Part 8 (1/2)

CHAPTER VIII

THE MAGIC MIRROR

I did not sleep very well that night, for now that the danger was over I found that the long strain of it had told upon my nerves Also there were many noises Thus, the bearers ere shot had been handed over to their companions, who disposed of the them into the bush where they attracted the notice of hyenas Then the four wounded ood deal, or when they were not groaning uttered loud prayers to their local Gods We had done the best we could for these unlucky fellows Indeed, that kind-hearted little coward, Sammy, who at some time in his career served as a dresser in a hospital, had tended their wounds, none of which were mortal, very well indeed, and from time to time rose to minister to them

But what disturbed me most was the fearful hubbub which came from the camp below Many of the tropical African tribes are really seht is cooler than the day, and on any great occasion this tendency asserts itself

Thus every one of these freed slaves see his loudest to an acco their native drue fires, about which they flitted in an ominous and unpleasant fashi+on, that reminded me of some mediaeval pictures of hell, which I had seen in an old book

At last I could stand it no longer, and kicking Hans who, curled up like a dog, slept aton His answer caused ret the question

”Plenty of those slaves cannibal men, Baas Think they eat the Arabs and like theain

I did not continue the conversation

When at length we h over us Indeed, there was a great deal to do The guns and ammunition of the dead Arabs had to be collected; the ivory, of which they carried a good store, must be buried, for to take it with us was impossible, and the loads apportioned[] Also it was necessary to make litters for the wounded, and to stir up the slaves from their debauch, into the nature of which Itheht, where to I do not know Still a mob of well over two hundred people, a considerable portion of omen and children, remained, whose one idea seeht wander So with this th we started

[] To ain-AQ

To describe our adventures during the nextif not impossible, for to tell the truth, after the lapse of so led in reat difficulty was to feed such a rain, upon which ere quite unable to keep a strict supervision, they soon devoured Fortunately the country through which we passed, at this tia as we did very sloere able to shoot a great deal But this gahtful as it may be to the sports of the expenditure of aainst this the Zulu hunters soon began to murmur, for, as Stephen and I could rarely leave the camp, the burden of it fell on the out thirty or forty of the likeliestthe slaves, I served out to each of theuns, in the use of which we drilled them as best we could Then I told them that they must provide themselves and their companions with meat Of course accidents happened One man was accidentally shot and three others were killed by a cow elephant and a wounded buffalo But in the end they learned to handle their rifles sufficiently well to supply the camp Moreover, day by day little parties of the slaves disappeared, I presume to seek their own homes, so that when at last we entered the borders of the Mazitu country there were notseventeen of those e had taught to shoot

Then it was that our real adventures began

One evening, after three days' h some difficult bush in which lions carried off a slave woman, killed one of the donkeys and mauled another so badly that it had to be shot, we found ourselves upon the edge of a great grassy plateau that, according to my aneroid, was 1,640 feet above sea level

”What place is this?” I asked of the two Mazitu guides, those same men e had borrowed from Hassan

”The land of our people, Chief,” they answered, ”which is bordered on one side by the bush and on the other by the great lake where live the Pongo wizards”

I looked aboutto turn brown, on which nothing was visible save vast herds of buck such as were coht rain was falling, accompanied by mist and a cold wind

”I do not see your people or their kraals,” I said; ”I only see grass and wild game”

”Our people will come,” they replied, rather nervously ”No doubt even now their spies watch us frorass or out of so like it, and thought no more of themay happen, such as, so far as I arows a little careless as to ill happen Forbeen a fatalist, to a certain extent I mean I believe that the individual, or rather the identity which ani while, perhaps hundreds of thousands or o, and when his career is finished, perhaps hundreds of thousands or millions of years hence, or perhaps to-morroill return perfected, but still as an individual, to dwell in or with that Source of Life I believe also that his various existences, here or elsewhere, are fore-known and fore-ordained, although in a sense he may shape the which he can do will lengthen or shorten one of thele hour Therefore, so far as I areat injunction of our Master and taken no thought for the morrow

However, in this instance, as in ht for itself Indeed, before the dawn, Hans, who never see does, woke me up with the oht was caused by the trawithout avail-to look was useless, for the night was dark as pitch

He put his ear to the ground and said: ”There”

I put h

Then I sent for the sentries, but these, too, could hear nothing After this I gave the business up and went to sleep again

