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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2010 witii funding from
University of Toronto
littp://www.arcliive.org/details/slieallanOOIiagg
Works by H. Rider Haggard
Parliamentary Blue Book
Report to H.M.'s Government on the Salvation Army
Colonies in the United States, vrith Scheme of National
Land Settlement. [Cd. 2562.]
Political History
Cetewayo and HLs White Keig hhoure
Works on Agriculture, Country Life, and Sociology
Rural England (2 vols.)
A Gardener's Year
The Poor and the Land
Regeneration [Lessons
A Fanner'B Year
Rured Denmark and its
Book of Travel
A ^Vinter Pilgrimage
Novels
—Dawn
Joan Haste
c The Witch's Head
Doctor Theme
Jess
Stella Fragelius
Colonel Quaritch, V.C.
The Way of the Spirit
Beatrice
Love Eternal
Romances I
— King Solomon's Mines
ft The Yellow God : An Idol
«She
of Africa
- Allan Quatermaln
d Morning Star
- Maiwa's Revenge
The Lady of Blosshohne
_Mr. Meeson's Will
G' Queen Sheba's Ring
- Allan's Wife
Red Eve
•^Cleopatra '
The Mahatma and the
Eric Brighteyes
Hare
p Nada the Lily
Marie
— Montezuma's Daughter
- Child of Storm
CThe People of the Mist
-The Wanderer's Necklace
©.Heart of the World
The Holy Flower
Swallow
The Ivory Child
a Black Heart and White
Finished
Heart
- When the World Shook
Lysbeth
^ Moon of Israel
Pearl Maiden
The Ancient Allan
^ The Brethren
Smith and the Pharaohs
- Ayesha : The Return of She
and other Stories
Benita
She and Allan
Fair Margaret
•— Wisdom's Daughter
^ The Ghost Kings
^^ Heu Heu, or The Monster
(In collaboration vith Andrew Lang)
The World's Desire
SHE AND ALLAN,
By H. RIDER HAGGARD
Author of "She," '' Ayesha," "The Return of
She," " Wisdom's Daughter," etc., etc.
SEVENTH EDITION
^LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO,
PATERNOSTER ROW
I
NOTE BY THE LATE MR. ALLAN
QUATERMAIN
M
Y friend, into whose hands I hope that all these
manuscripts of mine will pass one day, of this one
I have something to say to you.
A long while ago I jotted down in it the history of the
events that it details with more or less completeness. This I
did for my own satisfaction. You will have noted how
memory fails us as we advance in years ; we recollect, with an
almost painful exactitude, what we experienced and saw in
our youth, but the happenings of our middle life slip away from
us or become blurred, like a stretch of low-lying landscape
overflowed by grey and nebulous mist. Far off the sun stUl
seems to shine upon the plains and hDls of adolescence and
early manhood, as yet it shines about us in the fleeting
hours of our age, that ground on which we stand to-day, but
the valley between is filled with fog. Yes, even its prom-
inences, which symbolise the more startling events of that
past, often are lost in this confusing fog.
It was an appreciation of these truths which led me to set
down the following details (though of course much is omitted)
of my brief intercourse with the strange and splendid creature
whom I knew under the names of Ayesha, or Hiya, or She-who-
commands ; not indeed with any view to their publication, but
before I forgot them that, if I wished to do so, I might re-peruse
them in the evening of old age to which I hope to attain.
Indeed, at the time the last thing I intended was that they
should be given to the world even after my own death, because
they, or many of them, are so unusual that I feared lest they
should cause smiles and in a way cast a slur upon my memory
and truthfulness. Also, as you will read, as to this matter i
made a promise and I have always tried to keep my promises
and to guard the secrets of others. For these reasons I
proposed, in case I neglected or forgot to destroy them myself
viii Note by the Late Mr. Allan Ouatermain
to leave a direction that this should be done by my executors.
Further, I have been careful to make no allusion whatever
to them either in casual conversation or in an3i;hing else that
I may have written, my desire being that this page of my life
should be kept quite private, something known only to myself.
Therefore, too, I never so much as hinted of them to anyone,
not even to yourself to whom I have told so much.
Well, I recorded the main facts concerning this expedition
and its issues, simply and with as much exactness as I could,
and laid them aside. I do not say that I never thought of
them again, since amongst them were some which, together
vsith the problems they suggested, proved to be of an un-
forgettable nature.
Also, whenever any of Ayesha's saj-ings or stories which
are not preserved in these pages came back to me, as has
liappened from time to time, I jotted them down and put them
away witli this manuscript. Thus among these notes you v^'ill
find a history of the city of Kor as she told it to me, which I
have omitted here. Still, many of these remarkable events
did more or less fade from my mind, as the image does from
an unfixed photograph, till only their outlines remained, faint if
distinguishable.
To tell the truth, I was rather ashamed of the whole story
in which I cut so poor a figure. On reflection it was obvious
to me, although honesty had compelled me to set out all that
is essential exactly as it occurred, adding nothing and taking
nothing away, that I had been the victim of very gross deceit.
This strange woman, whom I had met in the ruins of a place
called Kor, without any doubt had thrown a glamour over my
senses and at the moment almost caused me to believe much
that is quite unbelievable.
For instance, she had told me ridiculous stories as to in-
terviews between herself and certain heathen goddesses, though
it is true that, almost with her next breath, these she qualified
or contradicted. Also, she had suggested that her life had been
prolonged far beyond our mortal span, for hundreds and
hundreds of years, indeed ; which, as Euclid says, is absurd,
and had pretended to supernatural powers, which is still more
absurd. Moreover, by a clever use of some hypnotic or
mesmeric power, she had feigned to transport me to some
place beyond the earth and in the Halls of Hades to show me
what is veiled from the eyes of man, and not only me, but the
savage warrior Umhlopekazi, commonly called Umslopogaas
Note by the Late Mr. Allan Ouatermain ix
of the Axe, who, with Hans, a Hottentot, was my companion
upon that adventure. There were like things equally incredible,
such as her appearance, when all seemed lost, in the battle
with the troll-like Rezu. To omit these, the sum of it
was that I had been shamefully duped, and if anyone
finds himself in that position, as most people have at one time
or another in their lives, Wisdom suggests that he had better
keep the circumstance to himself.
Well, so the matter stood, or rather lay in the recesses of
my mind — and in the cupboard where I hide my papers —
when one evening some one, as a matter of fact it was Captain
Good, an individual of romantic tendencies who is fond,
sometimes I think too fond, of fiction, brought a book to this
house whichhe insisted over and over again really Imust peruse.
Ascertaining that it was a novel I declined, for to tell the
truth I am not fond of romance in any shape, being a person
who has found the hard facts of life of sufficient interest as
they stand.
Reading I admit I like, but in this matter, as in everything
else, my range is limited. I study the Bible, especially the
Old Testament, both because of its sacred lessons and of the
majesty of the language of its inspired translators ; whereof
that of Ayesha, which I render so poorly from her flowing and
melodious Arabic, reminded me. For poetry I turn to Shakes-
peare, and, at the other end of the scale, to the Ingoldsby
Legends, many of which I know almost by heart, whUe for
current affairs I content myself with the newspapers.
For the rest I peruse anything to do with ancient Egypt
that I happen to come across, because this land and its history
have a queer fascination for me, that perhaps has its roots in
occurrences or dreams of which this is not the place to speak.
Lastly now and again I read one of the Latin or Greek authors
in a translation, since I regret to say that my lack of education
does not enable me to do so in the original. But for modern
fiction I have no taste, although from time to time I sample it
in a railwa}' train and occasionally am amused by such
excursions into the poetic and unreal.
So it came about that the more Good bothered me to read
this particular romance, the more I determined that I would
do nothing of the sort. Being a persistent person, however,
when he went away about ten o'clock at night, he deposited
it by ray side, under my nose indeed, so that it might not be
overlooked. Thus it came about that I could not be'p seeing
X Note by the Late Mr. Allan Ouatermain
some Egyptian hieroglyphics in an oval on the cover, also the
title, and underneath it your own name, my friend, all of
which excited my curiosity, especially the title, which was
brief and enigmatic, consisting indeed of one word, *' She^
I took up the work and on opening it the first thing my
eye fell upon was a picture of a veiled woman, the sight of
which made my heart ?tand still, so painfull}' did it remind
me of acertain veiled woman whom once it had been my fortune
to meet. Glancing from it to the printed page one word seemed
to leap at me. It was K6r ! Now of veiled women there are
plenty in the world, but were there also two K6rs ?
Then I turned to the beginning and began to read. This
happened in the autumn when the sun does not rise till about
six, but it was broad daylight before I ceased from reading,
or rather rushing through that book.
Oh ! what was I to make of it ? For here in its pages (to
say nothing of old Billali, who, by the way lied, probably to
order, when he told Mr. H0II3' that no white man had visited
his country for many generations, and those gloomy man-
eating Amahagger scoundrels) once again I found mysdf face
to face ^\^th She-who-comniands, now rendered as She-who-
tnust-be-obeyed, which means much the same thing — in her case
at least ; yes, with Ayesha the lovely, the mystic, the changeful
and the imperious.
Moreover the history filled up many gaps in my own limited
experiences of that enigmatical being who was half divine
(though, I think, rather wicked or at any rate umnoral in her
way) and yet all woman. It is true that it showed her in
lights very different from and higher than those in which she
had presented herself to me. Yet the substratum of her
character was the same, or rather of her characters, for of
these she seemed to have several in a single body, being, as
she said of herself to me, " not One but Many and not Here
but Everjrwhere."
Further, I found the story of Kallikrates which I had set
down as a mere falsehood invented for my bewilderment,
expanded and explained. Or rather not explained, since,
perhaps that she might deceive, to me she had spoken of this
murdered Kallikrates without enthusiasm, as a handsome
person to whom, because of an indiscretion of her youth,
she was bound by destiny and whose return — somewhat
to her sorrow — she must await. At least she did so at fir^t,
though in the end when she bared her heart at the moment
Note by the Late Mr. Allan Quatermain xl
of our farewell, she vowed she loved him only and was " ap-
pointed " to him " by a divine decree."
Also I found other things of which I knew nothing, such
as the Fire of Life with its fatal gift of indefinite existence,
although I remember that like the giant Rezu whom Umslopo-
gaas defeated, she did talk of a " Cup of Life " of which she had
drunk, that might have been offered to my lips, had I been
politic, bowed the knee and shown more faith in her and her
supernatural pretensions.
Lastly I saw the story of her end, and as I read it I wept, yes,
I confess I wept, although I feel sure that she will retiun again.
Now I understood why she had quailed and even seemed to
shrivel when, in my last interview with her, stung beyond endur-
ance by her witcheries and sarcasms, I had suggested that even
for her with all her powers. Fate might reserve one of its
shrewdest blows. Some prescience had told her that if the
words seemed random, Truth spoke through my lips, although,
and this was the worst of it, she did not know what weapon
would deal the stroke or when and where it was doomed to fall.
I was amazed, I was overcome, but as I closed that book
I made up my mind, first that I would continue to preserve
absolute silence as to Ayesha and my dealings with her, as,
during my life, I was bound by oath to do, and secondly that
I would not cause my manuscript to be destroyed. I did not
feel that I had any right to do so in view of what already
had been published to the world. There let it lie to appear
one day, or not to appear, as might be fated. Meanwhile
my lips were sealed. I would give Good back his book with-
out comment and — buy another copy I
One more word. It is clear that I did not touch more
than the fringe of the real Ayesha. In a thousand ways she
bewitched and deceived me so that I never plumbed her nature's
depths. Perhaps this was my own fault because from the
first I shewed a lack of faith in her and she wished to pay
me back in her own fashion, or perhaps she had other private
reasons for her secrecy. Certainly the character she discovered
to me differed in many ways from that which she re-
vealed to Mr. Holly and to Leo Vincey, or Kallikrates, whom,
it seems, once she slew in her jealousy and rage.
She told me as much as she thought it fit that I should
know, and no more 1
Allan Quatermain.
The Grange, Yorkshire.
SHE AND ALLAN
CHAPTER I
THE TALISMAN
I BELIEVE it was the old Egyptians, a very wise people,
probably indeed much wiser than we know, for in the
leisure of their ample centuries they had time to think
out things, who declared that each individual personality
is made up of six or seven different elements, although the
Bible only allows us three, namely, body, soul, and spirit.
The body that the man or woman wore, if I understand their
theory aright which perhaps I, an ignorant person, do not,
was but a kind of sack or fleshly covering containing these
different principles. Or mayhap it did not contain them at
all, but was simply a house as it were, in which they lived from
time to time and seldom all together, although one or more
of them was present continually, as though to keep the place
warmed and aired.
This is but a casual illustrative suggestion, for what right
have I, Allan Quatermain, out of my little reading and prob-
ablj^ erroneous deductions, to form any judgment as to the
theories of the old Egyptians ? Still these, as I understand
them, suffice to furnish mewith the text that man is not one, but
many, in which connection it may be remembered that often
in Scripture he is spoken of as being the home of many demons,
seven, I think. Also, to come to another far-off example,
the Zulus talk of their witch-doctors as being inhabited by " a
multitude of spirits."
Anyhow of one thing I am quite sure, we are not always the
same. Different personalities actuate us at different times.
In one hour passion of this sort or the other is our lord ; in
another we are reason itself. In one hour we follow the basest
appetites ; in another we hate them and the spirit arising
through our mortal murk shines v.'itliin or above us like a
14 She and Allan
star. In one hour our desire is to kill and spare not ; in another
we are filled with the holiest compassion even towards an insect
or a snake, and are ready to forgive like a god. Everji;hing
rules us in turn, to such an extent indeed, that sometimes one
begins to wonder whether we really rule an5^hing.
Now the reason of all this homily is that I, Allan, the most
practical and unimaginative of persons, just a homely, half-
educated hunter and trader who chances to have seen a good
deaJ of the particular little world in which his lot was cast, at
one period of my life became the victim of spiritual longings.
I am a man who has suffered great bereavements in my
time such as have seared my soul, since, perhaps because of my
rather primitive and simple nature, my affections are very
strong. By day or night I can never forget those whom I
have loved and whom I believe to have loved me.
For you know, in our vanity some of us are apt to hold
that certain people with whom we have been intimate upon
the earth, really did care for us and, in our still greater vanity
— or should it be called madness ? — to imagine that they still
care for us after they have left the earth and entered on some
new state of society and surroundings which, if they exist,
inferentially are much more congenial than any they can have
experienced here. At times, however, cold doubts strike us as to
this matter of which we long to know the truth. Also behind
looms a still blacker doubt, namely whether they live at all.
For some years of my lonely existence these problems
haunted me day by day, till at length I desired above every-
thing on earth to lay them at rest in one way or another.
Once, at Durban, I met a man who was a spiritualist to whom
I confided a little of my perplexities. He laughed at me and
said that they could be settled with the greatest ease. All I
had to do was to visit a certain local medium who for a fee
of one guinea would tell me everjthing I wanted to know.
Although I rather grudged the guinea, being more than usually
hard up at the time, I called upon this person, but over the
results of that visit, or rather the lack of them, I draw a veil.
Mj queer and perhaps unwholesome longing, however,
rsmafiied with me and would not be abated. I consulted a
clergyman of my acquaintance, a good and spiritually-minded
man, but he could only shn^g his shoulders and refer me to
the Bible, saying, quite rightly I doubt not, that with what it
reveals I ought to be contented. Then I read certain mystical
The Talisman i^
books which were recommended to me. These were full of
fine words, undiscoverable in a pocket dictionary, but really
took me no forwarder, since in them I found nothing that I
could not have invented myself, although while I was actually
studying them, they seemed to convince me. I even tackled
Swedenborg, or rather samples of him, for he is very copious,
but without satisfactory results.
Then I gave up the business.
Some months later I was in Zululand and being near the
Black KJoof where he dwelt, I paid a visit to my acquaintance
of whom I have written elsewhere, the v/onderful and ancient
dwarf, Zikali, known as " The-Thing-that-sliould-never-
have-been-born," also more universally among the Zulus as
" Opener-of -Roads." When we had talked of many things
connected with the state of Zululand and its politics, I rose to
leave for my waggon, since I never cared for sleeping in the
Black Kloof if it could be avoided.
" Is there nothing else that you want to ask me, Macu
mazahn ? " asked the old dwarf, tossing back his long hai»
and looking at — I had almost written through — me.
I shook my head.
" That is strange, Macumazahn, for I seem to see something
written on your mind — something to do with spirits."
Then I remembered all the problems that had been
troubling me, although in truth I had never thought of
propounding them to Zikali.
" Ah 1 it comes back, does it ? " he exclaimed, reading my
thought. " Out with it, then, Macumazahn, while I am in
a mood to answer, and before I grow tired, for you are an old
friend of mine and will so remain till the end, many years
hence, and if I can serve you, I will."
I filled my pipe and sat down again upon the stool of
CEirved red-wood which had been brought for me.
" You are named ' Opener-of -Roads,' are you not,
Zikali ? " I said.
" Yes, the Zulus have always called me that, since before
the days of Chaka. But what^ of names, which often enough
mean nothing at all ? "
" Only that / want to open a road, Zikali, that which runs
across the River of Death."
-' Oho 1 " he laughed, " it is very easy," and snatching up a
1 6 She and Allan
little assegai that lav beside him, he proffered it to me, adding.
" Be brave now and fall on that. Then before I have counted
sixty the road will be wide open, but whether you will see
anything on it I cannot tell you."
Again I shook my head and answered,
" It is against our law. Also while I still live I desire to
know whether I shall meet certain others on that road after
my time has come to cross the River. Perhaps you who deal
with spirits, can prove the matter to me, which no one else
seems able to do."
" Oho ! " laughed Zikali again, " What do my ears hear ?
Am I, the poor Zulu cheat, as you will remember once you
called me, Mncumriznhn, asked to show that which is
hidden from all the wisdom of the great White People ? "
" The question is," I answered with irritation, " not what
you are asked to do, but what you can do."
" That I do not know yet, Macumazahn. Whose spirits
do you desire to see ? If that of a woman called Mameena is
one of them, I think that perhaps I whom she loved " ^
" She is not one of them, Zikali. Moreover, if she loved you,
you paid back her love with death."
" Which perhaps was the kindest thing I could do, Macu-
mazahn, for reasons that you may be able to guess, and others
with which I vnll not trouble you. But if not hers, whose ?
Let me look, let me look I Why there seem to be two of them,
head-wives, I mean, and I thought that white men only took
one wife. Also a multitude of others ; their faces float up in
the water of your mind. An old man with grey hair, little
children, perhaps they were brothers and sisters, and some
who may be friends. Also very clear indeed that Mameena
whom you do not wish to see. Well, Macumazahn, this is
unfortunate, since she is the only one whom I can show you,
or rather put you in the way of finding. Unless indeed there
are other Kaffir women "
" W^at do you mean ? " I asked.
" I mean, Macumazahn, that only black feet travel on the
road which I can open ; over those in which ran white blood
I have no power."
" Then it is finished," I said, rising again and taking a
step or two towards the gate.
* For the hUtory of Mameena see the book called " Child of 3to m."
. — Editob.
The Talisman 17
" Come back and sit down, Macumazahn. I did not say
so. Am I the only ruler of magic in Africa, which I am told
is a big country ? "
I came back and sat down, for my curiosity, a great failing
with me, was excited.
" Thank you, Zikali," I said, " but I will have no dealings
with more of your witch-doctors."
" No, no, because you are afraid of them ; quite without
reason, Macumazahn, seeing that they are all cheats except
myself. I am the last child of wisdom, the rest are stuffed
with lies, as Chaka found out when he killed every one of
them whom he could catch. But perhaps there might be a
white doctor who would have rule over white spirits."
" If you mean missionaries " I began hastily.
" No, Macumazahn, I do not mean your praying men who
are cast in one mould and measured with one rule, and say
what they are taught to say, not thinking for themselves."
" Some of them think, Zikali."
" Yes, and then the others fall on them with big sticks.
The real priest is he to whom the Spirit comes, not he who feeds
upon its wrappings, and speaks through a mask carved by his
father's fathers. I am a priest like that, which is why all my
fellowship have hated me."
" If so, you have paid back their hate, Zikali, but cease to
cast round the lion like a timid hound, and tell me what yoo
mean. Of whom do you speak ? "
" That is the trouble, Macumazahn. I do not know. This
lion, or rather lioness, lies hid in the caves of a very distant
mountain and I have never seen her-^in the flesh."
" Then how can you talk of what you have never s'een ? "
" In the same way, Macumazahn, that your priests talk of
what they have never seen, because they, or a few of them,
have knowledge of it. I will teU you a secret. AH seers who
live at the same time, if they are great, commune with each
other because they are aldn and their spirits meet in sleep or
dreams. Therefore I know of a mistress of our craft, a very
lioness among jackals, who for thousands of years has lain
sleeping in the northern caves and, humble though I am, she
knows of me."
" Quite so," I said, yawning, " but perhaps, Zikali, you
will come to the point of the spear. What of her ? How ia
she named, and if she exists will she help me ? "
1 8 She and Allan
" I will answer your questions backwards, Macumazahn.
I think that she will help you if you help her, in what way I
do not know, because although witch-doctors sometimes work
without pay, as I am doing now, Macumazahn, witch-
doctoresses never do. As for her name, the only one that she
has among our company is ' Queen,' because she is the first of
all of them and the most beauteous among women. For the
rest I can tell you nothing, except that she has alwaj's been
and I suppose, in this shape or in that, will always be while
the world lasts, because she has found the secret of life un-
ending."
" You mean that she is an immortal, Zikali," I answered
vs-ith a smile.
" I do not say that, Macumazahn, because my little mind
cannot shape the thought of immortality. But when I was a
babe, which is far ago, she had lived so long that scarce would
she know the difference between then and now, and already in
her breast was all wisdom gathered. I know it, because
although, as I have said, we have never seen each other, at
times we talk together in our sleep, for thus she shares her
loneliness, and I think, though this may be but a dream, that
last night she told me to send you on to her to seek an answer
to certain questions which you would put to me to-day.
Also to me she seemed to desire that you should do her a
ser\ice ; I know not what service."
Now I grew angry and asked,
" WTiy does it please you to fool me, Zikali, with such talk
as this ? If there is any truth in it, show me where the
woman called Queen lives and how I am to come to her."
The old wizard took up the little assegai which he had
offered to me and with its blade raked out ashes from the fixe
that always burnt in front of him. While he did so, he talked
to me, as I thought in a random fashion, perhaps to distract my
attention, of a certain white man whom he said I should meet
upon my journey and of his affairs, also of other matters, none
of which interested me much at the time. These ashes he
patted down flat and then on them drew a map with the
point of his spear, making grooves for streams, certain marks
for bush and forest, wavy lines for water and swamps and
little heaps for hills.
WTien he had finished it all he bade me come round the fire
and study the- picture, across which by an after-thought he
The Talisman 19
drew a wandering furrow with the edge of the assegai to
represent a river, and gathered the ashes in a lump at the
northern end to signify a large mountain,
"Look at it well, Macumazahn," he said, "and forget
nothing, since if you make this journey and forget, you die.
Nay, no need to copy it in that book of yours, for see, I will
stamp it on your mind."
Then suddenly he gathered up the warm ashes in a double
handful and threw them into my face, muttering something
as he did so and adding aloud,
" There, now you will remember."
" Certainly I shall," I answered, coughing, " and I beg
that you will not play such a joke upon me again."
As a matter of fact, whatever may have been the reason
I never forgot any detail of that extremely intricate map.
" That big river must be the Zambesi," I stuttered, " and
even then the mountain of your Queen, if it be her mountain,
is far away, and how can I come there alone ? "
" I don't know, Macumazahn, though perhaps you might
do so in company. At least I believe that in the old days
people used to travel to the place, since I have heard a great
cit)' stood there once which was the heart of a mighty empire."
Now I pricked up my ears, for though I believed nothing
of Zikali's story of a wonderful Queen, I was always intensely
interested in past civilisations and their relics. Also T knew
that the old wizard's knowledge was extensive and peculiar,
however he came by it, and I did not think that he would lie
to me in this matter. Indeed to tell the truth, then and there
I made up my mind that if it were in any way possible, I
would attempt this journey,
" How did people travel to the city, Zikali ? "
" By sea, I suppose, Macumazahn, but I think that you
will be wise not to try that road, since I believe that on the
sea side the marshes are now impassable and you will be safer
on your feet."
" You want me to go on this adventure, Zikali. Why ? I
know you never do anything without motive."
" Oho 1 Macumazahn, you are clever and see deeper into
the trunk of a tree than most. Yes, I want you to go for
three reasons. First, that you may satisfy your soul on
certain matters and I would help you to do so. Secondly,
because I want to satisfy mine, and thirdly, because I know
20 She and Allan
that you will come back safe to be a prop to me in things that
v.ill happen in days unborn. Othorwase I would have told
3'ou nothing of this story, since it is necessary to m.e tliat
you should remain living beneath the sun."
" Have done, Zikali. What is it that you desire ? "
" Oh ! a great deal that I shall get, but chiefly two things,
so with the rest I will not trouble you. First I desire to know
whether these dreams of mine of a wonderful white witch-
doctoress, or witch, and of my converse with her are indeed
more than dreams. Next I would learn whether certain plots
of mine at which I have worked for years, will succeed."
" What plots, Zikali, and how can my taking a distant
journey tell you anjiihing about them ? "
" You know them well enough, Macumazalin ; they have
to do \\ith the overthrow of a Royal House that has worked me
hitter wrong. As to how your jovtrney can help me, why,
thus. You shall promise to me to ask of this Queen whether
Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, shall triumph or be overthrown in
that on which he has set his heart."
" As you seem to know this witch so well, why do you not
ask her yourself, Zikali ? "
" To ask is one thing, Macumazahn. To get an answer is
another. I have asked in the watches of the night, and tht;
reply was, ' Come hither and perchance I will tell yon.'
' Queen,' I said, ' how can I come save in the spirit, who am an
ancient and a crippled dwarf scarcely able to stand upon my
feet ? '
" ' Then send a messenger, Wizard, and be sure that he is
white, for of black savages I have seen more than enough. Let
him bear a token also that he comes from you and tell me of it
in your sleep. Moreover let that token be something of power
which will protect him on the journey.'
" Such is the answer that, comes to me. in my dreams,
Macumazahn."
" Well, what token will you give m^, Zikali ? "•' •.
He groped about in his robe and produced a piece of ivory
of the size of a large chessman, that had a hole in it, through
which ran a plaited cord of the stiff hairs from an elephant's
taU. On this article, which was of a rusty brown colour, he
breathed, then having whispered to it for a while, handed
it to me.
I took the talisman, for such I guessed it to be, idly
The Talisman 21
enough, held it to the li.Gjht to examine it, and started back so
violently that almost I let it fall. I do not quite know why
I started, but I think it was because some influence seemed to
leap from it to me. Zikali started also and cried out,
" Have a care, Macumazahn. Am I young that I can
bear being dashed to the ground ? "
" What do you mean P " I asked, still staring at the thing
which I perceived to be a most wonderfully fashioned likeness
of the old dwarf himself as he appeared before me crouched
upon the ground. There were the deepset eyes, the great
head, the toad-like shape, the long hair, all.
" It is a clever carving, is it not, IMacumazahn ? I am
skilled in that art, you know, and therefore can judge of
carving."
" Yes, I know," I answered, bethinking me of another
statuette of his which he had given to me on the morrow of
the death of her from whom it was modelled. " But what of
the thing ? "
" Macumazahn, it has come down to me through the ages.
As you may have heard, all great doctors when they die pass
on their wisdom and something of their knowledge to another
doctor of spirits who is still living on the earth, that nothing
may be lost, or as little as possible. Also I have learned that
to such likenesses as these may be given the strength of him
or her from whom they were shaped."
Now I bethought me of the old Egyptians and their Ka
statues of which I had read, and that these statues, magically
charmed and set in the tombs of the departed, were supposed
to be inhabited everlastingly by the Doubles of the dead
endued with more power even than ever these possessed in
life. But of this I said nothing to Zikali, thinking that it
would take too much explanation, though I wondered very
much how he had come by the same idea.
" When that ivory is hung over your heart, Macumazahn,
where you must always wear it, learn that with it goes the
strength of Zikali ; the' thought that would have been his
thought and the wisdom that is his wisdom, will be your
companions, as much as though he walked at your side and
could instruct you in every peril. Moreover north and south
and east and west this image is known to men who, when they
see it, will bow down and obey, opening a road to him who
wears the medicine of the Open er-of -Roads."
32 She and Allan
" Indeed," I said, smiling, " and what is this colour on the
ivory ? "
" I forget, Macumazahn, who have had it a great number
3f years, ever since it descended to me from a forefather of
mine who was fashioned in the same mould as I am. It
looks like blood, does it not ? It is a pity that Mameena is
not still alive, since she whose memory was so excellent
might have been able to tell you," and as he spoke, with a
motion that was at once sure and swift, he threw the loop of
elephant hair over my head.
Hastily I changed the subject, feeling that after his wont
this old \Wzard, the most terrible man whom ever I knew, who
had been so much concerned with the tragic death of Ma-
meena, was stabbing at me in some hidden fashion.
" You tell me to go on this journey," I said, " and not
alone. Yet for companion you give me only an ugly piece of
ivory shaped as no man ever was," here I got one back at
Zikali, " and from the look of it, steeped in blood, which ivory,
if I had my way, I would throw into the camp fire. Who,
then, am I to take with me ? "
" Don't do that, Macumazahn — I mean throw the ivory
into the fire — since I have no wish to burn before my time,
and if you do, you who have worn it might burn with me. At
least certainly you would die with the magic thing and go to
acquire knowledge more quickly than j^ou desire. No, no,
and do not try to take it off your neck, or rather try if you will,"
I did try, but something seemed to prevent me from
accomplishing my purpose of giving the carving back to
Zikali as I wished to do. First my pipe got in the way of my
hand, then the elephant hairs caught in the collar of my coat ;
*:hen a pang of rheumatism to which I was accustomed from
in old lion-bite, developed of a sudden in my arm, and lastly
I grew tired of bothering about the thing.
Zikali, who had been watching my movements, burst out
into one of his terrible laughs that seemed to fill the whole
kloof and to re-echo from its rocky walls. It died away and he
went on, without further reference to the talisman or image.
" You asked whom you were to take with you, Macu-
mazahn. Well, as to this I must make inquiry of those who
know. Man, my medicines 1 "
From the shadows in the hut behind darted out a tall
figure carr5ing a great spear in one hand and in the other a
The Talisman 23
catskin bag which with a salute he laid down at the feet of his
master. This salute, by the \v^y, was that of a Zulu word
which means " Lord " or " Home " of Ghosts.
Zikali groped in the bag and produced from it certain
knucklebones.
" A common method," he muttered, " such as every
vulgar wizard uses, but one that is quick and, as the matter
concerned is small, will serve my turn. Let us see now, whom
you shall take with you, Macumazahn."
Then he breathed upon the bones, shook them up in his
thin hands and with a quick turn of the wrist, threw them into
the air. After this he studied them carefully, where they lay
among the ashes which he had raked out of the fire, those that
he had used for the making of his map.
" Do you know a man named Umslopogaas. Macumazahn,
the chief of a tribe that is called The People of the Axe, whose
titles of praise are Bulalio or the Slaughterer, and Wood-
pecker, the latter from the way he handles his ancient axe ?
He is a savage fellow, but one of high blood and higher courage,
a great captain in his way, though he will never come to any-
thing, save a glorious death — in your company, I think,
Macumazahn." (Here he studied the bones again for a
while.) " Yes, I am sure, in your company, though not upon
this journey."
" I have heard of him," I answered cautiously. " It is
said in the land that he is a son of Chaka, the great king of the
Zulus."
" Is it, Macumazahn ? And is it said also that he was the
slayer of Chaka 's brother, Dingaan, also the lover of the
fairest woman that the Zulus have ever seen, who was called
Nada the Lily ? Unless indeed a certain Mameena, who, I
seem to remember, was a friend of yours, may have been even
more beautiful ? "
" I know nothing of Nada the Lily," I answered.
" No, no, Mameena, ' the Wailing W^ind,' has blown over
her fame, so why should you know of one who has been dead a
long while ? Why also, Macumazahn, do you always bring
women into every business ? I begin to believe that although
you are so strict in a white man's fashion, you must be too
fond of them, a weakness which makes for ruin to any man.
Well, now, I think that this wolf-man, this axe-man, this
warrior, Umslopogaas should be a good fellow to you on your
24 She and Allan
journey to visit the white witch, Queen — another woman by
the v.'Q.y, Macumazahn, and therefore one of whom you should
be careful. Oh 1 yes, he will come v^ith you — because of a
man called Lousta and a woman named Monazi, a wife of his
who hates him and does — not hate Lousta. I am almost sure
that he will come with you, so do not stop to ask questions
about him."
" Is there anyone else ? " I inquired.
Zikali glanced at the bones again, poking them about in
the ashes v^nth his toe, then replied with a yawn,
" You seem to have a little yellow man in your service, a
clever snake who knows how to creep through grass, and when
to strike and when to lie hidden. I should take him too, if I
were you."
" You know well that I have such a man, Zikali, a Hot-
tentot named Hans, clever in his way but drunken, very
faithful too, since he loved my father before me. He is cook-
ing my supper at the waggon now. Are there to be any
others ? "
" No, I think you three will be enough, with a guard of
soldiers from the People of the Axe, for you will meet with
fighting, and a ghost or two. Umslopogaas has always one at
his elbow named Nada, and perhaps you have several. For
instance, there was a certain Mameena whom I always seem
to feel about me when you are near, Macumazahn.
" Why, the wind is rising again, which is odd on so still an
evening. Listen how it waUs, yes, and stirs your hair, though
niine hangs straight enough. But why do I talk of ghosts,
seeing that you travel to seek other ghosts, white ghosts,
beyond my ken, who can only deal with those that were
black ?
" Good-night, Macumazahn, good-night. When you re-
turn from visiting the white Queen, that Great One beneath
whose feet I, Zikali, who am also great in my way, am but a
grain of dust, come and tell me her answer to my question.
" Meanwhile, be careful always to wear that pretty little
image which I have given you, as a young lover sometimes
wer.rs a lock of hair cut from the head of some fool-girl that he
thinks is fond of him. It will bring you safety and luck.
Macumazahn, which, for the most part, is more than the lock
of hair does to the lo\'er. Oh I it is a strange world, full of
jest to those who can seethe strings that work it. I am one
The Talisman 25
of them, and perhaps, Macumazahn, you are another, or will
be before all is done — or begun.
" Good-night and good fortune to you on your journey-
ings, and, Macumazahn, although you are so fond of women,
be careful not to fall in love with that white Queen, because it
would make others jealous ; I mean some whom you have
lost sight of for a while, also I think that being under a curse
of her own, she is not one whom you can put into your sack.
Oho ! Oho-lu) t Slave, bring me my blanket, it grows cold,
and my medicine also, that which protects me from the ghosts,
who are thick to-night, Macumazahn brings them, I think.
OJw-ho I "
I turned to depart but when I had gone a little way Zikali
called me back again and said, speaking very low,
■' Wlien you meet this Umslopogaas, as you will meet him,
he who is called the Woodpecker and the Slaughterer, say these
words to him,
" ' A bat has been twittering round the hut of the Opener-
of-Roads, and to his ears it squeaked the name of a certain
Lousta and the name of a woman called Monazi. Also it
twittered another greater name that may not be uttered, that
of an elephant who shakes the earth, and said that this ele-
phant sniffs the air with his trunk and grows angry, and
sharpens his tusks to dig a certain Woodpecker out of his hole
in a tree that grows near the Witch Mountain. Say, too, that
the Opener-of-Roads thinks that this Woodpecker would be
wise to fly north for a while in the company of one who watches
by night, lest harm should come to a bird that pecks at the
feet of the great and chatters of it in his nest."
Then Zikali waved his hand and I went, wondering into
what plot I had stumbled.
CHAPTER II
THE MESSENGERS
I DID not rest as I should that night who somehow ^as
never able to sleep well in the neighbourhood of the
Black Kloof. I suppose that Zikali's constant talk
about ghosts, with his hints and innuendoes concerning
those who were dead, always affected my nerves till, in a sub-
conscious way, I began to believe that such things existed and
were hanging about me. Many people are open to the power
of suggestion, and I am afraid that I am one of them.
However, the sun which has such strength to kill noxious
things, puts an end to ghosts more quickly even than it does
to other evil vapours and emanations, and when I woke up to
find it shining brilliantly in a pure heaven, I laughed vnth
much heartiness over the whole affair.
Going to the spring near which we were outsparmed, I took
off my shirt to have a good wash, still chuckling at the memory
of all the hocus-pocus of my old friend, the Opener-of-Roads.
WTiile engaged in this matutinal operation I struck my
hand against something and looking, observed that it was the
hideous little ivory image of Zikali, which he had set about my
neck. The sight of the thing and the memory of his ridiculous
talk about it, especially of his assertion that it had come down
to him through the ages, which it could not have done, seeing
that it v^'as alikeness of himself, irritated me so much that I
proceeded to take it off with the full intention of throwing it
into the spring.
As I was in the act of doing this, from a clump of reeds
mixed vtath bushes, quite close to me, there came a sound of
hissing, and suddenly above them appeared the head of a
great black immamba, perhaps the deadliest of all our African
snakes, and the only one I know which will attack man
without provocation.
Leaving go of the image, I sprang back in a great hurry
towards where my gun lay. Then the snake vanished and
making sure that it had departed to its hole, which was
probably at a distance, I returned to the pool, and once more
The Messengers 27
began to take off the talisman in order to consign it to the
bottom of the pool.
After all, I reflected, it was a hideous and probably a blood-
stained thing which I did not in the least \vish to wear about
my neck like a lady's love-token.
Just as it was coming over my head, suddenly from the
other side of the bush that infernal snake popped up again,
this time, it was clear, really intent on business. It began to
move towards me in the lightning-like way immambas have,
hissing and flicking its tongue.
I was too quick for my friend, however, for snatching up
the gun that I had laid down beside me, I let it have a charge
of buckshot in the neck which nearly cut it in two, so that
it fell down and expired with hideous convulsive writhing'^.
Hearing the shot Hans came running from the waggon to
see what was the matter. Hans, I should say, was that same
Hottentot who had been the companion of most of my
journeyings since my father's day. He was with me when as
a young fellow I accompanied Retief to Dingaan's kraal, andlike
myself, escaped the massacre. ^ Also we shared many other ad-
ventures, including the great one in the Land of the Ivory Child
where he slew the huge elephant -god, Jana, and himself was
slain. But of this journey we did not dream in those days.
For the rest Hans was a most entirely unprincipled person,
but as the Boers say, " as clever as a waggonload of monkeys."
Also he drank when he got the chance. One good quality he
had, however ; no man was ever more faithfiil, and perhaps
it would be true to say that neither man nor woman ever loved
me, unworthy, quite so well.
In appearance he rather resembled an antique and
dilapidated baboon ; his face was wrinkled like a dried nut
and his quick little eyes were bloodshot, I never knew what
his age was, any more than he did himself, but the years had left
him tough as whipcord and absolutely untiring. Lastly he
was perhaps the best hand at following a spoor that ever I
knew and up to a hundred and fifty yards or so, a very deadly
shot wth a rifle especially when he used a little single-barrelled,
muzzle-loading gun of mine made by Purdey which he named
Intombi or Maiden. Of that gun, however, I have written in
" The Holy Flower " and elsewhere.
* See the book called " Marie." — Editor.
«8 She and Allan
•' VMiat is it, Baas ? " he asked. " Here there are no lions,
cor any ^ame."
" Look the other side of the bush, Hans."
He slipped round it, making a wide circle with his usual
caution, then, seeing the snake which was, by the way, I
think, the bi.fgest immamba I ever killed, suddenly froze, as it
were, in a stiff attitude that reminded me of a pointer when i'
scents game. Having made sure that it was dead, he nodded
and said,
" Black 'mamba, or so you would call it, though I know
it for something else."
" \\liat else, Hans ? "
" One of the old witch-doctor Zikali's spirits which he sets
at the mouth of this kloof to warn him of who comes or goes.
I know it wfJl, and so do others. I saw it listemng behind a
stone when you were up the kloof last evening talking with the
Opencr-of-Roads. "
" Then Zikali will lack a spirit," I answered, laughing,
" which perhaps he will not miss amongst so many. It serves
him right for setting the brute on me."
" Quite so. Baas. He will be angry. I wonder why he did
it ? " he added suspiciously, " seeing that he is such a friend
of j'ours."
" He didn't do it, Hans. These snakes are very fierce and
give battle, that is aJl."
Hans paid no attention to my remark, which probably he
thought only worthy of a white man who does not understand,
but rolled his yellow, bloodshot eyes about, as though in
search of explanations. Presently they fell upon the ivory
that hung about my neck, and he started.
" Why do you wear that pretty likeness of the Great One
yonder over your heart, as I have known you do with things
that belonged to women in past days, Baas ? Do you know
that it is Zikali's Great Medicine, no^.hing less, as everyone does
throughout the land ? WTien Zikali sends an order far away,
he always sends that image with it, for then he who receives
the order knows that he must obey or die. Also the messenger
kno\\'s that he will come to no harm if he does not take it off,
because. Baas, the image is Zikali himself, and Zikali is the
image. They are one and the same. Also it is the image of
Lis father's father's father — or so he says."
" That is an odd story," I said.
The Messengers 29
Then I told Hans as much as I thought advisable of how
this horrid little talisman come into m}' possession.
Hans nodded without showing any surprise.
" So we are going on a long journey," he said. " Well, I
thought it was time that we did something more than vv^nder
about these tame countries selling blankets to stinking old
women and so forth. Baas. Moreover, Zikali does not wish
that you should come to harm, doubtless because he does wish
to make use of you afterwards — oh ! it is safe to talk now when
that spirit is away looking for another snake. WTiat were you
doing \vith the Great Medicine, Baas, when the 'mamba at-
tacked you ? "
" Taking it off to throw it into the pool, Hans, as I do not
like the thing. I tried twice and each time the immamba
appeared."
" Of course it appeared, Baas, and what is more, if you
had taken that Medicine off and thro\%'n it away you would
have disappeared, since the 'mamba would have killed you.
Zikali wanted to show you that. Baas, and that is why he set
the snake at you."
" You are a superstitious old fool, Hans."
