Part 9 (1/2)
”Baas,” he answered, ”the Great Medicine is here with us upon the earth and your reverend father, the Predikant, is with us in the sky, so I think we had better stop here and do e can, especially as I do not want to see those reeds anyno reasons
So we made ready for the next attack which we kneould be the last, strengthening our little wall and dragging the dead Aainst it as an added protection As ere thus engaged the sun rose and in its first bea slopes of the round of the precipice,a party of lasses I studied it and perceived that in its hter,” I said, and handed the glasses to Robertson
”Oh! my God,” he answered, ”those villains have outwitted us after all”
Another minute and the litter, or rather the chair with its escort, had vanished into the shadow of the great cliffs, probably up sohts were otherwise engaged, since froathered that the attack was about to be renewed Spears upon which shone the light of the rising sun, appeared above the edge of the ground-fold that I have mentioned, which to the east increased to a deep, bush-clad ravine Also there were voices as of leaders encouraging their ,” I said to Robertson
”Yes,” he answered, ”they are co we call life, isn't it, Quater it all! I wonder what's beyond? Not much for me, I expect, but whatever it is could scarcely be worse than what I've gone through here below in one way and another”
”There's hope for all of us,” I replied as cheerfully as I could, for the man's deep depression disturbed me
”Mayhap, Quatermain, for who knows the infinite mercy of whatever made us as we are? My old mother used to preach of it and I remember her words now But in my case I expect it will stop at hope, or sleep, and if it wasn't for Inez, I'd not h of the world and life Look, there's one of the his rifle he aie of the fold of ground What is more he hit him, for I saw the an afresh, for the cannibals (I suppose they were cannibals like their brethren) crept out of shelter, advancing on their stomachs or their hands and knees, so as to offer a s and slender tree-trunk hich clearly they intended to batter down our wall
Of course I blazed away at them, pretty carefully too, for I was deterift of shooting that has been given to me, should prove a record Therefore I selected my men and even where I would hit them, and as subsequent exaht shots that I fired But all the while, like poor Captain Robertson, I was thinking of other things; namely, where I was bound for presently and if I shouldof this show called Life, which unless it leads soment has none at all Until these questions were solved, however, my duty was to kill as many of those ruffians as I could, and this I did with finish and despatch
Robertson and Hans were firing also, with more or less success, but there were too many to be stopped by our three rifles Still they cath their fierce faces ithin a few yards of our little parapet and U They paused atheir final rush, and so did we to slip in fresh cartridges
”Die well, Hans,” I said, ”and if you get there first, wait for me on the other side”
”Yes, Baas, I alwaysto die this time, Baas Those who have the Great Medicine don't die; it is the others who die, like that fellow,” and he pointed to an A round and round with a bullet froh the middle, for he had fired in the midst of his remarks
”Curse-I mean bless-the Great Medicine,” I said as I lifted ger-there were about sixty of them left-became seized with a certain perturbation They stood still, they stared towards the fold of ground out of which they had eed; they called to each other words which I did not catch, and then-they turned to run
U over the parapet, followed by his re Zulus of the Axe, he leapt upon them with a roar Down they went before Inkosikaas, like corn before a sickle The thing was e of a leopard, so sas the rush and so lightning-like were the strokes or rather the pecks of that flashi+ng axe, for noas tapping at their heads or spines with the gouge-like point upon its back Nor were these the only victims, for those brave followers of his also did their part In a er were in full flight, vanishi+ng this way and that a shot after the last of the his corn-cob pipe, proceeded to fill it
”The Great Medicine, Baas,” he began sententiously, ”or perhaps your reverend father, the Predikant--” Here he paused and pointed doubtfully with the bowl of the pipe towards the fold in the ground, adding, ”Here it is, but I think it must be your reverend father, not the Great Medicine, yes, the Predikant himself, returned frouely in the direction indicated, for I could not conceive what he ht that the excitement must havewhite beard and clothed in a flowing garment, also white, who re towards us and radiating benignancy Also behind hi froranted that we should not shoot at hi his way ah he stopped and said in a kind of Arabic which I could understand, ”I greet you, Strangers, in the name of her I serve I see that I am just in time, but this does not surprise me, since she said that it would be so You sees,” and he prodded a dead Aer with his sandalled foot ”Yes, very well indeed You reat warriors”
