Part 9 (1/2)
”Ow!” said the Kaffirs atching ”My Aunt!” exclaiht ”Noill you believe, O blown-out bladder of a icians than yourself in the world?”
”What is the , that you make a mock of me?” screeched the unfuriated I unusual
As he spoke some suspicion rose in his mind which caused him to put his hand to his top-knot, and withdraith a howl Then he sprang up and began to dance about, which of course only fanned the fire that had now got hold of the grease and gum The Zulus applauded; Babemba clapped his hands; Stephen burst into one of his idiotic fits of laughter For e wooden pot such as the Kaffirs make, from which the coffee kettle had been filled, that fortunately was still half-full of water I seized it and ran to hireatest of icians and I a the pot botto head, into which it vanished as a candle does into an extinguisher Smoke and a bad smell issued from beneath the pot, the water from which ran all over Imbozho stood quite still When I was sure the fire was out, I lifted the pot and revealed the discomfited wizard, but without his elaborate head-dress Beyond a little scorching he was not in the least hurt, for I had acted in time; only he was bald, for when touched the charred hair fell off at the roots
”It is gone,” he said in an a at his scalp
”Yes,” I answered, ”quite The ic shi+eld worked very well, did it not?”
”Can you put it back again, white lord?” he asked
”That will depend upon how you behave,” I replied
Then without another word he turned and walked back to the soldiers, who received hihter Evidently Ihted thehted Indeed, he could not praise our e at his head tohich was called Beza, vowing that we need fear no harm at his hands or those of his soldiers In fact, the only person who did not appreciate our black arts was Iht a look in his eye as he marched off which told me that he hated us bitterly, and reflected to lass, although in truth I had not intended to set his head on fire
”My father,” said Mavovo to me afterwards, ”it would have been better to let that snake burn to death, for then you would have killed his poison I a of a doctorour brotherhood hates so hed at You have et it, Macumazana”
CHAPTER IX
BAUSI THE KING
AboutBausi lived, which we understood we ought to reach on the following evening For soiment marched in front, or rather round us, but as we complained to Babemba of the noise and dust, with a confidence that was quite touching, he sent it on ahead First, however, he asked us to pass our word ”by ourmany African peoples, that ould not atte an answer, not being entirely ena theh Jerry that the discomfited Imbozwi had departed from the soldiers on some business of his own Had the matter been left to me, indeed, I should have tried to slip back into the bush over the border, and there put in a fewmy way southwards This, too, was the wish of the Zulu hunters, of Hans, and I need not add of Sammy But when I mentioned the matter to Stephen, he implored me to abandon the idea
”Look here, Quatermain,” he said, ”I have coreat Cypripediuet it I will or die in the atte our rather blank faces, ”I have no right to play with your lives, so if you think the thing too dangerous I will go on alone with this old boy, Babeht to visit Bausi's kraal in case the gentleman who you call Brother John should turn up there In short, I have ”
I lit my pipe, and for quite a ti the matter from every point of view Finally, I ca It was true that by bribing Babemba, or otherwise, there was still an excellent prospect of effecting amany perils On the other hand, we had not come to this wild place in order to retreat Further, at whose expense had we come here? At that of Stephen So of the chance of ation since he had given us the slip at Durban, I did not like the idea of being beaten We had started out to visit soes orshi+pped a o on till circuers are everywhere; those who turn back because of dangers will never succeed in any life that we can i to Stephen with my pipe, ”the inkoosi Wazela does not wish to try to escape He wishes to go on to the country of the Pongo people if we can get there And, Mavovo, re; we are his hired servants Also that he says that if we run back he alk forward alone with these Mazitus Still, if any of you hunters desire to slip off, he will not look your way, nor shall I What say you?”