" Yes, Baas, but my father knew all about that Great
Medicine before me, for he was a bit of a doctor, and so does
every wizard and viitch for a thousand miles or more. I tell
you. Baas, it is known by all though no one ever talks about
it, no, not even the king himself. Baas, speaking to you, not
with the voice of Hans the old drunkard, but with that of the
Predikant, your reverend father, who made so good a Christian
of me and who tells me to do so from up in Heaven where the
hot fires are which the wood feeds of itself, I beg you not to try 1/
to throw away that Medicine again, or if you wish to do so, to |i
leave me behind on this journey. For you see. Baas, although
I am now so good, almost like one of those angels with the
pretty goose's wings in the pictures, I feel that I should like to
grow a little better before I go to the Place of Fires to make
report to your reverend father, the Predikant."
Thinking of how horrified my dear father would be if he
could hear all this string of ridiculous nonsense and learn the
result of his moral and religious lessons on raw Hottentot
material, I burst out laughing. But Hans went on as gravely
as a judge,
" Wear the Great Medicine, Baas, wear it ; part with the
30 She and Allan
liver inside j^ou before you part with that. Baas. It may not
be as pretty or smell as sweet as a woman's hair in a little gold
bottle, but it is much more useful. The sight of the woman's
hair will only make you sick in your stomach and cause you
to remember a lot of things which you had much better forget,
but the Great Medicine, or rather Zikali who is in it, will keep the
assegais and sickness out of you and turn back bad magic on to
the heads of those who sent it, and always bring us plenty to
eat and perhaps, if we are lucky, a little to drink too
sometimes."
" Go away," I said, " I want to wash."
" Yes, Baas, but with the Baas's leave I will sit on the
other side of that bush with the gun — not to look at the Baas
without his clothes, because white people are always so ugly
that it makes me feel ill to see them undressed, also because
— the Baas will forgive me — but because they smell. No, not
for that, but just to see that no other snake comes."
" Get out of the road, you dirty little scoundrel, and stop
your impudence," I said, lifting my foot suggestively.
Thereon he scooted with a subdued grin round the other
side of the bush, whence as I knew well he kept his eye fixed on
me to be sure that I made no further attempt to take off the
Great Medicine.
Now of this talisman I may as well say at once that I am
no believer in it or its precious influences. Therefore, although
it was useful sometimes, notably twice whenUmslopogaas was
concerned, I do not know whether personally I should have
done better or worse upon that journey if I had thrown it
into the pool.
It is true, however, that until quite the end of this history
when it became needful to do so to save another, I never made
any further attempt to remove it from my neck, not even when
it rubbed a sore in my skin, because I did not wish to ofifend
the prejudices of Hans.
It is true, moreover, that this hideous ivory had a reputa-
tion which stretched very far from the place where it was
made and was regarded with great reverence by all kinds of
queer people, even by the Amahagger themselves, of whom
presently, as they say in pedigrees, a fact of which I found
sundry proofs. Indeed, I saw a first example of it when a
little while later I met that great warrior, Umslopogaas, Chief
of the People of the Axe.
The Messengers 31
For, after determining firmly, for reasons which I will set
out, that I would not visit this man, in the end I did so,
although by then I had given up any idea of journe5dng across
the Zambesi to look for a mysterious and non-existent witch-
woman, as Zikali had suggested that I should do. To begin
with I knew that his talk was all rubbish and, even if it were
not, that at the bottom of it was some desire of the Opener-
of-Roads that I should make a path for him to travel towards
an indefinite but doubtless evil object of his own. Further,
by this time I had worn through that mood of mine which had
caused me to yearn for correspondence with the departed and
a certain knowledge of their existence.
I wonder whether many people understand, as I do, how
entirely distinct and how variable are these moods which
sway us, or at any rate some of us, at sundry periods of our
lives. As I think I have already suggested, at one time we are
ail spiritual ; at another all physical ; at one time we are sure
that our lives here are as a dream and a shadow and that the
real existence lies elsewhere ; at another that these brief days of
ours are the only business with which we have to do and that of
it we must make the best. At one time we think our loves much
more immortal than the stars ; at another that they are mere
shadows cast by the baleful sun of desire upon the shallow and
fleeting water we call Life which seems to flow out of nowhere
into nowhere. At one time we are full of faith, at another all
such hopes are blotted out by a black wall of Nothingness,
and so on ad infinitum. Only very stupid people, or humbugs,
are or pretend to be, always consistent and unchanging.
To return, I determined not only that I would not travel
north to seek that which no living man will ever find, certainty
as to the future, but also, to show my independence of Zikali,
that I would not visit this chief, UmsJopogaas. So, having
traded all my goods and made a fair profit (on paper), I set
myself to return to Natal, proposing to rest awhile in my little
house at Durban, and told Hans my mind.
" Very good. Baas," he said. " I, too, should like to go to
Durban. There are lots of things there that we cannot get
here," and he fixed his roving eye upon a square-face gin
bottle, which as it happened was filled with nothing stronger
than water, because all the gin was drunk. " Yet, Baas,
we shall not see the Berea for a long while."
" Why do you say that ? " I asked sharply.
" Oh I Baas, I don't know, but you went to visit the
32 She and Allan
Opener-of- Roads, did you not, and he told you to go north
and lent you a certain Great Medicine, did he not ? "
Here Hans proceeded to light his corncob pipe with an ash
from the fire, all the time keeping his beady eyes fixed upon
that part of me where he knew the talisman was himg.
" Quite true, Hans, but now I mean to show Zikali that I
am not his messenger, for south or north or east or west. So
to-morrow morning we cross the river and trek for Natal."
" Yes, Baas, but then why not cross it this evening ?
There is still light."
" I have said that we wiU cross it to-morrow morning," I
answered with that firmness which I have read always indi-
cates a man of character, " and I do not change my word."
" No, Baas, but sometimes other things change besides
words. Will the Baas have that buck's leg for supper, or the
stuff out of a tin with a dint in it, which we bought at a store
two years ago ? The flies have got at the buck's leg, but I cut
out the bits with the maggots on it and ate them myself."
Hans was right, things do change, especially the weather.
That night, unexpectedly, for when I turned in the sky seemed
quite serene, there came a terrible rain long before it was due,
which lasted off and on for three whole days and continued
intermittently for an indefinite period. Needless to say the
ri\er, which it would have been so easy to cross on this
particular evening, by the morning was a raging torrent, and
so remained for several weeks.
In despair at length I trekked south to where a ford was
reported, which, when reached, proved impracticable.
I tried another, a dozen miles further on, which was very
hard to come to over boggy land. It looked all right and we
were getting across finely, when suddenly one of the wheels
sank in an unsuspected hole and there we stuck. Indeed, I
believe the waggon, or bits of it, would have remained in the
neighbourhood of that ford to this day, had I not managed to
borrow some extra oxen belonging to a Christian Kaffir, and '.nth
their help to drag it back to the bank whence we had started.
As it happened I was only just in time, since a new storm
which had burst further up the river, brought it down in flood
again, a very heavy flood.
In this country, England, where I VvTite, there are bridges
everywhere and no one seems to appreciate them. If they
think of them at all it is to grumble about the cust of their
The Messengers 33
upkeep. I wish they could have experience of what a lack of
them means in a wild country during times of excessive rain,
and the same remark applied to roads. You should think
more of your blessings, my friends, as the old woman said to
her complaining daughter who had twins two years running,
adding that they might have been triplets.
To return — after this I confessed myself beaten and gave up
i until such time as it should please Providence to turn off the
; water-tap. Trekking out of sight of that infernal river which
i annoyed me with its constant gurgling, I camped on a com-
; paratively dry spot that overlooked a beautiful stretch of
j rolling veld. Towards sunset the clouds lifted and I saw a
■ mile or two away a most extraordinary mountain on the lower
slopes of which grew a dense forest. Its upper part, which
. was of bare rock, looked exactly like the seated figure of a
: grotesque person with the chin resting on the breast. There
j was the head, there were the arms, there were the knees.
i Indeed, the whole mass of it reminded me strongly of the
! effigy of Zikali which was tied about my neck, or rather of
j Zikali himself.
! " Wfiat is that called ? " I said to Hans, pointing to this
j strange hill, now blazing in the angry fire of the setting sun
i that had burst out between the storm clouds, which made it
appear more ominous even than before.
" That is the Witch Mountain, Baas, where the Chiei
Umslopogaas and a blood brother of his who carried agreat club
i used to hunt with the wolves. It is haunted and in a cave at
i the top of it lie the bones of Nada the Lily, the fair woman
i whose name is a song, she who was the love of Umslopogaas." *
i " Rubbish," I said, though I had heard something of all
I that story and remembered that Zikali had mentioned this Nada,
i comparing her beauty to that of another whom once I knew.
" Where then lives the Chief Umslopogaas ? "
" They say that his town is yonder on the plain, Baas.
It is called the Place of the Axe and is strongly fortified with a
river round most of it, and his people are the People of the Axe.
They are a fierce people and all the country round here is so
uninhabited because Umslopogaas has cleaned out the tribes
who used to !ive in it, first with his wolves and afterwards in
war. He is «? strong a chief and so terrible in battle that even
* For the story of Umslopogaas and Nada see the book called
" Nada the Lily." — Editor.
B
34 She ^^d Allan
Chaka himself was afraid of him, and they say that he
brought Dingaan the King to his end because of a quarrel
about this Nada. Cetywayo, the present king, too leaves him
alone and to him he pays no tribute."
Whilst I was about to ask Hans from whom he had col-
lected all this information, suddenly I heard sounds, and look-
ing up, saw three tall men clad in full herald's dress rushing
towards us at a great speed.
" Here come some chips from the Axe," said Hans, and
promptly bolted into the waggon.
I did not bolt because there was no time to do so without
loss of dignity, but, although I wished I had my rifle with me,
just sat still upon my stool and with great deliberation lighted
my pipe, taking not the slightest notice of the three savage-
looking fellows.
These, who I noted carried axes instead of assegais, rushed
straight at me with the axes raised in such a fashion that
anyone unacquainted v/ith the habits of Zulu warriors of
the old school, might have thought that they intended
nothing short of murder.
As I expected, however, within about six feet of me they
halted suddenly and stood there still as statues. For my part
I went on lighting my pipe as though I did not see them and
when at length I was obliged to lift my head, surveyed them
with an air of mild interest.
Then I took a little book out of my pocket, it was my
favourite copy of the Ingoldsby Legends — and began to read.
The passage which caught my eye, if " axe "' be substituted
for " knife," was not inappropriate. It was from " The Nurse's
Story," and runs,
" But, oh ! what a thing 'tis to see and to know
That the bare knife is raised in the hand of the foe,
Without hope to repel or to ward ofif the blow I "
This proceeding of mine astonished them a good deal whofelt
that they had, so to speak, missed fire. At last the soldier in
the middle said,
" Are you blind. White Man ? "
" No, Black Fellow," I answered, " but I am short-
sighted. Would you be so good as to stand out of my light ? "
a remark which puzzled them so much that all three drew back
a few paces.
When I had read a little further I came to the following
lines.
The Messengers 35
'"Tis plain.
As anatomists tell us, that never again
Shall life revisit the foully slain
When once they've been cut through the jugular Tcln."
In my circumstances at that moment this statement seemed
altogether too suggestive, so I shut up the book and remarked,
" If j'ou are wanderers who want food, as I judge by your
being so thin, I am sorry that I have little meat, but my
servants will give you what they can."
" Ow t " said the spokesman, " he calls us wanderers I
Either he must be a very great man or he is mad "
" You are right. I am a great man," I answered, yav/ning,
and if you trouble me too much you will see that I can be mad
also. Now what do you want ? "
" We are messengers from the great Chief Umslopogaas,
Captain of the People of the Axe, and we want tribute,"
answered the man in a somewhat changed tone.
" Do you ? Then you won't get it. I thought that only
the King of Zululand had a right to tribute, and your Captain's
name is not Cetywayo, is it ? "
" Our Captain is King here," said the man stiD more
uncertainly.
" Is he indeed ? Then away with you back to him and
tell this King of whom I never heard, though I have a message
for a certain Umslopogaas, that Macumazahn, Watcher-by-
Night, intends to visit him to-morrow, if he will send a guide
at the first light to show the best path for the waggon."
" Hearken," said the man to his companions, " this is
Macumazahn himself and no other. Well, we thought it,
for who else would have dared "
Then they saluted with their axes, calling me " Chief " and
other fine names, and departed as they had come, at a run,
calling out that my message should be delivered and that
doubtless Umslopogaas would send the guide.
So it came about that, quite contrary to my intention, after
all circumstances brought me to the Town of the Axe. Even
to the last moment I had not meant to go there, but when the
tribute was demanded I saw that it was best to do so, and
having once passed my word it could not be altered. Indeed,
I felt sure that in this event there would be trouble and that
my oxen would be stolen, or worse.
So Fate having issued its decree, of which Hans's version
was that Zikali, or his Great Medicine, had so arranged
things, I shrugged my shoulders and waited.
CHAPTER III
UMSLOPOGAAS OF THE AXE
NEXT morning at the dawn guides arrived from the
Town of the Axe, bringing with them a yoke of
spare oxen, which showed that its Chief was really
anxious to see me. So in due course we inspanned
and started, the guides leading us by a rough but practicable
road down the steep hillside to the saucer-like plain beneath,
where I saw many cattle grazing. Travelling some miles
across this plain, we came at last to a river of no great brea.dth
that encircled a considerable Kaffir town on three sides, the
fourth being protected by a little line of koppies which were
joined together with walls. Also the place was strongly
fortified with fences and in every other way known to the
native mind.
With the help of the spare oxen we crossed the river safely
at the ford, although it was very full, and on the further side
were received by a guard of men, tall, soldierlike fellows, all
of them armed with axes as the messengers had been. They
led us up to the cattle enclosure in the centre of the town,
which although it could be used to protect beasts in case of
emergency, also served the practical purpose of a public
square.
Here some ceremony was in progress, for soldiers stood
round the kraal while heralds pranced and shouted. At the
head of the place in front of the chief's big hut was a little
group of people, among whom a big, gaunt man sat upon a
stool clad in a warrior's dress with a great and very long axe |
bafted with wire-lashed rhinoceros horn, laid across his knees.
Our guides led me, with Hans sneaking after me like a
dejected and low-bred dog (for the waggon had stopped outsid*
the gate), across the kraal to where the heralds shouted and the'
big man sat j^wuing. At once I noted that he was a very.
Umslopogaas of the Axe 37
remarkable person, broad and tall and spare of frame, with
long, tough-looking arms and a fierce face which reminded me
of that of the late King Dingaan. Also he had a great hole
in his head above the temple where the skull had been driven
in by some blow, and keen, roj^aJ -looking eyes.
He looked up and seeing me, cried out,
" What I Has a white man come to fight me for the
chieftainship of the People of the Axe ? Well, he is a small
one."
" No," I answered quietly, " but Macumazahn, Watcher-
by-Night, has come to visit you in answer to your request, O
Umslopogaas ; Macumazahn whose name was known in this
land before yours was told of, O Umslopogaas."
The Chief heard and rising from his seat, lifted the big axe
in salute.
" I greet you, O Macumazahn," he said, " who although
you are small in stature, are very great indeed in fame. Have
I not heard how you conquered Bangu, although Saduko slew
him, and of how you gave up the six hundred head of cattle
to Tshoza and the men of the Amangwane who fought with
you, the cattle that were your own ? Have I not heard how
you led the Tulwana against the Usutu and stamped flat three
of Cetywayo's regiments in the days of Panda, although, alas I
because of an oath of mine I lifted no steel in that battle, I
who win have nothing to do with those that spring from the
blood of Senzangacona — perhaps because I smell too strongly
of it, Macumazaiin. Oh I yes, I have heard these and many
other things concerning you, though until now it has never
been my fortune to look upon your face, O Watch er-by-Night,
and therefore I greet you well. Bold one. Cunning one. Upright
one. Friend of us Black People."
" Thank you," I answered, " but you said something about
fighting. If there is to be anything of the sort, let us get it
over. If you want to fight, I am quite ready," and I tapped
the rifle which I carried.
The grim Chief broke into a laugh and said,
" Listen. By an ancient law any man on this day in each
year may fight me for this Chieftainship, as I fought and
conquered him who held it before me, and take it from me
with my life and the axe, though of late none seems to like the
business. But that law was made before there were guns, or
men like Macumazahn who, it is said, can hit a lizard on a wall
38
She and Allan
at fifty paces. Therefore I tell you that if you wish to fi^ht
me with a rifle, O Macumazahn, I give in and you may have
the chieftainship," and he laughed again in his fierce fashion.
" I think it is too hot for fighting either with guns or
axes, and Chieftainships are honey that is full of stinging
bees," I answered.
Then I took my seat on a stool that had been brought for
me and placed by the side of Umslopogaas, after which the
ceremony went on.
The heralds cried out the challenge to all and sundry to
come and fight the Holder of the Axe for the chieftainship of
the Axe without the slightest result, since nol>ody seemed to
desire to do anj^hing of the sort. Then, after a pause, Um-
slopogaas rose, swinging his formidable weapon round his
h >ad, and declared that by right of conquest he was Chief of tbe
Tribe for the ensuing year, an announcement that everybody
accepted without surprise.
Again the heralds sunamoned all and sundry who had
grievances, to come forward and to state them aad receive
redress.
After a little pause there appeared a very handsome woman
with large eyes, particularly brilliant eyes that relied as
though they were in search of someone. She was finely
dressed and I saw by the ornaments she wore that she held the
rank of a chief's wife.
" I, Monazi, have a complaint to make," she said, " as it is
the right of the humblest to do on this day. In succession to
Zinita whom Dingaan slew with her children, I am your
Inkosikaas, your head- wife, O Umslopogaas."
" That I know well enough," said Umsl operas, " what
of it ? "
" This, that you n^lect me for other women, as you
neglected Zinita for Nada the Beautiful, Nada the witch. I
am childless, as are all yoitr wives because of the curse thit
this Nada left behind her. I demand that this curse should
be lifted from me. For your sake I abandoned Lousta the
Chief, to whom I was betrothed, and this is the end of it, that
I am neglected and childless."
" Am I the Heavens Above that I can cause you to bear
children, woman ? " asked Umslopogaas angrily. " Wo'ild
that you had clung to Lousta. my blood-brother and my
frien(i whom you lament, and left me alone."
Umslopogaas of the Axe 39
" That still may chance, if I am not better treated,"
answered Monazi with a flash of her great eyes. " Will you
dismiss yonder new wife of yours and give me back my place,
and will you lift the curse of Nada off me, or will you
not ? "
" As to the first," answered Umslopogaas, " learn, Monazi,
that I will not dismiss my new wife, who at least is gentler-
tongued and truer-hearted than you are. As to the second,
yon ask that which it is not in my power to give, since children
are the gift of Heaven, and barrenness is its bane. Moreover,
you have done ill to bring into this matter the name of one
who is dead, who of all women was the sweetest and most
innocent. Lastly, I warn you before the people to cease from
your plottings or traflSc with Lousta, lest iU come of them to
you, or him, even though he be my blood brother, or
to both."
" Plottings I " cried Monazi in a shrill and furious voice.
" Does Umslopogaas talk of plottings ? Well, I have heard
that Chaka the Lion left a son, and that this son has set a trap
for the feet of him who sits on Chaka's throne. Perchance
that king has heard it also ; perchance the People of the Axe
will soon hare another Chief."
" Is it thus ? " said Umslopogaas quietly. " And if so,
will he be named Lousta ? "
Then his smouldering wrath broke out and in a kind of
roaring voice he went on,
" What have I done that the wives of my bosom should be
my betrayers, those who would give me to death ? Zinita
betrayed me to Dingaan and in reward was slain, and my
children with her. Now would you, Monazi, betray me to
Cetywayo — though in truth there is naught to betray ? Well, if
so, bethink you and let Lousta bethink him of what chanced
to Zinita, and of what chances to those who stand before ihe
axe of Umslopogaas! What have I done, I say, that women
should thus strive to work me ill ? "
" This," answered Monazi with a mocking laugh, " that
you have loved one of them too well. If he would live in
peace, he who has wives should favour all alike. Least of
anything should he moan continually over one who is dead, a
witch who has left a curse behind her and thus insult and do
\\Tong to the living. Also he would be wise to attend to the
matters of his own tribe and household and to cease from
40 She and Allan
ambitions that may bring him to the assegai, and them mth
him."
" I have heard your counsel, Wife, so now begone I " said
Umslopogaas, looking at her very strangely, and as it seemed
to me not without fear.
" Have you wives, Macumazahn ? " he asked of me in a
low voice when she was out of hearing.
" Only among the spirits," I answered.
" Well for you then ; moreover, it is a bond between us, for
I too have but one true wife and she also is among the spirits.
But go rest a while and later we will talk."
So I went, leaving the Chief to his business, thinking as I
\\-alked away of a certain message with which I was charged for
him and of how into that message came names that I had just
heard, namely that of a man called Lousta and of a woman
c.illed Monazi. Also I thought of the hints which in her
jealous anger and disappointment at her lack of children, this
woman had dropped about a plot against him who sat on the
throne of Chaka, which of course must mean King Cetywayo
himself.
I came to the guest -hut, which proved to be a very good
place and clean ; also in it I found plenty of food made ready
for me and for my servants. After eating I slept for a time
as it is always my fashion to do when I have nothing else on
hand, since who knows for how long he may be kept awake at
night ? Indeed, it was not until the sun had begun to sink
that a messenger came, saying that the Chief desired to see me
if I had rested. So I went to his big hut which stood alone
with a strong fence set round it at a distance, so that none
could come within hearing of what was said, even at the door
of the hut. I observed also that a man armed with an axe
kept guard at the gateway in this fence round which he
walked from time to time.
The Chief Umslopogaas was seated on a stool by the door
of his hut with his rhinoceros-horn handled axe which was
fastened to his right wrist by a thong, leaning against his
thigh, and a wolfskin hanging from his broad shoulders. Very
grim and fierce he looked thus, with the red light of the
suaset playing on him. He greeted me and pointed to
another stool on which I sat myself down. Apparently he
had been watching my eyes, for he said,
" I see that like other creatures which move at night, sncb
Umslopogaas of the Axe 41
a? leopards and hyenas, you take note of ail, O Watcher-by-
Night, even of the soldier who guards this place and of where
the fence is set and of how its gate is fashioned."
" Had I not done so I should have been dead long ago, O
Chief."
" Yes, and because it is not my nature to do so as I should,
perchance I shall soon be dead. It is not enough to be fierce
and foremost in the battle, Macumazahn. He who would
sleep safe and of whom, when he dies, folk will say ' He has
eaten ' {i.e., he has lived out his life), must do more than this.
He must guard his tongue and even his thoughts ; he must
listen to the stirring of rats in the thatch and look for snakes
in the grass ; he must trust few, and least of all those who
sleep upon his bosom. But those who have the Lion's blood
in them or who are prone to charge like a buffalo, often neglect
these matters and therefore in the end they fall into a pit."
" Yes," I answered, " especially those who have the lion's
blood in them, whether that lion be man or beast."
This I said because of the rumours I had heard that this
Slaughterer v^s in truth the son of Chaka. Therefore not
knowing whether or no he were placing on the word " lion,"
which was Chaka's title, I wished to draw him, especially as I
saw in his face a great likeness to Chaka's brother Dingaan,
whom, it was whispered, this same Umslopogaas had slain.
As it happened I failed, for after a pause he said,
" Why do you com.e to visit me, Macumazahn, who have
never done so before ? "
" I do not come to \isit you, Umslopogaas. That was not
my intention. You brought me, or rather the flooded rivers
and you together brought me, for T was on my way to Natal
and couJd not croris the drifts."
" Yet I think you have a message for me, WTiite Man, for
not long ago a certain wandering witch-doctor who came
here told me to expect you and that you had words to say
tome."
" Did he, Umslopogaas ? Well, it is true that I have a
message, though it is one that I did not mean to deliver."
" Yet being here, perchance 3'ou will deliver it, Macu-
mazahn, for those who have messages and will not speak them,
sometimes come to trouble."
" Yes, being here, I will deliver it, seeing that so it seems
to be fatsd. Tell me, do you chance to knew a certain Small
43 She and Allan
One who is great, a certain Old One whose brain is youag, a
doctor who is called Opener-of-Roads ? "
" I have heard of him, as have my forefathers for
generations."
" Indeed, and if it pleases you to tell me, Umslopogaas,
what might be the names of those forefathers of yours, who
have heard of this doctor for generations ? They must have
been short-lived men and as such I should like to know of them."
" That you cannot," replied Umslopogaas shortly, " since
they are hlonipa {i.e., not to be spoken) in this land."
" Indeed," I said again. " I thought that rule applied
only to the names of kings, but of course I am but an ignorant
white man who may well be mistaken on such matters of your
Zulu customs."
" Yes, O Macumazahn, you may be mistaken or — you may
not. It matters nothing. But what of this message of yours ? "
" It came at the end of a long ston,', 0 Bulalio. But since
you seek to know, these were the words of it, so nearly as I
can remember them."
Then sentence by sentence I repeated to him all that
Zikali had said to me when he called me t)ack after bidding me
farewell, which donbtle^ ke did because he wished to cut his
message more deeply into the tablets of my mind.
Umslopogaas listened to every syllable wth a cuiious
intentness, and then asked me to repeat it all again, which I
did.
" Lousta I Monazi I " he said slowly. " Well, you heard
those names to-da^/, did you not, Wliite Man ? And you heard
certain things from the lips of this Monazi who was angry, that
give colour to that talk of the Opener-of-Roads. It seems to
me," he added, glancing about him and speaking in a low
voice, " that what I suspected is true and that without doubt
I am betrayed."
" I do not understand," I replied indifferently. " All this
talk is dark to me, as is the message of the Opener-of-Roads,
or rather its meaning. By whom and about what are you
betrayed ? "
" Let that snake sleep. Do not kick it with your foot.
Suffice it you to know that my head hangs upon this matter ;
that I am a rat in a forked stick, and if the stick is pressed on
by a heavy hand, then where is the rat ? "
" Where all rats go, I suppose, that is, unless they are wise
Umslopogaas of the Axe 43
rats that bite the hand which holds the stick before it is
pressed down."
" What is the rest of this story of yours, Macumazahn,
which was told before the Opener-of-Roads gave you that
message ? Does it please you to repeat it to me that I may
judge of it with my ears ? "
" Certainly," I answered, " on one condition, that what
the ears hear, the heart shall keep to itself alone."
Umslopogaas stooped and laid his hand upon the broad
blade of the weapon beside him, saying,
" By the Axe I swear it. If I break the oath be the Axe
my doom. "
Then I told him the tale, as I have set it down already,
thinking to myself that of it he would understand little, being
bjt a wild warrior-man. As it chanced, however, I was
mistaken, for he seemed to understand a great deal, perchance
because such primitive natures are in closer touch with high
and secret things than we imagine ; perchance for other rea-
sons with which I became acquainted later.
" It stands thus," he said when I had finished, " or so I
think. You, Macumazahn, seek certain women who are dead
to learn whether they still live, or are really dead, but so far
have failed to find them. Still seeking, you asked the counsel
of Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, he who among other titles is also
called ' Home of Spirits.' He answered that he could not
satisfy your heart because this tree was too tall for him to
climb, but that far to the north there lives a certain white
witch who has powers greater than his, being able to fly to the
top of any tree, and to this white witch he bade you go. Have
I the story right thus far ? "
I answered that he had.
" Good 1 Then Zikali went on to choose you companions
for your journey, but two, leaving out the guards or servants.
I, Umhlopekazi, called Bulalio the Slaughterer, called the
Woodpecker also, was one of these, and that little yellow
monkey of a man whom I saw with you to-day, called Hansi,
was the other. Then you made a mock of Zikali by deter-
mining not to visit me, Umhlopekazi, and not to go north to
find the great white Queen of whom he had told you, but to
return to Natal. Is that so ? "
I said it was.
'-- Then the rain fell and the winds blew and the rivers rose
44 She and Allan
in wrath so that you could not return to Natal, and after all
by chance, or by fate, or by the will of Zikali, the wizard of
wizards, you drifted here to the kraal of me, Umhlopekazi,
and told me this story."
" Just so," I answered.
" Well, White Man, how am I to know that all this is
not but a trap for my feet which already seem to feel cords
between the toes of both of them ? WTiat token do you bring,
O Watch er-by-Night ? How am I to know that the Opener-
of -Roads really sent me this message which has been delivered
so strangely by one who wished to travel on another path ?
The wandering witch-doctor told me that he who came would
bear some sign."
" I can't say," I answered, " at least in words. But," I
added after reflection, " as you ask for a token, perhaps I
might be able to show you something that would bring proof
to your heart, if there were any secret place "
Umslopogaas walked to the gateway of the fence and saw
that the sentry was at his post. Then he walked round the hut
casting an eye upon its roof, and muttered to me as he returned.
" Once i was caught thus. There lived a certain wife of
mine who set her ear to the smoke-hole and so brought about the
death of many, and among them of herself and of our children.
Enter. All is safe. Yt-t if yoi talk, speak low."
So we went into the hut taking the stools with us, and
seated ourselves by the fire that burned there on to which
Umslopogaas threw chips of resinous wood.
" Now," he said.
I opened my shirt and by the clear light of the flame
showed him the image of Zikali which hung about my neck.
He stared at it, though touch it he would not. Then he stood
up and lifting his great axe, he saluted the image with the
word " Makosi ! " the salute that is given to great wizards
because they are supposed to be the home of many spirits.
" It is the big Medicine, the Medicine itself," he said,
" that which has been known in the land since the time of
Senzangacona, the father of the Zulu Royal House, and as it
is said, before him."
" How can that be ? " I asked, seeing that this image
represents Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, as an old man, and
Senzangacona died many years ago ? "
" I do not know," he answered, " but it is so. Listen.
Umslopogaas of the Axe 45
There was a certain Mopo, or as some called him, Umbopo,
who was Chaka's body-servant and my foster-father, and he
told me that twice this Medicine," and he pointed to the
image, " was sent to Chaka, and that each time the Lion obeyed
the message that came with it. A third time it was sent but
he did not obey the message and then — where was Chaka ? "
Here Umslopogaas passed his hand across his mouth, a
significant gesture amongst the Zulus.
" Mopo," I said, " yes, I have heard the story of Mopo,
also that Chaka's body became kis servant in the end, since
Mopo killed him with the help of the princes Dingaan and
Umhlangana. Also I have heard that this Mopo still lives,
though not in Zululand."
" Does he, Macumazahn ? " said Umslopogaas, taking
snuff from a spoon and looking at me keenly over the spoon.
" You seera to know a great deal, Macumazahn ; too much as
some might think."
" Yes," I answered, " perhaps I do know too much, or
at any rate more than I want to know. For instance, O foster-
ling of Mopo and son of — was the lady named Baleka ? — I
know a good deal about you."
Umslop<:^aas stared at me and laying his hand upon the
great axe, half rose. Then he sat down again.
" I think that this," and I touched the image of Zikali
upon my breast, " would turn even the blade of the axe named
Groan-maker," I said and paused. As nothing happened, I
went on, " For instance, again I think I know — or have I
dreamed it ? — that a certain chief, whose mother's name I
believe was Baleka — by the way».was she not one of Chaka's
' sisters ' ? — has been plotting against that son of Panda who
sits upon the throne, and that his plots have been betrayed,
so that he is in some danger of his life."
" Macumazahn," said Umslopogaas hoarsely, " I tell you
that did you not .wear the Great Medicine on your breast, I
would kill you where you sit and bury you beneath the floor
of the hut, as one who knows — too much."
" It would be a mistake, Umslopogaas, one of the manr
that you have made. But as I <^ wear the Medicine, the
question does not arise, does it ? "
Again he made no answer and I went on, " And now, what
about ihii journey to the north ? If indeed I must make it
would j'ou wish to accompany me ? "
46 She and Allan
(Jmslopogaas rose from the stool and crawled out of the
hut, apparently to make some inspection. Presently he
returned and remarked that the night w^s clear although
there were hea\y storm clouds on the horizon, by which I
understood him to convey in Zulu metaphor that it was safe
for us to talk, but that danger threatened from afar.
" Macumazahn," he said, " we speak under the blanket
of the Opener-of-Roads who sits upon your heart, and whose
sign vou bring to me, as he sent me word that you would, do
we not ? "
" I suppose so," I answered. " At any rate we speak as
man to man, and hitherto the honour of Macumazahn has
not been doubted in Zululand. So if you have anything to say.
Chief Bulalio, say it at once, for I am tired and should like to
eat and rest."
" Good, Macumazahn. I have this to say. I who am the
son of one who was greater than he, have plotted to seize the
throne of Zululand from him who sits upon that throne. It is
true, for I grew weary of my idleness as a petty chief. More-
over, I should have succeeded with the help of Zikali, who
hates the House of Senzangacona, though me, who am of its
blood, he does not hate, because ever I have striven against
that House. But it seems from his message and those words
spoken by an angry woman, that I have been betrayed, and
that to-night or to-morrow night, or by the next moon, the
slayers will be upon me, smiting me before I can smite, at
which T cannot grumble."
" By whom have you been betrayed, Umslopogaas ? "
" By that wife of mine, as I think, Macumazahn. Also by
Lousta, my blood- brother, over whom she has cast her net
and made false to me, so that he hopes to win her whom he
has always loved and with her the Chieftainship of the Axe.
Now what shall I do ? — Tell me, you whose eyes can see in
the dark."
I thought a moment and answered, " I think that if I
were you, I would leave this Lousta to sit in my place for a
while as Chief of the People of the Axe, and take a journey
north, Umslopogaas. Then if trouble comes from the Great
House where a king sits.it will come to Lousta who can showthat
the People of the Axe are innocent and that you are faraway."
" That is cunning, Macumazahn. There speaks the Great
Medicine. If I go north, who can say that I have plotted, and
if I leave my betrayer in my place, who can say that I was a
Umslopogaas of the Axe 47
traitor, who have set him where I used to sit and left the land
upon a private matter ? And now tell me of this journey of
yours."
So I told him everjlhing, although until that moment I
had not made up my mind to go upon this journey, I who had
come here to his kraal by accident, or so it seemed, and by
accident had delivered to him a certain message.
" You wish to consult a white witch-doctoress, Macu-
mazahn, who according to Zikali lives far to the north, as to
the dead. Now I too, though perchance you will not think it
of a black man, desire to learn of the dead ; yes, of a certain
wife of my youth who was sister and friend as well as wife,
whom too I loved better than all the world. Also I desire to
learn of a brother of mine whose name I never speak, who ruled
the wolves vAth me and who died at my side on yonder Witch-
Mountain, having made him a mat of men to lie on in a great
and glorious fight. For of him as of the woman I think all
day and dream all night, and I would know if they still live
anywhere and I may look to see them again when I have died
as a warrior should and as I hope to do. Do you understand,
Watcher-by-Night ? "
I answered that I understood very well, as his case seemed
to be like my own.
"It may happen," went on Umslopogaas, "that all this
talk of the dead who are supposed to live after they are dead,
is but as the sound of wind whispering in the reeds at night,
that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere and means
nothing. But at least ours will be a great journey in which we
shall find adventure and fighting, since it is well known in the
land that wherever Macumazahn goes there is a plenty of both.
Also it seems well for reasons that have been spoken of between
us, as Zikali says, that I should leave the country of the Zulus
for a while, who desire to die a man's death at the last and
not to be trapped like a jackal in a pit. Lastly I think that
we shall agree well together though my temper is rough at
times, and that neither of us will desert the other in trouble,
though of that little yellow dog of yours I am not so sure."
" I answer for him," I replied. " Hans is a true man,
cunning also when once he is away from drink."
Then we spoke of plans for our journey, and of when and
where we should meet to make it, talking till it was late, after
which I went to sleep in the guest -hut.
CHAPTER IV
THE LION AND THE AXE
NEXT day early I left the town of the People of the
Axe, havine bid a formal farewell to Umslopogaas,
sa\ang in a voice that all could hear that as the
rivers were still flooded, I proposed to trek to the
northern parts of Zululand and trade there until the weather
was better. Our private arrangement, however, was that on
the night of the next full moon, which happened about four
weeks later, we should meet at the eastern foot of a certain
great, flat -topped mountain known to both of us, which stands
to the north of Zululand but well beyond its borders.
So northw^ard I trekked, slowly to spare my oxen, trading
as I went. The details do not matter, but as it happened I
met with more luck upon that journey than had come my way
for many a long year. Although I worked on credit since
nearly aU my goods were sold, as owing to my repute I could
always do in Zululand, I made some excellent bargains in
cattle, and to top up with, bought a large lot of ivory so cheap
that really I think it must have been stolen.
All of this, cattle and ivory together, I sent to Natal in
charge of a white friend of mine whom I could trust, where the
stuff was sold very well indeed, and the proceeds paid to my
account, the " trade " equivalents being duly remitted to the
native vendors.
In fact, my good fortune was such that if I had been
superstitious like Hans, I should have been inclined to at-
tribute it to the influence of Zikali's " Great Medicine." As it
was I knew it to be one of the chances of a trader's life and
accepted it with a shrug as often I had been accustomed to
do in the alternative of losses.
Only one unto^s'ard incident happened to me. Of a sudden
a party of the King's soldiers under the conrniand of a weL-
The Lion and the Axe 49
known Induna or Councillor, arrived and insisted upon
searchmg my waggon, as I thought at first in connection with
that cht^p lot of ivory which had already departed to Natal.
However, never a word did they say of ivory, nor indeed was
a single thing belonging to me taken by them.
. I was very indignant and expressed my feelings to the
Induna in no measured terms. He on his part was most
apologetic, and explained that what he did he was obliged to
do " by the King's orders." Also he let it slip that he was
seeking for a certain " evil-doer " who, it was thought, might
be with me without my knowing his real character, and as this
" evil-doer," whose name he would not mention, was a very
fierce man, it had been necessary to bring a strong guard with
him.
Now I bethought me of Umslopc^aas, but merely looked
blank and shrugged my shoulders, saving that I was not in the
habit of consorting with evil-doers.
Still unsatisfied, the Induna questioned me as to the places
where I had been during this journey of mine in the Zulu
country. I told him with the utmost frankness, mentionin\,'
among others — because I was sure that already he knew a.I
my movements well — the tON^-n of the People of the Axe.
Then he asked me if I had seen its Chief, a certain Um-
slopogaas or Bulalio. I answered, Yes, that I had met hini
there for the first time and thought him a very remarkable
man.
With this the Induna agreed emphatically, sajdng that
perhaps I did not know how remarkable. Next he asked me
where he was now, to which I replied that I had not tho
faintest idea, but I presumed in his kraal where I had left
him. The Induna explained that he was not in his kraal ;
that he had gone a\\^y leaving one Lousta and his own head
wife Monazi to administer the chieftainship for a while,
because, as he stated, he ^\ished to make a journey.
I yawTied as if weary of the subject of this chief, and
indeed of the whole business. Then the Induna said that I
must come to the King and repeat to him all the words that
I had spoken. I replied that I could not possibly do so as,
having finished my trading, I had arranged to go north t)
shoot elephants. Re answered that elephants lived a long
while and would not die while I was visiting the King.
Then followed an argument which grew heated and ended
50 She and Allan
*n his declaring that to the King I must come, even if he had
to take mc there by force.
I sat silent, wondering what to say or do and leant forward
to pick a piece of wood out of the fire wherewith to light my
pipe. Now my shirt was not buttoned and as it chanced this
action caused the ivory image of Zikali that hung about my
neck to appear between its edges. The Induna saw it and
his eyes grew big with fear.
" Hide that I " he whispered, " hide that, lest it should
bewitch me. Indeed already I feel as though I were being
bewitched. It is the Great Medicine itself."
"That v.i]l certainly happen to you," I said, yawning again,
" if you insist upon my taking a week's trek to visit the Black
One, or interfere with me in any v.'ay now or afterwards," and
I lifted my hand towards the talisman, looking him steadily
in the face.
" Perhaps after all, Macumazahn, it is not necessary for
you to visit the King," he said in an uncertain voice. " I
will go and make report to him that you know nothing of this
evil-doer."
And he went in such a hurry that he never waited to say
good-bye. Next morning before the dawn I went also and
trekked steadily until 1 was clear of Zululand.
In due course and without accident, for the weather, which
had been so wet, had now turned beautifully fine and dry,
we came to the great, fiat -topped hill that I have mentioned,
trekking thither over high, sparsely-timbered veld that offered
few difficulties to the waggon. This peculiar hill, known to
such natives as lived in those parts by a long word that means
" Hut-with-a-flat-roof," is surrounded by forest, for here
trees grow wonderfully well, perhaps because of the water
that Q.ovis from its slopes. Forcing our way through this
forest, which was full of game, I reached its eastern foot and
there camped, five days before that night of full moon on
which I had arranged to meet Umslopogaas.
That I should meet him I did not in the least believe,
firstly because I thought it very probable that he would have
changed his mind about coming, and secondly for the excellent
reason that L expected he had gone to call upon the King
against his wiU, as I had been asked to do. It was evident to
me that he was up to his ej'es in some serious plot against
The Lion and the Axe 51
Cetyw&yo, in which he was the old dwarf Zi kali's partner, or
rather, tool ; also that his plot had been betrayed, with the
result that he \^as " wanted " and would have little chance of
passing safely through Zululand. So taking one thing with
another I imagined that I had seen his grim face and his
peculiar, ancient -looking axe for the last time.
To tell the truth I was glad. Although at first the idea
had appealed to me a little, I did not want to make this wild-
goose, or wild-witch chase through unknown lands to seek for
a totally fabulous person who dwelt far across the Zambesi.
I had, as it were, been forced into the thing, but if Um-
slopogaas did not appear, my obligations would be at an end
and I should return to Natal at my leisure. First, however,
I would do a little shooting since I found that a large herd of
elephants haunted this forest. Indeed I was tempted to
attack them at once, but did not do so since, as Hans pointed
out, if we were going north it would be dif&cult to carry the
ivory, especially if we had to leave the waggon, and I was too
old a hunter to desire to kill the great beasts for the fun of
the thing.
So I just sat down and rested, letting the oxen feed thronirh-
out the hours of light on the rich grasses which grew upon the
bottom-most slopes of the big mountain where we were
camped by a stream, not more than a hundred yards abo-.-e
the timber line.
At some time or other there had been a native village at
this spot ; probably the Zulus had cleaned it out in long past
years, for I found human bones black with age lying in the
long grass. Indeed, the cattle-kraal still remained and in
such good condition that by piling up a few stones here and
there on the walls and closing the narrow entrance with thorn
bushes, we could still use it to enclose our oxen at night. This
I did for fear lest there should be lions about, though I had
neither seen nor heard them.
So the days went by pleasantly enough with lots to eat,
since whenever we wanted meat I had only to go a few yards
to shoot a fat buck at a spot whither they trekked to drmk in
the evening, till at last came the time of full moon. Of this
I was also glad, since, to tell the truth, I had begun to be
bored. Rest is good, but for a man who has always led an
active life too much of it is very bad, for then he begins to
think and thought in large doses is depressing.