Then he paused and we stared at each other
CHAPTER XI
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN WALL
”These do not see to the fallen ”And yet,” I added, nodding towards the spearully, ”they are very like your friends”
”Puppies frorow up soht each other,” replied Father Christmas blandly ”At least these come to save and not to kill you Look! they kill the others!” and he pointed to the an end of solanced with evident astonishaas and then at the grotesque Hans ”Nay, answer not, you must be weary and need rest Afterwards we can talk”
”Well, as a matter of fact we have not yet breakfasted,” I replied ”Also I have business to attend to here,” and I glanced at our wounded
The old fellow nodded and went to speak to the captains of his force, doubtless as to the pursuit of the ene forward on their tracks Then, assisted by Hans and the re Zulus, of whom one was Goroko, I turned to attend to our own people The task proved lighter than I expected, since the badly injuredand the hurts of the two others were in their legs and coht, such as Goroko could doctor in his own native fashi+on
After this, taking Hans to guard my back, I went down to the strea the while that I could do so with appetite after the terrible dangers which we had passed Still, we had passed theaas with three of his men, I and Hans were quite unharmed, a fact for which I returned thanks in silence but sincerely enough to Providence
Hans also returned thanks in his own fashi+on, after he had filled himself, not before, and lit his corn-cob pipe But Robertson made no res, he rose and walking a few paces forward, stood staring at the cleft in the mountain cliff into which he had seen the litter vanish that bore his daughter to soht and the victory we had won against overpowering odds did not appear to ilared at the mountain into the heart of which Inez had been raped away, and shook his fist Since she was gone all else went for nothing, so much so that he did not offer to assist with the wounded Zulus or show curiosity about the strange old man by e had been rescued
”The Great Medicine, Baas,” said Hans in a bewildered way, ”is even ht us safely through the fighting and without a scratch, for those Zulus there do notfor ht down your reverend father the Predikant froed from what I remember him, it is true, but still without doubt the same When I make my report to him presently, if he can understand my talk, I shall--”
”Stop your infernal nonsense, you son of a donkey,” I broke in, for at this nly than before, re-appeared from the kloof into which he had vanished and advanced towards us boithseated himself upon the little wall that we had built up, he conte his beautiful white beard, then said, addressing me, ”Of a certainty you should be proud ith a few have defeated so many Still, had I not been ordered to come at speed, I think that by now you would have been as those are,” and he looked towards the dead Zulus ere laid out at a distance like ht for a place to bury them
”Ordered by whom?” I asked
”There is only one who can order,” he answered with '!”
It occurred to me that this must be some Arabic idioue and said, ”It would appear that there are so She cannot command; those who attacked us; also those who have fled away yonder,” and I waved my hand towards the mountain
”No command is absolute; in every country there are rebels, even, as I have heard, in Heaven above us But, Wanderer, what is your naood naht, and by day too, to reach this country living where She-who-coenerations Indeed, I think she told one by since she spoke to a white man in the City of Kor”
”Did she indeed?” I exclaih
”You do not believe”Well, She-who-commands can explain matters for herself better than I as not alive two thousand years ago, so far as I remember But what must I call hiood nae by the wounds on the each other in hell And thisdoubtfully at Hans
”Light-in-Darkness is his name”
”I see, doubtless because his colour is that of the winter sun in thick fog, or a bad egg broken into milk And the other white man who mutters and whose brow is like a storer; you will learn why later on,” I answered i, ”And what are you called and, if you are pleased to tell it to us, upon what errand do you visit us in so fortunate an hour?”
”I aer of She-who-co you safely to her”