However, as it proved, Hans was quite right; in such ht, for his senses were as keen as those of any wild beast At daas once more awakened, this ti surrounded by a regih the h still far off, I perceived rank upon rank of limmered faintly upon their spears

”What is to be done, Macumazana?” asked Mavovo

”Have breakfast, I think,” I answered ”If we are going to be killed itthe tre Sammy, I instructed him to make the coffee Also I awoke Stephen and explained the situation to him

”Capital!” he answered ”No doubt these are the Mazitu, and we have found theenerally take such a lot of hunting for in this confounded great country”

”That's not such a bad way of looking at things,” I answered, ”but would you be good enough to go round the camp and make it clear that not on any account is anyone to fire without orders Stay, collect all the guns from those slaves, for heaven knohat they will do with thehtened!”

Stephen nodded and sauntered off with three or four of the hunters While he was gone, in consultation with Mavovo, I ened to enable us to sell our lives as dearly as possible, should things come to the worst One should always try to make an impression upon the enemy in Africa, for the sake of future travellers if for no other reason

In due course Stephen and the hunters returned with the guns, or reat state of terror, and showed a disposition to bolt

”Let them bolt,” I answered ”They would be of no use to us in a row and ht even co at once”

He nodded, and a fewabout the bush to the east of the ca-a cla feet The slave people, including our bearers, had gone, every one of them They even carried away the wounded Just as the soldiers who surrounded us were co their circle they bolted between the two ends of it and vanished into the bush out of which we hadOften since then I have wondered what became of them Doubtless some perished, and the rest worked their way back to their ho other tribes The experiences of those who escapedto theends in which these will be e the slave people and the bearers e had wrung out of Hassan, ere now a party of seventeen, na Mavovo, thite men, Hans and Sammy, and the two Mazitus who had elected to rees which closed in slowly

As the light greas long in co-and theto take any particular notice of thehter in their build, also lighter in colour Like the Zulus they carried large hide shi+elds and one very broad-bladed spear Throwing assegais see, but in place of theether with a quiver of arroere slung upon their backs The officers wore a short skin cloak or kaross, and the men also had cloaks, which I found out afterwards were made from the inner bark of trees

They advanced in the , and if orders were given this ns I could not see that any of them had firearms

”Now,” I said to Stephen, ”perhaps if we shot and killed sohtened and run away Or they ht return”

”Whatever happened,” he reely, ”we should scarcely be welcome in their country afterwards, so I think we had better do nothing unless we are obliged”

I nodded, for it was obvious that we could not fight hundreds of men, and told Sa the breakfast No wonder he was afraid, poor fellow, for ere in great danger These Mazitu had a bad name, and if they chose to attack us we should all be dead in a few minutes

The coffee and some cold buck's flesh were put upon our little camp-table in front of the tent which we had pitched because of the rain, and we began to eat The Zulu hunters also ate froe which they had cooked on the previous night, each of thes appeared to puzzle the Mazitu very much indeed They drew quite near to us, to within about forty yards, and halted there in a dead circle, staring at us with their great round eyes It was like a scene in a drea about us appeared to astonish them, our indifference, the colour of Stephen and myself (as a matter of fact at that date Brother John was the only whitedonkeys Indeed, when one of these beasts broke into a bray, they showed signs of fright, looking at each other and even retreating a few paces

At length the position got upon inning to fiddle with their bows, and that their General, a tall, one-eyed old felloasI called to one of the two Mazitus, whoave him a pannikin of coffee

”Take that to the captain there with ood wishes, Jerry, and ask him if he will drink with us,” I said

Jerry, as a plucky fellow, obeyed Advancing with the stea coffee, he held it under the Captain's nose Evidently he knew the man's name, for I heard him say: ”O Babemba, the white lords, Macumazana and Wazela, ask if you will share their holy drink with them?”

I could perfectly understand the words, for these people spoke a dialect so akin to Zulu that by now it had no difficulty for me

”Their holy drink!” exclai back ”Man, it is hot red-water Would these white wizards poison me with mwavi?”

Here I should explain that mwavi or mkasa, as it is sometimes called, is the liquor distilled from the inner bark of a sort of mimosa tree or sometimes from a root of the strychnos tribe, which is administered by the witch-doctors to persons accused of crime If it makes them sick they are declared innocent If they are thrown into convulsions or stupor they are clearly guilty and die, either from the effects of the poison or afterwards by other means