52 She and Allan
Of the fire-eating Umslopogaas there was no sign, so I
made up my mind that on the morrow I would start after
those elephants and when I had shot — or failed to shoot —
some of them, return to Natal. I felt unable to remain idle
any more ; it never was my gift to do so, which is perhaps
why I employ my ample leisure here in England in jotting
down such reminiscences as these.
Well, the full moon came up in silver glory and after I had
taken a good look at her for luck, also at all the veld within
sight, I turned in. An hour or two later some noise from the
dkection of the cattle-kraal woke me up. As it did not recur,
I thought that I would go to sleep again. Then an uneasy
thought came to me that I could not rt'inember having looked
to see whether the entrance was properly closed, as it was my
habit to do. It was the same sort of troublesome doubt which
in a civilised house makes a man get out of bed and go along the
cold passages to the sitting-room to see whether he has put
out the lamp. It always proves that he has put it out, but
that does not prevent a repetition of the performance next
time the perplexity arises.
I reflected that perhaps the noise was caused by the oxen
pushing their way through the carelessly-closed entrance, and
it any rate that I had better go to see. So I slipped on my
boots and a coat and went without waking Hans or the boys,
only taking with me a loaded, single-barrelled rifle which I used
^or shooting small buck, but no spare cartridges.
Now in f ■ ont of the gateway of the cattle-kraal, shading it,
grew a single big tree of the wild fig order. Passing under
this tree I looked and saw that the gateway was quite securely
closed, as now I remembered I had noted at sunset. Then I
■started to go back but had not stepped more than two or three
paces when, in the bright moonlight, I saw the head of my
smallest ox, a beast of the Zulu breed, suddenly appear over
the top of the wall. About this there would have been nothing
particularly astonishing, had it not been for the fact that this
head belonged to a dead animal, as I could tell from the
closed eyes and the hanging tongue.
" What in the name of goodness " I began to myself,
when my reflections were cut short by the appearance of
another head, that of one of the biggest lions I ever saw,
which had the ox by the throat, and with the enormous
strength that is given to these creatures, by getting its back
The Lion and the Axe 53
beneath the body, \v2.s deliberately hoisting it over the wall,
to drag it away to devour at its leisure.
There was the brute \\ithin twelve feet of me, and what is
more, it saw me as I saw it, and stopped, still holding the ox
by the throat,
" What a chance for Allan Quatermain I Of course he
shot it dead," one can fancy an5'-one saying who knows me by
repute, also that by the gift of God I am handy with a rifle.
Well, indeed it should have been, for even with the small-
bore piece that I carried, a bullet ought to have pierced through
the soft parts of its throat to the brain and to have killed that
lion as dead as Julius C-esar. Theoretically the thing was
easy enough ; indeed, although I was startled for a moment,
by the time that I had the rifle to my shoulder I had little
fear of the issue, unless there was a miss-fire, especially as the
beast seemed so astonished that it remained quite still.
Then the unexpected happened as it generally does in
'fe, particularly in hunting, which, in my case, is a part of
life, I fired, but by misfortune the bullet struck the tip of the
horn of that confounded ox, which tip either was or at that
Muent fell in front of the spot on the lion's throat wiiereat
■If-unconsciously I had aimed. Result : the ball was turned
and, departing at an angle, just cut the skin of the lion's
neck deeply enough to hurt it very much and to make it
madder than all the hatters in the world.
Dropping the ox, with a most terrific roar it came over the
wall at me — I remember that there seemed to be yards of it —
I mean of the lion — in front of which appeared a cavernous
mouth full of gleaming teeth.
I skipped back with much agility, also a little to one side,
because there was nothing else to do, reflecting in a kind of
mconsequent way, that after all Zikali's Great Medicine was
not worth a curse. The lion landed on my side of the wall and
reared itself upon its hind legs before getting to business,
towering high above me but slightly to my left.
Then I saw a strange thing. A shadow thrown by the
moon flitted past me — all I noted of it was the distorted shape
of a great, lifted axe, probably because the axe came first.
The ^adow fell and with it another shadow, that of a lion's
paw dropping to the ground. Next there was a most awful
noise of roaring, and wheeling round I saw such a fray a.s
never I shall see again. A tall, grim, black man was fighting
54 She and Allan
the great lion, that now lacked one paw, but still stood upon
its hind legs, striking at him with the other.
The man, who was absolutely silent, dodged the blow and
hit back with the axe, catching the beast upon the breast
with such weight that it came to the ground in a lopsided
fashion, since now it had only one fore-foot on which to light.
The axe flashed up again and before the lion could recover
itself, or do an;yi:hing else, fell with a crash upon its skull,
sinking deep into the head. After this all was over, for the
beast's brain was cut in two.
" I am here at the appointed time, Macumazahn," said
Umslopogaas, for it was he, as with difficulty he dragged the
axe from the lion's severed skull, " to find you watching by
night as it is reported that you always do."
" No," I retorted, for his tone irritated me, " you are late,
Bulalio, the moon has been up some hours."
" I said, O Macumazahn, that I would meet you on the
night of the full moon, not at the rising of the moon."
" That is true," I replied, mollified, " and at any rate
you came at a good moment."
" Yes," he answered, " though as it happens in this clear
light the thing was easy to anyone who can handle an axe.
Had it been darker the end might have been different. But,
Macumazahn, you are not so clever as I thought, since other-
wise you would not have come out against a lion with a toy
like that," and he pointed to the little rifle in my hand.
" I did not know that there was a lion, Umslopogaas."
" That is why you are not so clever as I thought, since of
one sort or another there is always a lion which wise men
should be prepared to meet, Macumazahn."
" You are right again," I replied.
At that moment Hans arrived upon the scene, followed at a
discreet distance by the waggon boys, and took in the situa-
tion at a glance.
" The Great Medicine of the Opener-of-Roads has worked
well," was all he said.
" The great medicine of the Opener-of-Heads has worked
better," remarked Umslopogaas with a little laugh and
pointing to his red axe. " Never before since she came into
my keeping has Inkosiluias {i.e., " Chieftainess,' for so was this
famous weapon namef^) sunk so low as to drink the blood of
beasts. Still, the stroke was a good-jue so she need not be
The Lion and the Axe 55
ashamed. But, Yellow Man, how comes it that you who, I
have been told, are cunning, vvatch your master so ill ? "
" I was asleep," stuttered Hans indignantly.
" Those who serve should never sleep," replied Um-
Islopogaas sternly. Then he turned and whistled, and behold 1
out of the long grass that grew at a little distance, emerged
twelve great men, all of them bearing axes and wearing cloaks
of hyena skins, who saluted me by raising their axes.
" Set a watch and skin me this beast by dawn. It will
make us a mat," said Umdopogaas, whereon again they
I saluted sUently and melted away.
" Who are these ? " I asked.
" A few picked warriors whom I brought with me, Macu-
mazahn. There were one or two more, but they got lost on
' the way."
Then we went to the waggon and spoke no more that night.
Next morning I told Umslopogaas of the visit I had
received from the Induna of the King who wished me to come
to the royal kraal. He nodded and said,
" As it chances certain thieves attacked me on my journey,
which is why one or two of ray people remain behind who will
never travel again. We made good play with those thieves ;
not one of them escaped," he added grimly, " and their bodies
we threw into a river where are many crocodiles. But their
spears I brought away and I think that they are such as the
King's guard use. If so, his search for them viill be long, since
the fight took place where no man lives and we burned the
shields and trappings. Oho i he will think that the ghosts
have taken them."
That morning we trekked on fast, fearing lest a regiment
searching for these "thieves" should strike and follow our
spoor. Luckily the ox that the lion had killed was one of
some spare cattle which I was driving with me, so its loss did not
inconvenience us. As we went Umslopogaas told me that he
had duly appointed Lousta and his wife Monazi to rule the
tribe during his absence, an ofi&ce which they accepted doubt-
fullv, Monazi acting as Chieftainess and Lousta as her head
Induna or Councillor.
I asked him whether he thought this wise under all the
circumstances, seeing that it had occurred to me since I made
the suggestion, that they might be unwilling to surrender
56 She and Allan
j-'Ower on his return, also that other domestic complications
might ensue,
" It matters little, Macumazahn," he said with a shrug of
his great shoulders, " for of this I am sure, that I have played
my part with the People of the Axe and to stop among them
would have meant my death, who am a man betrayed. What
do I care who love none and now have no children ? Still, it is
true that I might have fled to Natal with the cattle and there
have led a fat and easy life. But ease and plenty I do not
desire who would live and fall as a warrior sho'ild.
" Never again, mayhap, shall I see the Ghost -Mountain
where the wolves ravened and the old Witch sits in stone
\\aiting for the world to die, or sleep in the tovm of the People
of the Axe. WTiat do I want with wives and oxen while I
have Inkosikaas the Groan-maker and she is true to me ? "
he added, shaking the ancient axe above his head so that the
sun gleamed upon the curved blade and the hoUow gouge or
point at the back beyond the shaft socket. "Where the Axe goes,
there go the strength and virtue of the Axe, 0 Macumazahn."
" It is a strange weapon," I said.
" Aye, a strange and an old, forged far away, says
Zikali, by a warrior-wizard hundreds of j'cars ago, a great
fighter who was also the first of smiths and who sits in the
Under-world waiting for it to return to his hand when its work
is finished beneath the sun. That will be soon, Macumazahn,
since Zikali told me that I am the last Holder of the Axe."
" Did you then see the Opener-of-Roads ? " I asked.
" Aye, I saw him. He it was who told me which way to
go to escape from ZJuland. Also he laughed when he heard
how the flooded riverb brought you to my kraal, and sent you
a message in which he said that the spirit of a snake had told
him that you tried to throw the Great Medicine into a pool,
but were stopped by that snake, whilst it was still alive.
This, he said, you must do no more, lest he should send another
siake to stop_yoM."
" Did he ? " I replied indignantly, for Zikali's power of
seeing or learning about things that happened at a distance
puzzled and annoyed me.
Only Hans grinned and said,
" I told you so, Baas,"
On we travelled from day to day, meeting with such
The Lion and the Axe 57
difficulties and dangers as are common on roadless veld in
Africa, but no more, for the grass was good and there was
plenty of game, of which we shot what we wanted for meat.
Indeed, here in the back regions of what is known as Portu-
guese South East Africa, every sort of wHd animal was so
numerous that personally I wished we could turn our journey
into a shooting expedition.
But of this Umslopogaas, whom hunting bored, would not
hear. In fact, he was much more anxious than myself to
carry out our original purpose. When I asked him why,
he answered because of something Zikali had told him. What
this was he would not say, except that in the country whither
we wandered he would fight a great figh^ and win much
honour.
Now Umslopogaas was by nature a fighting man, one who
took a positive joy in battle, and like an old Norseman,
seemed to think that thus only could a man decorously die.
This amazed me, a peaceful person who loves quiet and a
home. Still, I gave way, partly to please him, partly because
I hoped that we might discover something of interest, and
still more because, having once undertaken an enterprise, my
pride prompted me to see it through.
Now while he was preparing to draw his map in the ashes,
or afterwards, I forget which, Zikali had told me that when
we drew near to the great river we should come to a place on
the edge of bush-veld that ran down to the river, where a
white man lived, adding, after casting his bones and reading
from them, that he thought this white man was a " trek-Boer."
This, I should exp.^ain, means a Dutchman who has travelled
awaj' from wherever he lived and made a home for himself in
the wilderness, as some wandering spirit and the desire to be
free of authority often prompt these people to do. Also,
after another inspection of his enchanted knuckle-bones, he had
declared that something remarkable would happen to this
man or his family, while T was \asiting him. Lastly in that
map he drew in the ashes, the details of which were impressed so
indelibly upon my memory, he had shown me where I should
find the dwelling of this white man, of whom and of whose
habitation doubtless he knew through the many spies who
seemed to be at the service of all witch -doctors, and more
especially of Zikali, the greatest among them.
Travelling by the sun and the compass I had trekked
58 She and Allan
steadily in the exact direction which he indicated, to find that
in this useful particular he was well named the " Opener-of-
Roads," since always before me I found a practicable path,
although to the right or the left there would have been none.
Thus when we came to mountains, it was at a spot where we
discovered a pass ; when we came to swamps it was where a
ridge of high ground ran between, and so forth. Also such
tribes as we met upon our journey always proved of a friendly
character, aJthough perhaps the aspect of Umslopogaas and
his fierce band whom, rather irreverently, I named his twelve
Apostles, had a share in inducing this peaceful attitude.
So smooth was our process and so well marked by water at
certain intervals, that at last I carae to the conclusion that we
must be following some ancient road which at a forgotten
period of history, had run from south to north, or vic^ versd.
Or rather, to be honest, it was the observant Hans who made
this discovery from various indications which had escaped
my notice. I need not stop to detail them, but one of these
•w&s that at certain places the water-holes on a high, rather
barren land had been dug out, and in one or more instances,
lined with stones after the fashion of an ancient well. Evi-
dently we were following an old trade route made, perhaps, in
forgotten ages when Africa was more civilised than it is now.
Passing over certain higjh, misty lands during the third
week of our trek, where frequently at this season of the year
the sun never showed itself before ten o'clock and disappeared
at three or four in the aftemeon, and where twice we were
held up for two whole days by dense fog, we came across a
queer nomadic people who seemed to live in movable grass
huts and to keep great herds of goats and long-tailed sheep.
These folk ran away from us at first, but when they found
that we did them no harm, became friendly and brought us
offerings of milk, also of a kind of slug or caterpillar which
they seemed to eat. Hans, who was a great master of difierent
native dialects, di.scovered a tongue, or a mixture of tongues,
in which he could make himsdf understood to some of them.
They tdd him that in their day they had never seen a
V hite man, altkough their fathers' fathers (an expression by
wiach they meant their remote ancestors) had known many of
th«.m. They added, however, that if we went on steadily
tov. irds the north for another seven days' journey, we should
come to a place where a white man lived, one, they had heard.
The Lion and the Axe 59
who had a long beard and killed animals with gnns. as we
did.
Encouraged bj' this intelligence we pushed forward, now
travelling down hUl out of the mists into a more genial
country. Indeed, the veld here was beautiful, high, rolling
plains like those of the East African plateau, covered with a
deep and fertile chocolate-coloured soil, as we could see where
the rains had washed out dongas. The climate, too, seemed
to be cool and very healthful. Altogether it was a pity to see
such lands hdng idle and tenanted only by countless herds of
game, for there were not any native inhabitants, or at least
we met none.
On we trekked, our road still sloping slightly down hill,
till at length we saw far away a vast sea of bush-veld which, as
I guessed correctly, must fringe the great Zambesi River.
Moreover we, or rather Hans, whose e5'es were those of a
hawk, saw something else, namely buUdiiigs of a more or less
ci\Tlised kind, which stood among trees by the side of a stream
several miles on this side of the great belt of bush.
" Look, Baas," said Hans, " those wanderers did not lie ;
there is the house of the white man. I wonder if he drinks
anything stronger than water," he added with a sigh and c
kind of reminiscent contraction of his yellow throat.
As it happened, he did.
CHAPTER V
INEZ
WE had sighted the house from far awa}' shortly after
sunrise and by midday we were there. As we
approached I saw that it stood almost im-
mediately beneath two great baobab trees,
babyan trees we call them in South Africa, perhaps because
monkeys eat their fruit. It was a thatched house with
whitewashed walls and a stoep or veranda round it, ap-
parently of the ordinary Dutch type. Moreover, beyond it,
at a little distance were other houses or rather shanties with
waggon sheds, etc., and beyond and mixed up with these a
number of native huts. Further on were considerable fields
green with springing corn ; also we saw herds of cattle grazing
on the slopes. Evidently our white man was rich.
Umslopogaas surveyed the place with a soldier's eye and
said to me,
" This must be a peaceful country, Macumazahn, where no
attack is feared, since of defences I see none."
" Yes," I answered, " why not, with a wilderness behind
it and bush-veld and a great river in front ? "
" Men can cross rivers and travel through bush -veld," he
answered, and was silent.
Up to this time we had seen no one, although it might have
been presumed that a waggon trekking towards the house was
a sufficiently unusual sight to have attracted attention.
" WTiere can they be ?" I asked.
" Asleep, Baas, I thmk," said Hans, and as a matter of
fact he u*as right. The whole population of the place was
indulging in a noonday siesta.
At last we came so near to the house that I halted the
wag con and descended from the diiving-box in order to in-
vestigate. At this moment someone did appear, the sight of
Inez 6i
whom astonished me not a little, namely, a very striking-
looking young woman. She was tall, handsome, with large
dark eyes, good features, a rather pale complexion, and I
think the saddest face that I ever saw. Evidently she had
heard the noise of the waggon and had come out to see what
caused it, for she had nothing on her head, which was covered
with thick hair of a raven blackness. Catching sight of the
great Umslopogaas with his gleaming axe and of his savage-
looking bodyguard, she uftered an exclamation and not
unnaturally turned to fly.
" It's all right," I sang out, emerging from behind the
oxen, and in English, though before the words had left my
lips I reflected that there was not the slightest reason to sup-
pose that she would understand them. Probably she was
Dutch, or Portuguese, although by some instinct I had ad-
dressed her in English.
To my surprise she answered me in the same tongue,
spoken, it is true, with a peculiar accent which I could not
place, as it was neither Scotch nor Irish.
" Thank you," slie said. " I, sir, was frightened. Your
friends look " Here she stumbled for a word, then
added, " terrocious."
I laughed at this composite adjective and answered,
" Well, so they are in a way, though they will not harm you
or me. But, young lady, tell me, can we outspan here ?
Perhaps your husband "
" I have no husband, I have only a father, sir," and she
sighed.
" Well, then, could I speak to your father ? My name is
AUan Quatermain and I am making a journey of exploration,
to find out about the country beyond, you know."
" Yes, I will go to wake him. He is asleep. Everyone
sleeps here at midday — except me," she said with another
sigh.
"Why do you not follow their example?" I asked
jocosely, for this young woman puzzled me and I wanted to
find out about her.
" Because I sleep little, sir, who think too much. There
wUl be plenty of time to sleep soon for all of us, v.ill there
not ? "
I stared at her and inquired her name, because I did not
know what else to say.
62 She and Allan
" My name is Inez Robertson," she answered. " I will go
tu wake my father. Meanwhile please unyoke your oxen.
Tliey can feed with the others ; they look as though they
wanted rest, poor things." Then she turned and went into
the house,
" Inez Robertson," I said to myself, " that's a queer
combination. English father and Portuguese mother, I
suppose. But what can an Englishman be doing in a place
like this ? If it had been a trek-Boer I should not have been
surprised." Then I began to give directions about out-
spanning.
We had just got the oxen out of the yokes, when a big,
raw-boned, red-bearded, blue-ej-ed, roughly-clad man of
about fifty years of age appeared from the house, yawnir:g.
I threw my eye over him as he advanced with a peculiar rolling
gait, and formed certain conclusions. A drunkard who has
oi.ce been a gentleman, I reflerted to myself, for there was
something peculiarly dissolute in his appearance, also one who
has had to do with the sea, a diagnosis which proved very
accurate.
" How do you do, Mr. Allan Quatermain, which I think ray
daughter said is your name, unless I dreamed it, for it is one
that I seem to have heard before," he exclaimed with a broad
Scotch accent which I do not attempt to reproduce. " WTiat
in the name of blazes brings you here where no real white man
has been for years ? Well, I am glad enough to see you any
way, for I am sick of half-breed Portuguese and niggers, and
snuflf-and-butter girls, and gin and bad whisky. Leave your
people to attend to those oxen and come in and have a drink "
" Thank you, Mr. Robertson "
" Captain Robertson," he interrupted. " Man, don't look
astonished. You mightn't guess it, but I commanded a mail-
steamer once and should like to hear myself called rightly
again before I die."
" I beg your pardon — Captain Robertson, but myself, I
don't drink anything before sundown. Hov/ever, if you have
something to eat ? "
" Oh yes, Inez — she's my daughter — will find you a bite.
Those men of yours," and he also looked doubtfully at Um-
slopogaas and his savage company, " will want food as well.
I'll have a beast killed for them ; they look as if they could
eat it, horns and all. Where are my people? AH asleep, I
Inez 63
suppose, the lazy lubbers. Wait a bit, I'll wake them up."
Going to the house he snatched a great sjambok cut from
hippopotamus hide, from where it hung on a nail in the wall,
and ran towards the group of huts which I have mentioned,
roftring out the name Thomaso, also a string of oaths such as
seamen use, mixed with others of a Portuguese variety. What
happened there I could not see because boughs were in the
way, but presently I heard blows and screams, and caught sight
of people, all dark-skinned, flying from the huts.
A little later a fat, half-breed man — I should say from his
curling hair that his mother was a negress and his father a
Portuguese, — appeared with some other nondescript fellows and
began to give directions in a competent fashion about our
o\en, also as to the killing of a calf He spoke in bastard
Portuguese, which I could understand, and I heard him talk of
Umslopogaas to whom he pointed, as " that nigger," after the
fashion of such cross-bred people who choose to consider
themselves white men. Also he made uncomplimentary
remarks about Hans, who of course understood every word he
said. Evidently Thomaso's temper had been ruffled by this
sudden and violent disturbance of his nap.
Just then our host reappeared pufi&ng with his exertions
and declaring that he had stirred up the swine with a ven-
geance, in proof of which he pointed to the sjambok that was
reddened with blood.
" Captain Robertson," I said, " I wish to give you a hint
to be passed on to Mr. Thomaso, if that is he. He spoke of the
Zulu soldier there as a nigger, etc. Well, he is a chief of high
rank and rather a terrible fellow if roused. Therefore I
recommend Mr. Thomaso not to let him understand that he
is insulting him."
" Oh ! that's the way of these ' snuff-and-butters ' one of
whose grandmothers once met a white man," replied the
Captain, laughing, " but I'll tell him," and he did in Portuguese.
His retainer listened in silence, looking at Umslopogaas
rather sulkily. Then we walked into the house. As we went
the Captain said,
" Senor Thomaso — he calls himself Seiior — is my manager
here and a clever man, honest too in his way and attached to
me, perhaps because I saved his life once. But he has a nasty
temper, as have all these cross-breeds, so I hope he won't get
wrong with that native who carries a big axe."
64 She and Allan
" I hope so too, for his own sake," I replied emphatically.
The Captain led the way into the sitting-room ; there was
but one in the house. It proved a queer kind of place with
rude furniture seated with strips of hide after the Boer
fashion, and yet bearing a certain air of refinement which was
doubtless due to Inez, who, with the assistance of a stout
native girl, was already engaged in setting the table. Thus
there was a shelf with books, Shakespeare was one of these,
I noticed — over which hung an ivory crucifix, which suggested
that Inez was a Catholic. On the walls, too, were some good
portraits, and on the window-ledge a jar full of flowers.
Also the forks and spoons were of silver, as were the
mugs, and engraved with a tremendous coat-of-arras and a
Portuguese motto.
Presently the food appeared, which was excellent and
plentiful, and the Captain, his daughter and I sat down and
ate. I noted that he drank gin and water, an innocent-
looking beverage but strong as he took it. It was offered to
me, but like Miss Inez, I preferred coffee.
During the meal and afterwards while we smoked upon
the veranda, I told them as much as I thought desirable of
my plans. I said that I was engaged on a journe}- of ex-
ploration of the country beyond the Zambesi, and that having
heard of this settlement, which, by the way, was called
Strathmuir, as I gathered after a place in far away Scotland
where the Captain had been born and passed his childhood, I
had come here to inquire as to how to cross the great river,
and about other things.
The Captain was interested, especially when I informed
him that I vra.s that same " Hunter Quatermain " of whom
he had heard in past years, but he told me that it would be
impossible to take the waggon down into the low bush-veld
which we could see beneath us, as there all the oxen would
die of the bite of the tsetse fly. I answered that I was aware
of this -and proposed to try to make an arrangement to leave
it in his charge till I returned.
" That might be managed, Mr. Quatermain," he answered.
" But, man, will you ever return ? They say there are queer
folk li\ing on the other side of the Zambesi, savage men who
are cannibals, Amahagger I think they call them. It was
they who in past years cleaned out all this country, except a
tew river tribes who live in floating huts or on islands amon^
Inez 65
:ie reeds, and that's why it is so empty. But this happened
iDng ago, much before my time, and I don't suppose they
.ill ever cross the river again."
" If I might ask, what brought you here. Captain ? " 1
aid, for the point was one on which I felt curious,
j " That which brings most men to wild places, Mr. Quater-
liain — trouble. If you want to know, I had a misfortune
ind piled up my ship. There were some lives lost and,
lightly or wrongly, I got the sack. Then I started as a trader
n a God-forsaken hole named Chinde, one of the Zambesi
nouths, you know, and did very well, as we Scotchmen have
t way of doing.
" There I married a Portuguese lady, a real lady of high
)lood, one of the old sort. When my girl, Inez, was about
welve years old I got into more trouble, for my wife died
md it pleased a certaiii relative of hers to say that it was
because I had negkcted her. This ended in a row and the
ruth is that I killed him — in fair fight, mind you. Still, kill
lim I did though I scarcely knew that I had done it at the
;ime, after which the place grew too hot to hold me. So I sold
ip and swore that I would have no more to do with what they
ire pleased to call civilisation on the East Coast.
" During my trading I had heard that there was fine
country up this way, and here I came and settled years ago,
aringing my girl and Thomaso, who was one of my managers,
dso a few other people with me. And here I have been ever
since, doing very well as before, for I trade a lot in ivory and
Dther things and grow stuff and cattle, which I sell to the River
natives. Yes, I am a rich man now and could go to live on
my means in Scotland, or anywhere."
" Why don't you ? " I asked.
" Oh I for many reasons. I have lost touch with all that
and become half wild and I like this life and the sunshine and
being my owni master". Also, if I did, things might be raked
up against me, about that man's death. Also, though I
daresay it will make you think badl\' of me for it, Mr. Quater-
main, I have ties down there," and he waved his hand towards
the village, if so it could be called, " which it wouldn't be easy
for me to break. A man may be fond of his children, Mr.
Quatermain, even if their skins ain't so white as they ought
to be. Lastly I have habits — you see, I am speaking out to
you as man to man — which might get me into trouble again
G
66 She and Allan
if I went back to the world," and he nodded his fine, capable-
looking head in the direction of the bottle on the table.
" I see," I said hastily, for this kind of confession bursting
out of the man's lonely heart when what he had drunk took a
hold of him, was painful to hear. " But how about your
daughter. Miss Inez ? "
" Ah I " he said, with a quiver in his voice, " there \'0U
touch it. She ought to go away. There is no one for her
to marry here, where we haven't seen a white man for ye;irs,
and she's a lady right enough, like her mother. But who is
she to go to, being a Roman Catholic whom my own dour
Presbyterian folk in Scotland, if an}' of them are left, would
turn their backs on ? Moreover, she loves me in her own
fashion, as I love her, and she wouldn't leave me because she
thinks it her duty to stay and knows that if she did, I should
go to the devil altogether. Still — perhaps you might help me
about her, Mr. Quatermain, that is if you live to come back
from your journey," he added doubtfully.
I felt inclined to ask how I could possibly help in such a
matter, but thought it wisest to say nothing. This, however,
he did not notice, for he went on,
" Now I think I will have a nap, as I do my work in the
early morning, and sometimes late at night when my brain
seems to clear up again, for you see I was a sailor for many
years and accustomed to keeping watches. You'll look after
yourself, won't you, and treat the place as your own ? " Then
he vanished into the house to lie down.
When I had finished my pipe I went for a walk. First I
visited the waggon where I found Umslopogaas and his company
engaged in cooking the beast that had been given them, Zulu
fashion ; Hans with his usual cunning had already secured a
meal, probably from the servants, or from Inez herself ; at
least he left them and followed me. First we went down to
the huts, where we saw a number of good-looking young
women of mixed blood, all decently dressed and engaged about
their household duties. Also we saw four or five boys and
girls, to say nothing of a baby in arms, fine young people, one
or two of whom were more white than coloured.
" Those children are very like the Baas with the red
beard," remarked Hans reflectively.
" Yes," I said, and shivered, for now I understood the
avf ilness of this poor man's case. He was the father of a
Inez 67
number of half-breeds who tied him to this spot as anchors tie
a ship. I went on rather hastily past some sheds to a long,
low building which proved to be a store. Here the quarter-
blood called Thomaso, and some assistants were engaged in
trading with natives from the Zambesi swamps, men of a kind
that I had never seen, but in a way more civilised than many
further south. What they were selling or buying, I did not
stop to see, but I noticed that the store was full of goods of one
sort or another, including a great deal of ivory, which, as I
supposed, had come down the river from inland.
Then we walked on to the cultivated fields where we saw
corn growing very well, also tobacco and other crops. Beyond
this were cattle kraals and in the distance we perceived a
great number of cattle and goats feeding on the slopes.
" This red-bearded Baas must be very rich in all things,"
remarked the observant Hans when we had completed our
investigations.
" Yes," I answered, " rich and yet poor,"
" How can a man be both rich and yet poor, Baas ? "
asked Hans.
Just at that moment some of the half-breed children whom
I have mentioned, ran past us more naked than dressed and
whooping like little savages. Hans contemplated them
gravely, then said,
" I think I understand now, Baas. A man may be rich
in things he loves and yet does not want, which makes him
poor in other ways."
" Yes," I answered, "as you are, Hans, when you take too
much to drink."
Just then we met the stately Miss Inez returning from the
store, carrying some articles in a basket, soap, I think, and
tea in a packet, amongst them. I told Hans to take the basket
and bear it to the house for her. He went off with it and,
walking slowly, we fell into conversation.
" Your father must do very well here," I said, nodding at
the store with the crowd of natives round it.
" Yes," she answered, " he makes much money which he
puts in a bank at the coast, for living costs us nothing and
there is great profit in what he buys and sells, also in the crops
he grows and in the cattle. But," she added pathetically,
" what is the use of money in a place like this ? "
I- You can get things with it," I answered vaguely.
68 She and Allan
" That is what my father says, but what does he get ?
Strong stuff to drink ; dresses for those women down there,
and sometimes pearls, jewels and other things for me which I
do not want. I have a box full of them set in ugly gold,
or loose which I cannot use, and if I put them on, who is there
to see them ? That clever half-breed, Thomaso — for he is
clever in his way, faithful too — or the women down there —
no one else."
" You do not seem to be happy, Miss Inez."
" No. I cannot tell how unhappy others are, who have
met none, but sometimes I think that I must be the most
miserable woman in the world."
" Oh ! no," I replied cheerfiilly, " plenty are worse
off."
" Then, Mr. Quatermain, it must be because they cannot
feel. Did you ever have a father whom you loved ? "
" Yes, Miss Inez. He is dead, but he was a very good
man, a kind of saint. Ask my servant, the little Hottentot
Hans ; he will tell you about him."
" Ah I a very good man. Well, as you maj' have guessed,
mine is not, though there is much good in him, for he has a
kind heart, and a big brain. But the drink and those women
down there, they ruin him," and she wrung her hands.
" \Miy don't you go av/ay ? " I blurted out.
" Bc-cause it is my duty to stop. That is what my religion
teaches me, although of it I know little except through books,
who have seen no priest for years except one who was a
missionary, a Baptist, I think, who told me that my faith
was false and would lead me to hell. Yes, not understanding
how I lived, he said that, who did not know that hell is here.
No, I cannot go, who hope always that still God and the
Saints \\'\1\ show me how to save my father, even though it
be with my blood. And now I have said too much to you
who are quite a stranger Yet, I do not know why, I feel
that you will not betray me, and what is more, that you wiU
help me if you can, since you are not one of those who drink,
or " and she waved her hand towards the huts.
" I l:ave my faults, Miss Inez," I answered.
" Yes, no doubt, «?*5e_vou would be a saint, not a man, and
even the saints had their faults, or so I seem to remember, and
became saints by repentance and conquering them. Still, I
am sure that you will help me if you can."
Inez 69
Then vdth a sudden flash of her dark e}es that said more
than all her words, she turned and left me.
Here's a pretty kettle of fish, thought I to myself as I
strolled back to the waggon to see how things were going on
there, and how to get the live fish out of the kettle before they
boil or spoil is more than I know. I wonder why fate is
always finding me such jobs to do.
Even as I thought thus a voice in my heart seemed to
echo that poor girl's words — because it is your duty — and to
r dd others to them — woe betide him who neglects his duty.
1 was appointed to try to hook a few fish out of the vast kettle
C'f human woe, and therefore I must go on hooking. Mean-
while this particular problem seemed beyond me. Perhaps
Frite would help, I reflected. As a matter of fact in the end
I ate did, if Fate is the right v/ord to use in this connection.
CHAPTER VI
THE SEA-COW HUNT
NOW it had been my intention to push forv'ard across
the river at once, but here luck, or our old friend,
Fate, was against me. To begin with several of
Umslopogaas' men fell sick with a kind of stomach
trouble, arising no doubt from something they had eaten.
This, however, was not their view, or that of Umslopogaas
himself. It happened that one of these men, Goroko by name,
who practised as a witch-doctor in his lighter moments,
naturally suspected that a spell had been cast upon them, for
such people see magic in everj^hing.
Therefore he organised a " smelling-out " at which Um-
slopogaas, who was as superstitious as the rest, assisted. So
did Hans, although he called himself a Christian, partly out
of curiosity, for he was as curious as a magpie, and partly
from fear lest some implication should be brought against
him in his absence. I saw the business going on from a little
distance and, unseen myself, thought it well to keep an eye
upon the proceedings in case anything untoward should occur.
This I did with Miss Inez, who had never witnessed anything
of the sort, as a companion.
The circle, a small one, was formed in the usual fashion j
Goroko rigged up in the best witch-doctor's costume that he
could improvise, duly came under the influence of his " Spirit "
and skipped about, waving a wildebeeste's tail, and so forth.
Finally to my horror he broke out of the ring, and running
to a group of spectators from the village, switched Thomaso,
who was standing among them with a lordly and contemptu-
ous air, across the face with the gnu's tail, shouting out that
he was the wizard who had poisoned the bowels of the sick
men. Thereon Thomaso, who although he could be insolent,
like most crossbreeds was not remarkable for courage, seeing
The Sea-Cow Hunt 71
the stir that this announcement created amongst the fierce-
faced Zulus and fearing developments, promptly bolted, none
attempting to follow him.
After this, just as I thought that ever5^hing was over and
that the time had come for me to speak a few earnest words to
Umslopogaas, pointing out that matters must go no further
as regards Thomaso, whom I knew that he and his people
hated, Goroko went back to the circle and was seized with a
new burst of inspiration.
Throwing down his whisk, he lifted his arms above his
head and stared at the heavens. Then he began to shout out
something in a loud voice which I was too far off to catch.
Whatever it may have been, evidently it frightened his
hearers, as I could see from the expressions of their faces.
Even Umslopogaas was alarmed, for he let his axe fall for a
moment, rose as though to speak, then sat down again and
covered his eyes with his hands.
In a minute it was over ; Goroko seemed to become
normal, took some snuff and as I guessed, after the usual
fashion of these doctors, began to ask what he had been
sa}^ing while the " Spirit " possessed him, which he either had,
or affected to have, forgotten. The circle, too, broke up and
its members began to talk to each other in a subdued way,
while Umslopogaas remained seated on the ground, brooding,
and Hans slipped away in his snake-like fashion, doubtless
in search of me.
" What was it all about, Mr. Quatermain ? " asked Inez.
" Oh ! a lot of nonsense," I said. " I fancy that witch-
doctor declared that your friend Thomaso put something into
those men's food to make them sick."
" I daresay that he did ; it would be just like him, Mr.
Quatermain, as I know that he hates them, especially Um-
slopogaas, of whom I am very fond. He brought me some
beautiful flowers this morning which he had found somewhere,
and made a long speech which I could not understand."
The idea of Umslopogaas, that man of blood and iron,
bringing flowers to a young lady, was so absurd that I broke
out laughing and even the sad-faced Inez smiled. Then she
left me to see about something and I went to speak to Hans
and asked him what had happened.
" Something rather queer, I think. Baas," he answered
vacuously, " though I did not quite understand the last part.
yt She and Allan
The doctor, Goroko, 5melt out Thomaso as the man who had
made them sick, and though thej' \v^l\\ not kill him because we
are guests here, those Zulus are very angry \\-ith Thomaso and
I think will beat him if they got a chance. But that is only
the small half of the stick," and he paused.
" Wliat is the big half, then ? " I asked with irritation.
" Baas, the Spirit in Goroko "
" The jackass in Goroko, you mean," I interrupted.
" How can j'ou, who are a Christian, talk such rubbish about
spirits ? I only wish that my father could hear you."
" Oh I Baas, your reverend father, the Predikant, is now
^i-ise enough to know all about Spirits and that there are some
who come into black witch-doctors though they turn up their
noses at white men and leave them alone. However, what-
ever it is that makes Goroko speak, got hold of him so that his
lips said, though he remembered nothing of it afterwards,
that soon this place would be red with blood — that there
would be a great killing here, Baas. That is all."
" Red with blood I WTiose blood ? What did the fool
mean ? "
" I don't know, Baas, but what you call the jackass in
Goroko, declared that those who are ' with the Great
Medicine ' — meaning what you wear, Baas — will be quite
safe. So I hope that it will not be our blood ; also that you
will get out of this place as soon as you can."
Well, I scolded Hans because he believed in what this
doctor said, for I could see that he did believe it, and then
went to question Umslopogaas, whom I found looking quite
pleased, which annoyed me still more.
" WTiat is it that Goroko has been saying and why do you
smile, Bulalio ? " I asked.
" Nothing much, Macumazahn, except that the man who
looks like tallow that has gone bad, put something in our food
which made us sick, for which I would kill him were he not
Red-beard's servant and that it would frighten the lady his
daughter. Also he said that soon there will be fighting,
which is why I smiled, who grow weary of peace. We came
out to fight, did we not ? "
" Certainly not," I answered. " We came out to make a
quiet journey in strange lands, which is what I mean to do."
" Ah ! well, Macumazahn, in strange lands one meets
strange men with whom one does not always agree, and then
The Sea -Cow Hunt 73
Inkosikaas begins to talk," and he whirled the great axe round
itiis head, making the air whistle as it was forced through the
gouge at its back.
I could %et no more out of him, so having extracted a
promise from him that nothing should happen to Thomaso
who, I pointed out, was probably quite unjustly accused, I
went away.
Still, the whole incident left a disagreeable impression on
my mind and I began to wish that we were safe across the
Zambesi without more trouble. But we could not start at
once because two of the Zulus were still not well enough to
travel and there were many preparations to be made about
the loads, and so forth, since the waggon must be left behind.
Also, and this was another complication — Hans had a sore
upon his foot resulting from the prick of a poisonous thorn,
and it was desirable that this should be quite healed before we
marched.
So it came about that I was really glad when Captain
Robertson suggested that we should go down to a certain
swamp formed, I gathered, by some small tributary of the
Zambesi to take part in a kind of hippopotamus battue. It
seemed that at this season of the year these great animals
always frequented the place in numbers, also that by barring
a neck of deep water through which they gained it, they, or a
proportion of them, could be cut off and killed.
This had been done once or twice in the past, though not
of late, perhaps because Captain Robertson had lacked the
energy to organise such a hunt. Now he wished to do so
again, taking advantage of my presence, both because of the
value of the hides of the sea-cows which were cut up to be
sent to the coast and sold as sjamboks or whips, and because
of the sport of the thing. Also I think he desired to show me
that he was not altogether sunk in sloth and drink. '
I fell in with the idea readily enough, since in all my
hunting life I had never seen anything of the sort, especially
as I was told that the expedition would not take more than a
week and I reckoned that the sick men and Hans would net
be fit to travel sooner. So great preparations were made.
The riverside natives, whose share of the spoil was to be thi
carcases of the slain sea-cows, were summoned by hundreds
and sent off to their appointed stations to beat the swamps at
a signal given by the firing of a great pile of reeds. Also
74 She and Allan
many other things were done upon which I need not
enter.
Then came the time for us to depart to the appointed spot
over t\\«nty miles away, most of which distance it seemed we
could trek in the waggon. Captain Robertson, who for the
time had cut off his gin, was as active about the affair as
though he were once more in command of a mail-steamer.
Nothing escaped his attention ; indeed, in the care which he
gave to details he reminded me of the captain of a great ship
that is lea\dng port, and from it I learned how able a man
he must once have been.
" Does your daughter accompany us ? " I asked on the
night before we started.
" Oh ! no," he answered, " she would only be in the way.
She will be quite safe here, especially as Thomaso, who is no
hunter, remains in charge of the place with some of the older
natives to look after the women and children."
Later I saw Inez herself, who said that she would have
liked to come, although she hated to see great beasts killed,
but that her father was against it because he thought she
might catch fever; So she supposed that she had better remain
where she was.
I agreed, though in my heart I was doubtful, and said that
I would leave Hans, whose foot was not as yet quite well, and
with whom she had made friends as she had done with Um-
slopogaas, to look after her. Also there would be with him
the two great Zulus who were now recovering from their
attack of stomach sickness, so that she would have nothing
to fear. She answered with her slow smile that she feared
nothing, still, she would have liked to come with us. Then
we parted, as it proved for a long time.
It was quite a cercmon5\ Umslopogaas, " in the name of
the Axe " solemnly gave over Inez to the charge of his two
followers, bidding them guard her with so much earnestness
that I began to suspect he feared something which he did not
choose to mention. My mind went back indeed to the pro-
phecy of the witch-doctor Goroko, of which it was possible
that he might be thinking, but as while he spoke he kept his
fierce eyes fixed upon the fat and pompous quarter-breed,
Thomaso, I concluded that here was the object of his doubts.
It might have occurred to him that this Thomaso would
take the opportunity of her father's absence to annoy Inez.
The Sea-Cow Hunt 75
If so I was sure that he was mistaken for various reasons, of
which I need only quote one, namely, that even if such an
idea had ever entered his head, Thomaso was far too great a
coward to translate it into action. Still, suspecting some-
thing, I also gave Hans instructions to keep a sharp eye on
Inez and generally to watch the place, and if he saw anything
suspicious, to communicate with us at once.
" Yes, Baas," said Hans, " I vnU look after ' Sad-Eyes '
— for so with their usual quickness of observation our Zulus
had named Inez — as though she were my grandmother,
though what there is to fear for her, I do not know. But,
Baas, I would much rather come and look after you, as your
reverend father, the Predikant, told me to do always, which
is my duty, not girl-herding. Baas. Also my foot is now
quite well and — I want to shoot sea-cows, and " Here
he paused.
