Part 15 (1/2)
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SLAYING OF REZU
At last ere on the plain, the be before us like a s Here we halted to re-forh still she spoke no word, that so Ayesha that I should do this The business took twentyabout two thousand five hundred strong, for the rest had fallen in the fight of the square, we advanced again
Now there ca of the sun, and through it I could see that the battle was not yet over, since gathered in front of us was still a force about equal to our own Ayesha pointed towards it with her wand and we leapt forward to the attack Here theus, for they seemed to overcome their terror with the approach of day
The battle was fierce, a very strange battle in that diht, which scarcely showed us friend from foe Indeed I am not sure that we should have won it, since Ayesha was no longer visible to give our Ae of the Rezuites increased, so theirs seeht
Fortunately, however, just as the issue hung doubtful, there was a shout to our left and looking, I made out the tall shape of Goroko, the witch-doctor, with the other Zulu, followed by his two hundred and fiftyon to the flank of the line of Rezu
That settled the business The enehts of dawn appeared in the sky I looked about h at the moment I feared that she ave up looking and thinking, since now or never was the ti to those hatchet-faced Aaas with Goroko who had joined us, and Hans, I sprang forward to give them an example, which, to be just to them, they took
”This is the mound on which Red-Beard should be,” cried Hans as we faced a little slope
I ran up it and through the glooathered round so, as people collect about a street accident
”Red-Beard on the stone They are killing hiain
It was so; at least several white-robed priests were bending over a prostrate figure with knives in their hands, while behind stood the huge fellohoh he aiting for the riave soe of bright light on the horizon, and he turned, shouting the order
Too late! For ere on theaas cut down one of the priests with his axe, and the men about me dealt with the others, while Hans with a couple of sweeps of his long knife, severed the cords hich Robertson was tied
The poorin Scotch about ”the deil” Seizing a great spear which had fallen froiant who had given the order, and with a yell drove it at his heart I saw the spear snap, frohtly I took to be Rezu, wore soreat weapon, flashed aloft and doent Robertson before its awful stroke, stone dead, for as we found out afterwards, he was cloven ale took hold of me In my hand was a double-barrelled rifle, an Express loaded with hollow-pointed bullets I covered the giant and let drive, first with one barrel and then with the other, and what is more, distinctly I heard both bullets strike upon him
Yet he did not fall He rocked a little, that is all, then turned and marched off towards a hut, that whereof Hans had told me, which stood about fifty yards away
”Leave hiaas ”Steel cuts where bullets cannot pierce,” and with a bound like to that of a buck, the great Zulu leapt away after him
I think that Rezu meant to enter the hut for soaas was too hard upon his tracks At any rate he ran past it and down the other slope of the little hill on to the plain behind where the re to re-foriant turned and stood at bay
U for us to co old warrior as he was, he feared lest should he begin the fight before that happened, the horde of them would fall on hi still with bent body, sh in the act of striking, a wondrous picture outlined as it was against the swiftly rising-sun
So on the axe he bore, which was not unlike to that hich wood trees He was an evil ht of him, I likened hie he was and hairy, with deep-set, piercing eyes and a great hooked nose His face seereat head, he tossed his long locks back from about it, but his limbs were those of a Hercules and his our Moreover his aspect as a whole was that of a devil rather than of a ht of it sickened aas, for I had reloaded the rifle as I ran
”Nay, Watcher-by-Night,” answered the Zulu withouthis head, ”rifle has had its chance and failed Now let us see what axe can do If I cannot kill this man, I will be borne hence feet first who shall have an to talk in a low, ru voice that reverberated from the slope of the little hill behind us
