through unknown lands to seek for a totally fabulous person elt far across the Za, but if Uations would be at an end and I should return to Natal atsince I found that a large herd of elephants haunted this forest Indeed I was tempted to attack them at once, but did not do so since, as Hans pointed out, if ere going north it would be difficult to carry the ivory, especially if we had to leave the waggon, and I was too old a hunter to desire to kill the great beasts for the fun of the thing

So I just sat down and rested, letting the oxen feed throughout the hours of light on the rich grasses which grew upon the botto mountain where ere camped by a stream, not more than a hundred yards above the timber line

At soe at this spot; probably the Zulus had cleaned it out in long past years, for I found hurass Indeed, the cattle-kraal still re up a few stones here and there on the walls and closing the narrow entrances with thorn bushes, we could still use it to enclose our oxen at night This I did for fear lest there should be lions about, though I had neither seen nor heard theh with lots to eat, since whenever anted o a few yards to shoot a fat buck at a spot whither they trekked to drink in the evening, till at last calad, since, to tell the truth, I had begun to be bored Rest is good, but for a man who has always led an active life too ht in large doses is depressing

Of the fire-eating Un, so I made up my mind that on the morroould start after those elephants and when I had shot-or failed to shoot-some of them, return to Natal I felt unable to reift to do so, which is perhaps why I e down such reminiscences as these

Well, the full ood look at her for luck, also at all the veld within sight, I turned in An hour or two later some noise from the direction of the cattle-kraal woke o to sleep again Then an uneasy thought ca looked to see whether the entrance was properly closed, as it was my habit to do It was the same sort of troublesoet out of bed and go along the cold passages to the sitting-room to see whether he has put out the lamp It always proves that he has put it out, but that does not prevent a repetition of the performance next time the perplexity arises

I reflected that perhaps the noise was caused by the oxen pushi+ng their way through the carelessly-closed entrance, and at any rate that I had better go to see So I slipped onHans or the boys, only taking withses

Now in front of the gateway of the cattle-kraal, shading it, grew a single big tree of the wild fig order Passing under this tree I looked and saw that the gateas quite securely closed, as now I reo back but had not stepped ht, I saw the head of my smallest ox, a beast of the Zulu breed, suddenly appear over the top of the wall About this there would have been nothing particularly astonishi+ng, had it not been for the fact that this head belonged to a dead aniue

”What in the naan to myself, when my reflections were cut short by the appearance of another head, that of one of the biggest lions I ever sahich had the ox by the throat, and with the enor its back beneath the body, was deliberately hoisting it over the wall, to drag it away to devour at its leisure

There was the brute within twelve feet of me, and what isthe ox by the throat

”What a chance for Allan Quater who knows ift of God I am handy with a rifle Well, indeed, it should have been, for even with the sht to have pierced through the soft parts of its throat to the brain and to have killed that lion as dead as Julius Caesar Theoretically the thing was easy enough; indeed, although I was startled for a moment, by the time that I had the rifle to my shoulder I had little fear of the issue, unless there was a miss-fire, especially as the beast seemed so astonished that it reenerally it does in life, particularly in hunting, which, in my case, is a part of life I fired, but by misfortune the bullet struck the tip of the horn of that confounded ox, which tip either was or at that moment fell in front of the spot on the lion's throat whereat half-unconsciously I had aile, just cut the skin of the lion's neck deeply enough to hurt it very much and to make itthe ox, with a most terrific roar it came over the wall at me-I remember that there seemed to be yards of it-I mean of the lion-in front of which appeared a cavernousteeth

I skipped back with ility, also a little to one side, because there was nothing else to do, reflecting in a kind of inconsequent way, that after all Zikali's Great Medicine was not worth a curse The lion landed on s before getting to business, towering high aboveA shadow thrown by the moon flitted past reat, lifted axe, probably because the axe came first The shadow fell and with it another shadow, that of a lion's paw dropping to the ground Next there was around I saw such a fray as never I shall see again A tall, grireat lion, that now lacked one paw, but still stood upon its hind legs, striking at him with the other

The ed the blow and hit back with the axe, catching the beast upon the breast with such weight that it caround in a lopsided fashi+on, since now it had only one fore-foot on which to light

The axe flashed up again and before the lion could recover itself, or do anything else, fell with a crash upon its skull, sinking deep into the head After this all was over, for the beast's brain was cut in two

”I aaas, for it was he, as with difficulty he dragged his axe froht as it is reported that you always do”

”No,” I retorted, for his tone irritated me, ”you are late, Bulalio, the moon has been up some hours”

”I said, O Macuht of the fullof the moon”

”That is true,” I replied, ood h as it happens in this clear light the thing was easy to anyone who can handle an axe Had it been darker the end ht have been different But, Macuht, since otherwise you would not have coainst a lion with a toy like that,” and he pointed to the little rifle in aas”

”That is why you are not so clever as I thought, since of one sort or another there is always a lion which wise men should be prepared to ain,” I replied

At that moment Hans arrived upon the scene, followed at a discreet distance by the waggon boys, and took in the situation at a glance

”The Great Medicine of the Opener-of-Roads has worked well,” was all he said

”The great medicine of the Opener-of-Heads has worked better,” re to his red axe ”Never before since she ca has Inkosikaas (ie 'Chieftainess,' for so was this famous weapon named) sunk so low as to drink the blood of beasts Still, the stroke was a good one so she need not be ashamed But, Yellow Man, how co, watch your master so ill?”