" And what, Hans ? "
" And Goroko said that there was going to be much fighting
and if there should be fighting and you should come to harm
because I was not there to protect you, what would your
reverend father think of me then ? "
All of which meant two things : that Hans never liked
being separated from me if he could help it, and that he much
preferred a shooting trip to stopping alone in this strange
place with nothing to do except eat and sleep. So I con-
cluded, though indeed I did not get quite to the bottom of
the business. In reality Hans was putting up a most gallant
moral struggle against temptation.
As I found out afterwards. Captain Robertson had been
gi\nng him strong drink on the sly, moved thereto by sym-
pathy with a fellow toper. Also he had shown him where.
if he wanted it, he could get more, and Hans always wanted
gin very badly indeed. To leave it within his reach was like
lea\dng a handful of diamonds Ijnng about in the room of a
thief. This he knew, but was ashamed to tell me the truth,
and thence came much trouble.
/' You will stop here, Hans, look after the young lady and
nurse your foot," I said sternly, whereon he collapsed with a
sigh and asked for some tobacco.
Meanwhile Captain Robertson, who I think had been
taking a stirrup cup to cheer him on the road, was making
his farewells down in what was known as " the village," for I
76 She and Allan
saw him there kissins; a collection of half-breed children, and
giving Thomaso inbtructions to look after them and their
mothers. Returning at length, he called to Inez, who re-
mained upon the veranda, for she always seemed to shrink
from her father after his visits to the village, to " keep a stiff
upper lip " and not feel lonely, and commanded the cavalcade
to start.
So off we went, about twenty of the village natives, a
motley crew armed with every kind of gun, marching ahead
and singing songs. Then came the waggon uith Captain
Robertson and myself seated on the dri\dng-box, and lastly
Umslcpogaas and his Zulus, except the two who had been
left behind.
We trekked along a kind of native road over fine veld of
the same character as that on which Strathmuir stood, having
the lower-lying bush-veld which ran dowTi to the Zambesi on
our r'giit. Before nightfall we came to a ridge whereon this
bush-veld turned south, fringing that tributary of the great
river in the swamps of which we were to hunt for sea-cows.
Here we camped and next morning, leaving the waggon in
charge o*^my voorlooper and a couple of the Strathmuir natives,
for the driver was to act as my gun-bearer — we marched down
into tlie sea of bush-veld. It proved to be full of game, but
at this we dared not fire for fear of disturbing the hippopotami
in the swamps beneath, whence in that event they might
escape U5 back to the river.
About midday we passed out of the bush-veld and reached
the place where the drive was to be. Here, bordered by
steep batiks covered with bush, was swampy ground not
more than two hundred yards wide, down the centre of which
ran a narrow channel of rather deep water, draining a vast
expanse of morass above. It was up this channel that the
sea-cows travelled to the feeding ground where they loved to
collect at that season of the year.
There with the assistance of some of the riverside natives
we made our preparations under the direction of Captain
Robertson. The rest of these men, to the number of several
hundreds, had made a wide detour to the head of the swamps,
miles awa}', whence they were to advance at a certain signal.
These preparations were simple. A quantity of thorn trees
were cut down and by m.eans of heavy stones fastened to their
trunks, anchored in the narrow channel of deep water. To
The Sea -Cow Hunt 'j^
their tops, which floated on the placid surface, were tied a
variety of rags which we had brought \\ith us, such as old red
flannel shirts, gaj'-coloured but worn-out blankets, and I
know not what besides. Some of these fragments also were
attached to the anchored ropes under water.
Also we selected places for the guns upon the steep banks
that I have mentioned, between which this channel ran.
Foreseeing what would happen, I chose one for myself behind
a particularly stout rock and what is more, built a stone wall
to the height of several feet on the landward side of it, as I
guessed that the natives posted near to me would prove \vild
in their shooting.
These labours occupied the rest of that day, and at night
we retired to higher ground to sleep. Before dauTi on the
follo'sving morning we returned and took up our stations,
some on one side of the channel and some on the other which
we had to reach in a canoe brought for the purpose by the
river natives.
Then, before the sun rose. Captain Robertson fired a huge
pile of dried reeds and bushes, which was to give the signal to
the river natives far away, to begin their beat. This done, we
sat doum and waited, after making sure that every gun had
plenty of ammunition ready.
As the dawn broke, by climbing a tree near my schanxe or
shelter, I saw a good many miles away to the south a wide
circle of little fires, and guessed that the natives were beginnirig
to burn the dry reeds of the swamp. Presently these fires
drew together into a thin wall of flame. Then I knew that it
was time to return to the scJianze and prepare. It was full
da\'light, however, before an\i;hing happened.
Watching the still channel of water, I saw ripples on it
and bubbles of air rising. Suddenly there appeared the
head of a great bull-hippopotamus which, having caught sight
of our rag barricade, either above or below water, had risen to
the surface to see what it might be. I put a bullet from an
eight-bore rifle through its brain, whereon it sank, as I guessed,
stone dead to the bottom of the channel, thus helping to
increase the barricade by the bulk of its great body. Also it
had another effect. I have observed that sea-cows cannot
bear the smell and taint of blood, which frightens them hor-
ribly, so that they will expose themselves to almost any risk
rather than get it into their nostrils.
fS She and Allan
Now, in this still water where there \^'as no perceptible
current, the blood from the dead bull soon spread all about
so that when the herd, fo]lo\ving their leader, began to arrive
they were much alarmed. Indeed, the first of them on
winding or tasting it, turned and tried to get back up the
channel where, however, they met others foD owing, and there
ensued a tremendous confusion. They rose to the surface,
blowing, snorting, bellowing and scrambling over each other
in the water, while continually more and more arrived behind
them, till there was a perfect pandemonium in that narrow
place.
All our guns opened fire \\'ildly upon the mass ; it was
like a battle and through the smoke I caught sight of the
riverside natives who were acting as beaters, advancing far
away, fantastically dressed, screaming with excitement and
waving spears, or sometimes torches of flaming reeds. Most
of these were scrambling along the banks, but some of the
bolder spirits advanced over the lagoon in canoes, driving the
hippopotami towards the mouth of the channel by which
alone they could escape into the great swamps below and so
on to the river. In all my hunting experience I do not think
I ever saw a more remarkable scene. Still, in a way, to me it
was unpleasant, for I flatter myself that I am a sportsman and
a battue of this sort is not sport as I understand the term.
At length it came to this ; the channel for quite a long
way was literally full of hippopotami — I should think there
must have been a hundred of them or more of all sorts and
sizes, from great bulls down to little calves. Some of these
were killed, not many, for the shooting of our gallant company
was execrable and almost at hazard. Also for every sea-cow
that died, of which number I think that Captain Robertson
and myself accounted for most — many were only wounded.
Still, the unhappy beasts, crazed with noise and fire and
blood, did not seem to dare to face our frail barricade, probably
for the reason that I have given. For a while they remained
massed together in the water, or under it, making a most
horrible noise. Then of a sudden they seemed to take a
resolution. A few of them broke back towards the burning
reeds, the screaming beaters and the advancing canoes. One
of these, indeed, a wounded bull, charged a canoe, crushed it
in its huge jaws and killed the rower, how exactly I do not
know, for his body was never found. The majority of them.
The Sea -Cow Hunt 79
however, took another counsel, for emerging from the water on
either side, they began to scramble towards us along the steep
banks, or even to climb up them with surprising agility. It
was at this point in the proceedings that I congratulated
myself earnestly upon the solid character of the water-worn
rock which I had selected as a shelter.
Behind this rock together with my gun-bearer and Um-
slopogaas, \^ho, as he did not shoot, had elected to be my
companion, I crouched and banged away at the unwieldy
creatures as they advanced. But fire fast as I might with
two rifles, I could not stop the half of them and — they were
drawing unpleasantly near. I glanced at Umslopogaas and
even then was amused to see that probably for the first time
in his life that redoubtable warrior was in a genuine fright.
" This is madness, Macumazahn," he shouted above the
din. " Are we to stop here and be stamped flat by a horde of
water-pigs ? "
" It seems so," I answered, " unless you prefer to be
stamped flat outside — or eaten," I added, pointing to a great
crocodile that had also emerged from the channel and was
coming along towards us with open jaws.
" By the Axe ! " shouted Umslopogaas again, " I — a
\varrior — will not die thus, trodden on like a slug by an ox."
Now I have mentioned a tree which I climbed. In his
extremity Umslopogaas rushed for that tree and went up it
like a lamplighter, just as the crocodile wriggled past its trunk,
snapping at his retreating legs.
After this I took no more note of him, partly because of
the advancing sea-cows, and more for the reason that one of
the village natives posted above me, firing wildly, put a large
round bullet through the sleeve of my coat. Indeed, had it
not been for the wall which I built that protected us, I am
certain that both my bearer and I would have been killed, for
afterwards I found it splashed over with lead from bullets
which had struck the stones.
Well, thanks to the strength of my rock and to the wall, or
as Hans said afterwards, to Zikali's Great Medicine, we escaped
unhurt, f The rush went by me ; indeed, I killed one sea-cow
so close that the powder from the rifle actually burned its
hide. But it did go by, leaving us untouched. All, however,
were not so fortunate, since of the village natives two wc-re
trampled to death, while a third had his leg broken.
8o She and Allan
Also, and this was really amusing — a be\vildered bull
charging at full speed, crashed into the trunk of Umslopogaas'
tree, and as it was not very thick, snapped it in two. Down
came the top in which the dignified chief was ensconced like a
bird in a nest, though at that moment there was precious
little dignity about him. However, except for scratches he
was not hurt, as the hippopotamus had other business in
urgent need of attention and did not stop to settle with him.
" Such are the things which happen to a man who mixes
himself up with matters of which he knows nothing," said
Umslopogaas sententiously to me afterwards. But all the
same he could never bear any allusion to this tree-climbing
episode in his martial career, which as it happened, had taken
place in full view of his retainers, among whom it remained
the greatest of jokes. Indeed, he wanted to kill a man, the
wag of the party, who gave him a slang name which, being
translated, means " He-who-is-so-brave-that-he-dares-to-ride-a-
xvater-horse-up-a-tree."
It was all over at last, for which I thanked Providence
devoutly. A good many of the sea-cows were dead, I think
twenty-one was our exact bag, but the great majority of them
had escaped in one way or another, many as I fear, wounded.
I imagine that at the last the bulk of the herd overcame its
fears and swimming through our screen, passed away down
the channel. At any rate they were gone, and having
ascertained that there was nothing to be done for the man who
had been trampled on my side of the channel, I crossed it in
the canoe with the object of returning quietly to our. camp
to rest.
But as yet there was to be no quiet for me, for there I
found Captain Robertson, who I think had been refreshing
himself out of a bottle and was in a great state of excitement
about a native who had been killed near him who was a favour-
ite of his, and another whose leg was broken. He declared
vehemently that the hippopotamus which had done this had
been wounded and rushed into some bushes a few hundied
yards away, and that he meant to take vengeance upon it.
Indeed, he was just setting off to do so.
Seeing his agitated state I thought it wisest to follow
him. What happened need not be set out in detail. It is
sufficient to say that he found that hippopotamus and blazed
both barrels at it in the bushes, hitting it, but not seriously.
The Sea -Cow Hunt 8i
Out lumbered the creature with its mouth open, wishing to
escape. Robertson turned to fly as he was in its path, but
from one cause or another, tripped and fell do\\Ti. Certainly
he would have been crushed beneath its huge feet had I not
stepped in front of him and sent two solid eight-bore bullets
down that yawning throat, killing it dead within three feet of
where Robertson was tr\dng to rise, and I may add, of m3'self.
This narrow escape sobered him, and I am bound to say
that his gratitude was profuse.
" You are a brave man," he said, " and had it not been
for you by now I should be wherever bad people go. I'll not
forci^et it, Mr. Quatermain, and if ever you want an>i;hing that
John Robertson can give, why, it's yours."
" Very well," I answered, being seized by an inspiration,
" I do want something that you can give easily enough."
" Give it a name and it's yours, half my place, if you like."
" I want," I went on as I slipped new cartridges into the
rifle, " I want you to promise to give up drink for your
daughter's sake. That's what nearly did for you just now,
you know."
" Man, you ask a hard thing," he said slowly. " But by
God I'll try for her sake and yours too."
Then I went to help to set the leg of the injured man,
which was all the rest I got that morning.
CHAPTER VII
THE OATH
WE spent three more days at that place. First it
was necessary to allow time to elapse before the
gases which generated in their great bodies
caused those of the sea-cows which had been
killed in the water, to float. Then they must be skinned and
their thick hides cut into strips and pieces to be traded for
sjamboks or to make small native shields for which some of
the East Coast tribes will pay heavily.
All this took a long while, during which I amused, or
disgusted myself in watching those river natives devouring
the ilesh of the beasts. The lean, what there was of it, they
dried and smoked into a kind of " biltong," but a great deal
7i the fat they ate at once. I had the curiosity to weigh a
kimp which was given to one tliin, hungry-looking fellow.
It scaled quite twenty pounds. Within four hours he had
eaten it to the last ounce and lay there, a distended and
torpid log. \Miat would not we white people give for such a
digestion I
At last all was over and we started homewards, the man
with a broken leg being carried in a kind of Utter. On the
edge of the bush-veld we found the waggon quite safe, also
one of Captain Robertson's that had followed us from Strath-
muir in order to carry the expected load of hippopotamus'
hides and ivory. I asked my voorlooper if anything had
happened during our absence. He answered nothing, but
that on the pre\dous evening after dark, he had seen a glow
in the direction of Strathmmr which lay on somewhat lower
ground about twenty miles away, as though numerous fires
had been lighted there. It struck him so much, he added,
that he chmbed a tree to observe it better. He did not
tUnk, however, "that any building had been burned there, as
the glow was not strong enough for that.
The Oath 83
I suggested that it was caused by some grass fire or reed-
burning, to which he replied indifferently that he did not
think so as the line of the glow was not sufficiently continuous.
There the matter ended, though I confess that the story
made me anxious, for what exact reason I could not say.
Umslopogaas also, who had listened to it, for our talk was in
Zulu, looked grave, but made no remark. But as since his
tree-climbing experience he had been singularly silent, of thia
I thought little.
We had trekked at a time which we calculated woiJd
bring us to Strathmuir about an hour before sundown, allowing
for a short halt half way. As my oxen were got in more
quickly than those of the other was:gon after this outspan, I
was the first away, followed at a little distance by Umslc po-
gaas, who preferred to walk with his Zulus. The truth w^s
that I could not get that story about the glow of fires oui of
my mind and was anxious to push on, which had caused me
to hurry up the inspanning.
Perhaps we had covered a couple of miles of the ten or
twelve which still lay between us and Strathmuir, when far off
on the crest of one of the waves of the veld which much re-
sembled those of the swelling sea frozen whUe in motion, I saw
a small figure approaching us at a rapid trot. Somehow that
figure suggested Hans to my mind, so much so that I fetched my
glasses to examine it more closely. A short scrutiny throagh
them convinced me that Hans it was, Hans and no other,
advancing at a great pace.
Filled with uneasiness, I ordered the driver to flog up the
oxen, with the result that in a little over five minutes we inet.
Halting the waggon, I leapt from the waggon-box and calling
to Umslopogaas who had kept up with us at a slow, swinging
trot, went to Hans, who, when he saw me, stood still at a
little distance, swinging his apology for a hat in his hand, as
was his fashion when ashamed or perplexed.
" What is the matter, Hans ? " I asked when we •^eit-
within speaking distance.
" Oh I Baas, ever^iihing," he answered, and I noticed that
he kept his eyes fixed upon the ground and that his lips
twitched.
" Speak, you fool, ; nd in Zulu," I said, for by now
Umslopogaas had joined me.
" Baas," he answered in that tongue, " a terrible thmg
84 She and Allan
has come about at the farm of Red-Beard yonder. Yesterdav
afternoon at the time when people are in the habit of sleeping
there till the sun grows less hot, a body of great men with
fierce faces who carried big spears — perhaps there were fifty
of them, Baas — crept up to the place through the long grass
and growing crops, and attacked it."
" Did you see them come ? " I asked.
" No, Baas. I was watching at a little distance as you
bade me do and the sun being hot, I shut my eyes to keep out
the glare of it, so that I did not see them until they had passed
me and heard the noise."
" You mean that you were asleep or drunk, Hans, but
go on."
" Baas, I do not know," he answered shamefacedly, " but
after that I climbed a tall tree \vith a kind of bush at the top
of it " (I ascertained afterwards that this was a sort of leafy-
crowned palm), " and from it I saw everything without being
seen."
" What did you see, Hans ? " I asked him.
" I saw the big men run up and make a kind of circle
round the \allage. Then they shouted, and the people in the
village came out to see what was the matter. Tliomaso and
some of the men caught sight of them first and ran away fast
into the hillside at the back where the trees grow, before the
circle was complete. Then the women and the children came
out and the big men killed them with their spears — all, all ! "
" Good God ! " I exclaimed. " And what happened at
the house and to the lady ? "
" Baas, some of the men had surrounded that also and
w-hen she heard the noise the lady Sad-Eyes came out on to
the stoep and with her came the two Zulus of the Axe who had
been left sick but were now quite recovered. A number of
the big men ran as though to take her, but the two Zulus
made a great fight in front of the little steps to the stoep,
having their backs protected by the stoep, and killed six of
tliem before they themselves were killed. Also Sad-Eyes
shot one with a pistol she carried, and wounded another so
that the spear fell out of his hand.
" Then the rest fell on her and tied her up, setting her in a
chair on the stoep where two remained to watch her. They
did her no hurt, Baas ; indeed, they seemed to treat her as
gently as they could. Also they went into the house and
The Oath 85
there they caught that tall fat yellow girl who always smiles
and is called Janee, she who waits upon the Lady Sad-Eyes,
and brought her out to her. I think they told her, Baas,
that she must look after her mistress and that if she tried
to run awaj^ she would be killed, for afterwards I saw Janee
bring her food and other things."
" And then, Hans ? "
" Then, Baas, most of the great men rested a while,
though some of them went through the store gathering such
things as they liked, blankets, knives and iron cooldng-pots,
but they set fire to nothing, nor did they try to catch the
cattle. Also they took dry wood from the pile and lit big
fires, eight or nine of them, and when the sun set they began
to feast."
" Wliat did they feast on, Hans, if they took no cattle ? "
I asked with a shiver, for I was afraid of I knew not what.
" Baas," answered Hans, turning his head away and
looking at the ground, " they feasted on the children whom
they had killed, also on some of the young women. These
tall soldiers are men-caters, Baas."
At this horrible intelligence I turned faint and felt as
though I was going to fall, but recovering myself, signed to
him to go on with his story.
" They feasted quite q'lietly, Baas," he continue-l,
" making no noise. Then some of them slept while others
watched, and that went on all night. As soon as it v^s dark,
but before the moon rose, I slid down the tree and cre^.c round
to the back of the house without being seen or heard, as I can,
Baas. I got into the house by the back door and crawled to
the window of the sitting-room. It was open and peeping
through I saw Sad- Eyes still tied to the seat on the stoep not
more than a pace away, while the girl Janee crouched on the
floor at her feet — I think she was asleep or fainting.
" I made a little noise, like a night-adder hissing, and
kept on making it, till at last Sad-Eyes turned her head. Then
I spoke in a very low whisper, for fear lest I should wake the
two guards who were dozing on either side of her wrapped
in their blankets, saying, "It is I, Hans, come to help you."
" You cannot," she answered, also speaking very low, " Get
to your master and tell him and my father to follow. These
men are called Amahagger and live far away across the river.
They are going to take me to their home, as I understand, to
86 She and Allan
rule them, because they want a white woman to be a queen
over them who have always been ruled by a certain white
queen, against whom they have rebelled. I do not think they
mean to do me any harm, unless perhaps they want to marry
me to their chief, but of this I am not sure from their talk
which I understand badly. Now go, before they catch you."
" I think you might get away," I whispered back. " T
will cut j'our bonds. When you are free, slip through the
window and I will guide you."
" Very well, try it," she said.
" So I drew my knife and stretched out my arm. But
then. Baas, I showed myself a fool — if the Great Medicine
had still been there I might have known better. I forgot the
starlight which shone upon the blade of the knife. That girl
Janee came out of her sleep or swoon, lifted her head and saw
the knife. She screamed once, then at a word from her
mistress was silent. But it was enough, for it woke up the
guards who glared about them and threatened Janee with
their great spears, also they went to sleep no more, but began
to talk together, though what they said I could not hear, for
I was hiding on the floor of the room. After this, knowing
that I could do no good and might do harm and get myself
killed, I crept out of the house as I had crept in, and crawled
back to my tree."
" Why did you not come to me ? " I asked.
" Because I still hoped I might be able to help Sad-Eyes,
Baas. Also I \\-anted to see what happened, and I knew that
I could not bring you here in time to be any good. Yet it is
true I thought of coming though I did not know the road."
" Perhaps you were right."
" At the first dawn," continued Hans, " the great men
who are called Amahagger rose and ate what was left over
from the night before. Then they gathered themselves
together and went to the house. Here they found a large
chair, that seated with rimpis in which the Baas Red-Beard
sits, and lashed two poles to the chair. Beneath the chair
they tied the garments and other things of the Lady Sad-Eyes
which they made Janee gather as Sad-Eyes directed her.
This done, very gently they sat Sad-Eyes herself in the
chair, bowing while they made her fast. After this eight of
them set the poles upon their shoulders and they all went
away at a trot, heading for the bush-veld, driving with them
The Oath 87
a herd of goats which they had stolen from the farm, and
making Janee run by the chair. I saw everything, Baas,
for they passed just beneath my tree. Then I came to seek
you, followng- the outward spoor of the waggons which I
could not have done well at night. That is all, Baas."
" Hans," I said, " you have been drinking and because of
it the lady Sad-Eyes is taken a j)risoner by cannibals ; for
bad you been awake and watching, you might have seen
them coming and saved her and the rest. Still, afterwards
you did well, and for the rest you must answer to Heaven."
" I must tell your reverend father, the Predikant, Bias,
that the white master, Red-Beard, gave me the liquor and it
is rade not to do as a great white master does, and drink
it up. lam surehewiU understand, Baas, "said Hans abjectly.
I thought to myself that it was true and that the sp;iar
which Robertson cast had fallen upon his own head, as the
Zulus say, but I made no answer, lacking time for argument.
" Did you say," asked Umslopogaas, speaking for the first
' time, " that mj' servants killed only six of these men-eaters ? "
Hans nodded and answered, " Yes, six. I counted the
bodies."
"It was iU done, they should have killed six each," said
Umslopogaas moodily. " Well, they have left the more for
us to finish," and he fingered the great axe.
Just then Captain Robertson arrived in his waggon, calling
out anxiously to know what was the matter, for some pre-
monition of evil seemed to have struck him. My heart sank
at the sight of him, for how was I to tell such a story to the
father of the murdered children and of the abducted girl ?
In the end I felt that I could not. Yes, I turned coward
and sa\ang that I must fetch something out of the waggon,
bolted into it, bidding Hans go forward and repeat his tale.
He obeyed unwillingly enough, and looking out between the
curtains of the waggon tent I saw all that happened, though I
could not hear the words that passed.
Robertson had halted the oxen and jumping from the
waggon-box strode forward and met Hans, who began to speak
with him, tv/itching his hat in his hands. Gradually as the
tale progressed, I saw the Captain's face freeze into a mask
of horror. Then he began to argue and deny, then to weep —
oh ! it was a terrible sight to see that great man weeping
over those whom he had lost, and in such a fashion.
S8 She and Allan
After this a kind of blind rage seized him and I thought
he was going to kill Hans, who was of the same opinion, for
he ran away. Next he staggered about, shaking his fists,
cursing and shouting, till presently he fell of a heap and lay
face downwards, beating his head against the ground and
groaning.
Now I went to him because I must.
He saw me coming and sat up.
"That's a pretty story, Quatermain, which this little
yellow monkey has been gibbering at me. Man, do you
understand what he says ? He says that all those half-blood
children of mine are dead, murdered by savages from over the
Zambesi, yes, and eaten, too, with their mothers. Do you
take the point ? Eaten like lambs. Those fires your man
saw last night were the fires on which they were cooked, my
little so-and-so and so-and-so," and he mentioned half a dozen
different names. " Yes, cooked, Quatermain. And that
isn't all of it, they have taken Inez too. They didn't eat
her, but they have dragged her off a captive for God knows
what reason. I couldn't understand. The whole ship's crew
is gc ne, except the captain absent on leave and the first officer,
Thomaso, who deserted with some Lascar stokers, and left
the women and children to their fate. My God, I'm going
mad. I'm going mad ! If you have any mercy in you, give
me something to drink."
" All right," I said, " I will. Sit here and wait a minute."
Then I went to the waggon and poured out a stiff tot of
spirits into which I put an amazing dose of bromide from a
little medicine chest I always carry with me, and thirty drops
of chlorodyne on the top of it. All of tliis compound I mixed
up with a httle water and took it to him in a tin cup so that
he could not see the colour.
He drank it at a gulp and throwing the pannikin aside,
sat down on the veld, groaning while the company watched
him at a respectful distance, for Hans had joined the others
and his tale had spread Uke fire in drought-parched grass.
In a few minutes the drugs began to take effect upon
Robertson's tortured nerves, for he rose and said qmetly,
" What now ? "
" Vengeance, or rather justice," I answered.
" Yes," he exclaimed, " vengeance. I swear that I will
be avenged, or die — or both."
The Oath 89
Again I saw my opportunity and said, " You must swear
more than that, Robertson. Only sober men can accomplish
great things, for diink destroys the judgment. If you wish
to be avenged for the dead and to rescue the living, you must
be sober, or I for one will not help you."
" Will you help me if I do, to the end, good or ill, Quater-
main ? " he asked.
I nodded.
"That's as much as another man's oath," he muttered.
" Still, I will put my thought in words. I swear by God, by
my mother — like these natives — and by my daughter born in
honest marriage, that I will never touch another drop of
strong drink, until I have avenged those poor women and
their little children, and rescued Inez from their murderers.
If I do you may put a bullet through me."
" That's all right," I said in an offhand fashion, though
inwardly I glowed with pride at the success of my great idea,
for at the time I thought it great, and went on,
" Now let us get to business. The first thing to do is to
trek to Strathmuir and make preparations ; the next to start
upon the trail. Come to sit on the waggon with me and tell
me what guns and ammunition you have got, for according
to Hans those savages don't seem to have touched an5^hing,
except a few blankets and a herd of goats."
He did as I asked, telling me all he could remember.
Then he said,
" It is a strange thing, but now I recall that about two
years ago a great savage with a high nose, who talked a sort
of Arabic which, like Inez, I understand, having lived on the
coast, turned up one day and said he wanted to trade. I asked
him what in, and he answered that he would like to buy some
children. I told him that I was not a slave-dealer. Then he
looked at Inez, who was moving about, and said that he would
like to buy her to be a wife for his Chief, and offered some
fabulous sum in ivory and in gold, which he said should be
paid before she was taken away. I snatched his big spear
from his hand, broke it over his head and gave him the best
hiding \^dth its shaft that he had ever heard of. Then I
kicked him off the place. He limped away but when he was
out of reach, turned and called out that one day he would
come again with others and take her, meaning Inez, without
leaving the price in ivory and gold. I ran for my gun, but
90 She and Allan
when I got back he had gone and I never thought of the matter
again from that day to this."
" Well, he kept his promise," I said, but Robertson made
CO answer, for by this time that thundering dose of bromide
and laudanum had taken efiect on him and he had fallen
asleep, of which I was glad, for I thought that this sleep would
save his reason, as I believe it did for awhile.
We reached Strathmuir towards sunset, too late to think
of attempting the pursuit that day. Indeed, during our trek,
I had thought the matter out carefully and come to the
conclusion that to try to do so would be useless. We must
rrt>t and make preparations ; also there was no hope of our
overtaking these brutes who alread}' had a clear twelve
hours' start, by a sudden spurt. They must be run down
patiently by following on their spoor, if indeed they could be
run down at all before they vanished into the vast recesses of
unknown Africa. The most we could do this night was to
get. ready.
Captain Robertson was still sleeping when we passed the
village and of this I was heartily glad, since the remains of a
cannibal feast are not pleasant to behold, especially when
they are I Indeed, of these I determined to be rid at
once, so slipping off the waggon with Hans and some of the
farm bo\'s, for none of the Zulus would defile themselves by
toiiching such human remnants — I made up two of the
smouldering fires, the light of which the voorlooper had seen
upon the sky, and on to them cast, or caused to be cast, those
poor fragments. Also I told the farm natives to dig a big
grave and in it to place the other bodies and generally to remove
the traces of murder.
Then I went on to the house, and not too soon. Seeing
the waggons arrive and having made sure that the Amahagger
Were gone, Thomaso and the other cowards emerged from
their hiding-places and returned. Unfortunately for the
former the first person he met was Umslopogaas, who began
to revile the fat half-breed in no measured terms, calling him
dog, cov/ard, and other opprobrious names, such as deserter
of women and children, and so forth — all of which someone
trarislated.
Thomaso, an insolent person, tried to swagger the matter
out, saying that he had gone to get assistance. Infuriated at
this lie, Umslopogaas leapt upon him with a roar and though
The Oath 91
le was a strong man, dealt with him as a lion does with a buck,
.ifting him from his feet, he hurled him to the ground, then
is he strove to rise and run, caught him again and as it seemed
o me, was about to break his back across his knee. Just
it this juncture I arrived.
" Let the man go," I shouted to him. " Is there not
:nough death here already ? "
" Yes," answered Umslopogaas, '' I think there is. Best
hat this jackal should live to eat his own shame," and he cast
fhomaso to the ground, where he lay groaning.
Robertson, who was still asleep in the waggon, woke up at
he noise, and descended from it, looking dazed. I got him
o the house and in doing so made my way past, or rather
jetween the bodies of the two Zulus and of the six men whom
hey had killed, also of him whom Inez had shot. Those
^ulus had made a splendid fight for they were covered wiih
yo-inds, all of them in front, as I found upon examination.
Having made Robertson lie dov.Ti upon liis bed, I took a
food look at the slain Amahagger. They were magnificent
Tien, all of them ; tall, spare and shapely with very clear-cut
eatures and rather frizzled hair. From these characteristics,
is well as the lightness of their colour, I concluded that they
A'ere of a Semitic or Arab type, and that the admixture of
heir blood with that of the Bantus was but slight, if indeed
:here were any at all. Their spears, of which one had been
:ut through by a blow of a Zulu's axe, were long and broad,
not unlike to those used by the Masai, but of finer workman-
ship.
By this time the sun was setting and thoroughly tired by
all that I had gone through, I went into the house to get
something to eat, ha\ang told Hans to find food and prepare a
meal. As I sat do\\'n Robertson joined me and I made him
also eat. His first impulse was to go to the cupboard and
fetch the spirit bottle ; indeed, he rose to do so.
" Hans is making coffee," I said warningly.
" Thank you," he answered, " I forgot. Force of habit,
you know."
Here I may state that never from that moment did I see
him touch another drop of liquor, not even when I drank ray
modest tot in front of him. His triumph over temptution
was splendid and complete, especially as the absence of his
accustomed potations made him ill for some time and of
92 She and Allan
course depressed his spirits, vnth painful results that were
apparent in due course.
In fact, the man became totally changed. He gre^^ gloomy
but resourceful, also full of patience. Only one idea obsessed
him — to rescue his daughter and avenge the murder of his
people; indeed, except his sins, he thought of and found
interest in nothing else. Moreover, liis iron constitution cast
off all the effects of his past debauchery and he grew so strong
that although I was pretty tough in those days, he could out-
tire me.
To return ; I engaged him in conversation and with his
help made a list of what we should require on our vendetta
journey, all of which served to occupy his mind. Then I
sent him to bed, saying that I would call him before dawn,
having first put a little more bromide into liis third cup of
coffee. After this I turned in and notwithstanding the sight
of those remains of the cannibal feast and the knowledge of
the dead men v.ho lay outside my window, I slept like a
top.
Indeed, it was the Captain who awakened me, not I the
Captain, saving that daylight was on the break and we had
better be stirnng So we went down to the Store, where I was
thankful to find that everything had been tidied up in accord-
ance with my directions.
On our way Robertson asked me what had become of the
remains, whereon I pointed to the smouldering ashes of one of
the great fires. He went to it and kneeling down, said a
prayer in broad Scotch, doubtless one that he had learned at
his mother's knee. Then he took some of the ashes from the
edge of the p\Te — for such it was — and threw them into the
plowing embers where, as he knew, lay all that was left of
those who had sprung from him. Also he tossed others of
them into the air, though what he meant by this I did not
understand and never asked. Probably it was some rite
indicative of expiation or of revenge, or both, which he had
learned from the savages among whom he had lived so long.
After this we went into the Store and with the help of some
of the natives, or half-breeds, who had accompanied us on
the sea-cow expedition, selected all the goods we wanted,
which we sent to the house.
As we returned thither I saw Umslopogaas and his men
engaged, with the usual Zulu ceremonies, in burning their two
The Oath 93
companions in a hole they had made in the hillside. I noted,
however, that they did not inter their war-axes or their
throwing spears with them as is usual, probably because they
thought that these might be needed. In place of them they
put with the dead little models rouglily shaped of bits of
wood, which models they " killed " by first breaking them
across.
I lingered to watch the funeral and heard Goroko, the
witch-doctor, make a little speech.
" O Father and Chief of the Axe," he said, addressing
Umslopogaas, who stood silent leaning on his weapon and
watching all, a portentous figure in the morning mist, " O
Father, O Son of the Heavens " (this was an allusion to the
royal blood of Umslopogaas of which the secret was well
known, although it would never have been spoken aloud in
Zululand), " 0 Slaughterer (Bulalio), 0 Woodpecker who
picks at the hearts of men ; O King- Slayer ; O Conqueror of
the Halakazi ; O Victor in a hundred fights ; O Gatherer of
the Lily-bloom that faded in the hand ; O Wolf-man, Captain
of the Wolves that ravened ; O Slayer of Faku ; O Great One
whom it pleases to seem small, because he must follow hi-,
blood to the end appointed "
This was the opening of the speech, the " bonga-ing " t r
giving of Titles of Praise to the person addressed, of which I
have quoted but a sample, for there were many more of them
that I have forgotten. Then the speaker went on,
" It is told to me, though of it I remember nothing, that
when my Spirit was in me a while ago I prophesied that this
place would flow with blood, and lo I the blood has flowed,
and with it that of these our brothers," and he gave the
names of the two dead Zulus, also those of their forefathers
for several generations.
" It seems, Father, that they died well, as you would have
wished them to die, and as doubtless they desired to die
themselves, lea\dng a tale behind them, though it is true that
they might have died better, killing more of the men-eaters,
as it is certain thej^ would have done, had they not been sick
inside. They are finished ; they have gone beyond to await
us in the Under-world among the ghosts. Their story is told
and soon to their children they will be but names whispered in
honour after the sun has set. Enough of them who have
showed us how to die as our fathers did before them."
94 She and Allan
Goroko paused a while, then added with a waving of his
hands,
" My Spirit comes to me again and I know that these our
brothers shall not pass unavenged. Chief of the Axe, great
glory waits the Axe, for it shall feed fuU. I have spoken."
" Good words ! " grunted Umslopogaas. Then he saluted
the dead by raising Inkosikaas and came to me to consult
about our journey.
CHAPTER VIII
PURSUIT
AFTER all we did not get away much before noon,
because first there was a great deal to be doae.
To begin with the loads had to be arranged. These
consisted largely of ammunition, everything else
being cut down to an irreducible minimum. To carry them we
took tvvo donkeys there were on the place, also half a dozen
pack oxen, all of which animals were supposed to be " salted "
— ^that is, to have suflered and recovered from every kind of
sickness, including the bite of the deadly tsetse fly. I
suspected, it is true, that they would not be proof against
further attacks, still, I hoped that they would last for some
time, as indeed proved to be the case.
In the event of the beasts failing us, we took also ten of
the best of those Strathmuir men who had accompanied us on
the sea-cow trip, to serve as bearers when it became necessary.
It cannot be said that these snuff-and- butter fellows — for
most, if not all of them had some dash of white blood in their
veins — were exactly willing volunteers. Indeed, if a choice
had been left to them, they would, I think, have declined thif
adventure.
But there was no choice. Their master, Robertson,
ordered them' to come and after a glance at the Zulus they
concluded that the command was one which would be enforced
and that if they stopped behind, it would not be as living men.
Also some of them had lost wives or children in the slaughter,
which, if they were not very brave, filled them with a desire
for revenge. Lastly they could all shoot after a fashion and
had good rifles ; moreover if I may say so, I think that they
put confidence in my leadership. So they made the best of a
bad business and got themselves ready.
Then arrangements must be made about the carrying on
96 She and Allan
of the farm and store during our absence. These, together
\vith my waggon and oxen, were put in the charge of Thomaso,
since there was no one else who could be trusted at all — a very
battered and crestfallen Thomaso, by the way. \Mien he
heard of it he was much relieved, since I think he feared lest
he also should be expected to take part in the hunt of the
Amahagger man-eaters. Also it may have occurred to him
that in all probability none of us M-ould ever come back at all,
in which case by a process of natural devolution, he might find
himself the owner of the business and much valuable propertv.
However, he swore by sundrj- saints — for Thomaso was nom-
inally a Catholic — that he would look after everj^hing as
though it were his own, as no doubt he hoped it might become.
" Hearken, fat pig," said Umslopogaas, Hans obUgingly
translating so that there might be no mistake, " if I come
back, and come back I shall who travel with the Great
Medicine — and fiJid even one of the cattle of the white lord,
IMacumazahn, Watcher-by-Night, missing, or one article
stolen from his waggon, or the fields of your master not cul-
tivated or his goods wasted, I swear by the Axe that I will hew
you into pieces with the axe ; yes, if to do it I have to hunt
you from where the sun rises to where it sets and down the
length of the night between. Do you understand, fat pig,
deserter of women and children, who to save yourself could
run faster than a buck ? "
Thomaso replied that he understood very clearly indeed,
and that, Heaven helping him, all should be kept safe and
sound. Still, I was sure that in his manly heart he was
promising great gifts to the saints if they would so arrange
matters that Umslopogaas and his axe were never seen at
Strathmuir again, and reflecting that after all the Amahagger
had their uses. However, as I did not trust him in the least,
much against their will, I left my driver and voorlooper to
guard my belongings.
At last we did get off, purs-.ed by the fervent blessings of
Thomaso and the prayers of the others that we would avenge
their murdered relatives. We were a curious and motley
procession. ■, First went Hans, because at following a spoor
he was, I believe, almost unequalled in Africa, and with him,
Umslopogaas, and three of his Zulus to guard against surprise.
These were followed by Captain Robertson, who seemed to
prefer to walk alone and whom I thought it best to leave
Pursuit 97
undisturbed. Then I came and after me straggled the Strath-
mxiir boys with the pack animals, the cavalcade being closed
by the remaining Zulus under the command of Goroko.
These walked last in case any of the mixed-bloods should
attempt to desert, as we thought it quite probable that they
would.
Less than an hour's trarnp brouglit us to the bush- veld
wheie I feared that our troubles might begin, since if the
Amahagger were cunning, they would take advantage of it
to confuse or hide their spoor. As it chanced, however, they
had done nothing of the sort and a child could have followed
their march. Just before nightfall we came to their first
halting-place where they had made a fire and eaten one of the
herd of farm goats which they had driven away with them,
although they left the cattle, I suppose because goats are
docile and travel well.
Hans showed us everything that had happened ; where
the chair in which Inez was carried was set down, where she
and Janee had been allowed to walk that she might stretch
her stiff limbs, the dregs of some coffee that evidently Janee
had made in a saucepan, and so forth.
He even told us the exact number of the Amahagger, which
he said totalled forty-one, including the man whom Inez had
wounded. His spoor he distinguished from that of the others
both by an occasional drop of blood and because he walked
hghtly on his right foot, doubtless for the reason that he
wished to avoid jarring his wound, which was on that side.
At this spot we were obliged to stay till daybreak, since
it was impossible to follow the spoor by night, a circumstance
that gave the cannibals a great advantage over us.
The next two days were repetitions of the first, but on the
fourth we passed out of the bush-veld into the swamp country
that bordered the great river. Here our task was still easy
since the Amahagger had followed one of the paths made by
the river-dwellers who had their habitations on mounds,
though whether these were natural or artificial I am not sure,
and sometimes on floating islands.
On our second day in the reeds we came upon a sad sight.
To our left stood one of these mound villages, if a village it
could be called, since it consisted only of four or five huts
inhabited perhaps by twenty people. We went up to it to
>btain information and stumbled across the body of an ol4
D
98 She and Allan
man lying in the pathway. A few yards further on we fonnd
the a^es of a big fiie and by it such remains as we had seen
at Strathmuir. Here there had been another cannibal feast.
The miserable huts were empty, but as at Strathmuir, had not
been burnt.
We were going away when the acute ears of Hans caught
the sound of groans. We searched about and in a clump of
reeds near the foot of the mound, found an old woman with a
great spear wound just above her skinny tliigh piercing deep
into the vitals, but of a nature which is not immediately
mOTtal. One of Robertson's people who understood the
language of these swamp-dwellers well, spoke to her. She told
him that she wanted water. It was brought and she drank
copiously. Then in answer to his questions she began to talk.
She said that the Amahagger had attacked the village and
killed all who could not escape. They had eaten a young
woman and three children. She had been wounded by a spear
and fled away into the place where we found her, where none
of them took the trouble to follow her as she " was not worth
eating."
By my direction the man asked her whether she knew
anything of these Amahagger. She replied that her grand-
fathers had, though she had heard nothing of them since she
was a child, which must have been seventy years before.
They were a fierce people who lived far up north across the
Great River, the remnants of a race that had once " ruled the
world."
Her grandfathers used to say that they were not always
cannibals, but had become so long before because of a lack of
food and now had acquired the taste. It was for this purpose
that they still raided to get other people to eat, since their
ruler would not allow them to eat one another. The flesh of
cattle they did not care for, although they had plenty of them,
but sometimes they ate goats and pigs because they said
they tasted like man. According to her grandfathers they
were a very evil people and fuU of magic.
All of this the old woman told us quite briskly after she
had drunk the water, I think because her wound had morti-
fied and she felt no pain. Her information, however, as is
common with the aged, dealt entirely with the far past ; of
the history of the Amahagger since the days of her forebears
she knew nothing, nor had she seen anything of Inez. All she
Pursuit 99
could tell us was that some of them had attacked her village
at dawn and that when she ran out of the hut she was speared.