”Who are you?” he asked, speaking in the saer use, ”who dare to come face to face with Rezu? Black hound, do you not know that I cannot be slain who have lived a year for every week of your life's days, and set my foot upon the necks of men by thousands Have you not seen the spear shatter and the iron balls melt uponme doith that toy you carry? My aret me more? Because the sacrifice was not completed and the white queen was not wed, therefore ic of Lulala, the White Witch ells in the tombs But I am not defeated who cannot be slain until I show o has rusted into dust”
Now of this long speech U, so I answered for hih, but to the point, for there flashed into my mind all Ayesha's tale about an axe
”A certain axe!” I cried ”Aye, a certain axe! Well, look at that which is held by the Black One, the captain who is nahterer, the ancient axe whose title is Chieftainess, because if so she wills, she takes the lives of all Look at it well, Rezu, Giant and Wizard, and say whether it is not that which your forefather lost, that which is destined to bring you to your dooht hear, slowly also, pausing between each word because I wished to give ti as I did that the rays of the rising sun struck upon the face of the giant, whereas the eyes of Uaas were less dazzled by it
Rezu heard, and stared at the axe which Uhtly by an imperceptible e, and that on it for the first ti fear Also his followers behind hiether
For here I should say that as though by coer attacked and the eneer ran They, or whose ere left of theh they felt that the real and ulti duel between these two chah of that issue they had little doubt since, as I learned afterwards, they believed their king to be invulnerable
For quite a while Rezu went on staring Then he said aloud as if he were thinking to himself
”It is like, very like The horn haft is the sae is the sa moon is the same Almost could I think that before me shook the ancient holy axe Nay, the Gods have taken that back long ago and this is but a trick of the witch, Lulala of the Caves”
Thus he spoke, but still for a aas,” I said in the deep silence that followed, ”hearhis head or ht?”
”This, Slaughterer Strike not at that man's face and breast, for there I think he is protected by witchcraft or by armour Get behind him and strike at his back Do you understand?”
”Nay, Macu because you are wiser than I and utter no eaas threw the axe into the air and caught it as it fell, and as he did so began to chant his own praises Zulu fashi+on
”Oho!” he said, ”I am the child of the Lion, the Black-maned Lion, whose claws never loosened of their prey I a, he who hunted with the wolves upon the Witch-mountain with my brother, Bearer of the Club named Watcher-of-the-Fords, I am he who slew him called the Unconquered, Chief of the People of the Axe, he who bore the ancient Axe before me; I am he who smote the Halakazi tribe in their caves and won aan a gift that he loved little, and afterith Mopo, aan down to death I ahterer, named Woodpecker, named Umhlopekazi the Captain, before whoht Now, thou Wizard Rezu, now thou Giant, now thou Ghost-ainst me and before the sun has risen by a hand's breadth, all those atch shall see which of us is better at the game of war Come on, then! Corow cold Co the flesh of rey-whiskered wolf!”
Thus he changed in his fierce, boastful hile his two re Zulus clapped their hands and sentence by sentence echoed his words, and Goroko, the witch-doctor,thus Uan to stir First only his head and shouldersfrom side to side like a reed shaken in the wind or a snake about to strike Then slowly he put out first one foot and next the other and drew the Rezu to attack
But the giant would not, his shi+eld held before him, he stood still and waited to see what this black warrior would do
The snake struck U axe Rezu raised his shi+eld above his head and caught the blow From the clank it made I knew that this shi+eld which seemed to be of hide, was lined with iron Rezu smote back, but before the blow could fall the Zulu was out of his reach This taught h the stroke was heavy, like the steel-hatted axe he bore, still when he saw that it had hty s also and changed his tactics His axe was six or eight inches longer in the haft than that of Rezu, and therefore he could reach where Rezu could not, for the giant was short-armed He twisted it round in his hand so that theit ale-shaped point on the back at the head and arht from which he won his name of ”Woodpecker” Rezu defended his head with his shi+eld as best he could against the sharp points of steel which flashed all about him
Twice it seeiant's breast, but if so they did no harm Either Rezu's thick beard, or ar his body Still he roared out as though with pain, or fury, or both, and growing th