”I say, Macureat heart, and that where you and he go, I shall go also, as I think will the rest of us I do not like these Mazitu, for if their fathers were Zulus their mothers were low people They are bastards, and of the Pongo I hear nothing but what is evil Still, no good ox ever turns in the yoke because of a o on, for if we sink in the shat does it matter? Moreover, my Snake tells me that we shall not sink, at least not all of us”
So it was arranged that no effort should be made to return Sammy, it is true, wished to do so, but when it ca donkeys and as ed his mind
”I think it better, Mr Quaterh-born, lofty souls than to pursue a lonely career towards the inevitable in unknown circumstances”
”Very well put, Sa for the inevitable, please go and cook the dinner”
Having laid aside our doubts, we proceeded on the journey co well provided with bearers to take the place of those who had run away Babele orderly, travelled with us, and from him we collected e people who could muster from five to seven thousand spears Their tradition was that they came from the south and were of the sauely Indeed, e, reseanisation, however, was not so thorough, and in other ways they struck me as a lower race In one particular, it is true, that of their houses, they were more advanced, for these, asin the many kraals that we passed, were better built, with doorways through which one could walk upright, instead of the Kaffir bee-holes
We slept in one of these houses on our march, and should have found it very comfortable had it not been for the innuth drove us out into the courtyard For the rest, these Mazitu much resembled the Zulus They had kraals and were breeders of cattle; they were ruled by head; they believed in witchcraft and offered sacrifice to the spirits of their ancestors, also in sohty God who doh the doctors Lastly, they were, and I dare say still are, a race of fightingpeoples upon any and every pretext, killing theirtheir wo kindly and hospitable by nature, though cruel enough to their ene in slaves and those who practised it, saying that it was better to kill a man than to deprive him of his freedom Also they had a horror of the cannibalisions of Africa, and for this reason, o folk ere supposed to be eaters ofof the second day of our h a beautiful and fertile upland country, very atered, and except in the valleys, free from bush, we arrived at Beza This toas situated on a wide plain surrounded by low hills and encircled by a belt of cultivated land made beautiful by the crops of maize and other cereals which were then ripe to harvest It was fortified in a way That is, a tall, unclimbable palisade of tithened by prickly pears and cacti planted on its either side
Within this palisade the toas divided into quarters more or less devoted to various trades Thus one part of it was called the Ironsmiths' Quarter; another the Soldiers' Quarter; another the Quarter of the Land-tillers; another that of the Skin-dressers, and so on The king's dwelling and those of his woate, and in front of these, surrounded by semi-circles of huts, was a wide space into which cattle could be driven if necessary This, however, at the tiround
We entered the town, that reat nu structure facing a wooded slope through which ran a road Just as the sun was setting we uest-huts up a central street lined with the population of the place who had gathered to stare at us These huts were situated in the Soldiers' Quarter, not far fro's house and surrounded by an inner fence to keep them private
None of the people spoke as we passed them, for the Mazitu are polite by nature; also it seearded us with awe tempered by curiosity They only stared, and occasionally those of the their spears The huts into which ere introduced by Babeood and clean
Here all our belongings, including the guns which we had collected just before the slaves ran aere placed in one of the huts over which a Mazitutied to the fence at a little distance Outside this fence stood another aruard
”Are we prisoners here?” I asked of Babeuests,” he answered enig whoht?”
”Yes,” I answered ”Tell the king that we are the brethren of hi froed toyou black people is called Dogeetah”
Babeeetah! How comes it then that you nevertous, for with hi hasthe Mazitu”
”We neverat once, Babeeetah will ”
”Yes, lord Macu ant to know and that is what youhis voice, ”you are in danger here where you have many enemies, since it is not lawful for white men to enter this land If you would save your lives, be advised by eetah, whom he loves, will appear here to vouch for you, and see that he does appear very soon and by the day you name Since otherhen he comes, if come he does, he may not find you able to talk to him Now I, your friend, have spoken and the rest is with you”
Then without another word he rose, slipped through the door of the hut and out by the gateway of the fence from which the sentry moved aside to let him pass I, too, rose from the stool on which I sat and danced about the hut in a perfect fury
”Do you understand what that infernal (I aer word) old fool told me?” I exclaimed to Stephen ”He says that we must be prepared to state exactly when that other infernal old fool, Brother John, will turn up at Beza Town, and that if we don't we shall have our throats cut as indeed has already been arranged”
”Rather aard,” replied Stephen ”There are no express trains to Beza, and if there e couldn't be sure that Brother John would take one of them I suppose there is a Brother John?” he added reflectively ”To me he seems to be-intimately connected with Mrs Harris”
”Oh! there is, or there was,” I explained ”Why couldn't the confounded ass wait quietly for us at Durban instead of fooling off butterfly hunting to the north of Zululand and breaking his leg or his neck there if he has done anything of the sort?”
”Don't know, I ah to understand one's own motives, let alone Brother John's”
Then we sat down on our stools again and stared at each other At this moment Hans crept into the hut and squatted down in front of us He ht have walked in as there was a doorway, but he preferred to creep on his hands and knees, I don't knohy
”What is it, you ugly little toad?” I asked viciously, for that was just what he looked like; even the skin under his jaw moved like a toad's
”The Baas is in trouble?” remarked Hans
”I should think he was,” I answered, ”and so will you be presently when you are wriggling on the point of a Mazitu spear”