While Robertson and I were wondering what we should do
with the poor old creature whom it seemed cruel to leave here
to perish, die cleared up the question by suddenly expiring
before our eyes. Uttering the name of someone with whom,
doubtless, slie had been familiar in her youth, three or four
times over, she just sank down and seemed to go to sleep and
on examination we found that she was dead. So we left her
and went on.
Next day we came to the edge of the Great River, here a
sheet of placid running water about a mile across, for at this
time of the year it was low. Perceiving quite a big village on
our left, we went to it and made inquiries, to find that it had
not been attacked by the cannibals, probably because it was
too powerful, but that three nights before some of their canoes
had been stolen, in which no doubt these had crossed the
river.
As the people of this village had traded with Robertson
at Strathmuir, we had no difficulty in obtaining other canoes
from them in which to cross the Zambesi in return for one of
our oxen that I could see was already sickening from tsetse
bite. These canoes were large enough to take the donkeys
that were patient creatures and stood still, but the cattle we
could not get into them for fear of an upset. So we killed the
two driven beasts that were left to us and took them with us
as dead meat for food, while the three remaining pack oxen
we tried to swim across, dragging them after the canoes with
hide reims round their horns. As a result two were drowned,
but one, a bold-hearted and enterprising animal, gained the
other bank. ,
Here again we struck a sea of reeds in which, after casting
about, Hans once more found the spoor of the Amahagger.
That it was theirs beyond doubt was proved by the circum-
stance that on a thorny kind of weed we found a fragment of
a cotton dress which, because of the pattern stamped on it,
we all recognised as one that Inez had been wearing. At first
I thought that this had been torn off by the thorns, but on
examination we became certain that it had been placed there
pm-posely, probably by Janee, to give us a clue. This
conclusion was confirmed when at subsequent periods of the
hunt we found other fragments of the same garment.
100 She and Allan
Now it would be useless for me to set out the details of this
prolonged and arduous chase which in all endured for some-
thing over three weeks. Again and again we lost the trail
and were only able to recover it by long and elaborate search.
which occupied much time. Then, after we escaped from the
reeds and swamps, we found ourselves upon stony uplands
where the spoor was almost impossible to follow, indeed, we
only rediscovered it by stumbUng across the dead body of
that cannibal whom Inez had wounded. Evidently he had
perished from his hurt, which I could see had mortified. From
the state of his remains we gathered that the raiders must be
about two days' march ahead of us.
Striking their spoor again on softer ground where the
impress of their feet remained — at any rate to the cunning
sight of Hans — we followed them down across great valleys
wherein trees grew sparsely, which valleys were separated
from each other by ridges of high and barren land. On these
belts of rocky soil our difficulties were great, but here twice we
were put on the right track by more fragments torn from the
dress of Inez.
At length we lost the spoor altogether ; not a sign of it
was to be found. We had no idea which way to go. AH
about us appeared these vallej^s covered with scattered bush
running this way and that, so that we could not teU which
of them to follow or to cross. The thing seemed hopeless, for
how could we expect to find a little body of men in that
immensity ? Hans shook his head and even the fierce and
steadfast Robertson was discouraged.
" I fear my poor lassie is gone," he said, and relapsed into
brooding as had become his wont.
" Never say die ! It's dogged as does it I " I repHed
cheerfulh- in the words of Nelson, who also had learned what
it meant to hunt an enemy over trackless wastes, although his
were of water.
I walked to the top of the rise where we were «icamped,
and sat down alone to think matters over. Our conditioa
was somewhat parlous ; all our beasts were now dead, even
the second donkey, which was the last of them, having
perished that morning, and been eaten, for food was scanty
since of late we had met with little game. The Strathmuir
men, who now must carry the loads, were almost worn out and
doubtless would have deserted, except for the fact that there
Pursuit 101
was no place to which they could go. Even the Zulus were
di-couraged, and said they had come a^^'ay from home across
the Great River to fight, not to run about in wildernesses and
starve, though Umslopogaas made no complaint, being buoyed
up by the promise of his soothsaj^er, Goroko, that battle was
ahead of him in which he would win great glory.
Hans, however, remained cheerful, for the reason, as he
remarked vacuously, that the Great Medicine was with us and
that therefore, however bad things seemed to be, all in fact
was well ; an argument that carried no conviction to my soul.
It was on a certain evening towards sunset that I went away
thus alone. I looked about me, east and west and north.
Everywhere appeared the same bush-clad valleys and barren
rises, mUes upon miles of them. I bethought me of the map
that old Zikali had drawn in the ashes, and rem.embered that
it showed these valleys and rises and that beyond them there
should be a great swamp, and beyond the swamp a mountain.
So it seemed that we were on the right road to the home of his
white Queen, if such a person existed, or at any rate we were
passing over country similar to that which he had pictured or
imagined.
But at this time I was not troubling my head about white
queens. I was thinking of poor Inez. That she was alive a
few days before we knew from the fragments of her dress.
But where was she now ? The spoor was utterly lost on that
stony ground, or if any traces of it remained a heavy deluge
of rain had washed them away. Even Hans had confessed
himself beaten.
I stared about me helplessly, and as I did so a flying ray
of light from the setting sun reflected downwards from a
storm-cloud, fell upon a white patch on the crest of one of the
distant land-waves. It struck me that probably limestone
outcropped at this spot, as indeed proved to be the case ; also
that such a patch of white would be a convenient guide for any
who were travdling across that sea of bush. Further, some
instinct within seemed to impel me to steer for it, although I
had all but made up my mind to go in a totally different
direction many points more to the east. It was almost as
though a voice were calling to me to take this path and no
other. Doubtless this was an efiect produced by weariness
and mental overstrain. Still, there it was, very real and
taogiUe, one that I did not attempt to cc»nbat.
102 She and Allan
So next morning at the dawn I headed north by west,
lading my course for that white patch and for the first time
breaking the straight hue of our ad\'«ince. Captain Robert-
son, whose temper had not been bettered by prolonged and
frightful anxiety, or I may add, by his unaccustomed total
abstinence, asked me rather roughly why I was altering the
course.
"Look here, Captain," I answered, "if we were at sea
and vou did something of the sort, I should not put such a
question to you, and if by any chance I did, I should not
expect you to answer. Well, by your own wish I am in
command here and I think that the same argument holds."
" Yes," he replied. " I suppose you have studied your
chart, if there is any of this God-forsaken country, and at any
rate discipline is discipline. So steam ahead and don't mind
me."
The others accepted my decision without comment ; most
of them were so miserable that they did not care which way we
went, also they were good enough to repose confidence in my
judgment.
" Doubtless the Baas has reasons," said Hans dubiously,
" although the spoor, when last we saw it, headed towards the
rising sun and as the country is all the same, I do not see why
those man-eaters should have returned."
" Yes," I said, " I have reasons," although in fact I had
none at all.
Hans surveyed me with a watery eye as though waiting
for me to explain them, but I looked haughty and declined
to oblige.
" The Baas has reasons," continued Hans, "for taking us
on what I think to be the wrong side of that great ridge, there
to hunt for the spoor of the men-eaters, and they are so deep
down in his mind that he cannot dig them up for poor old Hans
to look at. Well, the Baas wears the Great Medicine and
perhaps it is there that the reasons sit. Those Strathmuir
fellows say that they can go no further and wish to die.
Umslopogaas has just gone to them with his axe to tell them
that he is ready to help them to their wish. Look, he has got
there, for they are coming quickly, who after all prefer to
live."
Well, we started for my white patch of stones which no one
else had noticed and of which I said nothing to anyone, and
Pursuit 103
reached it by the following evening, to find, as I expected, that
it was a lime outcrop.
By now we were in a poor way, for we had practically
nothing left to eat, which did not tend to raise the spirits of
the party. Also that lime outcrop proved to be an uninterest-
ing spot overlooking a wide valley which seemed to suggest
that there were other yaileys of a similar sort beyond it, and
nothing more.
Captain Robertson sat stem-faced and deipondent at a
distance muttmng into his beard, as had become a habit
with him. Umslopogaas leaned upon his axe and con-
templated the heavens, also occasionally the Strathmuir men
who cowered beneath his eye. The Zulus squatted about
sharing such snuff as remained to them in economic pinches.
Goroko, the witch-doctor, engaged himself in consulting his
" Spirit," by means of bone-throwing, upon the humble
subject of whether or no we should succeed in killing any
game for food to-morrow, a point on which I gathered that
his " Spirit " was quite uncertain. In short, the gloom was
deep and universal and the sky looked as though it were going
to rain,
Hans became sarcastic. Sneaking up to me in his most
aggravating way, like a dog that means to steal something
and cover up the theft with simulated affection, he pointed
out one by one all the disadvantages of our present position.
He indicated per contra, that if his advice had been followed,
his conviction was that even if we had not found the man-
eaters and rescued the lady called Sad-Eyes, our state would
have been quite difierent. He was sure, he added, that the
valley which he had suggested we should follow, was one full
of game, inasmuch as he had seen their spoor at its entrance.
" Then why did you not say so ? " I asked.
Hans sucked at his empty corn-cob pipe, which was his
way of indicating that he would like me to give him some
tobacco, much as a dog groans heavily under the table when
he wants a bit to eat, and answered that it was not for him
to point out things to one who knew everything, like the great
Macumazahn, Watcher-by-Night, his honoured master. Still,
the luck did seem to have gone a bit wrong. The privations
could have been put up with (here he sucked very loudly at
the empty pipe and looked at mine, which was alight), every-
thing could have been put up with, if only there had been a
104 ^^^ ^^^ Allan
chance of coming even with those men-eaters and rescuing the
Lady Sad-Eyes, whose face haunted his sleep. As it was,
however, he was convinced that by following the course I had
mapped out we had lost their spoor finally and that probably
they were now three days' march away in another direction.
Still, the Baas had said that he had his reasons, and that of
course was enough for him, Hans, only if the Baas would
condescend to tell him, he would as a matter of curiosity like
to know what the reasons were.
At that moment I confess that, much as I was attached to
him, I should have liked to murder Hans, who, I felt, believing
that he had me " on toast," to use a vulgar phrase, was taking
advantage of my position to make a mock of me in his sly,
Hottentot way.
I tried to continue to look grand, but felt that the attitude
did not impress. Then I stared about me as though taking
counsel with the Heavens, devoutly hoping that the Heavens
would respond to my mute appeal. As a matter of fact they did.
" There is my reason, Hans," I said in my most icy voice,
and I pointed to a faint line of smoke rising against the
twilight sky on the further side of the intervening valley.
" Ycu will perceive, Hans," I added, "that those Ama-
hagger cannibals have forgotten their caution and lit a fire
yonder, which they have not done for a long time. Perhaps
you would like to know why this has happened. If so I will
tell you. It is because for some days past I have purposely
lost their spoor, which they knew we were following, and lit
fires to puzzle them. Now, thinking that they had done with
us, they have become incautious and shown us where they are.
That is my reason, Hans."
He heard and, although of course he did not believe that I
hadlost the spoor on purpose, stared at metill I thought his little
eyes were going to drop out of his head. But even in his admira-
tion he contrived to convey an insult as only a native can.
" How wonderful is the Great Medicine of the Opener-of-
Roads, that it should have been able thus to instruct the
Baas," he said. " Without doubt the Great Medicine is right
and yonder those men-eaters are encamped, who might just
as well have been anywhere else within a hundred miles."
" Drat the Great' Medicine," I replied, but beneath my
breath, then added aloud,
!' Be so good, Hans, as to go to Umslopogaas and to tell
Pursuit 105
him that Macumazahn, or the Great Medicine, proposes to
march at once to attack the camp of the Amahagger, and —
here is some tobacco."
" Yes, Baas," answered Hans humbly, as he snatched the
tobacco and wriggled away like a worm.
Then I went to talk with Robertson.
The end of it was that within an hour we were creeping
across that valley towards the spot where I had seen the line
of smoke rising against the twilight sky.
Somewhere about midnight we reached the neighbourhood
of this place. How near or how far we were from it, we could
not telJ since the moon was invisible, as of course the smoke
was in the dark. Now the question was, what should we do ?
Obviously there would be enormous advantages in a night
attack, or at least in locating the enemy, so that it might be
carried out at dawn before he marched. Especially was this
so, since we were scarcely in a condition even if we could come
face to face with them, to fight these savages when they were
prepared and m the light of day. Only we two white men,
with Hans, Umslopogaas and his Zulus, could be relied upon
in such a case, since the Strathmuir mixed-bloods had become
entirely demoralised and were not to be trusted at a pinch.
Indeed, tired and half starving as we were, none of us was at
his best. Therefore a surprise seemed our only chance. But
first we must find those whom we ^^shed to surprise.
Ultimately .after a hurried consultation, it was agreed
that Hans and I should go forward and see if we could locate
the Amahagger. Robertson wished to come too, but I
pointed out that he must remain to look after his people, who,
if he left them, might take the opportunity to melt away in
the darkness, especially as they knew that heavy fighting was
at hand. Also if anything happened to me it was desirable
that one white man should remain to lead the party. Um-
slopogaas, too, volunteered, but knowing his character, I
declined his help. To tell the truth, I was almost certain that
if we came upon the m'»n-eaters, he would charge the whole
lot of them and accomp* *i a fine but futile end after hacking
down a number of cannibal barbarians, whose extinction or
escape remiiined absolutely immaterial to our purpose, namely,
the rescue of Inez.
So it came about that Hans and I started alone, I not tt
io6 She and Allan
all enjoying the job. T suppose that there lurks in my nature
some of that primeval terror of the dark, which must con-
tinually have haunted our remote forefathers of a hundred or
a thousand generations gone and still lingers in the blood of
most of us. At any rate even if I am named the Watcher-
tv-Ni^t, greatly do I prefer to fight or to face peril in the
Bi'fxlight, though it b true that I would rather avoid both at
ai.y time.
In fact, I wished heartily that the Amahagger were at the
other side of Africa, or in heaven, and that I, completely
ignOTant of the person called Inez Robertson, were seated
smoking the pipe of peace on my own stoep in Durban. I
think that Hans guessed my state of mind, since he suggested
that he should go alone, adding with his usual veiled rudeness,
th^t he was quite certain that he would do much better
without me, since white men always made a noise.
" Yes," I replied, determined to give him a Roland for
his Oliver, " I have no doubt you would — under the first bush
yoi. came across, where you would sleep till dawn, and then
return and say that you could not find the Amahagger."
Hans chuckled, quite appreciating the joke, and having
thus mutually afironted each other, we started on our quest.
CHAPTER IX
THE SWAMP
NEITHER Hans nor I carried rifles that we knew
would be in the way on our business, which was
just to scout. Moreover, one is alwaj^ tempted
to shoot if a gun is at hand, and this I did not
want to do at present. So, although I had my revolver in
case of urgent necessity, my only other weapon was a Zulu
axe, that formerly had belonged to one of those two men who
died defending Inez on the veranda at Strathmuir, while Hans
had nothing but his long knife. Thus armed, or unarmed,
we crept fcM-ward towards that spot whence, as we conjectured,
we had seen the line of smoke rising some hours before.
For about a quarter of a mile we went on thus without
seeing or hearing anything, and a difficult job it was in that
gloom among the scattered trees with no light save such as
the stars gave us. Indeed, I was about to suggest that we
had better abandon the enterprise until daybreak when Hans
nudged me, whispering,
" Look to the right between those twin thorns."
I obeyed and following the line of sight which he had
indicated, perceived, at a distance of about two hundred
yards a faint glow, so faint indeed that I think only Hans
would have noticed it. Really it might have been nothing
more than the phosphorescence rising from a heap of fungus,
or even from a decaying animal.
" The fire of which we saw the smoke that has burnt to
ashes," whispered Hans again. " I think that they have
gone, but let us look."
So we crawled forward very cautiously to avoid making
the slightest noise ; so cautiously, indeed, that it must have
taken us nearly half an hour to cover those two hundred yards.
At length we were within about forty yards of that dying
io8 She and Alian
fire and, afraid to go further, came to a stand — or rather, a
lie-still — behind some bushes until we knew more. Hang
lifted his head and sniffed with his broad nostrils j then he
whispered into my ear, but so low that I could scarcely hear
him.
" Amahagger there all right. Baas, I smeU them."
This of course was possible, since what wind there was
blew from the direction of the fire, although I whose nose is
fairly keen, could smell nothing at all. So I determined to wait
and watch a while, and indicated my decision to Hans, who,
considering our purpose accomplished, showed signs of wishing
to retreat.
Some minutes we lay thus, till of a sudden this happened.
A branch of resinous wood of which the stem had been eaten
through by the flames, fell upon the ashes of the fire and
bjint up with a brilliant light. In it we saw that the Ama-
higger were sleeping in a circle round the fire wrapped in their
blankets.
Also we saw another thing, namely that nearer to us, not
more than a dozen yards away, indeed, was a kind of little
tent, also made of fur rugs or blankets, which doubtless
sheltered Inez. Indeed, this was evident from the fact that
at the mouth of it, wrapped up in something, lay none other
than her maid, Janee, for her face being towards us, was
recognised by us both in the flare of the flaming branch. One
more thing we noted, namely, that two of the cannibals,
evidently a guard, were sleeping between us and the little
tent. Of course they ought to have been awake, but fatigue
had overcome them and there they slumbered, seated on the
ground, their heads hanging forward almost upon their
knees.
An idea came to me. If we could kill those men without
waking the others in that gloom, it might be possible to rescue
Inez at once. Rapidly I weighed the pros and cons of such
an attempt. Its advantages, if successful, were that the
object of our pursuit would be carried through without
further trouble and that it was most doubtful whether we
should ever get such a chance again. If we returned to fetch
the others and attacked in force, the probability was that
those Amahagger, or one of them, would hear some sound made
by the advance of a number of men, and fly into the darkness ;
or, rather than lose Inez, they might kiU her. Or if they srood
The Swamp 109
and fought, she might be slain in the scrimmage. Or, as after
all we had only about a dozen effectives, for the Strathmuir
bearers could not be relied upon, they might defeat and kill
us whom they outnumbered by two or three to one.
These were the arguments for the attempt. Those for not
making it were equally obvaous. To begin with it was one of
extraordinary risk ; the two guards or someone else behind
them might wake up — for such people, like dogs, mostly sleep
with one eye open, especially when they know that they are
being pursued. Or if they did not we might bungle the busi-
ness so that they raised an outcry before they grew silent for
ever, in which case both of us and perhaps Inez also would
probably pay the penalty before we could get away.
Such was the horncl dikimma upon one point or other of
which we ran the risk of being impaled. For a full minute
or more I considered the matter with an earnestness almost
amounting to mental agony, and at last all but came to the
conclusion that the danger was too enormous. It would be
better, notwithstanding the many disadvantages of that plan,
to go back and fetch the others.
But then it was that I made one of my many mistakes in
life. Most of us do more foolish things than wise ones and
sometimes I think that in spite of a certain reputation for
caution and far-sightedness, I am exceptionally cursed in this
respect. Indeed, when I look back upon my past, I can
scarcely see the scanty flowers of wisdom that decorate its
path because of the fat, ugly trees of error by which it is
overshadowed.
On that occasion, forgetting past experiences where Hans
was concerned, my natural tendency to blunder took the form
of rel>ing upon another's judgment instead of on my own.
Although I had formed a certain view as to what should be
done, the pros and cons seem.ed so evenly balanced that I
determined to consult the little Hottentot and accept his
verdict. This, after all, was but a form of gambling like
pitch and toss, since, although it is true Hans was a clever,
or at any rate a cumiing man according to his lights, and
experienced, it meant that I was placing my own judgment in
abeyance, which no one considering a life-and-death enterprise
should do, taking the chance of that of another, whatever it
might be. However, not for the first time, I did so — to my grief.
In the tiniest of whispers \nth my lips right against his
no She and Allan
smelly head, I submitted the problem to Hans, asking him
what we should do, go on or go back. He considered a while,
then answered in a voice which he contrived to make like the
drone of a night beetle.
" Those men are fast asleep, I know it by their breathing.
Also the Baas has the Great Medicine. Therefore I say go on,
kill them and rescue Sad-Eyes."
Now I saw that the Fates to which I had appealed had
decided against me and that I must accept their decree. With
a sick and sinking heart — for I did not at all like the business —
I wondered for a moment what had led Hans to take this
view, which was directly opposite to any I had expected
from him. Of course his superstition about the Great Medi-
cine had something to do with it, but I felt convinced that this
was not all.
Even then I guessed that two arguments appealed to him,
of which the first was that he desiied, if possible, to put an
end to this intolerable and unceasing hunt which had worn us
all out, no matter what that end might be. The second and
more powerful, however, was, I believed, and rightly, that the
idea of this stealthy, midnight blow appealed irresistibly to
the craft of his half-wild nature in which the strains of the
leopard and the snake seemed to mingle with that of the
human being. For be it remembered that notwithstanding
his veneer of civilisation, Hans was a savage whose forefathers
for countless ages had preserved themselves alive by means of
such attacks and stratagems.
The die having been cast, in the same infinitesimal whispers
we made our arrangements, which were few and simple. They
amounted to this — that we were to creep on to the men and
each of us to kill that one who was opposite to him, I with
the axe and Hans with his knife, remembering that it must
be done with a single stroke — that is, if they did not wake up
and kill us — after which we were to get Inez out of her shelter,
dressed or undressed, and make off with her into the darkness
where we were pretty sure of being able to baflfle pursuit until
we reached our own camp.
Provided that we could kill the two guards in the proper
fashion — rather a large pro\aso, I admit — the thing was simple
as shelling peas which, notwithstanding the proverb, in my
experience is not simple at all, since generally the shells crack
the v^Tong way and at least one of the peas remains in the
The Swamp iii
pod. So it happened in this case, for Janee, whom wc had
both forgotten, remained in the pod.
I am sure I don't know why we overlooked her ; mdeed,
the error was inexcusable, especially as Hans had already
experienced her foolishness and she veas lying there before
our eyes. I suppose that our minds were so concentrated
upon the guard-killing and the tragic and impressive Inei
that there was no room in them for the stolid and matter-of-
fact Janee. At any rate she proved to be the pea that would
not come out of the pod.
Often in my life I have felt terrified, not being by nature
one of those who rejoices in dangers and wild adventures for
. their own sake, which only the stupid do, but who has, on the
contrary, been forced to undertake them by the pressure of
circumstances, a kind of hydraulic force that no one can
resist, and who, having undertaken, has been carried through
them, triumphing over the shrinkings of his flesh by some ec cret
reserve of nerve power. Almost am I tempted to call it s; it it-
power, something that lives beyond and yet inspires our frail
and fallible bodies.
Well, rarely have I been more frightened than I was at
this moment. Actually I hung back until I saw that Hans
slitliering through the grass like a thick yellow snake with the
grei^t kmfe in his right hand, was quite a foot ahead of me.
Then my pride came to the rescue and I spurted, if one can
spurt upon one's stomach, and drew level with him. After
this we went at a pace so slow that any able-bodied snail
would have left us standing still. Inch by inch we crept
forward, lying motionless a while after each convulsive move-
ment, once for quite a long time, since the left-hand cannibal
seemed about to wake up, for he opened his mouth and
yawned. If so, he changed his mind and rolling from a sitting
posture on to his side, went to sleep much more soundly than
before.
A minute or so later the right-hand ruffian, my man, also
stirred, so sharply that I thought he had heard something.
Apparently, however, he was only haunted by dreams resulting
from an evil life, or perhaps by a prescience of its end, for after
wavinjj his arm and muttering something in a frightened voice,
he too. wearied out, poor devil, sank back into deep.
At last we were on them, but paused because we could not
see exactly where to strike and knew, each of us, that our
112 She and Allan
first blow must be the last and fataJ. A cloud had come
np and dimmed what light there was, and we must wait for
it to pass. It was a long wait, or so it seemed.
At length that cloud did pass and in faint outline I saw
the classical head of my Amaliagger bowed in deep sleep.
With a heart beating as it does only in the fierce extremities of
love or war, I hissed like a snake, which was our agreed
signal. Then rising to my knees, I lifted the Zulu axe and
ttruck with all my strength.
The blow was straight and true ; Umslopogaas himself
could not have dealt a better. The victim in front of me
uttered no sound and made no movement ; only sank gently
on to his side, and there lay as dead as though he had never
been born.
It appeared that Hans had done equally well, since the
other man kicked out his long legs, which struck me on the
knees. Then he also became strangely still. In short, both
of them were stone dead and would tell no stories this side of
Judgment Day.
Recovering my axe, which had been wrenched from my
hand, I crept forward and opened the curtain-like rugs or
blankets, I do not know which they were, that covered
Inez. I heard her stir at once. The movement had wakened
her, since captives sleep lightly.
" Make no noise, Inez," I whispered. " It is I, Allan
Quatermain, come to rescue you. Slip out and follow me ;
do you understand ? "
" Yes, quite," she whispered back and began to rise.
At this moment a blood-curdling yell seemed to fill earth
and heaven, a yell at the memory of which even now I feel
faint, although I am writing years after its echoes died away,
I may as well say at once that it came from Janee who,
awaking suddenly, had perceived against the background of
the sky, Hans standing over her, looking like a yellow devil
with a long knife in his hand, which she thought was about to
be used to murder her.
So, lacking self-restraint, she screamed in the most lusty
fashion, for her lungs were excellent, and — the game was up.
Instantly every man sleeping round the fire leapt to his
feet and rushed in the r^i^ection of the echoes of Janee's yell.
It was impossible to p.:t Inez free of her tent arrangement nr
to do anything, excepi whisper to her.
The Swamp 113
" Feign sleep and know nothing. We will follow you.
Your father is with us."
Then I bolted back into the bushes, which Hans had
reached already.
A minute or two later when we were clear of the hubbub
and nearing our owe camp, Hans remarked to me senten-
tious! y,
" The Great Medicine worked well, Baas, but not quite
well enough, for what medicine can avail against a woman's
foUy ? "
" It was our own folly we should blame, " I answered.
" We ought to have known that fool-girl would shriek, and
taken precautions."
" Yes, Baas, we ought to have killed her too, for notling
else would have kept her quiet," replied Hans in cheerful
assent. " Now we shall have to pay for oult mistake, for the
hunt must go on."
At this moment we stumbled across Robertson and
Umslopogaas who, with the others and every living thing
within a mile or two had also heard Janee's yell, and briefly
told our story. When he learned how near we had been to
rescuing his daughter, Robertson groaned, but Umslopogaas
only said,
" Well, there are two less of the men-eaters left to deal
ynth. Still, for once your wisdom failed you, Macumazahn.
\Mien you had found the camp you should have returned, so
that we might aU attack it together. Had we done so, before
the dawn there would not have been one of them left."
" Yes," I answered, " I think that my wisdom did fail me,
if I have any to fail. But come ; perhaps we may catch
them yet ."•
So we advanced, Hans and I showing the road. But
when we reached the place it was too late, for all that remained
of the Amahagger, or of Inez and Janee, were the two dfad
men whom we had killed, and in that darkness pursuit was
impossible. So we went back to our own camp to rest and
await the dawn before taking up the trail, only to find our-
selves confronted with a new trouble. All the Strathmuir
half-breeds whom we had left behind as useless, had taken
advantage of our absence and that of the Zulus, to desert.
They had just bolted back upon our tracks and vanished into
the sea of bush. V\'Tiat became of them I do not know, a? w*
114 She and Allan
never saw them again, but my belief is that these cowardly
fellows all perished, for certainly not one of them reached
Strathmuir.
Fortunately for us, however, they departed in such a
hurry that they left all their loads behind them, and even some
of the guns they carried. Evidently Janee's yell was the last
straw which broke the back of such nerve as remained to
them. Doubtless they believed it to be the signal of attack
by hordes of cannibals.
As there was nothing to be said or done, since any pursuit
ef these curs was out of the question, we made the best of
thirds as they were. It proved a simple business. From the
loads we selected such articles as were essential, anununition
for the most part, to carry ourselves — and the rest we aban-
doued, hiding it under a pile of stones in case we should ever
come that way again.
The guns they had thrown aside we distributed among
the Zulus who had non^, though the thought that they poa-
icssed them, so far as I was concerned, added another terror
to life. The prospect of going into battle with those wild
axemen letting ofi bullets in every direction was not
p asant, but fortunately when that crisis came, they cast
taem away and reverted to the weapons to which they were
accustomed.
Now all this sounds much like a tale of disaster, or at
any rate of failure. It is, however, wonderful by what strange
\vays good results are brought about, so much so that at times I
think that these seeming accidents must be arranged by an
Intelligence superior to our own, to fulfil through us purposes
of which we know nothing, and frequently, be it admitted, of
a nature sufficiently obscure. Of course this is a fatalistic
dxXtrine, but then, as I have said before, within certain limits
I am a fatalist.
To take the present case, for instance, the whole Inei
episode at first sight might appear to be an excrescence on
my narrative, of which the object is to describe how I met a
certain very wonderful wom.an and what I heard and ex-
perienced in her company. Yet it is not really so, since had
it not been for the Inez adventure, it is quite clear that I
should never have reached the home of this woman, if woman
she were, or have seen her at all. Before long this became
vwy obvious to me as shall be told.
The Swamp 113
From the night upon which Hans and I failed to rescue
Inez we had no more difficulty in following the trail of the
cannibals who thenceforward were never more than a few
hours ahead of us and had no time to be careful or to attempt
to hide their spoor. Yet so fast did they travel that do
what we would, burdened and wearied as we were, it proved
impossible to overtake them.
For the tirst three days the track ran on through scattered,
rolling bush-veld of the character that I have described, but
tending continually down hill. When we broke camp on the
morning of the fourth day, eating a hasty meal at dawn
(for now game had become astonishingly plentiful, so that we
did not lack food) the rising sun showed beneuth us an endless
sea of billowy mist stretching in every direction far as the sight
could carry.
To the north, however, it did come to an end, for there, as
I judged fifty or sixty miles away, rose the grim outline of
what looked like a huge fortress, w^hich I knew must be one of
those extraordinary mountain formations, probably owing
their origin to volcanic action, that are to be met with here
and there in the vast expanses of Central and Eastern Africa.
Being so distant it was impossible to estimate its size, wiiich
I guessed must be enormous, but In looking at it I bethought
me of that great mountain in which Zikali said the marvellous
white Queen lived, and wondered whether it could be the same,
as from my memory of his map upon the ashes, it well might
be, that is, if such a pli.ce existed at all. If so the map had
shown it as stirrounded by swamps and — well, surely that mist
hid the face of a mighty swamp ?
It did indeed, since before nightfall, following the spoor
oi those Amahagger, we had plunged into a morass so vast
that in aU 'my experience I have never seen or heard of its
like. It was a veritable ocean of papyrus and other reeds,
some of them a dozen or more feet high, so that it was im-
possible to see a yard in any direction.
Here it was that the Amahagger ahead of us proved our
salvation, since without them to guide us we must soon have
perished. For through that gigantic swamp there ran a road,
as I think an ancient road, since in one or two places I saw
stone work which must have been laid by man. Yet it was
not a road which it would have been possible to follow without
a guide, seeing that it also was overgrown with reeds. Indeed,
ii6 She and Allan
the cnly diSerence bet'-v^;'n it and the surrounding swamp \^a-
that on the road the soO was comparatively firm, that is to
say, one seldom sank into it above the knee, whereas on either
side of it the quagmires vere often apparently bottomless, and
what is more, partook of the nature of quicksand
This we found out soon after we entered the svamp, since
Robertson, pushmg forward vi-ith the fierce eagerness which
seemed to consume him, negh.-cted to keep his ey. upon the
spoor and stepped ofi the edge on to land that ap[»<aredto be
exactly similar to its surface. Instantly he begnn to sink in
greasy and tenacious mud. Umslopc^as and I were OT\ly
twenty >'ards behind, yet by the time we reached him in
answer to his shouts, already he was engulfed up to his middle
and going down so rapidly that in another minute he would
have \^nished altogether. Well, we got him out but not with
ease, for that mud clung to him like the tentacles of an
octopus. After this we were more careful.
Nor did this road run straight ; on the contrary, it curved
about and sometimes turned at right angles, doubtless to
avoid a piece of swamp over which it had proved impossible
for the ancientsto construct a causeway, or to follow some out-
crop of harder soil beneath.
The difficulties of that horrible place are beyond descrip-
tion, and indeed can scarcely be imagined. First there was
that of a kind of grass which grew among the roots of the
reeds and had edges like to those of knives. As Robertson
and I wore gaiters we did not sutler so much from it, but the
poor Zulus with their bare legs were terribly cut about and
in some cases lamed.
Then there were the mosquitoes which lived here by the
million and all seemed anxious for a bite ; also snakes of a
peculiarly deadly kind were numerous. A Zulu was bitten
by one of them of so poisonous a na.ture that he died wthin
three minutes, for the venom seemed to go straight to his
heart. We threw his body into the swamp, where it vanished
at once.
Lastly there were the all-pervading stench and the intoler-
able heat of the place, since no breath of air could pene-
trate that forest of reeds, whue a minor trouble was that of the
multitude of leeches which fastened on to our bodies. By
looking one could see the creatures sitting on the under side
of leaves with their heads stretched out waiting to attack
The Swamp 117
anything that went by. As wajii-re^ there could net have been
numerous, I wondered what they had lived on for the last few
tboxisacd years. By the way, I found that parafi&n, of which
we had a small supply for our hand-lamps, rubbed ovtr aJi
exposed surfaces, was to some extent a protection against
these blood-sucking worms and the gnats, although it did
make one go about smelling like a dirty oil tin.
During the day, except for the occasional rush of some
great iguana or other reptile, and the sound of the wings of
the flocks of wildfowl passing over us from time to time, the
march was deathly silent. But at night it was different, for
then the bull-frogs boomed incessantly, as did the bitterns,
while great swamp owls and other night-flying birds uttered
their weird cries. Also there were mysterious sucking noises
r a used, no doubt, by the sinking of areas of swamp, with
those of bursting bubbles of fc'ul, up-rushing gas.
Strange lights, too, played about, will-o'-the-wisps or St.
Flmo fires, as I believe they are called, that frightened the
ZiJus very much, since they believed them to be spirits of
the dead. Perhaps this superstition had something to do
wth their native legend that mankind was " torn out of the
reeds." If so, they may have imagined that the ghosts of
men went back to the reeds, of which there were enough here
to accommodate those of the entire Zulu nation. Any way
they were much scared ; even the bold witch-doctor, Goroko,
v-as scared and went through incantations with the little bag
of medicines he carried to secure protection for himself and
his coropaninns. Indeed, I think even the iron Umslopo?aas
himself was not as comfortable as he might have been, although
he did inform me that he had come out to fight and did not
care whether it were with man, or wizard, or spirit.
In short, of all the journeys that I have made, with the
exception of the passage of the desert on our way to King
Solomon's Mines, I think that through this enormous swamp
was the most miserable. Heartily did I curse myself for ever
having undertaken such a quest in a wild attempt to allay
that sickness, or rather to quench that thirst of the soul which,
I imagine, at times assails most of those who have hearts and
think or dream.
For this was at the bottom of the business : this it was
which had delivered me into the hands of Zlkali, Opener -of-
Reads, who, as now I fdt sure, was me-ely making use of me
XI 8 She and Allan
for his prh^te occult purposes. He desired to cons'olt the
distant Oracle, if such a person existed, as to great schemes of
his owa, and therefore, to attain his end, made use of my
secrei longings which I had been so foolish as to reveal to him,
quite careless of what happened to me in the process.
Well, I was in for the business and must foUow it to the
finish whatever that might be. After ail it was very interest-
ing and if there were anything in what Zikali said (if there
were not I could not conceive what object he had in sending
me on such a wild goose-chase through this home of geese
and ducks), it might become more interesting still. For
being pretty well fever-proof I did not think I should die in
that morass, as of course nine white men out of ten would
have done, and, beyond it lay the huge mountain which day
by day grew larger and clearCT.
Nor did Hans, who, with a childlike trust, pinned his faith
to the Great Medicine. This, he remarked, was the worst veld
through which he had ever travelled, but as the Great Medicine
would never consent to be buried in that stinking mud, he had
no doubt that we should come safely through it some time. I
replied that this wonderful medicine of his had not saved one
oi our companions who had now made a grave in the same mud.
" No, Baas," he said, " but those Zulus have nothing to do
with the Medicine which was given to you and to me who
accompanied you when we saw the Opener-of-Roads. There-
fore perhaps they will all die, except Umslopogaas, whom you
were told to take with you. If so, what does it matter, since
there are plenty of Zulus, although there be but one Macu-
mazahn or one Hans ? Also the Baas may remember that
he began by offending a snake and therefore it is quite natural
that this snake's brother should have bitten the Zulu."
" If you are right, he should have bitten me, Hans."
" Yes, Baas, and so no doubt he would have done had you
not been protected by the Great Medicine, and me too had not
my grandfather been a snake-charmer, to say nothing of the
tmdl of the Medicine being on me as well. The snakes know
those that they should bite. Baas."
" So do the mosquitoes." I answered, grabbing a handful
ci them. " The Great Medicine has no effect upon them."
" Oh I yes. Baas, it has, since though it pleases them to bite,
the bites do us no harm, or at least not much, and all are made
happy. Still, I wish we could get out of these reeds of which
The Swamp 119
I never want to see another, and Baas, please keep your rifl«
ready for I think I hear a crocodile stirring there."
" No need, Hans," I remarked sarcastically. " Go and
tell him that I have the Great Medicine."
'* Yes, Baas, I will ; also that if he is very hungry, there are
tome Zulus camped a few yards further down the road," and
he went solemnly to the reeds a little way oS and began to
talk into them.
" You infernal donkey 1 " I murmured, and drew my blanket
over my head in a vain attempt to keep out the mosquitoes and
smoking furiously with the same object, tried to get to sleep.
At last the swamp bottom began to slope upwards a little,
with the result that as the land dried through natural drainage,
the reeds grew thinner by degrees, until finally they ceased and
we found ourselves on firmer ground ; indeed, upon the
lowest slopes of the great mountain that I have mentioned,
that now towered above us, forbidding and majestic.
I had made a little map in my pocket-book of the various
twists and turns of the road through that vast Slough of
Despond, marking them from hour to hour as we followed its
devious wanderings. On studjang this at the end of that part
of our journey I realised afresh how utterly impossible it
would have been for us to thread that misty maze where a
few false steps would always have meant death by sufiocation,
had it not been for the spoor of those Amahagger travelling
immediately ahead of us who were acquainted with its secrets.
Had they been friendly guides they could not have done us a
better turn.
What I wondered was why they had not tried to ambush
OS in the reeds, since our fires must have shown them that we
were close upon their heels. That they did try to burn us out
was clear from certain evidences that I found, but fortunately
at this season of the year in the absence of a strong wind the
rank reeds were too green to catch fire. For the rest I was
soon to learn the reason of their neglect to attack us in that
dense cover.
They were waiting for a better opportunity I
CHAPTER X
THE ATTACK
WE won out of the reeds at last, for which I ferventh
thanked God, since to have crossed that endless
marsh unguided, with the loss of only one man,
seemed little less than miraculous. We emerged
from them late in the afternoon and being wearied out,
stopped for a while to rest and eat of the flesh of a buck that I
had been fortunate enough to shoot upon their fringe. Then
we pushed forward up the slope, proposing to camp for the
night on the crest of it a rnile or so awa}' where I thought we
should escape from the deadly mist in which we had been
enveloped for so long, and obtain a clear view of the country
ahead.
Following the bank of a stream which here ran down into
the marsh, we came at length to this crest just as the sun v/as
sinking. Below us lay a deep valley, a fold, as it were, in the
skin of the mountain, well but not densely bushed. The
woods of this valley climbed up the mountain flank for some
distance above it and then gave way to grassy slopes that
ended in steep sides of rock, which were crowned by a black
and frowning precipice of unknown height.
There was, I remember, something very impressive about
this towering natural wall, which seemed to shut ofi whatever
lay beyond from the gaze of man, as though it veiled an
ancient m^'stery. Indeed, the aspect of it thrilled me, I knew
not why. I observed, however, that at one point in the
mighty clifi there seemed to be a narrow cleft down which, no
doubt, lava had flowed in a remote age, and it occurred to rae
that up this cleft ran a roadway, probabh' a continuation of
that by which we had threaded the swamp. The fact that
through my glasses I could see herds of cattle grazing on the
slopes of the mountains went to confirm this view, since cattl?
The Attack 121
iir^plv owners and herdsmen, and search as I woujd, I could
find no native villages on the slopes. The inference seemed
to be that those owners dwelt beyond or wntliin the mountain.
All of these things I saw and pointed out to Robertson in
the light of the setting sun.
Meanwhile Umslopogaas had been engaged in selecting the
spot where we weie to camp for the night. Some soldierlike
instinct, or perchance some prescience of danger, caused him
to choose a place particularly suitable to defence. It was on a
steep-sided i>iound that more or less resembled a gigantic ant-
heap. Upon one side this rnound was protected by the
stieam which because of a pool was here rather deep, while
at the back of it stood a collection of those curious and piled-up
water-worn rocks that are often to be found in Africa. These
rocks, lying one upon another like the stones of a Cyclopean
wall, curved round the western side of the mound, so that
practically it was only open for a narrow space, say thirty or
forty feet, upon that face of it which looked on to the moun-
tain.
" Umslopogaas expects battle," remarked Hans to me
with a grin, " otherwise with all this nice plain round us he
would not have chosen to camp in a place which a few men
could hold against many. Yes, Baas, he thinks that those
cannibals are going to attack us."
" Stranger things have happened," I answered indiSer-
cntly, and having seen to the rifles, went to lie down,
observing as I did so that the tired Zulus seemed already to
be asleep. Only Umslopogaas did not sleep. On the con-
trary, he stood leaning on his axe staring at the dim outlines
of the opposing precipice.
" A strange mountain, Macumazahii," he said, " compared
to it that of the Witch, beneath which my kraal lies, is but a
little bab}-. . I wondei what we shall find within it. I have
always loved mountains, Macumazahn, ever since a dead
brother of mine and I lived with the wolves in the Witch's lap,
for on them I have had the best of my fighting."
" Perhaps it is not done with yet," I answered wearily.
" I hope not, Macumazahn, since some is due to us aftei
all these days of mud and stench. Sleep a whUe now, Macu-
mazahn, for that head of yours which you use so much, must
need rest. Fear not, I and the little yellow man who do not
think as much as you do, will keep watch and wake you if
122 Sht and Allan
there is need, as mayhap there will be before the dawn. Here
none can come at us except in front, and the place is narrow."
So I lay down and slept as soundly as ever I had done in
my life, for a space of four or five hours I suppose. Then, by
some instinct perhaps, I awoke suddenly, feeling much re-
freshed in that sweet mountain air, a new man indeed, and in
the moonlight saw Umslopogaas striding towards me.
