Part 6 (1/2)

”At the least, as an infant he was good and gentle, and thou mightest love him, Mother of the Zulu.”

”Never, Baleka! As a babe he bit my breast and tore my hair; as the man is so was the babe.”

”Yet may his child be otherwise, Mother of the Heavens! Think, thou hast no grandson to comfort thee in thy age. Wilt thou, then, see all thy stock wither? The king, our lord, lives in war. He too may die, and what then?”

”Then the root of Senzangacona is still green. Has the king no brothers?”

”They are not of they flesh, mother. What? thou dost not hearken! Then as a woman to woman I plead with thee. Save my child or slay me with my child!”

Now the heart of Unandi grew gentle, and she was moved to tears.

”How may this be done, Mopo?” she said. ”The king must see the dead infant, and if he suspect, and even reeds have ears, you know the heart of Chaka and where we shall lie to-morrow.”

”Are there then no other new-born babes in Zululand?” said Baleka, sitting up and speaking in a whisper like the hiss of a snake. ”Listen, Mopo! Is not your wife also in labour? Now hear me, Mother of the Heavens, and, my brother, hear me also. Do not think to play with me in this matter. I will save my child or you twain will perish with it. For I will tell the king that you came to me, the two of you, and whispered plots into my ear--plots to save the child and kill the king. Now choose, and swiftly!”

She sank bank, there was silence, and we looked one upon another. Then Unandi spoke.

”Give me your hand, Mopo, and swear that you will be faithful to me in this secret, as I swear to you. A day may come when this child who has not seen the light rules as king in Zululand, and then in reward you shall be the greatest of the people, the king's voice, whisperer in the king's ear. But if you break your oath, then beware, for I shall not die alone!”

”I swear, Mother of the Heavens,” I answered.

”It is well, son of Makedama.”

”It is well, my brother,” said Baleka. ”Now go and do that which must be done swiftly, for my sorrow is upon me. Go, knowing that if you fail I will be pitiless, for I will bring you to your death, yes, even if my own death is the price!”

So I went. ”Whither to you go?” asked the guard at the gate.

”I go to bring my medicines, men of the king,” I answered.

So I said; but, oh! my heart was heavy, and this was my plan--to fly far from Zululand. I could not, and I dared not do this thing. What? should I kill my own child that its life might be given for the life of the babe of Baleka? And should I lift up my will against the will of the king, saving the child to look upon the sun which he had doomed to darkness? Nay, I would fly, leaving all, and seek out some far tribe where I might begin to live again. Here I could not live; here in the shadow of Chaka was nothing but death.

I reached my own huts, there to find that my wife Macropha was delivered of twins. I sent away all in the hut except my other wife, Anadi, she who eight days gone had born me a son. The second of the twins was born; it was a boy, born dead. The first was a girl, she who lived to be Nada the Beautiful, Nada the Lily. Then a thought came into my heart. Here was a path to run on.

”Give me the boy,” I said to Anadi. ”He is not dead. Give him to me that I may take him outside the kraal and wake him to life by my medicine.”

”It is of no use--the child is dead,” said Anadi.

”Give him to me, woman!” I said fiercely. And she gave me the body.

Then I took him and wrapped him up in my bundle of medicines, and outside of all I rolled a mat of plaited gra.s.s.

”Suffer none to enter the hut till I return,” I said; ”and speak no word of the child that seems to be dead. If you allow any to enter, or if you speak a word, then my medicine will not work and the babe will be dead indeed.”

So I went, leaving the women wondering, for it is not our custom to save both when twins are born; but I ran swiftly to the gates of the Emposeni.

”I bring the medicines, men of the king!” I said to the guards.

”Pa.s.s in,” they answered.

I pa.s.sed through the gates and into the hut of Baleka. Unandi was alone in the hut with my sister.