"Arise, Macumazahn," he said. "I hear men stirring
below us."
At this moment Hans slipped past him, whispering,
" The cannibals are coming. Baas, a good number of them.
I think they mean to attack before dawn."
Then he passed behind me to warn the Zulus. As he went
by, I said to him,
" If so, Hans, now is the time for your Great Medicine to
show what it can do."
" The Great Medicine will look after you and me all right.
Baas," he rephed, pausing and speaking in Dutch, which
Umslopogaas did not understand, " but i expect there will be
fewer of those Zulus to cook for before the sun grows hot.
Their spirits will be turned into snakes and go back into the
reeds from which they say they were ' torn out,' " he added
over his shoulder.
I should explain that Hans acted as cook to our party and
it was a grievance with him that the Zulus ate so much of the
meat which he was called upon to prepare. Indeed, there is
never much sympathy between Hottentots and Zulus.
" What is the little yellow man saying about us ? " asked
Umslopoga as suspiciously.
" He is saving that if it comes to battle, you and your men
will make a great fight," I replied diplomatically.
" Yes, we will do that, Macumazahn, but I thought he said
that we should be killed and that this pleased him."
" Oh dear no ! " I answered hastily. " How could he be
pleased if that happened, since then he would be left defence-
less, if he were not killed too. Now, Umslopogaas, let us
make a plan for this fight."
So, together with Robertson, rapidly we discussed the
thing. As a result, with the help of the Zulus, we dragged
together some loose stones and the tops of three small thorn
trees which we had cut down, and with them made a low
breastwork, sufficient to give us some protection if we lay
The Attack 123
down to shoot. It was the work of a few minutes since we had
prepared the material when we camped in case an emergency
-lould arise.
Behind this breastwork we gathered and waited, Robertson
and I being careful to get a little to the rear of the Zulus, who
it will be remembered had the rifles which the Strathmuir
bastards had left behind them when they bolted, in addition
to their axes and throwing assegais. The question was how
these cannibals would fight. I knew that they were armed with
long spears and knives but I did not know ii they used those
spears for thrusting or for throwing. In the former case it
would be difficult to get at them with the axes because they
must have the longer reach. Fortunately as it turned out,
they did both.
At length all was ready and there came that long and
trying wait, the most disagreeable part of a fight in which one
grows nervous and begins to reflect earnestly upon one's sins.
Clearly the Amahagger, if they really intended business, did
not mean to attack till just before dawn, after the common
native fashion, thinking to rush us in the low and puzzling
light. What perplexed me was that they shovild wish to
attack us at all after having let so many opportunities of doing
so go by. Apparently these men were now in sight of their
own home, where no doubt they had many friends, and by
pushing on could reach its shelter before us, especially as they
knew the roads and we did not.
They had come out for a secret purpose that seemed to
have to do with the abduction of a certain young white woman
for reasons connected with their tribal statecraft or ritual,
which is the kind of thing that happens not infrequently among
obscure and^ancient African tribes. Well, they had abducted
their young woman and were in sight of safety and success
in their objects, whatever these might be. For what possible
reason, then, could they desire to risk a fight with the outraged
friends and relatives of that young woman ?
It was true that they outnumbered us and therefore had a
good chance of victory, but on the other hand, they must
know that it would be very dearly won, and if it were rot
won, that we should retake their captive, so that all their
trouble would have been for nothing. Further they must be
as exhausted and travel -worn as we were ourselves and in
no condition to face a desperate battle.
124 She and Allan
The problem was beyond me and I gave it up with the
reflection that either this tlireatened attack was a mere feint
to delay us, or that behind it was something mysterious, such
as a determination to prevent us at all hazards from discovering
the secrets of that mountain stronghold.
When I put the riddle to Kans, who was lying next to me,
he was ready \nih another solution.
" They are men-eaters, Baas," he said, " and being hungry,
wish to eat us before they get to their own land where doubt-
less they are not allowed to eat each other."
" Do you think so, " I answered, " when we are so thin ? "
and I surveyed Hans' scraggy form in the moonlight.
" Oh 1 yes, Baas, we should be quite good boiled — Uke old
hens, Baas. Also it is the nature of cannibals to prefer thin
man to fat beef. The devil that is in them gives them that
taste. Baas, just as he makes me like gin, or you turn your
head to look at pretty women, as those Zulus say you always
did in their country, especially at a certain witch who was
named Mameena and whom you kissed before everybody "
Here I turned my head to look at Hans, purposing to
smite him with words, or physically, since to have this Ma-
meena myth, of which I have detailed the origin in the book
called Child of Storm, re-arise out of his hideous httle mouth
was too much. But before I could get out a syllable he held
up his finger and whispered,
" Hush ! the dawn breaks and they come. I hear them."
I hstened intently but could distinguish nothing. Only
straining my eyes, presently I thought that about a hundred
yards down the slope beneath us in the dim hght I caught sight
of ghosthke figures flitting from tree to tree ; also that these
figures were drawing nearer.
" Look out I " I said to Robertson on my right, " I believe
they are coming."
" Man," he answered sternly, " I hope so, for whom else
have I wanted to meet all these days ? "
Now the figures vanished into a httle fold of the ground.
A minute or so later they re-appeared upon its hither side
where such hght as there was from the fading stars and the
gathering dawn fell full upon them, for here were no trees. I
looked and a thrill of horror went through me, for with one
glance I recognised that these were not the men whom we had
been following. To begin with, there were many more of
The Attack 125
them, quite a hundred, I should think, aho they had painted
shields, wore feathers in their hair, and generally so far as I
could judge, seemed to be fat and fresh.
" We have been led into an ambush," I said first in Zulu
to Umslopogaas immediately in front, and then in English to
Robertson.
" If so, man, we must just do the best we can," answered
the latter, " but God help my poor daughter, for those other
devils will have taken her away, leaving their brethren to make
an end of us."
" It is so, Macumazahn," broke in Umslopogaas. " Well,
whatever the end of it, we shall have a better fight. Now do
you give the word and we will obey."
The savages, for so I call them, although I admit that
cannibals or not, they looked raore hke high class Arabs than
i savages, came on in perfect silence, hoping, I suppose, to
catch us asleep. When they were about lilty yards away,
I running in a treble line with spears advanced, I called out
! " Fire ! " in Zulu, and set the example by loosing ofi both
i barrels of my express rifle at men v/hom I had picked out as
leaders, with results that must have been more satisfactory to
, me than to the two Amahagger whose troubles in this world
came to an end.
There followed a tremendous fusillade, the Zulus banging
' off their gims wildly, but even at that distance managing for
tfie most part to shoot over the enemy's heads. Captain
' Robertson and Hans, however, did better and the general
result was that the Amahagger, who appeared to be un-
accustomed to firearms, retreated in a hurry to a fold of the
ground whence they had emerged. Before the last of them got
there I had loaded again, so that two more stopped behind.
j Altogether we had put nine or ten of them out of action.
j Now I hoped that they would give the business up. But
this was not so, for being brave fellows, after a pause of perhaps
five minutes, once more they charged in a bod5^ hoping to
overwhelm us. Again we greeted them with bullets and
knocked out several, whereon the rest threw a volley of their
j long spears at us. I was glad to see them do this although
one of the Zulus got his death from it, while two more were
woimded. I myself had a very narrow escape, for a spear
passed between my neck and shoulder. Each of them carried
but one of these weapons and I knew that if they used them up
126 She and Allan
in throwing, only their big knives would remain to them with
which to attack us.
After this discharge of spears which was kept up for some
time, they rushed at us and there followed a great fight. The
Zulus, throwing down their guns, rose to their feet and holding
their little fighting shields which had been carried in their
mats, in the left hand, wielded their axes with the right.
Umslopogaas, who stood in th^ centre of them, however, had
no shield and swung his great Axe with both arms. This was
the first time that I had seen him fight ^nd the spectacle was
in a way magnificent. Again and again ihat axe crashed down
and every time it fell it left one dead beneath the stroke, till
at length those Amahagger shrank back out of his reach.
Meanwhile Robertson, Hans and I, standing on some stones
at the back, kept up a continual lire upon them, shooting over
the heads of the Zulus, who were playing their part hke men.
Yes, they shrank back, leaving many dead behind them. Then
a captain tried to gather them for another rush, and once
more they moved forward. I killed that captain with a
revolver shot, for my rifle had become too hot to hold, and at
the sight of his fall, they broke and ran back into the little
hollow where our bullets could not reach them.
So far we had held our own, but at a price, for three of the
Zulus were now dead and three more wounded, one of them
severely, the other two but enough to cripple them. In fact,
now there were left of them but three untouched men, and
Umslopogaas, so that in all for fighting purposes we were but
seven. What availed it that we had killed a great number of
these Amahagger, when we were but seven ? How could
seven men withstand such another onslaught ?
There in the pale hght of the dawn we looked at each other
dismayed.
" Now," said Umslopogaas, leaning on his red axe, " there
remains but one thing to do, make a good end, though I would
that it were in a greater cause. At least we must either fight
or fly," and he looked down at the wounded.
" Think not of us, Father," murmured one of them, the
man who had a mortal hurt. " If it is best, kill us and begone
that you may live to bear the Axe in years to come."
" Well spoken ! " said Umslopogaas, and again stood still
a while, then added, " The word is with you, Macumazahn,
who are our captain."
The Attack i27
I set out the situation to Robertson and Hans as briefly
as I could, showing that there was a chance of Ufe if we ran,
but so far as I could see, none if we stayed.
"Go if you hke, Quatermain," answered the Captain,
" but I shall stop and die here, for since my girl is gone I
think I'm better dead."
I motioned to Hans to speak.
" Baas," he answered, " the Great Medicme is here \rith
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
what we can, especially as I do not want to see those reeds any
more at present."
" So do I," I said briefly, giving no reasons.
So we made ready for the next attack which we knew would
be the last, strengthening our little wall and dragging the dead
Amahagger up against it as an added protection. As we were
thus engaged the sun rose and in its first beams, some miles away
on the opposing slopes of the mountain looking tiny against
the black background of the precipice, we saw a party of men
creeping forward. Lifting my glasses I studied it and per-
ceived that in its midst was a litter.
" There goes your daughter," I said, and handed the
glasses to Robertson.
" Oh 1 my God," he answered, " those villains have out-
witted 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 some pass which we could not see.
Next moment our thoughts were otherwise engaged, since
from various symptoms we gathered that the attack was
about to be renewed. Spears upon wliich shone the light of
the rising sun, appeared above the edge of the ground-foH
that I have mentioned, which to the east increased to a deep,
bush-clad ravine. Also there were voices as of leaders
encouraging their men to a desperate effort.
" They are coming," I said to Robertson.
" Yes," he answered, " they are coming and we are
going. It's a queer end to the thing we call life, isn't it,
Quatermain,andhang it all 1 I wonder what's l^eyond ? 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. •
128 She and Allan
" There's hope for all of us," I replied as cheerfully as I
could, for the man's deep depression disturbed me.
" Mayhap, Quatemiain, 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 mind so much, for I tell you I've had enough of the
world and life. Look, there's one of them. Take that, you
black devil ! " and lifting his rifle he aimed and fired at an
Arnahagger who appeared upon the edge of the fold of ground.
>\'hat is more he hit him, for 1 saw the man double up and fall
backwards.
Then the game began 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
of!er a smaller mark, and dragging between them a long and
slender tree-trunk with which clearly they intended to batter
down our wall.
Of course I blazed away at them, pretty carefully too, for
I was determined that what I beheved to be the last exercise
of the gift of shooting that has been given to me, should prove
a record. Therefore I selected my men and even where 1
wuiild hit them; and as subsequent examination showed, I
made no mistakes in the seven or eight 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 should meet certain folk there and what was the meaning of
this show called Life, which unless it leads somewhere, ac-
cording to my j udgment has none at all. Lentil these questions
were solved, however, my duty was to kill as many of those
rufi~ians 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 came on till at length their fierce faces were
within a few yards of our httle parapet and Umslopogaas had
hfted his great axe to give them greeting. They paused a
moment before making their final rush, and so did we to sUp in
fresh cartridges.
" Die well, Hans," I said, " and if you get there first, wait
for me on the other side."
" Yes, Baas, I always meant to do that, though not yet.
We are not going to die this time. Baas. Those who have the
The Attack 129
Great Medicine don't die ; it is the others who die, like that
fellow," and he pointed to an Amahagger who went reehng
round and round with a bullet from his Winchester through
the middle, for he had fired in the midst of his remarks.
" Curse — I mean bless — the Great Medicine," I said as I
lifted my rifle to my shoulder.
At that moment all those Amahagger, — 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 emerged ; they called to each other words
which I did not catch, and then — they turned to run.
Umslopogaas saw, and with a leader's instinct, acted.
Springing over the parapet, followed by his remaining Zulus
of the Axe, he leapt upon them with a roar. Down they
went before Inkosikaas, like corn before a sickle. The thing
was marvdious to see, it was like the charge of a leopard, so
s\\ift was the rush and so lightning-like, were the strokes or
rather the pecks of that flashing axe, for now he was tapping
at their heads or spines with the gouge-like point upon its
back. Nor were these the only victims, for those brave followeis
of his also did their part. In a minute all who remained upon
their feet, of the Amahagger were in full flight, vanishing this
way and that among the trees. Hans fired a parting shot
after the last of them, then sat down upon a stone and finding
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 3^our reverend father, not the Great Medicine,
yes, the Predikant himself, returned from Heaven, the Place
of Fires ! "
Looking vaguely in the direction indicated, for I could not
conceive what he meant and thought that the excitement
must have made him mad, I perceived a venerable old man
vith a long white beard and clothed in a flowing garment, also
white, who reminded me of Father Christmas at a child's party,
walking towards us and radiating benignancy. Also behind
him I perceived a whole forest of spear points emerging from
the gully. He seemed to take it for granted that we ^ould not
shoot at him, for he came on quite unconcerned, careftilly
picking his way among the corpses. When he was near
E
13© She and Allan
enough 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 sec
that I am just in time, but this does not surprise me, sinc«- she
said that it would be so. You seem to have done very well
v^ith these dogs," and he prodded a dead Amahagger with his
sandalled foot. " Yes, very well indeed. You must be great
warriors."
Then he paused and we stared at each other.
CHAPTER XI
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN WALL
" ^ ■ ^HESE do not seem to be friends of yours,'' T said,
I pointing to the fallen. "And yet," I addeil,
I nodding towaxds the spearmen who were now
emerging from the guUy, "they are yery like
your friends."
" Puppies from the same litter are often alike, yet when
they grow up sometimes they fight each other," replied Father
Christmas blandly. " At least these come to save and not to
kill you. Look I they kill the others," and he pointed to them
malang an end of some of the wounded men. " But who arc
these ? " and he glanced with evident astonishment, firbi ut
the fearsome-looking Umslopc^aas and then at the grotesque
Hans. " Nay, answer not, you must be weary and need rest.
Afterwards we can talk."
" Well, as a mattw of fact we have not yet breakfasted," 1
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, doubtl^s as to the pursuit of the enemy, for
presently I saw a company spring forward on their tracks.
Then, assisted by Hans and the remaining Zulus of whom
one was Goroko, I turned to attend to our own people. The
task proved lights, than I expected, since the badly injured
man was dead or dying and the hurts of the two others were
in their legs and comparatively slight, such as Goroko could
doctor in his own native fashion.
After this, taking Hans to guard my back, I went down to
the stream and wastied myself. Then I returned and
ate, wondering the while that I could do so with appetite
after the terrible dangers which we had passed. Still, we had
passed them, and Robertson, Umslopogaas with three <A his
132 She and Allan
men, I and Hans were quite unharmed, a fact for which I
returned thanks in silence but sincerely enough to Provadence.
Hans also returned thanks in his own fashion, after he had
filled himself, not before, and lit his corn-cob pipe. But
Robertson made no remark ; indeed, when he had satisfied
his natural cravings, he rose and walking a few pace? forward,
stood staring at the cleft in the mountain cliff into which he
had seen the litter vanish that bore his daughter to some fate
unknown.
Even the great fight that we had fought and the victory
we had won against overpowering odds did not appear to
impress him. He only glared 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 w^hom we had been rescued.
" The Great Medicine, Baas," said Hans in a bewildered
way, " is even more powerful than I thought. Not only has
it brought us safely through the fighting and without a scratch,
for those Zulus there do not matter and there will be less
cooking for me to do now that they are gone ; it has also
brought down your reverend father the Predikant from the
Place of Fires in Heaven, somewhat changed 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 moment old Father Christmas, smiling more
benignly than before, re-appeared from the kloof into which he
had vanished and advanced towards us bowing with much
politeness.
Having seated himself upon the little wall that we had
built up, he contemplated us, stroking his beautiful white
beard, then said, addressing me,
" Of a certainty you should be proud who with 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 who were laid out at
distance like men asleep, while their companions sought for a
place to bury them.
" Ordered by whom ? " I asked.
" There is only one who can order." he answered with mild
Through the Mountain Wall 133
astonishment. ' She-who-commands, She-who-is-ever!asting' I "
It occurred to me that this must be some Arabic idiom for
the Eternal Feminine, but I only looked vague and said,
" It would appear that there are some whom this exalted,
everlasting She carmot command; those who attacked usj
also those who have fled away yonder," and I waved ray
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 name ? "
" Watcher -by-Night," I answered.
" Ah ! a good name for one who must have watched well
by night, and by day too, to reach this country living where
She-who-ccHnmands says that no man of j^our colour has set
foot for many generations. Indeed, I think she told rae once
that two thousand years had gone by since she spoke to a white
man in the City of K6r."
" Did she indeed ? " I excliimed, stifling a cough.
" You do not believe me," he went on, smiling. " Well,
She-who-commands can explain matters for herself better
than T who was not alive two thousand years ago, so far as
I remember. But what must I call him with the Axe ? "
" Warrior is his name."
" Again a good name, as to judge by the wounds on them,
certain of those rebels I think are now telling each other in
Hell. And this man, if indeed he be a man " he added.
looking doubtfully 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
storm ? "
"He is called Avenger ; you will learn why later on," I
answered impatiently, for I grew tired of this catechism,
adding, " 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 am named Billah," he answered, " the servant and
messenger of She-who-commands, and I was sent to save yoa
and to bring you safely to her."
" How can this be, Billah, seeing that none knew o' ooi
coming ? "
134 She and Allan
"Yet She-who-commands knew," he said with his
bf n'gnant smile. " Indeed, I think that she learned of it
soj'ie moons ago through a message that was sent to her and
so arranged all things that you should be guided safely to her
secret home ; since otherwise how would you have passed a
great pathless swamp with the loss, I think she said, of but
one man whom a snake bit ? "
Now I stared at the old fellow, for how could he know of
the death of this man, but thought it useless to pursue the
conversation further.
" When yoii are rested and ready," he went on, " we will
start. Meanwhile I leave you that I may prepare Utters to
carry those wounded men, and you also, Watcher-by-Night,
ff you wish." Then with a dignified bow, for everything about
this old fellow was stately, he turned and vanished into the
kloof.
The next hour or so was occupied in the burial of the dead
Zulus, a cermeony in which I took no part beyond standing up
and raising my hat as they were borne away, for as I have said
somewhere, it is best to leave natives alone on these occasions.
Indeed, I lay down, reflecting that strangely enough there
seemed to be something in old Zikali's tale of a wonderful white
Queen who hved in a mountain fastness, since there was the
mountain as he had drawn it on the ashes, and the servants of
that Queen who, apparently, had knowledge of our coming,
appeared in the nick of time to rescue us from one of the tightest
fixes in which ever I found myself.
Moreover, the antique and courteous individual called
Billali, spoke of her as " She-who-is-everlasting. " What the
deuce could be mean by that, I wondered ? Probably that
she was very old and therefore disagreeable to look on, which
I confessed to myself would be a disappointment.
And how did she know that we were coming ? I could not
guess and when I asked Robertson, he merely shrugged his
shoulders and intimated that he took no interest in the matter.
The truth is that nothing moved the man, whose whole soul
was wrapped in one desire, namely to rescue, or avenge, the
daughter against whom he knew he had so sorely sinned.
In fact, this loose-Uving but reformed seaman was becoming
a monomaniac, and what is more, one of the religious type. He
had a Bible with him that had been given to him by his mother
w aen he was a boy, and in this he read constantly ; also he
Through the Mountain Wall 135
was always on his knees and at night I could hear him groaning
and praying aloud. Doubtless now that the chains of drink
had fallen off him, the instincts and the blood of the dour r Id
Covenanters from whom he was descended, were asserting
themselres. In a way this was a good thing though for some
time past I had feared lest it should end in his going mad, and
certainly as a companion he was more cheerful in his tin-
regenerate days.
Abandoning speculation as useless and taking my chant e
of being murdered where I lay, for after all Billali's followers
were singularly hke the men with whom we had been fighting
and for aught I knew might be animated by identical objects —
I just went to sleep, as I can do at any time, to wake up an
hour or so later feehng wonderfully refreshed. Hans, who
when I closed my eyes was already slumbering at my feet
curled up like a dog on a spot where the sun struck hotly,
roused me by saying,
" Awake, Baas, they are here ! "
I sprang np, snatching at my rifle, for I thought that he
meant that we were being attacked again, to see Billali
advancing at the head of a train of four Utters made of bamb' 'O
with grass mats for curtains and coverings, each of which was
carried by stalwart Amahagger, as I supposed that they must
be. Two of these, the finest, BiUali indicated were lor
Robertson and myself, and the two others for the wounded.
Umslopogaas and the remaining Zulus evidently were ex-
pected to walk, as was Hans.
" How did you make these so quickly ? " I asked, survejdng
their elegant and indeed artistic wortonanship.
" We did not make them, Watcher-by-Night, we brotight
them with us folded up. She-who-commands looked in her
glass and said that four would b« needed, besides my own
which is yonder, two for white lords and two for wounced
black men, which you see is the number required."
"Yes," I answered vaguely, marvelling what kind of a
glass it was that gave the lady this information.
Before I could inquire upon the point Billali added,
" You will be glad to learn that my men caught some of
those rebds who dared to attack you, eight or ten of them
who had been hurt by your missiles or axe-cuts, and put them
to death in the proper fashion — yes, quite the proper fashion,"
atnd he smiled a little. " The rest had gone too far where it
136
She and Allan
would have been dangerous to follow them among the rocks.
Enter now, my lord Watcher-by-Night, for the road is steep
and we must travel fast if we would reach the place where
She-who-commands is camped in the ancient holy city, before
the moon sinks behind the cliffs to-night."
So having explained matters to Robertson and Um-
flopogaas, who announced that nothing would induce him
to be carried like an old woman, or a corpse upon a shield, and
seen that the hurt Zulus were comfortably accommodated,
Robertson and I got into our litters, which proved to be
dehghtfully easy and restful.
Then when our gear was collected by the hook-nosed
bearers to whom we were obliged to trust it, though we kept
with us our rifles and a certain amoimt of ammunition, we
started. First went a number of Billah's spearmen, then came
the litters with the wovmded alongside of which Umslopogaas
and his three uninjured Zulus stalked or trotted, then another
litter containing Billali, then my own by which ran Hans,
and Robertson's, and lastly the rest of the Amahagger and
the relief bearers.
" I see now, Baas," said Hans, thrusting his head between
mv curtains, " that yonder Whitebeard cannot be your
reverend father, the Predikant, after all."
" Wliy not ? " I asked, though the fact was fairly obviotis.
" Because, Baas, if he were, he would not have left Hans,
of whom he always thought so well, to run in the sun Uke a
dog, while he and others travel in carriages Uke great white
ladies. "
" You had better save your breath instead of talking
nonsense, Hans," I said, "since I beheve that you have a
long way to go."
In fact, it proved to be a very long way indeed, especially
as after we began to breast the mountain, we must travel
slowly. We started about ten o'clock in the morning, for the
fight which after all did not take long — had, it will be re-
membered, besrun shortly after dawn, and it was three in the
afternoon before we reached the base of the towering cUfi
which I have mentioned.
Here, at the foot of a remarkable, isolated column of rock,
on which I was destined to see a strange sight in the after days,
we halted and ate of the remaining food which we had biouglit
with us, while the Amahagger consumed their own, that
Through the Mountain Wail 137
seemed to consist largely of curdled milk, such as the Zulus
call maas, and lumps of a kind of bread.
I noted that they were a very curious people who fed in
silence and on whose handsome, solemn faces one never saw a
smile. Somehow it gave me the creeps to look at them.
Robertson was affected in the same way, for in one of the
rare intervals of his abstraction he remarked that they were
"no canny." Then he added,
" Ask yon old \vizard who might be one of the Bible
prophets come to hfe — what those man-eating devils have
done with my daughter."
T did so, and Billali ansv/ered,
" Say that they have taken her away to make a queen of
her, since having rebelled against their own queen, thev arast
have another who is white. Say too that She-who-commands
will wage war on them and perhaps win her back, unless thev
kill her first."
" Ah ! " Robertson repeated when I had translated, " unl^s
they kill her first — or worse. ' Then he relapsed into his usual
silence.
Presently we started on again, heading straight for what
looked like a sheer wall of black rock a thousand feet or more
in height, up a path so steep that Robertson and I got out and
walked, or rather scrambled, in order to ease the bearers.
Billali, I noticed, remained in his htter. The convenience of
the bearers did not trouble hini ; he only ordered an extra
gang to the poles. I could not imagine how we were to
negotiate this precipice. Nor could Umslopogaas, who looked
at it and said,
" If we are to climb that, Macumazahn, I think that the
only one who will live to get to the top will be that little yellow
monkey of yours," and he pointed ^^'ith his axe at Hans.
" If I do," replied that worthy, mucii nettled, for he hated
to be called a " yellow monkey " by the Zulus, " be sure that
I will roll down stones upon any black butcher whom I see
sprawling upon the cliff below."
Umslopogaas smiled grimly, for he had a sense of humour
and could appreciate a repartee even when it hit him hard.
Then we stopped talking for the climb took all our breath.
At length we came to the clifi face where, to all appearance,
our journey must end. Suddenly, however, out of the blind
black wail in front of us started the apparition of a tail man
138 She and Allan
armed with a great spear and weaiing a white robe, who
challenged us hoarsely.
Suddenly he stood before us, as a ghost might do, though
whence he came we could not see. Presently the mystery was
explained. Here in the cliS face there was a cleft, though one
invisible even from a few paces away, since its outer edge
projected over the inner wall of rock. Moreover, this opening
was not above four feet in width, a mere split in the huge
mount ain mass caused by some titanic convulsion in past ages.
For it was a definite split since, once entered, far, far above
could be traced a faint line of light coming from the sky,
although the gloom of the passage was such that torches,
which were stored at hand, must be used by those who threaded
it. One man could have held the place against a hundred —
until he was killed. Still, it was guarded, not only at the
mouth where the warrior had appeared, but fiirther along at
every turn in the jagged chasm, and these were many.
Into this grim place we went. The Zulus did not like it
at all, for they are a light-loving people and I noted that even
Umslopogaas seemed scared and hung back a little. Nor did
Hans, who with his usual suspicion, feared some trap ; nor,
for the matter of that, did I, though I thought it well to
appear much interested. Only Robertson seemed quite
indifferent and trudged along stolidly after a man carrying a
torch.
Old Billali put his head out of the litter and shouted back
to me to fear nothing, since there were no pitfalls in the
path, his voice echoing strangdy between those narrow walls
of measureless height.
For half an hour or more we pursued this dreary, winding
path round the corners of which the draught tore in gusts so
fierce that more than once the litters with the wounded men
and those who bore them were nearly blown over. It was safe
enough, however, since on either side of us, smooth and
without break, rose the sheer walls of rock over which lay the
tiny ribbon of blue sky. At length the cleft widened somewhat
and the light grew stronger, making the torches unnecessary.
Then of a sudden we came to its end and found ourselves
upon a little plateau in the mountainside. Behind us for a
thousand feet or so rose the sheer rock wall as it did upon the
outer face, while in front and beneath, far beneath, was a
beautiful plain circular in shape and of great extent, \^ich
Through the Mountain Wall 139
plain was everjrwhere surrounded, so far as I could see, by the
same wall of rock. In short, notwithstanding its enormous
size, without doubt it was neither more nor less than the crater
of a vast extinct volcano. Lastly, not far from the centre of
this plain was what appeared to be a city, since through my
glasses I could see great walls built of stone, and what I thought
were houses, all of them of a character more substantial than
any that I had discovered in the wilds of Africa.
I went to Billaii's litter and asked him who lived in the
city.
" No one," he answered, " it has been dead for thousands
of years, but She-who-commands is camped there at present
with an army, and thither we go at once. Forward, bearers.''
So, Robertson and I ha\nng re-entered our litters, we
started on down hill at a rapid pace, for the road, though
steep, was safe and kept in good order. All the rest of that
afternoon we travelled and by sunset reached the edge of the
plain, where we halted a while to rest and eat, till the light of
the growing moon grew strong enough to enable us to proceed.
Umslopogaas came up and spoke to me.
" Here is a fortress indeed, Macumazahn," he said, " since
none can climb that fence of rock in which the holes seem to be
few and small."
" Yes," I answc.ed, " but it is one out of which those who
are in, would find it difficult to get out. We arc buffaloes in
a pit, Umslopogaas."
" That is so," he answered, " I have thought it already.
But if any would meddle witii us we still have our horns and
can toss for a while."
Then he went back to his men.
The sunset in that great solemn place was a wonderful
thing to see. First of all the measiueless crater was filled with
light like a bowl with fire. Then as the great orb sank behind
the western cliff, half of the plain became quite dark while
shadows seemed to rush for\^d over the eastern part of ita
surface, till that too was swallowed up in gloom and for a
little whUe there remained only a glow reflected from the cliff
face and from the sky above, while on the crest of the parapet
of rock played strange and glorious fires. Presently these too
vanished and the world was dark.
Then the half moon broke from behind a bank of cloada
and by its silver, uncertain light we struggled forward across
140 She and Allan
the flat plain, rather slowly now, for even the iron muscles of
those bearers grtw tired. I could not see much of it, but I
gathered that we were passing through crops, very fine crops
to judge by their height, as doubtless they would be upon this
lava soil j also once or twice we splashed through streams.
At length, being tired and lulled by the swaying of the
litter and by the sound of a weird, low chant that the bearers
had set up now that they neared home and were afraid of no
attack, I sank into a doze. WTien I awoke again it was to
find that the litter had halted and to hear the voice of Billali
say,
" Descend, White Lords, and come with your companions,
the black Warrior and the yellow man who is named
Light -in- Darkness. She-who-commands desires to see you
at once before you eat and sleep, and must not be kept waiting.
Fear not for the others, they will be cared for till you return."
CHAPTER XII
THE WHITE WITCH
I DESCENDED from the litter and told the others what
the old fellow had said. Robertson did not want to
come, and indeed refused to do so until I suggested to
him that such conduct might prejudice a powerful
person against us. Umslopogaas was indifferent, putting, as
he remarked, no faith in a ruler who was a woman.
Only Hans, although he was so tired, acquiesced with
some eagerness, the fact being that hi^ brain was more alert
and that he had all the curiosity of the monkey tribe which he
so much resembled in appearance, and wanted to see this queen
whom ZikaJi revered.
In the end we started, conducted by Billali and by men
who carried torches whereof the light showed me that we Wcre
passing between houses, or at any rate walls that had been
thos« of houses, and along what seemed to be a paved street,
Walkir^g under what I took to be a great arch or portico,
we came into a court that wai full of towering pillars but
unroofed, for I could =:fe the stars above. At its end we
entered a building of which the doorway was hung with mats,
to find that it was lighted with lamps and that all down its
length on either side guards with long spears stood at intervals.
" Oh, Baas," said Hans hesitatingly, " this is the mouth of
a trap," while Umslopogaas glared about him suspiciously,
fingering the handle of his great axe.
" Be silent," I answered. " All this mountain is a trap,
therefore another does not matter, and we have our pistols."
Walking forward between the double line of guards who
stood immovable as statues, we came to some curtains hung
at the end of a long narrow hall which, although I know little
of such things, were, I noted, made of rich stuff embroidered
142 She and Allan
in colours and with golden threads. Before these cartains
Billali motioned us to halt.
After a whispered colloquy with someone beyond carried
on through the join of the curtains, he vanished between
tliem, leaving us alone for five minutes or more. At length
tl.ey opened and a tall and elegant woman with an Arab cast
of countenance and clad in white robes, appeared and
beckoned to us to enter. She did not speak or answer when I
spoke to her, which was not wonderful as afterwards I dis-
covered that she ^vas a mute. We went in, I wondering very
much what we were going to see.
On the further side of the curtains was a room of no great
size illumined with lamps of which the light fell upon sculp-
tured walls. It looked to me as though it might once have
been the inmost court or a sanctuary of some temple, for at
its head was a dais upon which once perhaps had stood the
shrine or statue of a god. On this dais there was now a couch
and on the couch — a goddess )
There she sat, straight and still, clothed in shining white
and veiled, but v^ith her draperies so arranged that they
emphasised rather than concealed the wonderful elegance of
her tall form. From beneath the veil, which was such as a
bride wears, appeared two plaits of glossy, raven hair of great
length, to the end of each of which was suspended a sinele
large pearl. On either side of her stood a tall woman like to
her who had led us through the curtains, and on his knees in
iroct, but to the right, knelt Billali.
About this seated personage there was an air of singular
majesty, such as might pervade a queen as fancy paints her,
though she had a nobler figure than any queen I ever saw
depicted. Mystery seemed to flow from her ; it clothed her
like the veil she wore, which of course heightened the effect,
Beauty flowed from her also ; aJthough it was shrouded I knew
that it was there, no veil or coverings could obscure it — at
least, to my imagination. Moreover she breathed out power
also ; one felt it in the air as one feels a thunderstorm before it
V/reaks, and it seemed to me that this power was not quite
Laman, that it drew its strength from afar and dwelt a stranger
to the earth.
To tell the truth, although my curiosity, always strong, was
enormously excited and though now I felt glad that I had
attempted this journey with all its perils, I was horribly afraid.
The White Witch 143
so much afraid that I should have jiked to turn and run away.
From the beginning I knew myself to be in the presence of an
unearthly being clothed in soft and perfect woman's flesh,
something alien, too, and different from our human race.
What a picture it all made ! There she sat, quiet and
stately as a perfect marble statue ; only her breast, rising and
falling beneath the white robe, showed that she was alive and
breathed as others do. Another thing showed it also — her eyes.
At first I could not see them through the veil, but presently,
either because I grew accustomed to the light, or because they
brightened as those of certain animals have power to do when
they watch intently, it ceased to be a covering to them.
Distinctly I saw them now, large and dark and splendid with
a tinge of deep blue in the iris ; alluring and yet awful in their
majestic aloofness which seemed to look through and beyond,
to embrace all without seeking and without effort. Those
eyes were like windows through which light flows from within,
a light of the spirit.
I glanced round to see the effect of this vision upon my
companions. It was most peculiar. Hans had sunk to his
knees ; his hands were joined in the attitude of prayer and his
ugly little face reminded me of that of a big fish out of water
and dying from excess of air. Robertson, startled out of his
abstraction, stared at the royal -loo king woman on the couch
with his mouth open.
" Man," he whispered, "I've got them back although I
have touched nothing for weeks, only this time they are lovely.
For yon's no human lady, I feel it in my bones."
Umslopogaas stood great and grim, his hands resting on
the handle of his tall axe ; and he stared also, the blood
pulsing against the skin that covered the hole in his head.
" Watcher- by-Night," he said to me in his deep voice, but
also speaking in a whisper, " this chief tainess is not one
woman, but all women. Beneath those robes of hers I seem
to see the beauty of one who has ' gone Beyond,' of the Lily
who is lost to me. Do you not feel it thus, Macumazahn ? "
Now that he mentioned it, certainly I did ; indeed, I had
felt it all along although amid the rush of sensations this one
had scarcely disentangled itself in my mind. I looked at the
draped shape and saw — well, never mind whom I saw ; it
was not one only but several in sequence ; also a woman who
at that time I did not know although I came to know her
144 She and Allan
afterv^-ards, too well, perhaps, or at any rate quite enough to
puzzle me. The odd thing was that in this hallucination the
personalities of these individuals seemed to overlap and merge,
till at last I began to wonder whether they were not parts of
the same entity or being, manifesting itself in sundry shapes,
5et springing from one centre, as different coloured rays flow
from the same crystal, while the beams from their source of
light shift and change. But the fancy is too metaphysical for
my poor powers to express as clearly as I would. Also no
doubt it was but a hallucination that had its origin, perhaps,
in the mischievous brain of her who sat before us.
At length she spoke and her voice sounded like silver bells
beard over water in a great calm. It was low and sweet, oh I
so sweet that at its first notes for a moment my senses seemed
to swoon and my pulse to stop. It was to me that she ad-
dressed herself.
" My servant here," and ever so slightly she turned her
head towards the kneeling BiUali, " tells me that you who are
named Watcher-in-the-Night, understand the tongue in which
I speak to you. Is it so ? "
" I understand Arabic of a kind weU enough, having
learned it on the East Coast and from Arabs in past years, but
not such Arabic as you use, 0 " and I paused.
" CaU me Hiya," she broke in, " which is my title here,
meaning, as you know, She, or Woman. Or if that does not
please you, call me Ayesha. It would rejoice me after so long
to hear the name I bore spoken by the lips of one of my colour
and of gentle blood."
I blushed at the compliment so artfully conveyed, and
repeated stupidly enough,
" — Not such Arabic as you use, O — Ayesha."
" I thought that you would like the sound of the word
better than that of Hiya, though afterwards I will teach you
to pronounce it as you should, O — have you any other name
save Watcher-by-Night, which seems also to be a title ? "
" Yes," I answered. " Allan."
" — 0 — AUan. Teh me of these," she went on quickly,
indicating my com.panions with a sweep of her slender hand,
" for they do not speak Arabic, I think. Or stay, I will tell
yon of them and you shall say if I do so rightly. This one,"
and she nodded towards Robertson, " is a man bemused.
There comes from him a colour which I see if you cannot, and
The White Witch 145
that colour betoktiis a dos'.re for revenge, though I think that
in his time he has desired other things also, as I remember men
always did from the beginning, to their ruin. Human nature
does not change, Allan, and wine and women are ancient
snares. Enough of him for this time. The little yellow one
there is afraid of me, as are all of you. That is woman's
greatest power, although she is so weak and gentle, men are
still afraid of her just because they are so foolish that they
cannot understand her. To them after a million years she
still remains the Unknown and to us all the Unknowm is also
the awful. Do you remember the proverb of the Romans that
says it well and briefly ? "
I nodded, for it was one of the Latin tags that ray father
had taught me.
" Good. Well, he is a little wild man, is he not, nearer to
the apes from whose race our bodies come ? But do you know
that, Allan ? "
I nodded again, and said,
" There are disputes upon the point, Ayesha."
" Yes, they had begun in my day and we will discuss them
later. Still, I say — nearer to the ape than you or I, and there-
fore of interest, as the germ of things is always. Yet he has
qualities, I think ; cunning, and fidelity and love which in
its round is all in all. Do you understand, Allan, that love
is all in all ? "
I answered warily that it depended upon what she meant by
love, to which she replied that she would explain afterward
when we had leisure to talk, adding,
" What this little yellow monkey understands by it at least
has served you well, or so I believe. You shall tell me the
tale of it some day. Now of the last, this Black One, Here I
think is a man indeed, a warrior of warriors such as there used
to be in the early world, if a savage. Well, believe me, Allan,
savages are often the best. Moreover, all are still savage at
heart, even you and I. For what is termed culture is but coat
upon coat of paint laid on to hide our native colour, and often
there is poison in the paint. That axe of his has drunk deep,
I think, though always in fair fight, and I say that it shall
drink deeper yet. Have I read these men aright, Allan ? "
" Not so ill," I answered.
" I thought it," she said with, a musical laugh, " although at
this place I rust and grow dull like an unused sword. Now you
146 She and Allan
would rest. Go — all of you. To-morrow you and I will talk
alone. Fear nothing for your safety ; you are watched by
my slaves and I watch my slaves. Until to-morrow, then,
farewell. Go now, eat and sleep, as alas we all must do who
linger on this ball of earth and cling to a life we should do well
to lose. Billali, lead them hence," and she waved her hand to
signify that the audience was ended.
At this sign Hans, who apparently was still much afraid,
rose from his knees and literally bolted through the curtains.
Robertson followed him. Uraslopogaas stood a moment,
drew himself up and lifting the great axe, cried Bayete, after
which he too turned and went.
" What does that word mean, Allan ? " she asked.
I explained that it was the salutation which the Zulu
people only give to kings.
" Did I not say that savages are often the best ? " she
exclaimed in a gratified voice. " The white man, your com-
panion, gave me no salute, but the Black One knows when he
stands before a woman who is royal."
" He too is of royal blood in his own land," I said,
" If so, we are aldn, Allan."
Then I bowed deeply to her in my best manner and rising
from her couch for the first time she stood up, looking very
tall and commanding, and bowed back.
After this I went to find the others on the further side of
the curtains, except Hans, who had run down the long narrow
hall and through the mats at its end. We followed, marching
with dignity behind Billali between the double line of guards,
who raised their spears as we passed them, and on the further
side of the mats discovered Hans, still looking terrified.
" Baas," he said to me as we threaded our way through the
court of columns, " in my life I have seen all kinds of dreadful
things and faced them, but never have I been so much afraid
as I am of that white witch. Baas, I think that she is the devil
of whom your reverend father, the Predikant, used to talk so
much, or perhaps his wife."
" If so, Hans," I answered, " the devil is not so black as he
is painted. But I advise you to be careful of what you say as
she may have long ears."
" It doesn't matter at all wfiat one says. Baas, because she
reads thoughts before they pass the lips. I felt her doing it
there in that room. And do you be careful, Baas, or she will
The White Witch 147
eat up your spirit and make you fall in love with her, who, I
expect, is very ugly indeed, since otherwise she would not
wear a veil. Whoever saw a pretty woman tie up her head
in a sack, Baas ? "
" Perhaps she does this because she is so beautiful, Hans,
that she fears the hearts of men who look upon her would
melt."
" Oh, no. Baas, all women want to melt men's hearts ; the
more the better. They seem to have other things in their
minds, but really they think of nothing else until they are too
old and ugly, and it takes them a long while to be sure of
that."
So Hans went on talking his shrewd nonsense till, following
so far as I could see, the same road as that by which we had
come, we reached our quarters, where we found food prepared
for us, broiled goat's flesh with corncakes and milk, I think it
was ; also beds for us tv/o white men covered with skin rugs
and blankets woven of wool.
These quarters, I should explain, consisted of rooms in a
house built of stone of which the walls had once been painted.
The roof of the house was gone now, for we could see the stars
shining above us, but as the air was very soft in this sheltered
plain, this was an advantage rather than otherwise. The
largest room \v3.s reserved for Robertson and myself, while
another at the back was given to Umslopogaas and his Zulus,
and a third to the two wounded men.
BUlali showed us these arrangements by the light of lamps
and apologised that they were not better because, as he
explained, the place was a ruin and there had been no time to
build us a house. He added that we might sleep without fear
as we were guarded and none would dare to harm the guests of
She-who-commandi, on whom he was sure we, or at any rate
I and the black Warrior, had produced an excellent im-
pression. Then he bowed himself out, saying that he would
return in the morning, and left us to our own devices
Robertson and I sat down on stools that had been set for
us, and ate, but he seemed so overcome by his experiences, or
by his sombre thoughts, that I could not draw him into
conversation. All he remarked was that we had fallen into
queer company and that those who supped with Satan needed
a long spoon. Having delivered himself of this sentiment he
threw himself upon the bed, prayed aloud for a while as had
148 She and Allan
become his fashion, to be " protected from warlocks and
witches," amongst other things, and went to sleep.
Before I turned in I visited Umslopogaas's room to see
that all was well with him and his people, and found him
standing in the doorway staring at the star-spangled sky.
" Greeting, Macumazahn," he said, " you who are white
and vase and I who am black and a fighter have seen many
strange things beneath the sun, but never such a oue as we
have looked upon to-night. WTio and what is that chief-
'ainess, Macumazahn ? "
" I do not know," I said, " but it is worth while to have
ived to see her, even though she be veiled."
" Nor do I, Macumazahn. Nay, I do know, for my heart
tells me that she is the greatest of all \\'itches and that you will
do well to guard j'our spirit lest she should steal it avvay. If
she were not a witch, should I have seemed to behold the
shape of Nada the Lily who was the wife of my youth, beneath
those white robes of hers, and though the tongue in which she
spoke was strange to me, to hear the murmur of Nada's voice
between her lips, of Nada who has gone further from me than
ihose stars. It is good that you wear the Great Medicine of
Zikali upon your breast, Macumazahn, for perhaps it will
shield you from harm at those hands that are shaped of
ivory."
" Zikali is another of the tribe," I answered, laughing,
" although less beautiful to see. Also I am not afraid of any
of them, and from this one, if she be more than some ^ite
women whom it plcsises to veil herself, I shall hope to gather
wisdom."
" Yes, Macumazahn, such wisdom as Spirits and the dead
have to give."
" Mayhap, Umslopogaas, but we came here to seek Spirits
and the dead, did we not ? "
"Aye," answered Umslopogaas, "these and war, and I
think that we shall find enough of all three. Only I hope that
war will come the first, lest the Spirits and the dead should
bewitch me and take away my skill and courage."
Then we parted, and too tired even to wonder any more, I
threw mj^elf down on my bed and slept.
I was awakened when the sun was already high, by the
sound of Robertson, who was on his knees, praying aloud as
The White Witch 149
usual, a habit of his which I confess got on my nerves. Prayer,
in my opinion, is a private matter between man and his
Creator, that is, except in church ; further, I did not in the
least wish to hear all about Robertson's sins, which seemed to
have been many and peculiar. It is bad enough to have to
bear the burden of one's own transgressions without learning
of those of other people, that is, unless one is a priest and must
do so professionally. So I jumped up to escape and make
arrangements for a wash, only to butt into old Billali, who
was standing in the doorway contemplating Robertson with
much interest and stroking his white beard.
He greeted me with his courteous bow and said,
" Tell your companion, 0 Watcher, that it is not necessary
for him to go upon his knees to She-who-commands — and
must be obeyed," he added with emphasis, " when he is not
in her presence, and that even then he would do well to keep
silent, since so much talking in a strange tongue might trouble
her."
I burst out laughing and answered,
" He does not go upon his knees and pray to She-who-
commands, but to the Great One who is in the sky,"
" Indeed, Watcher, Well, here we only know a Great One
who is upon the earth, though it is true that perhaps she visits
the skies sometimes,"
" Is it so, BillaJi ? " I answered incredulously. " And now
I wDuld ask you to take me to some place where I can bathe.''
" It is ready," he replied, " Come."
So I called to Hans, who was hanging about with a rifle oq
his arm, to follow with a cloth and soap, of which fortunately
we had a couple of pieces left, and we started along what had
once been a paved roadway running between stone houses,
whereof the time-eaten ruins still remained on either side.
" Who and what is this Queen of yours, Billali ? " I asked
as we went. " Surely she is not of the Amah agger blood."
"Ask it of herself, O Watcher, for I cannot teU you. All I
know is that I can trace my own family for ten generations
and that my tenth forefather told his son on his deathbed, for
the saying has come down through his descendants — that
when he was young She-who-Commands had ruled the land
for more scores of years than he could count months of
life."
I stopped and stared at him, since the lie was so amazing
150 She and Allan
that it seempd to deprive me of the power of motion. Noting
my very obvioiis disbelief he continued blandly,
" If you doubt, asL And now here is where you may
bathe."
Then he led me through an arched doorway and down z
wrecked passage to what very obviously once had been a
splendid bath-house such as some I have seen pictures of that
were built by the Romans. Its size was that of a large room ;
it was constructed of a kind of marble with a sloping bottom
that varied from three to seven feet in depth, and water still
ran in and out of it through large glazed pipes. Moreover
around it was a footway about five feet across, from which
opened chambers, ururoofed now, that the bathers used as
dressing-rooms, while between these chambers stood the
remains of statues. One at the end indeed, where an alcove
had protected it from sun and weather, was stilJ quite perfect,
except for the outstretched arms which were gone (the right
hand I noticed l>ing at the bottom of the bath). It was that
of a nude young woman in the attitude of diving, a very
beautiful bit of work, I thought, though of course I am no
judge of scvilpture. Even the smile mingled with trepidation
upon the girl's face was most naturally portrayed.
This statue showed two things, that the bath was used by
females and that the people who had built it were highly
civilised, also that they belonged to an advanced if somewhat
Eastern race, since the girl's nose was, if anything, Semitic in
character, and her lips, though prettily shaped, were full. For
the rest, the basin was so clean that I presume it must have
been made ready for me or other recent bathers, and at its
bottom I discovered gratings and broken pipes of earthenware
which suggested that in the old daj^ the water could be
warmed by means of a furnace.
This relic of a long-past civilisation excited Hans even more
than it did myself, since having never seen anything of the
sort, he thought it so strange that, as he informed me, he
imagined that it must have been built by witchcraft. In it I
had a most delightful and much -needed bath. Even Hans was
persuaded to follow my example — a thing I had rarely known
him to do before — and seated in its shallowest part, splashed
some water over his yellow, wrinkled anatomy. Then we
returned to our house, where I found an excellent breakfast
had been provided which was brought to us by tall, silent.
The White Witch 151
handsome women who surveyed us out of the corners of their
eyes, but said nothing.
Shortly after I had finished my meal, Billali, who had
disappeared, came back again and said that She-who-com-
mands desired my presence as she would speak with nie ;
also that I must come alone. So, after attending to the
wounded, who both seemed to be getting on well, I went,
followed by Hans armed with his rifle, though I only carried
my revolver Robertson wished to accompany me, as he did
not seem to care about being left alone with the Zulus in that
strange place, but this BHlali would not allow. Indeed, when
he persisted, two great men stepped forward and crossed their
spears before him in a somewhat threatening fashion. Then at
my entreaty, for I feared lest trouble should arise, he gave in
and returned to the house.
Following our path of the night before, we walked up a
ruined street which I could see was only one of scores in what
had once been a very great city, until we came to the archway
that I have mentioned, a large one now overgrown with plants
that from their yellow, sweet-scented bloom I judged to be a
species of wallflower, also with a kind of houseleek or saxifrage.
Here Hans was stopped by guards, Billali explaining to me
that he must await my return, an order which he obeyed
imwiUingly enough. Then I went on down the narrow
passage, lined as before by guards who stood silent as statu^^s,
and came to the curtains at the end. Before these at a motion
from Billali, who did not seem to dare to speak in this place, I
stood still and waited
CHAPTER XIII
ALLAN HEARS A STRANGE TALE
FOR some minutes I remained before those curtains
until, had it not been for something electric in the
air which got into mj' bones, a kind of force that,
perhaps in my fancy only, seemed to pervade the
place, I should certainly have grown bored. Indeed I was
ah-out to ask my companion why he did not armounce our
ardval instead of standing there like a stuck pig with his eyes
shut as though in prayer or meditation, when the curtains
parted and from betweer. them appeared one of those tall
waiting women whom we had seen on the previous night. She
contemplated us gravely for a itw moments, then moved her
hand t%vice, once forward, towards Billali as a signal to bira
to retire, winch h', did w/l1i great rapidity, and next in a bec-
koning fashion towards niyscif to invite me to follow her.
I obeyed, passing between the thick curtains which she
fastened in some vfzy behind me, and found m^'self in the same
roofed and sculptured room that I have already described.
Only now there were n j lamps, such light as penetrated it
coming from an opening above that I could not see, and falling
upon the dais at its head, also on her who sat upon the d:.is.
Yes, there she sat in her white lobes and veil, the point
and centre of a little lake of light, a wondrous and in a sense
a spiritual vision, for in truth there was something about her
which was not of the world, something that drew and yet
frightened me. Still as a statue she sat, like one to whom
time is of no account and who has grown weary of motion,
and on either side of her yet more still, like caryatides sup-
porting a shrine, stood two of the stately women who were her
attendants.
For the rest a sweet and subtle odour pervaded the chamber
which took hold of my senses as hasheesh might do, which I
was sure proceeded from her. or from her garments, for I could
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 153
see no perfumes burning. She spoke no word, yet I knew she
was inviting me to come nearer and moved forward till I
reached a curious carved chair that was placed just beneath
the dais, and there halted, not liking to sit down without
permission.
For a long while she contemplated me, for as before I coi;ld
feel her eyes searching me from head to foot and as it were
looking throuE^h me as though she would discover my very soul.
Then at length she moved, waving those two ivc«y arms of
hers outwards with a kind of sv^imming stroke, whereon the
women to right and left of her turned and glided away, I know
not whither.
" Sit, Allan," she said, " and let us talk, for I think we
have much to say to each other. Have you dept well ? And
eaten ? — though I fear that the food is but rough. Also was
the bath made ready for you ? "
" Yes, Ayesha," I answered to all three questions,
adding, for I knew not what to say, " It seems to be a very
ancient bath."
" When last I saw it," she replied, " it was well enough
with statues standing round it worked by a sculptor who had
seen beauty in his dreams. But in two thousand years — or is
it more ? — the tooth of Time bites deep, and doubtless like all
else in this dead place it is now a ruin."
I coughed to cover up the exclamation of disbelief that ruse
to my lips and remarked blandly that two thousand years was
certainly a long time.
" When you say one thing, Allan, and mean another, your
Arabic is even more vile than usual and does not serve to
cloak your thought."
" It may be so, Ayesha, for I only know that tongue as
I do many other of the dialects of Africa by learning it frc-n
common men. My .own speech is English, in which, if you
are acquainted with it, I should prefer to talk."
" I know not English, which doubtless is some languar^e
that has arisen since I left the world. Perhaps later yuu
shall teach it to me. I tell you, you anger me whom it is n )t
well to anger, because you believe nothing that passes my lips
and yet do not dare to say so."
" How can I believe one, Ayesha, who if I understand
aright, speaks of having seen a certaia bath two thousand
years ago, whereas one hundred years are the full d3iy% ot
154 She and Allan
man ? Forgive me therefore if I cannot believe what I know
to be untrue. "
Now I thought that she would be very angry and w..i
sorry that I had spoken. But as it happened she was not.
" You must have courage to give me the lie so boldly — and
I like courage," she said, " who have been cringed to for so
long. Indeed, I know that you are brave, who have heard
how you bore yourself in the fight yesterday, and much else
about you. I think that we shall be friends, but — seek no
more."
" What else should I seek, Ayesha ? " I asked irmocently.
" Now you are lying again," she said, " who know well that
no man who is a man sees a woman who is beautiful and
pleases him, without wondering whether, should he desire it,
she could come to love him, that is, if she be young."
" Which at least is not possible if she has lived two
thousand years. Then naturally she would prefer to wear a
veil," I said boldly, seeking to avoid the argument into which
I saw she wished to drag me.
"Ah!" she answered, "the little yellow man who is
named Light-in-Darkness put that thought into your heart, I
think. Oh, do not trouble as to how I know it, who have
many spies here, as he guessed well enough. So a woman who
has lived t- o thousand years must be hideous and wrinkled,
mi:st she ? The stamp df youth and loveliness must long have
fled Irom her ; of that you, the wise man, are sure. Very well.
Now you tempt me to do what I had determined I would not
do and you shall pluck the fruit of that tree of curiosity which
grfws so fast within you. Look, Allan, and say whether
lam old and hideous, even though I. have lived two thousand
years upon the earth and mayhap many more."
Then she lifted her hands and did something to her veil,
so that for a moment — only one moment — her face was
revealed, after which the veil fell into its place.
I looked, I saw, and if that chair had lacked a back I
believe that I should have fallen out of it to the ground. As
for what I saw — well, it cannot be described, at any rate by
me, except perhaps as a flash of glory.
Every man has dreamed of perfect beauty, basing his
ideas of it perhaps on that of some woman he has met who
chanced to take his fancy, with a few accessories from splendid
pictures or Greek statues thrown in, plus a garnishment of the
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 155
imagination. At any rate I have, and here was that perfect
beauty multiplied by ten, such beauty, that at the sight of it
the senses reeled. And yet I repeat that it is not to be
described.
I do not know what the nose or the lips were like ; in fact,
all that I can remember with distinctness is the splendour of
the eyes, of which I had caught some hint through her veil on
the previous night. Oh, they were wondrous, those eyes, but
I cannot tell their colour save that the groundwork of them
was black. Moreover they seemed to be more than eyes as we
understand them. They were indeed windows of the soul, out
of which looked thought and majesty and infinite wisdom,
mixed with all the allurements and the mystery that we are
accustomed to see or to imagine in woman.
Here let me say something at once. If this marvelicjs
creature expected that the revelation of her splendour was
going to make me her slave ; to cause me to fall in love with
her, as it is called, well, she must have been disappointed, for
it had no such effect. It frightened and in a sense humbled
me, that is all, for I felt myself to be in the presence of some-
thing that was not human, something alien to me as a man,
which I could fear and even adore as humanity would adore
what is Divine, but with which I had no desire to mix. More-
over, was it divine, or was it something very different ? I did
not know, I only knew that it was not for me ; as soon should
I have thought of asking for a star to set within my lantern.
I think that she felt this, felt that her stroke had missed,
as the French say, that is if she meant to strike at all at this
moment. Of this I am not certain, for it was in a changed
voice, one with a suspicion of chill in it that she said with a
little laugh,
" Do you admit now, Allan, that a woman may be old
and still ranain fair and unwrinkled ? "
•' I admit," I answered, although I was trembling so much
that I could hardly speak with steadiness, " that a woman may
be splendid and lovely beyond anything that the mind of man
can conceive, whatever her age, of which I know nothing. I
would add this, Ayesha, that I thank you very much for
having revealed to me the glory that is hid beneath your veil."
" Why ? " she asked, and I thought that I detected
curiosity in her question.
" For this reason, Ayesha. Now there is no fear of my
156 She and Allan
troubling you in such a fashion as you seemed to dread a little
while ago. As soon would a man desire to court the moon
sailing in her silver loveliness through heaven."
" The moon I It is strange that you should compare me
to the moon," she said musingly. " Do you know that the
mooD was a great goddess in Old Egypt and that her name
was Isis and — well, once I had to do with Isis ? Perhaps you
were there and knew it, since more lives than one are given to
most of us. I must search and learn. For the rest, all have
not thought as you do, Allan. Many, on the contrary, love
and seek to win the Divine."
" So do I at a distance, Ayesha, but to come too near to
it I do not aspire. If I did perhaps I might be consumed."
" You have wisdom," she replied, not without a note of
admiration in her voice. " The moths are few that fear the
flame, but those are the moths which live. Also I think that
you have scorched your wings before and learned that fire
hurts. Indeed, now I remember that I have heard of three
such fires of love through which you have flown, Allan,
though all of them are dead ashes now, or shine elsewhere.
Two burned in your youth when a certain lady died to save
you, a great woman that, is it not so ? And the third, ah ! she
was fire indeed, though of a copper hue. What was her name ?
I cannot remember, but I think it had something to do with
the wind, yes, with the wind when it wails."
I stared at her. Was this Maraeena myth to be dug up
again here in a secret place in the heart of Africa ? And how
the deuce did she know anything about Mameena ? Could
she have been questioning Hans or Umslopogaas ? No, it
was not possible, for she had never seen them out of my
presence.
" PerLaps," she went on in a mocking voice, " perhaps
once again you disbelieve, Allan, whose cynic mind is so
hard to open to new truths. Well, shall I show you the faces
of these three ? I can," and she waved her hand towards
some object that stood on a tripod to the right of her in the
shiadow — it looked like a cr^^tal basin. " But what wo\ild it
serve when you who know them so well, believed that I drew
their pictuies out of your own soul ? Also perchance but one
face would appear and that one strange to you.
" Have you heard, Allan, that among the vise some hold
that not all of us is visible at once here on earth within the
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 157
same house of flesh ; that the whole self in its home above,
separates itself into sundry pxirts, each of which walks the
earth in diSerent form, a segment of life's circle that can
never be dissolved and must unite again at last ? "
I shook my head blankly, for I had never heard an^ihing
of the sort.
" You have still much to learn, Allan, although doubtless
there are some who think you wise," she went on in the same
mocking voice. " Well, I hold that this doctrine is built
upon a rock of truth ; also," she added after studying me for
a minute, " that in your case these three women do not com-
plete that circle. I think there is a fourth who as yet is
strange to you in this life, though you have kno\v'n her well
enough in others,"
I groaned, imagining that she alluded to herself, which was
foolish of me, for at once she read my mind and went on with
a rather acid little laugh,
" No, no, not the humble slave who sits before you, whom,
as you have told me, it v/ould please you to reject as unworthy
were she brought to you in offering, as in the old days was done
at the courts of the great kings of the East. O fool, fool ! who
hold yourself so strong and do not know that if I chose, before
yon shadow had moved a finger's breadth, I could bring you to
my feet, praying that you might be sul'fered to kiss my robe,
yes, just the border of my robe."
" Then I beg of you not to choose, Ayeslia, since I think
that when there is work to be done by both of us, we shall find
more comfort side by side than if I were on the ground seeking
to kiss a garment that doubtless then it would delight you to
snatch away."
At these words her whole attitude seemed to change. I
could see her lovely shape brace itself up, as it were, beneath
her robes and felt in some way that her mind had also changed ;
that it had rid itself of mocker^' and woman's pique and like a
shifting searchlight, was directed upon some new objective.
" Work to be done," she repeated after me in a new voice.
" Yes, I thank you who bring it to my mind, since the hours
pass and that work presses. Also I think there is a bargain
to be made between us who are both of the blood that keeps
bargains, even if they be not \vritten on a roll and signed and
sealed. Why do you come to me and what do you seek of me,
Allan, Watcher-in-the-Night ? Say it and truthfully, for
15S She and Allan
though I may laugh at lies and pass them by when they have
to do with the eternal sword-play which Nature decrees be-
tween man and woman, until these break apart or, casting
do\^Ti the swords, seek arms in which they agree too well,
when they have to do with policy and high purpose and am-
bition's ends, why then I avenge them upon the liar."
Now I hesitated, as what I had to tell her seemed so
foolish, indeed so insane, while she waited patiently as though
to give me time to shape my thoughts. Speaking at last
because I must, I said,
" I come to ask you, Ayesha, to show me the dead, if the
dead still live elsewhere."
" And who told you, Allan, that I could show you the
dead, if they are not truly dead ? There is but one, I think,
and if you are his messenger, show me his token. Without it
we do not speak together of this business."
" WTiat token ? " I asked innocently, though I guessed her
meaning well enough.
She searched me with her great eyes, for I felt, and indeed
saw them on me through the veil, then answered,
" 1 think — nay, let me be sure," and half rising from the
couch, she bent her head over the tripod that I have described,
and stared into what seemed to be a crystal bowl. " If I read
aright," she said, straightening herself presently, "it is a
hideous thing enough, the carving of an abortion of a man
such as no woman would care to look on lest her babe should
bear its stamp. It is a charmed thing also that has virtues
for him who wears it, especially for you, Allan, since some-
thing tells me that it is dyed with the blood of one who loved
you. If you have it, let it be revealed, since without it I do
not talk with you of these dead you seek."
Now I drew ZikaJi's talisman from its hiding-place and
held it towards her.
" Give it to me," she said.
I was about to obey when something seemed to warn me
Bot to do so.
" Nay," I answered, " he who lent me this carving for a
while, charged me that except in emergency and to save
others, I must wear it night and day till I returned it to his
hand, saying that if I parted from it fortune would desert me.
I believed none of this talk and tried to be rid of it, whereon
death drew near to me from a snake, such a snake as I see you
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 159
wear about you, which doubtless also has poison in its fangs,
if of another sort, Ayesha."
" Draw near," she said, "and let me look. Man, be not
afraid."
So I rose from my chair and knelt before her, hoping
secretly that no one would see me in that ridiculous position,
which the most unsuspicious might misinterpret. I admit,
however, that it proved to have compensations, since even
through the veil I saw her marvellous eyes better than I had
done before, and something of the pure outline of her classic
face ; also the fragrance of her hair was wonderful.
She took the talisman in her hand and examined it closely.
" I have heard of this charm and it is true that the tldng
has power," she said, " for I can feel it running through ray
veins, also that it is a shield of defence to him who wears it.
Yes, and now I understand what perplexed me somewhat,
namely, how it came about that when you vexed me into
unveiling — but let that matter be. The wisdom was not
your ov^Ti, but another's, that is all. Yes, the wisdom of one
whose years have borne him beyond the shafts that fly from
woman's eyes, the ruinous shafts which bring men down to doom
and nothingness. Tell me, Allan, is this the likeness of bim
who gave it you ? "
" Yes, Ayesha, the very picture, as I think, carved by
himself, though he said that it is ancient, and others tell that
it has been known in the land for centuries."
" So perchance has he," she answered drily, " since some
of our company live long. Now tell me this wizard's names.
Nay, wait awhile for I would prove that indeed you are his
messenger with whom I may talk about the dead, and other
things, Allan. You can read Arabic, can you not ? "
" A little," I answered.
Then from a stool at her side she took paper, or rather
papyrus and a reed pen, and on her knee wrote something on
the sheet which she gave to me folded up.
" Now tell me the names," she said, " and then let us see
if they tally with what I have written, for if so you are a tnie
man, not a mere wanderer or a spy."
" The principal names of this doctor are Zikali, the
Opener-of-Roads, the ' Thing-that-shotUd-nwer-have-bcen-born,' '-'•
I answered.
" Read the writing, Allan," she said.
i6o She and Allan
I unfolded the sheet and read Arabic words which meant,
" Weapons, CI eaver-of -Rocks, One-at-whom-dogs-bark-and-
chiidren-wail."
" The last two are near enough," she said, " but the first is
wrong."
" Nay, Ayesha, since in this man's tongue the word
' Zikali ' means ' Weapons ' " ; intelligence at which she
clapped her hands as a merry girl might do. " The man/' I
went on, " is without doubt a great doctor, one who sees and
knows things that others do not, but I do not understand why
this token carved in liis likeness should have power, as you
say it has."
" Because with it goes his spirit, Allan. Have you never
heard of the Egyptians, a very wise people who, as I remember,
declared that man has a Ka or Double, a second self; that can
either dwell in his statue or be sent afar ? "
I answered that I had heard this.
" Well the Ka of this Zikali goes with that hideous image
of him, which is perhaps why you have come safe through
many dangers and why also I seemed to dream so much of
him last night. Tell me now, what does Zikali want of me
whose power he knows very well ? "
" An oracle, the answer to a riddle, Ayesha."
" Then set it out another time. So you desire to see the
dead, and this old dwarf, who is a home of wisdom, desires an
Oracle from one who is greater than he. Good. And what
are you, or both of you, prepared to pay for these boons ?
Know, Allan, that I am a merchant who sell my favours dear.
Tell me then, wiU you pay ? "
" I think that it depends upon the price," I answered
cautiously. " Set out the price, Ayesha."
" Be not afraid, O cunnirig dealrr," she mocked. " I do
not ask your soul or even that love of yours which you guard
so jealously, since these things I could take without the
asking. Nay, I ask only what a brave and honest man may
give without shame : your help in war, and perhaps," she added
with a softer tone, " your friendship. I think, Allan, that I
like you well, perhaps because you remind me of another whom
I knew long ago."
I bowed at the compliment, feeling proud and pleased at
the prospect of a friendship with this wonderful and splendid
creature, although I was aware that it had many dangers.
Then I sat still and waited. She also waited, brooding.
, Allan Hears a Strange Tale i6i
" Listen," she said after a while, " I will tell you a story
and when you have heard it you shall answer, even if you do
not believe it, but not before. Does it please you to listen to
something of the tale of my life which I am moved to tell
you, that you may know with whom you have to deal ? "
Again I bowed, thinking to myself that I knew nothing
that would please me more, who \vas eaten up with a devouring
curiosity about this woman.
Now she rose from her couch and descending off the dais,
began to walk up and down the chamber. I say, to walk, but
her movements were more like the gliding of an eagle through
the air or the motion of a swan upon still water, so smooth were
they and gracious. As she walked she spoke in a low and
thrilling voice.
" Listen," she said again, " and even if my story seems
marvellous to you, interrupt, and above all, mock me not, lest
I should grow angry, which might be ill for you. I am not as
other women are, O Allan, who having conquered the secrets
of Nature," here I felt an intense desire to ask what secrets,
but remembered and held my tongue, " to my sorrow have
preserved my youth and beauty through many ages. More-
over in the past, perhaps in payment for my sins, I have lived
other lives of which some memory remains with me.
" By my last birth I am an Arab lady of royal blood, a
descendant of the Kings of the E^ast, There I dwelt in the
wilderness and ruled a people, and at night I gathered wisdom
from the stars and the spirits of the earth and air. At length
I w^earied of it all and my people too wearied of me and be-
sought me to depart, for, Allan, I would have naught to do
with men, yet men went mad because of my beauty and slew
each other out of jealousy. Moreover other peoples made war
upon my people, hoping to take me captive that I might be a
wife to their kings. • So I left them, and being furnished with
great wealth in hoarded gold and jewels, together with a certain
holy man, my master, I wandered through the world, studying
the natioris and their worships. At Jerusalem I tarried and
learned of Jehovah who is, or was, its God.
" At Paphos in the Isle of Chitim I dwelt a while till the
folk of that city thought that I was Aphrodite returned to
earth and sought to worship me. For this reason and because I
made a mock of Aphrodite, I, who, as I have said, would have
naught to do with men, she through her priests cursed me»
F
i62 She and Allan
saying that her yoke should lie more heavily upon my npck
from age to age than on that of any woman who had breathed
beneath the sun.
" It was a wondrous scene," she added reflectively, " that
of the cursing, since for every word I gave back two. More-
over I told the hoary villain of a high-priest to make repiort to
his goddess that long after she was dead in the world, I would
live on, for the spirit of prophecy was on me in that hour.
Yet the curse fell in its season, since in her day, doubt it not,
Aphrodite had strength, as indeed under other names she has
and will have while the world endures, and for aught I know,
beyond it. Do they worship her now in any land, Allan ? "
" No, only her statues because of their beauty, though Lore
is always worshipped."
" Yes, who can testify to that better than you yourself,
Allan, if he who is called Zikali tells me the truth concerning
you in the dreams he sends ? As for the statues, I saw some
of them as they left the master's hand in Greece, and when I
told him that he might have found a better model, once I was
that model. If this marble stiU endmes, it must be the most
famous of them all, though perchance Aphrodite has shattered it
in her jealous rage. You shall tell me of these statues after-
wards ; mine had a mark on the left shoulder like to a mole,
but the stone was imperfect, not my flesh, as I can prove if
you should wish."
Thinking it better not to enter on a discussion as to
Ayesha's shoulder, I remained silent and she went on,
" I dwelt in Egypt also, and there, to be rid of men
who wearied me with their sighs and importunities, also to
acquire more wisdom of which she was the mistress, I entered
the service of the goddess Isis, Queen of Heaven, vowing to
remain virgin for ever. Soon I became her high-priestess and
in her most sacred shrines upon the NUe, I conmiuned with the
goddess and shared her power, since from me her daughter, she
withheld none of her secrets. So it came about that though
Pharaohs held the sceptre, it was I who ruled Egypt and
brought it and Sidon to their fall, it matters not how or why, as
it was fated that I must do. Yes, kings would come to seek
counsel from me where I sat throned, dressed in the garb of
Isis and breathing out her power. Yet, my task accomplished,
of it all I grew weary, as men will surely do of the heavens
that they preach, should they chance to find them."
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 163
I wondered what this " tsisk '* might be, but only asked,
"Why?"
" Because in their pictured heaven all things lie to their
hands and man, being man, cannot be happy without strugglcp
and woman, being woman, without victory over others. What is
cheaply bought, or given, has no value, Allan : to be enjoyed,
it must first be won. But I bade you not to break my thought."
I asked pardon and she went on,
" Then it was that the shadow of the curse of Aphrodite fell
upon me, yes, and of the curse of Isis also, so that these twin
maledictions have made me what I am, a lost soul dwelling
in the wilderness waiting the fulfilment of a fate whereof I
know not the end. For though I have all wisdom, all know-
ledge of the Past and much power together with the gift of life
and beauty, the future is as dark to me as night without its
moon and stars.
" Hearken, this chanced to me. Though it be to my shame
I teU it you that aU may be clear. At a temple of Isis on
the Nile where I ruled, there was a c^ain priest, a Greek by
birth, vowed like myself to the service of the goddess and
therefore to wed none but her, the goddess herself — ^that is, in
the spirit. He was named KaUikrates, a man of courage and
of beauty, such an one as those Greeks carved in the statues
of their god Apollo. Never, I think, was a man more beauti-
ful in face and form, though in soul he was not great, as often
happens to men who have all else, and well-nigh always happens
to women, save myself and perhaps one or two others that
history tells of, doubtless magnifying their fabled charms.
" The Pharaoh of that day, the last of the native blood,
him whom the Persians drove to doom, had a daughter, the
Princess of Egypt, Amenartas by name, a fair woman in her
fashion, though somewhat swarthy. In her youth tnis
Amenartas berime enamoiired of KaUikrates and he of her,
when he was a captain of the Grecian Mercenaries at Pharaoh's
Court. Indeed, she brought blood upon his hands because of her,
wherefore hefledto Isis for forgiveness and for peace. Thither
in after time she followed him and again urged her love.
" Learning of the thing and knowing it for sacrilege, I
summoned this priest and warned him of his danger and of the
doom which awaited him should he continue in that path. He
grew affrighted. He flung himself upon the ground before
me with groans and supplications, and kissing my feet, vowed
i64 She and Allan
most falsely to me that his dealings with the Toy3l Amenartaa
were but a veil and that it was I whom he worshipped. His
unhallowed words filled me with horror and sternly I bade
him begone and do penance for his crime, saying that I would
pray the goddess on behalf of him.
" He went, leaving me alone lost in thought in the darken-
ing shrine. Then sleep fell on me and in my sleep I dreamed
a dream, or saw a vision. For suddenly ihere stood bef we mc
a woman beauteous as myself clad in nothing save a golden
girdle and a veil of gossamer.
" ' O Ayesha,' she said in a honeyed voice, ' priestess of Isis
of the Eg^^Dtians, sworn to the barren worship of Isis and fed
on the ashes of her unprofitable wisdom, know that I am
Aphrodite of the Greeks whom many times thou hast mocked
and defied, and Queen of the breathing world, as Isis
is Queen of the world that is dead. Now because thou
didst despise me and pour contempt upon my name, I smite
thee with my strength and lay a curse upon thee. It is that
thou shalt love and desire this man who but now hath kissed
thy feet, ever longing till the world's end to kiss his lips in
payment, although thou art as far above him as the moon thou
servest is above the Nile. Think not that thou shalt escape my
doom, for know that however strong the spirit, here upon the
earth the flesh is stronger stiU and of aU flesh I am the queen.'
" Then she laughed sottly and smiting me across the eyes
with a lock of her scented hair, was gone.
" AUan, I awoke from my sleep and a great trouble fell
upon me, for I who had never loved before now was rent with
a rage of love and for this man who till that moment had been
naught to me but as some beauteous image of gold and ivory.
I longed for him, my heart was racked with jealousy because
of the Egyptian who favoured him, an eating flame possessed
my breast. I grew mad. There in the shrine of Isis the
divine I cast mj'self upon my knees and cried to Aphrodite to
return and give me him I sought, for whose sake I would
renounce all else, evtn if I must pour my wisdom into a
beauteous, empty cup. Yes, thus I prayed and lay
upon the ground and wept until, outworn, once more sleep
fell upon me.
" Now in the darkness of the holy place once more there
came a dream or vision, since before me in her glory stood the
goddess Isis crowned with the crescent of the young moon
Allan Hears a Strange Tale 165
and holding in her hand the jewelled sistrum that is her
sjnnbol, from which came music like to the melody of distant
bells. She gazed at me and in her great eyes were scorn and
anger.
" ' O Ayesha, Daughter of Wisdom,' she said in a solemn
voice, 'whom I, Isis, had come to look upon rather as a
child than a servant, since in none other of my priestesses
was such greatness to be found, and whom in a day to be I had
purposed to raise to the very steps of my heavenly throne,
thou hast broken thine oath and, forsaking me, hast
worshipped fals^s Aphio-dite of the Greeks who is mine enemy.
Yea, in the eternal war between the spirit and the flesh, thou
hast chosen the part of flesh. Therefore I hate thee and add
my doom to that which Aphrodite laid upon thee, which,
hadst thou prayed to me and not to her, I would have lifted
from thy heart.
" ' Hearken ! The Grecian whom thou hast chosen,
by Aphrodite's will, thou shalt love as the Pathian said.
More, thy love shall bring his blood upon thy hands, nor
mayest thou follow him to the grave. For I will shov/ thee
the Source of Life and thou shalt drink of it to make thyself
more fair even than thou art and thus outpace thy rival, and
when thy lover is dead, in a desolate place thou shalt wait in
grief and solitude till he be born again and find thee there.
" ' Yet shall this be but the beginning of thy sorrows, since
through all time thou shalt pursue thy fate till at length thou
canst draw up this man to the height on which thine own soul
stands by the ropes of love and loss and suffering. Moreover
through it all thou shalt despise thyself, which is man's and
woman's hardest lot, thou who having the rare feast of spirit
spread out before thee, hast chosen to fill th5^elf from the
troughs of flesh.*
" Then, Allan, in my dream I made a proud answer to the
goddess, saying, ' Hear me, mighty mistress of many Forms
who dost appear in all that lives I An evil fate has fallen
upon me, but was it I who chose that fate ? Can the leaf
contend against the driving gale ? Can the falling stone turn
upwards to the sky, or when Nature draws it, can the tide
cease to flow ? A goddess whom I have offended, that goddess
whose strength causes the whole world to be, has laid her
curse upon me and because I have bent before the storm, as
bend I must, or Lreak, another goddess whom I serve, thou
1 66 She and Allan
thyself, Mother Isis, hast added to the curse. Where then
is Justice, O Lady of the Moon ? '
Not here. Woman,' she answered. ' Yet far away Jus-
tice lives and shall be won at last and mayhap because thou
art so proud and high-stomached, it is laid upon thee to seek
her blinded eyes through many an age. Yet at last I think
thou shalt set thy sins against her weights and find the balance
even. Therefore cease from questioning the high decrees of
destiny which thou canst not understand and be content to
suffer, remembering that all joy grows from the root of pain.
Moreover, know this for th\' comfort, that the wisdom which
thou hast shall grow and gather on thee and \^ith it thy beauty
and thy power ; also that at the last thou shalt look upon my
face again, in token whereof I leave to thee my symbol, the
sisirum that I bear, and with it this command. Follow that
false priest of mine wherever he m.ay go and avenge me upon
him, and if thou lose him there, wait while the genera-
tions pass till he return again. Such and no other is thydestiny.'
" Allan, the vision faded and when I awoke the lights
of dawn played upon the image of the goddess in the sanctuary.
They played, moreover, upon the holy jewelled thing that in
my dream her hand had held, the sistrum of her worship,
shaped like the loop of life, the magic symbol that she had
vowed to me, wherewith goes her power, which henceforth was
mine.
" I took it and followed after the priest Kallikrates, to
whom thenceforward I was bound by passion's ties that are
stronger than all the goddesses in this wide universe."
Here I, Allan, could contain myself no longer and asked,
" WTiat for ? " then, fearing her wrath, wished that I had
been silent.
But she was not angry, perhaps because this tale of her
interviews with goddesses, doubtless fabled, had made her
humble, for she answered quietly,
" By Aphrodite, or by Isis, or both of them I did not know.
All I kn( w was that I piust seek him, then and evermore, as
seek I do to-day and shall perchance through aeons yet
unborn. So I followed, as I was taught and commanded, the
sistrum being my guide, how it matters not, and gi\nng me
the means, and so at last I came to this ancient
land whereof the ruin in which you sit was once known as
KtT.".
CHAPTER XIV
ALLAN MISSES OPPORTUNITY
ALL the while that she Avas talking thus the Lady or
the Queen or the Witch-woman, Ayesha, had been
walking up and down the place from the curtains
to the foot of the dais, sweeping me with her
scented robes as she passed to and fro, and as she walked she
waved her arms as an orator might do to emphasise the more
moving passages of her tale. Now at the end of it, or what I
took to be the end, she stepped on to the dais and sank upon
the couch as if exhausted, though I think her spirit was weary
rather than her body.
Here she sat awhile, brooding, her chin resting on her
hand, then suddenly looked up and fixing her glance upon me
— for I could see the flash of it through her thin veil — said,
" What think you of this story, Allan ? Do you believe
it and have you ever heard its like ? "
" l^ever," I answered with emphasis, " and of course I
believe every word. Only there are one or two questions
that with your leave I woiild wish to ask, Ayesha."
" By which you mean, Allan, that you believe nothing,
being by nature withoiit faith and doubtful of all that yea
cannot see and touch and handle. Well, perhaps you are
wise, since what I have told you is not all the truth. For
example, it comes back to me nowthat it was not in the temple
on the Nile, or indeed upon the Earth, that I saw the vision of
Aphrodite and of Isis, but elsewhere; also that it was here in
K6r that I was first consumed by passion for Kallikratesj
whom hitherto I had scorned. In two thousand years one
forgets much, Allan. Out with your questions and I will
answer them, unless they be too long."
"Ayesha," I said humbly, reflecting to mj^self that ray
questions would, at any rate, be shorter than her varpng tale,
" even I who am not learned have heard of these goddesses of
whom you speak, of the Grecian Aphrodite who rose from the
sea upon the shores of Cyprus and dwelt at Paphos and
tlse where "
l68 She and AUan
" Yes, doubtless like most men you have heard of her and
perchance also have been struck across the eyes with her hair,
like your betters before you," she interrupted with sarcasm.
" — Also," I went on, avoiding argument, " I have heard
of Isis of the Egyptians, Lady of the Moon, Mother of
Mysteries, Spouse of Osiris whose child was Horus the
Avenger."
" Aye, and I think will hear more of her before you have
done, Allan, for now something comes back to me concerning
you and her and another. I am not the only one who has
broken the oaths of Isis and received her curse, Allan, as
you may find out in the days to come. But what of these
heavenly queens ? "
" Oiily this, Ayesha ; I have been taught that they were
but phantasms fabled by men with many another false divinity,
and could have sworn that this was true. And yet you talk
of them as real and living, which perplexes me."
" Being duD of understanding doubtless it perplexes you,
Allan. Yet if you had imagination you might understand
that these goddesses are great Principles of Nature; Isis, of
throned Wisdom and strait virtue, and Aphrodite, of Love, as
it is known to men and women who, being human, have it laid
upon them that they must hand on the torch of Life in their
little hour. Also you would know that such Principles can
seem to take shape and form and at certain ages of the world
appear to their servants visible in majesty, though perchance
to-day others with changed names wield their sceptres and
work their will. Now you are answered on this matter. So
to the next."
Privately I did not feel as though I were answered at all
and I was sure that I knew nothing of the kind she indicated,
but thinking it best to leave the subject, I went on,
" If I understood rightly, Ayesha, the events which you
have been pleased first to describe to me, and then to qualify or
contradict, took place when the Pharaohs reigned. Now no
Pharaoh has sat upon the throne of Egypt for near two thousand
years, for the last was a Grecian woman whom the Romans con-
quered and drove to death. And yet, Ayesha, you speak as
though you had lived all through that gulf of time, and in
this there must be error, because it is impossible. Therefore
I suppose you to mean that this history has come down
to you in writing, or perhaps in dreams. I believe that even
Allan Misses Opportunity 169
in such far-oS times there were v^Titers of romance, and we
all know of what stuff dreams are made. At least this thought
comes to me," I added hurriedly, fearing lest I had said too
much, " and one so wise as you are, I repeat, knov/s well that a
woman who says she has lived two thousand years must be mad
or — sufierfrom delusions, because I repeat, it is impossible."
At these quite innocent remarks she sprang to her feet in
a rage that might truly be called royal in every sense.
" Impossible I Romance I Dreams I Delusions I Mad I "
she cried in a ringing voice. " Oh ! of a truth you weary me,
;and I have a mind to send you whither you will learn what is
impossible and what is not. Indeed, I would do it, and now,
orxiy I need your services, and if I did there would be none
left for me to talk with, since j'our companion is moonstruck
and the others are but savages of whom I have seen enough.
" Hearken, fool I Nothing is impossible. Why do you
seek, you who talk of the impossible, to girdle the great world
in the span of your two hands and to weigh the secrets of the
Universe in the balance of your petty mind and, of that which
you cannot understand, to say that it is not ? Life you admit
because you see it all about you. But that it should endure for
two thousand years, which after all is but a second's beat in
the story of the earth, that to you is ' impossible,' although
in truth the buried seed or the sealed-up toad can live as
long. Doubtless, also, you have some faith which promises you
this same boon to all eternity, after the little change called
Death.
" Nay, Allan, it is possible enough, like to many oth»
things of which you do not dream to-day that will be common
to the eyes of those who follow after you. Mayhap you
think it impossible that I should speak with and learn of you
from yonder old black wiaard who dwells in the country
whence you came. And yet whenever I will I do so in the
night because he is in tune with me, and what I do shall be
done by all men in the years unborn. Yes, they shall talk
togtther across the wide spaces of the earth, and the lover
shall hear her lover's voice although great seas roll between
them. Nor perchance will it stop at this ; perchance in future
time men shall hold converse with the denizens of the stars,
and even with the dead who have passed into silence and the
darkness. Do you hear and understand me ? "•
" Yes, yes," I answered feebly.
170 She and Allan
1
" Yov 1'". ^= you are too prone to do. Yen hear but you
do not uiidei5tLnd nor believe, and oh t you vex me sorely.
Now I had it in my mind to tell you the secret of this long life
of mine ; long, mark you, but not endless, for doubtless I must
die and change and return again, like others, and even to
show you how it may be won. But you are not worthy in
your faithlessness "
" No, no, I am not worthy," I answered, who at that
moment did not feel the least desire to live two thousand years,
perhaps with this woman as a neighbour, rating me from
generation to generation. Yet it is true, that now when I
am older and a certain event cannot be postponed much
longer, I do often re^^et that I neglected to take this unique
chance, if in truth there was one, of prolonging an exist nee
which after all has its consolations — especially when one has
made one's pile. Certainly it is a case, a flagrant case, of
neglected opportunities, and my only consolation for having
lost them is that this was due to the uprightness of my nature
which made it so hard for me to acquiesce in alternative state-
ments that I had every cause to disbelieve and thus to give
offence to a very powerful and petulant if attractive lady.
" So that is done with," she went on with a little stamp
of indignation, " as soon you will be also, who, had you not
crossed and doubted me, might have lived on for untold time
and become one of the masters of the world, as I am."
Here she paused, choked, I think, with her almost chil lish
anger, and because I could not help it, I said,
" Such place and power, if they be yours, Ayesha. do
not seem to bring you much reward. If I were a master of
the world I do not think that I should choose to dwell un-
changingly among savages who eat men and in a pile of niins.
But perhaps the curses of Aphrodite and of Isis are stronger
masters still ? " and I paused inquiringly.
This bold argument — for now I see that it was boIJ-
seemed to astonish and even bewilder my wonderful com-
panion.
" You have more wisdom than I thought," she said
reflectively, " who have come to understand that no one is
really lord of an}i;hing, since above there is always a more
powerful lord who withers all Iiis pomp and pride to nothing-
ness, even as the great king- learned in olden days, and I, whf
am higher than they, am learning now. Hearken. Troubles
Allan Misses Opportunity 171
beset me wherein I would have your help and that of your
companions, for which I will pay each of you the fee that he
desires. The brooding white man who is with you shall free
his daughter and unharmed ; though that he will be unharmed
I do not promise. The black savage captain shall fight his
fill and gain the glory that he seeks, also something that he
seeks still more. The little yellow man asks nothing save to
be with his master like a dog and to satisfy at once his stomach
and his apish curiosity. You, Allan, shall see those dead over
whom you brood at night, though the other guerdon that you
nii^iit k&ve won is now passed from your reach because you
mock me in your heart."
" What must we do to gain these things ? " I asked.
" How can we humble creatures help one who is all powerful
and who has gathered in her breast the infinite knowledge of
two thousand years ? "
" You must make war under my banner and rid me of
my foes. As for the reason, listentotheendof my taleandyou
shall learn."
I reflected that it was a marvellous thing that this queen
who claimed supernatural powers should need our help in a
war, but thinking it wiser to keep my meditations to myself,
said nothing. As a matter of fact I might just as well have
spoken, since as usual she read my thoughts.
" You are thinking that it is strange, Allan, that I, the
Mijjhty and Undjnng, should seek your aid in some petty
tribal battle, and so it would be were my foes but common
savages. But they are more ; they are men protected by the
ancient god of this immemorial city of K6r, a great god in his
day whose spirit stiH haunts these ruins and whose strength
still protects the worshippers who cling to him and practice
his unholy rites of human sacrifice."
" How was this god named ? " I asked.
" Rezu was his name, and from him came the Egyptian
Re or Ra, since in the beginning K6r was the mother of Egypt
and the conquering people of K6r took their god with them whea
they burst into the valley of the Nile and subdued its peoples
long before the first Pharaoh, Menes, wore Egypt's crown."
" Ra was the sun, was he not ? " I asked.
" Aye, and Rezu also was a sun-god who from his throne
in the fires of the Lord of Day, gave life to men, or slew them
if be willed with his thunderbolts of drought and pestilenci
172 She and Allan
and storm. He was no gentle king of heaven, but one who
demanded blood-sacrifice from his worshippers, yes, even that of
maids and children. So it came about that the people of K6r,
who saw their virgins slain and eaten by the priests of Rezu,
and their infants burned to ashes in the fires that his rays lit,
turned themselves to the worship of the gentle moon, the
goddess whom they named Lulala, while some of them chose
Truth for their queen, since Truth, they said, was greater and
more to be desired than the fierce Sun- King or even the sweet
Moon-Lady, Truth, who sat above them both throned in the
furthest stars of Heaven. Then the demon, Rezu, grew wroth
and sent a pestilence upon K6r and its subject lands and slew
their people, save those who clung to him in the great
apostasy, and with them some others who served Lulala and
Truth the Divine, that escaped I know not how."
" Did you see this great pestilence ? " I asked, much
interested.
" Nay, it befell generations before I came to K6r. One
Junis, a priest, wrote a record of it in the caves yonder where
I have my home and where is the buryine-place of the count-
less thousands that it slew. In my day Kdr, of which, should
you desire to hear it, I will tell you the history, was a ruin as it
is now, though scattered in the lands about amidst the tumbled
stones which once built up her subject cities, a people named
the Amahagger dwelt in Households or Tribes and there sacri-
ficed men by fire and devoured them, following the rites of the
demon Rezu. For these were the descendants of those who es-
caped the pestilence. Also there were certain others, children of
the worshippers of Lulala whose kingdom is the moon, and of
Truth the Queen, who clung to the gentle worship of their
forefathers and were ever at war with the followers of Rezu."
" What brought you to K6r, Ayesha ? " I asked
irrelevantly.
" Have I not said that I was led hither by the command and
the symbol of great Isis whom I serve ? Also," she added after
a pause, "that I might find a certain pair, one of whom had
broken his oaths to her, tempted thereto by the other."
" And did you find them, Ayesha ? " I asked.
" Aye, I found them, or rather they found me; and in
my presence the goddess executed her decree upon her false
priest and drove his temptress back to the world."
" That must have been dreadful for you, Ayesha, since
I understood that you also — liked this priest."
Allan Misses Opportunity 173
She sprang from her couch and in a low, hissing voice
which resembled the sound made by an angry snake and turned
my blood cold to hear, exclaimed,
" Man, do you dare to mock me ? Nay, you are but a
blundering, curious fool, and it is well for you that this is so,
since otherwise like Kallikrates, never should you leave Kdr
living. Cease from seeking that which you may not leam.
Sufl&ce it for you to know that the doom of Isis fell upon the
lost Kallikrates, her priest forsworn, and that on me also fell
her doom, who must dwell here, dead yet living, till he return
again and the play b>egins afresh.
" Stranger," ^e went on in a softer voice, " perchance
your faith, whate'er it be, parades a hell to terrify its wor-
shippers and give strength to the arms of its prophesying
priests, who swear they hold the keys of doom or of the
eternal joys. I see you sign assent " (I had nodded at her
extremely accurate guess) " and therefore can understand
that in such a heU as this, here upon the earth I have dwelt
for some two thousand years, expiating the crime of Powers
above me whereof I am but the hand and instrument, since
those Powers which decreed that I should love, decree also
that I must avenge that love."
She sank down upon the couch as though exhausted by
emotion, of which I could only guess the reasons, hiding her face
in her hands. Presently she let them fall again and
continued,
" Of these woes ask me no more. They sleep till the hour
of their resurrection, which I think draws nigh ; indeed, I
thought that you, perchance But let that be. 'Twas near
the mark; nearer, Allan, than you know, not in it ! Therefore
leave them to their sleep as I would if I might — ah I if I miglit,
whose companions they are throughout the weary ages. /Mas I
that through the secret which was revealed to me I remain
undying on the earth who in dtath might perhaps have
found a rest, and being human although half divine, must
still busy mj^elf with the affairs of earth.
" Look you, Wanderer, after that which was fated had
happened and I remained in my agony of solitude and sorrow,
after, too, I had drunk of the cup of enduring life and like the
Prometheus of old fable, found myself bound to this changeless
rock, whereon day by day the vultures of remorse tear out my
li\ing heart which in the watches of the night is ever doomed
174 She and Allan
to grow again within my woman's breast, I was plunged into
petty troubles of the flesh, aye and welcomed them because
their irk at times gave me forgetfulness. When the savage
dwellers in this land came to know that a mighty one had
arisen among them who was the servant of the Lady of the
Moon, those of them who still worshipped their goddess
Lulala, gathered themselves about me, while those of them
\^o worshipped Rezu sought to overthrow me.
" ' Here,' they said, ' is the goddess Lulala come to earth.
In the name of Rezu let us slay her and make an end,' for
these fools thought that I could be killed. /Jlan, I conquered
them, but their captain, who also is named Rezu and whom
they held and hold to be an emanation of the god himself
walking the earth, I could not conquer."
" Why not ? " I asked.
" For this reason, Allan. In some past age his god
showed him the same secret that was shown to me. He too
had drunk of the Cup of Life and lives on unharmed by Time,
so that being in strength my equal, no spear of mine can reach
his heart clad in the armour of his evil god."
" Then what spear can ? " I inquired helplessly, who
was bewildered.
" None at all, AUan, yet an axe may, as you shall hear,
OT so I think. For many generations there has been peace
of a sort between the wor^ippers of Lulala who dwell with me
in the Plain of K6r, or rather of myself, since to these people
/ am Lulala, and the worshippers of Rezu, who dwell in the
strongholds beyond the mountain crest. But of late years
their chief Rezu, having devastated the lands about, has
grov^-n restless and threatened attack on K6r, which is not
strong enough to stand against him. Moreover he has sought
for a white queen to rule under him, purposing to set her up
to mock my majesty."
" Is that why those cannibals carried away the daughter
of my companion, the Sea-Captain who is named Avenger ? "
I asked.
" It is, Allan, since presently he will give it out that I
am dead or fled, if he has not done so already, and that this
new queen has arisen in my place. Thereby he hopes to draw
away many who cling to me ere he advances upon K6r, carry-
ing with him this girl veiled as I am, so that none may know
the difference between us, since not a man of them has ever
Allan Misses Opportunity 175
looked upon my face, Allan. Therefore this Rezu must die,
if die he can ; otherwise, although it is impossible that he
should harm me, he may slay or draw away my people and
leave me with none to nile in this place where by the decree of
Fate I must dwell on until he whom I seek returns. You are
thinking in your heart that such savages would be little loss
and this is so, but stiU they serve as slaves to me in my loneli-
ness. Moreover I have sworn to protect them from the demon
Rezu and they have trusted in me and therefore my honour
is at stake, for never shall it be said that those who trusted in
She-who-commands, were overthrown because they put faith in
one who was powerless."
" What do you mean about an axe, Ayesha ? " I asked.
" Why can an axe alone kiU Rezu ? "
" The thing is a mystery, 0 Allan, of which I may not tell
you all, since to do so I must reveal secrets which I have
determined you shaU not leam. Suffice it to you to know that
when this Rezu drank of the Cup of Life, he took with him his
axe. Now this axe was an ancient weapon rumoured to have
been fashioned by the gods and, as it chanced, that axe drew
to itself more and stronger life than did Rezu, how, it does not
m litter, if indeed the tale be more than a fable. At least
this I know is true, for he who guarded the Gate of Life, a
certain Noot, a master of mysteries, and mine also in my day
of youth, who, being a philosopher and very wise, chose
never to pass that portal which was open to him, said it to me
himself ere he went the way of liesh. He told this Rezu also
that now he had naught to fear L^ve his own axe and therefore
he counselled him to guard it weU, since if it was lifted against
him in another's hands it would bring him down to death,
which nothing else could do. Like to the heel of Achilles where-
of the great Homer sings — have you read Homer, Allan ? "
" In a translation," I answered.
" Good, then you will remember the story. Like to the
heel of Achilles, I say, that axe would be the only gate by
which death could enter his invulnerable flesh, or rather it
alone could make the gate."
" How did Noot know that ? " I asked.
" I cannot say," she answered with irritation " Perchance
be did not know it. Perchance it is all an idle tale, but at
least it is true that Rezu believed and believes it, and what a
man believes is true for him and will certainly befall. If it
176 She and Allan
were otherwise, what is the use of faith which in a thousand
forms supports our race and holds it from the horrors of the
Pit ? Only those who believe nothing inherit what they
believe — nothing, Allan,"
" It may be so," I rt-plied prosaically, " but what happened
about the axe ? "
" In the end it was lost, or as some say stolen by a woman
whom Rezu had deserted, and therefore he walks the world
in fear from day to day. Nay, ask no more empty questions,"
(I had opened my mouth to speak) " but hear the end of the
tale. In my trouble concerning Rezu I remembered this v.-ild
l^end of the axe and since, when lost in a forest every path
that may lead to safety should be explored, I sent ray wisdom
forth to make inquiry concerning it, as I who am great, have
the power to do, of certain who are in tune with me throughout
this wide land of Africa. Amongst others, I inquired of that
old wizard whom you name Zikali, Opener of Roads, and he
gave me answer that there lived in his land a certain warrior
who ruled a tribe called the People of the Axe by right of the
Axe, of which axe none, not even he, knew the beginning or
the legend. On the chance, though it was a small one, I bade
the wizard send that v/arrior here with his axe. Last night
he stood before me and I looked upon him and the axe, which
at least is ancient and has a story. Whether it be the same
that Rezu bore I do not know who never saw it, yet perchance
he who bears it now is prepared to hold it aloft in battle even
against Rezu, though he be terrible to see, and then we shall
learn."
" Oh I yes," I answered, " he is quite prepared, for that is
his nature. Also among this man's people, the holder of the
Axe is thought to be unconquerable."
" Yet some must have been conquered who held it," she
replied musingly. " Well, you shall tell me that tale later.
Now we have talked long and you are weary and astonished.
Go, eat and rest yourself. To-night when the moon rises
I will come to where you are, not before, for I have much that
must be done, and show you those with whom you must fight
against Rezu, and make a plan of battle."
" But I do not want to fight," I answered, " who have
fought enough and came here to seek N^nsdom, not bloodshed."
" First the sacrifice, then the reward," she answered,
" that is if anv are left to be rewarded. Farewell."
CHAPTER XV
ROBERTSON IS LOST
SO I went and was conducted by Billali, the old chamber-
lain, for such seemed to be his of&ce, who had been
waiting patiently without all this while, back to our
rest-house. On my way I picked up Hans, whom I
found sitting outside the arch, and found that as usual that
worthy had been keeping his eyes and ears open.
" Baas," he said, " did the \\Tiite Witch tell you that there
is a big iripi encamped over yonder outside the houses, in
what looks like a great dry ditch, and on the edge of the plain
beyond ? "
" No, Hans, but she said that this evening she would
show us those in \diose company we must fight."
" Well, Baas, they are there, some thousands of them, for
I crept through the broken walls like a snake and saw them.
And, Baas, I do not think they are men, I think that they are
evil spirits who walk at night only."
" Why, Hans ? "
" Because when the sun is high, Baas, as it is now, they are
all sleeping. Yes, there they lie abed, fast asleep, as other
people do at night, with only a few sentries out on guard, and
these are yawning and rubbing their eyes."
" I have heard that there are folk like that in the middle
of Africa where the sun is very hot, Hans," I answered, " which
perhaps is why She-who-commands is going to take us to ^^ee
them at night. Also these people, it seems, are worshippers
©f the moon."
"No, Baas, they are worshippers of the devil and that
White \Vitch is his wife."
" You had better keep your thoughts to yourself, Hans,
for whatever she is I think that she can read thoughts from far
away, as you guessed last night. Therefore I would not have
any if I were you."
17S She and Allan
"- No, Baas, or if I must think, henceforth, it shalJ be only
of gin which in this place is also far away," he replied,
grinning.
Then we came to the rest-house where I found that Robert-
son had already eaten his midday meal and like the Amahagger
gone to sleep, while appurently Umslopoeaas had done the
same ; at least I saw nothing of him. Of this I was glad,
since that wondrous Ayesha seemed to draw vitality out of me
and after my long talk with her I felt very tired. So I too
ate and then went to lie down under an old wall in the shade
at a little distance, and to reflect upon the marvellous things
that I had heard.
Here be it said at once that I believed nothing of them,
or at least very little indeed. All the involved tale of Ayesha's
long life I dismissed at once as incredible. Clearly she was
some beautiful woman who was more or less mad and suffered
from megalomania ; probably an Arab, who had wandered
to this place for reasons of her own, and become the chieftainess
of a savage tribe whose traditions she had absorbed and repro-
duced as personal experiences, again for reasons of her own.
For the rest, she was now threatened by another tribe and
kno'ving that we had guns and could fight from what hap-
pened on the yesterday, wished naturally enough for our
assistance in a coming battle. As for the marvellou.s chief
Rezu, or rather for his supernatural attributes and all the
cock-and-bull story about an axe — well, it was humbug like
the rest, and if she believed in it she must be more fooli, h
than I took her to be — even if she were unhinged on certain
points. For the rest, her information about myself and
Umslopogaas doubtless had reached her from Zikali in some
obscure fashion, as she herself acknowledged.
But heavens ! how beautiful she was I That flash of
loveliness when out of pique or coquetry she lifted her veil,
blinded like the lightning. But thank goodness, also like
the lightning it frightened ; instinctively one felt that it was
very dangerous, even to death, and with it I for one wished
no closer acquaintance. Fire may be lovely and attractive,
also comforting at a proper distance, but he who sits on the
top of it is cremated, as many a moth has found.
So I argued, knowing well enough all the while that if this
particular human — or inhuman — fire desired to make an holo-
caust of me, it could do so easily enough, and that in reality I
Robertson is Lost 179
owed my safety so far to a lack of that desire on its part. The
glorious Ayesha saw nothing to attract her in an insignificant
and withered hunter, or at any rate in his exterior, though with
his mind she might find some small afiBmity. Moreovei to
make a fool of him just for the fun of it would not serve her
purpose, since she needed his assistance in a business that
necessitated clear wits and unprejudiced judgment.
Lastly she had declared herself to be absorbed in some
tiresome complication with another man, of which it was
rather difficult to follow the details. It is true that she
described him as a handsome but somewhat empty-headed
person whom she had last seen two thousand years ago. but
probably this only meant that she thought poorly of him because
he had preferred some other woman to herself, while the two
thousand years were added to the tale to give it atmosphere.
The worst of scandals becomes romantic and even respect-
able in two thousand years ; witness that of Cleopatra with
Caesar, Mark Antony and other gentlemen. The most virtu-
ous read of Cleopatra with sympathy, even in boarding-
schools, and it is feltthat were sheby somemiracle to be blotted
out of the book of history, the loss would be enormous. The
same applies to Helen, Phryne, and other bad lots. In fact
now that one comes to think of it, most of the attractive
personages in history, male or female, especially the latter,
were bad lots. When we find someone to whose name is
added " the good " we skip. No doubt Ayesha, being very
clever, appreciated this regrettable truth, and therefore moved
her murky entanglements of the last decade or so back for a
couple of thousand years, as many of us would like to do
There remained the very curious circumstance cf her
apparent correspondence with old Zikali who lived far away.
This, however, after all was not inexplicable. In the course
of a great deal of experience I have observed that all the witch-
doctor family, to which doubtless she belonged, have strange
means of connmiunication.
In most instances these are no doubt physical, carried on
by help of messengers, or messages passed from one to the
other. But sometimes it is reasonable to assume what is
known as telepathy, as their link of intercourse. Between
two such highly developed experts as Ayesha and Zikali,
it might for the sake of argument safely be supposed that it
was thus they learned ^ch other's mind and co-operated in
i8o She and Allan
each other's projects, though p>erhaps this end was effected
by commoner methods.
Whatever its interpretations, the issue of the business
seemed to be that I was to be let in for more fighting. Well,
in any case this could not be avoided, since Robertson's
daughter, Inez, had to be saved at all costs, if it could possibly
be done, even if we lost our lives in the attempt. Therefore
fight we must, so there was nothing more to be said. Also
without doubt this adventure was particularly interesting
and I could only hope that good luck, or Zikali's Great Medi-
cine, or rather Prov'idence, would see me through it safely.
For the rest the fact that our help was necessary to her
in this war-like venture showed me clearly enough that all
this wonderful w<xnan's pretensions to supernatural powers
were the sheerest nonsense. Had they been otherwise she
would not have ncedt-d our help in her tribal fights, notwith-
standing the rubbish she talked about the chief, Rezu, who
according to her account of him, must resemble one of the
fabu'ous " trolls," half-human and half -ghostly evil creatures,
of whom I have read in the Norse Sagas, who could only be
slain by some particxilar hero armed with a particular weapon.
Reflecting thus I went to sleep and did not wake until the
Bun was setting. Finding that Hai^ was also sleeping at
my feet just like a faithful dc^, I woke him up and we went
back together to the rest-house, which we reached as the dark-
ness fell with extraordinary swiftness, as it dots in those lati-
tudes, especially in a place surrounded by clifis.
Not finding Robertson in the house, I concluded that he
was somewhere outside, possibly making a reconnaissance on
his own account, and told Hans to get supper ready for both
of us. While he was doing so, by aid of the Amahagger
lamps, Umslcp>ogaas suddenly appeared in the circle of light,
and looking about him, said,
" WTiere is Red-Beard, Macumazahn ? "
I answered that I did not know and waited, for I felt sure
that he had something to say.
" I think that you had better keep Red-Beard close to yoa,
Macumazahn," he went on. " This afternoon, when you
had returned from N-isiting the white doctoress and having
eaten, had gone to sleep under the wall yonder, I saw Rod-
Beard come out of the house carrying a gun and a bag of cart-
ridges. His eyes rolled wildly and he turned first this way and
Robertson is Lost i8i
then that, sniffing at the air, like a buck that scents danger.
Then he began to talk aloud in his own tongue and as I saw
that he was speaking with his Spirit, as those do who are mad,
I went away and left him."
" Why ? " I asked.
" Because, as you know, Macumazahn, it is a law among
us Zulus never to disturb one who is mad and engaged in
talking with his Spirit. Moreover, had I done so, probably
he would have shot me, nor should I have complained who
would have thrust myself in where I had no right to be."
"Then why did you not come to call me, Umslopogaas ? "
" Because then he might have shot you, for, as I have seen
for some time he is inspired of heaven and knows not what
he does upon the earth, thinking only of the Lady Sad-Eyes
whe has been stolen away from him, as is but natural. So I
left him walking up and dovum, and when I returned later to
look, saw that he was gone, as I thought into this walled hut.
Now when Hansi tells me that he is not here, I have come to
speak to you about him."
" No, certaiiJy he is not here," I said, and I went to look
at the bed where Robertson slept to see if it had been used
that evening.
Then for the first time I saw lying on it a piece of paper
torn from a pocketbook and addressed to myself. I seized
and read it. It ran thus :
"The merciful Lord has sent me a vision of Inez and shown me
where she is over the chflf-edge away to the west, also the road to her.
In my sleep I heard her talking to me. She told me that she is In great
danger — that they are going to marry her to some brate — and called
to me to come at once and save her ; yes, and to come alone without
saying anything to anyone. So I am going at once. Don't be
frightened or trouble about me. All will be well, all will be quite
well. I will tell you the rest when we meet."
Horrorstruck I translated this insane screed to Umslopo-
gaas and Hans. The former nodded gravely.
" Did I not tell you that he was talking with his Spirit
Macumazahn ? " (I had rendered " the merciful Lord " as
the Good Spirit.) " Well, he has gone and doubtless his Spirit
will take care of him. It is finished."
"At any rate we cannot. Baas," broke in Hans, v/ho I
think feared that I might send him out to look for Robertson.
z82 She and Allan
" I can follow most spoors, but not on such a night as this
when one could cut the blackness into lumps and build a
wall of it."
" Yes," I answered, " he has gone and nothing can be
done at present," though to myself I reflected that probably
ke had not gone far and would be found when the moon rosr,
or at any rate on the following morning.
Still I was most uneasy about the man who, as I had noted
for a long while, was losing his balance more and more. The
shock of the barbarous and dreadful slaughter of his half-
breed children and of the abduction of Inez by these grim,
man eating savages began the business, and I think that it was
increased and accentuated by his sudden conversion to com-
plctf^ temperance after years of heavy drinkin?.
WTien I persuaded him to this course I was very proud of
myself, thinking that I had done a clever thing, but now I was
not so sure. Perhaps it would have been better if he had con-
tinued to drink something, at any rate for a while, but the
trouble is that in such cases there is generally no half-way
house. A man, or still more a woman, given to this frailty
either turns aggressively sober or remains very drunken.
At any rate, even if I had made a mess of it, I had acted for
the best and could not blame myself.
For the rest it was clear that in his new phase the religious
associations of his youth had re-asserted themselves with
remarkable \'igGur, for I gathered that he had been brought
up almost as a Calvinist, and in the rush of their return, had
overset his equilibrium. As I have said, he prayed night and
day without any of those reserves which most people prefer
in their religious exercises, and when he talked of matters
outside our quest, his conversation generally revolved round
the devil, or hell and its torments, which, to say the truth, did
not make hun a cheerful companion. Indeed in this respect
I liked him much better in his old, unregenerate days, being,
I fear, myself a somewhat worldly soul.
Well, the sum of it was that the poor fellow had gone mad
and given us the slip, and as Hans said, to search for him at
once in that darkness was impossible. Indeed, even if it had
been lighter, I do not think that it would have been safe
among these Amahagger nightbkds whom I did not trust.
Certainly I could not have asked Hans to undertake the task,
and if I had, I do not think he would have gone since he was
Robertson is Lost 183
afraid of the Amahagger. Therefore there was nothing to
be done except wait and hope for the best.
So I waited till at last the moon came and with it Ayesha,
as she had promised. Clad in a rich, dark cloak she arrived
in some pomp, heralded by Billali, followed by women, also
cloaked, and surrounded by a guard of tall spearmen. I was
seated outside the house, smoking, when suddenly she arrived
from the shadows and stood before me.
I rose respectfully and bowed, while Umslopogaas, Goroko
and the other Zulus who were with me, gave her the royal
salute, and Hans cringed like a dog that is afraid of being
kicked.
After a swift glance at them, as I guessed by the motion
of her veiled head, she seemed to fix her gaze upon my pipe
that evidently excited her curiosity, and asked me what it
was. I explained as well as I could, expatiating on the charms
of smoking.
" So men have learned another useless vice since I left the
world, and one that is filthy also," she said, sniffing at the
smoke and waving her hand before her face, whereon I dropped
the pipe into my pocket, where, being alight, it burnt a hole
in my best remaining coat.
I remember the remark because it showed me what a
clever actress she was who, to keep up her character of anti-
quity, pretended to be astonished at a habit with which she
must have been well acquainted, although I believe that it
was unknown in the ancient world.
" You are troubled," she went on, swiftly changing the
subject, " I read it in your face. One of your company is
missing. Who is it ? Ah ! I see, the white man you name
Avenger. Where is he gone ? "
" That is what I wish to ask you, Ayesha," I said.
" How can I tell you, Allan, who in this place lack any
glass into which to look for things that pass afar. Still, let
me try," and pressing her hands to her forehead, she remained
silent for perhaps a minute, then spoke slowly.
" I think that he has gone over the mountain lip towards
the worshippers of Rezu. I think that he is mad ; sorrow and
something else which I do not understand have turned his
brain ; something that has to do with the Heavens. I think
also that we shall recover him living, if only for a little whiie,
though of this I cannot be sure since it is not given to me to
184 She aad Allan
read the future, but only the past, and sometimes the things
that happen in the present though they be far away."
" Will you send to search for him, O Ayesha ? " I asked
anxiously.
" Nay, it is useless, for he is already distant. Moreovo"
those who went might be taken by the outposts of Rezu,
as perchance has happened to your companion wandering in
his madness. Do you know what he went to seek ? "
" More or less," I answered and translated to her the letter
that Robertson had left for me.
" It may be as the man writes," she commented, " since
the mad often see well in their dreams, though these are not
sent by a god as he imagines. The mind in its secret places
knows all things, O Allan, although it seems to know little
or nothing, and when the breath of vision or the fury of a soul
distraught blows away the veil or burns through the gates
of distance, then for a while it sees and learns, since, whatever
fools may think, often madness is true wisdom. Now follow
me with the little yellow man and the Warrior of the Axe.
Stay, let me look upon that axe."
I interpreted her wish to Umslopogaas who held it out to
her but refused to loose it from his wrist to which it was
attached by the leathern thong.
" Does the Black One think that I shall cut him do\\'n with
his own weapon, I who am so weak and gentle ? " she asked,
laughing.
" Nay, Ayesha, but it is his law not to part with this
Drinker of Lives which he names ' Chieftainess and Groan-
maker,' and clings to closer by day and night than a man does
to his wife."
" There he is wise, Allan, since a savage captain may get
more wives but never such another axe. The thing is ancient, "
she added musingly after examining its every detail, " and
who knows ? It may be that whereof the legend tells which
is fated to bring Rezu to the dust. Now ask this fierce-eyed
Slayer whether, armed with his axe he can find courage to
face the most terrible of all men and the strongest, one who
is a wizard also, of whom it is prophesied that only by such an
axe as this can he be made to bite the dust."
I obeyed. Umslopogaas laughed grimly and answered,
" Say to the White \^'itch that there is no man living upon
the earth whom I would not face in war, I who have never
Robertson is Lost 185
been conquered in fair fight, though once a chance blow brought
me to the doors of death," and he touched the great hole in
his forehead. " Say to her also that I have no fear of defeat,
I from whom doom is, as I think, still far away, though the
Opener-of-Roads has told me that among a strange people I
shall die in war at last, as I desire to do, who from my boyhood
have lived in war."
" He speaks well," she answered with a note of admiration
in her voice. " By Isis, wa-e he but white I would set him
to rule these Amahagger under me. Tell him, Allan, that if
Se lays Rezu low he shall have a great reward."
" And tell the White Witch, Macumazahn," Umslopogaai
replied when I had translated, " that I seek no reward, save
glory only, and with it the sight of one who is lost to me
but with whom my heart still dwells, if indeed this Witch
has strength to beach the wall of blackness that is built
between me and her who is 'gone down.' "
" Strange," reflected Ayesha when she understood, " that
this grim Destroyer should yet be bound by the silken bonds
of love and yearn for one v/hom the grave has taken. Learn
from it, Allan, that all humanity is cast in the same mould,
since my longings and your longings are his also, though the
three of us be far apart as are the sun and the moon and the
earth, and as different in every other quality. Yet it is true
that sun and moon and earth are bom of the same black womb
of chaos. Therefore in the beginning they were identical, as
doubtless they will be in the end when, their joumeyings
done, they rush tc^ether to light space with a flame at whidi
the mocking gods that made them may warm their hands.
Well, so it is with men, Allan, \^ose soul-stufi is drawn
from the gulf of Spirit by Nature's hand, and, cast upon the
cold air of this death-driven world, freeze into a million shapes
each different to the other and yet, be sure, the same. Now
talk no more, but foUow me. Slave (this was addressed to
Billsdi), bid the guards lead on to the camp of the servants of
Lulala."
So we went through the silent ruins. Ayesha walked, or
rather glided a pace or two ahead, then came Umslopogaas
and I side by side, while at our heels followed Hans, very dose
at our heels, since he did not wish to be out of reach of the
virtue of the Great Medicine and incidentally of the protec-
tion of axe and rifle.
1 86 She and Allan
Thus we marched surrounded bv the solemn i?uard for
Bomething between a quarter and half a mile, till at length
we climbed the debris of a mighty wall that once had encom-
passed the city, and by the moonlight saw beneath us a vast
hollow which clearly at some unknown time had been tht bed
of an enormous moat and filled with water.
Now, however, it was dry and all about its surface were
dotted numerous camp-fires round which men were moving,
also some women who appeared to be engaged in cooking food.
At a little distance too, upon the further edge of the moat-
like depression were a number of white-robed individuals
gathered in a circle about a large stone upon which something
was stretched that resemWed the carcase of a sheep or goat,
and round these a great number of spectators.
" The priests of Lulala who make sacrifice to the moon,
as they do night by night, save when she is dead," said
Ayesha, turning back towards me as though in answer to the
query which I had conceived but left unuttered.
What struck me about the whole scene Mras its extra-
ordinary animation and briskness. All the folk round the
fires and outside of them moved about quickly and with the
same kind of liveliness which might animate a camp of more
natural people at the rising of the sun. It was as though they
had just got up full of vigour to commence their daily, or rather
their nightly round, which in truth was the case, since as Hans
had discovered, by habitude these Amahagger preferred to
sleep during the day unless something prevented them, and
to carry on the activities of life at night. It only remair^s
to add that there seemed to be a great number of them, for
their fires following the round of the dry moat, stretched
further than I could see.
Scrambling down the crumbled wall by a zig-zag pathway,
we came upon the outposts of the army beneath us who
challenged, then seeing with whom they had to do, fell flat
uj'on their faces, leaving their great spears, which had iron
spikes on their shafts like to those of the Masai, sticking in the
ground beside them.
We passed on between some of the fires and I noted how
solemn and gloomy, although handsome, were the counten-
ances of th e folk by whom these were surrounded. Indeed, they
looked like denizens of a different world to ours, one alien to
the kindly race of men. There was nothing social about thest:
Robertson is Lost 187
Amahagger, who seemed to be a people labouring under some
ancient ancestral curse of which they could never shake oS
the memory. Even the women rarely smiled ; their clear-
cut, stately countenances remained stern and set, except when
they glowered at us incuriously. Only when Ayesha passed
they prostrated themselves like the rest.
We went on through them and across the moat, climbing
its further slope and here suddenly came upon a host of men
gathered in a hollow square, apparently in order to receive
us. They stood in ranks of five or six deep and their spear-
points glimmering in the moonlight looked like long bands of
level steel. As we entered the open side of the square all these
spears were lifted. Thrice they were lifted and at each up-
lifting there rose a deep-throated cry of Hiya, which is the
Arabic for She, and I suppose was a salutation to Ayesha.
She swept on taking no heed, till we came to the centre of
the square where a number of men were gathered who pros-
trated themselves in the usual fashion. Motioning to them
to rise she said;
" Captains, this very night within two hours we march
against Rezu and the sun- worshippers, since otherwise as
my arts teU me, they march against us. She-who-commands
is Immortal, as your fathers have known from generation to
generation, and cannot be destroyed ; but you, her servants,
can be destroyed, and Ream, who also has drunk of the Cup
of Life, out-numbers you by three to one and prepares a queen
to set up in my place over his own people and such of you as
remain. As though," she added with a contemptuoiis laugh,
" any woman of a day could take my place."
She paused and the spokesman of the captains said,
" We hear, O Hiya, and we understand. What wouldest
thou have us do, O Lulala-come-to-earth ? The armies of
Rezu are great and irom the beginning he has hated thee and
us, also his magic is as thy magic and his length of days as
thy length of days. How then can we who are few, three
thousand men at the most, match ourselves against Rezu,
Son of the Sun ? Would it not be better that we should
accept the terms of Rezu, which arc light, and acknowledge
him as our king ? "
As she heard these words I saw the tall shape of Ayesha
quiver beneath her robes, as I think, not with fear but with
rage, because the meaning of them was clear enough, namely
i88 She and Allan
that rather than risk a battle with Rezu, these people were
contemplating surrender and her own deposition, if indeed
she could be deposed. Still she answered in a quiet voice,
" It seeins that I have dealt too gently with you and with
your fathers, Children of Lulala, whose shadow I am here
upon the earth, so that because you only see the scabbard,
you have forgotten the sword within and that it can shine
forth and smite. Well, whj' should I be wrath because the
brutish will follow the law of brutes, though it is true that I
am minded to slay you where you stand ? Hearken I Were I
less merciful I would leave you to the clutching hands of Rezu,
who wovdd drag you one by one to the stone of sacrifice and
oSer up your hearts to his god of fire and devour your bodies
with his heat. But I bethink me of your wives and children
and of your forefathers whom I knew in the dead days, and
therefore, if I may, I still would save you from yourselves and
your heads from the glowing pot.
" Take counsel together now and say — Will you fight again
Rezu, or will you yield ? If that is your desire, speak it, and
by to-morrow's sun I will begone, taking these with me,"
and she pointed to us, " whom I have summoned to help us
in the war. Aye, I will begone, and when you are stretched
upon the stone of sacrifice, and your women and children
aie the slaves of the men of Rezu, then shall you cry,
" ' Oh, where is Hiya whom our fathers knew ? Oh I will
she not return and save us from this hell ? '
" Yes, so shall you cry but there shall come no answer, sincc
then she will have departed to her own habitations in the moon
and thence appear no more. Now consult together and
answer swiftly, since I weary of you and your ways."
The captains drew apart and began to talk in low voices,
while Ayesha stood still, apparently quite unconcerned, and I
considered the situation.
It was obvious to me that these people were almost in
rebellion against their strange ruler, whose power over them
was of a piuely moral nature, one that emanated from her
personality alone. What I wondered was, being what she
seemed to be, why she thought it worth while to exercise it
at all. Then I remembered her statement that here and no-
where else she must abide for some secret reason, until a certain
mystical gentleman with a Greek name came to fetch her away
from this appointed rendezvous. Therefore I supposed she had
Robertson is Lost 189
no choice, or rather, suffering as she did from hallucinations,
believed herself to have no choice and was obliged to put up
with a crowd of disagreeable savages in quarters which were
sadly out of repair.
Presently the spokesman returned, saluted with his spear,
and asked,
" If we go up to fight against Rezu who will lead us in the
battle, 0 Hiya ? "
" My wisdom shall be your guide," she answered, " this
white man shall be your General and there stands the warrior
who shall meet Rezu face to face and bring him to the dust,"
and she pointed to Umslopogaas leaning upon his axe and
watching them with a contemptuous smile.
This reply did not seem to please the man for he withdrew
to consult again with his compjanions. After a debate which
I suppose was animated for the Araahagger, men of few words
who did not indulge in oratory, all of them ad\'anced on us and
the spokesman said,
" The choice of a General does not please us, Hiya.
We know that the white man is brave because of the fight
he made against the men of Rezn over the mountain yonder ;
also that he and his followers have weapons that d^ death
from afar. But there is a prophecy among us of which none
know the beginning, that he who commands in the last great
battle between Lulala and Rezu must produce before the eyes
of the People of Lulala a certain holy thing, a charm of power,
mthout which defeat will be the portion of Lulala. Of this
holy thing, this spirit -haunted shape of power, we know the
likeness and the fashion, for these have come doA^Ti among
our priests, though who told it to them we cannot tell, but c^
it I will say this only, that it speaks both of the spirit and the
body, of man and yet of more than man."
" And if this w-ondrous charm, this talisman of mi^t,
cannot be shown by the white lord here, what then ? " asked
Ay^ha coldly.
" Then, Hiya, this is the word of the People of Lulala,
that we will not serve under him in the battle, and thi5 also
is their word that we will not go up against Rezu. That thou
art mighty we know well, Hiya, also that thou canst slay
if thou wilt, but we know also that Rezu is mightier and that
against him thou hast no power. Tha-efore kill us if thou
dost so desire, until thy heart is satisfied with death. For it
1 90 She and Allan
b better that we should perish thus than upon the altar of
sacrifice wearing the red-hot crowns of Rezu."
" So say we all," exclaimed the rest of the company when
he had finished.
" The thought comes to me to begin to satisfy my heart
with thy coward blood and that of thy companions," said
Ayesha contemptuously. Then she paused and turning to me,
added, " O Watcher-by-Night, what counsel ? Is there aught
that svill convince these chicken-hearted ones over whom I
have spread my feathers for so long ? "
I shook my head blankly, whereat they murmured together
Liud made as though they would go.
Then it was that Hans, who understood something of
Arabic as he did of most African tongues, pulled my sleeve and
whispered in my ear.
" The Great Medicine, Baas I Show them Zikali's Great
Medicine."
Here was an idea. The description of the article required,
a " spirit-haunted shape of power " that spoke " both of the
spirit and the body of man and yet of more than man,"
was so vague that it might mean anything or nothing. And
yet
I turned to Ayesha and prayed her to ask them if what
they wanted should be produced, whether they would follow
mc bravely and fight Rem to the death. She did so and with
one voice they replied,
" Aye, bravely and to the death, him and the Bearer of
Che Axe of whom also our legend tells."
Then with deliberation I opened my shirt and holding out
the image of Zikali as far as the chain of elephant hair would
allow, I asked,
" Is this the holy thing, the charm of power, of which your
legend tells, O People of the Amahagger and worshippers of
Lulala ? "
The spokesman glanced at it, then snatching a brand from
a watch-fire that burnt near by held it over the carving and
stared, and stared again ; and as he did, so did the others
bending over him.
" Dog I would you singe my beard ? " I cried in affected
rage, and seizing the brand from his hand I smote him with it
over the head.
But he took no heed of the affront which I had offered to
him merely to assert my authority. Still for a few moments
Robertson Is Lost 191
he stared although the sparks from the wood were frizzUng
in his greasy hair, then of a sudden went down on his face before
me, as did all the others and cried out,
" It is the Holy Thing ? It is the spirit-haunted Shape of
Power itself, and we the Worshippers of Lulala will follow
thee to the death, O white lord, Watch«--by-Night. Yes,
where thou goest and he goes who bears the Axe, thither will
we follow till not one of us is left upon his feet."
" Then that's settled," I said, yawning, since it is never
wise to show concern about anything before savages. Indeed
personally I had no wish to be the leader of this very peculiar
tribe in an adventure of which I knew nothing, and therefore
had hoped that they would leave that honour to someone else.
Then I turned and told Umsiopogaas what had passed, a tale
at which he only shrugged his great shoulders, handling his
axe as though he were minded to try its edge upon some o<
these " Park-lovers." as he named the Amahagger people
because of their nocturnal habits.
Meanwhile Ayesha gave certain orders. Then she came to
me and said,
" These men march at once, three thousand strong, and
by dawn will camp on the northern mountain crest. At
sunrise litters will come to bear you and those with you if they
will, to join them, which you should do by midday. In the
afternoon marshal them as you think wise, for the battle will
take place in the small hours of the following morning, since
the People of Lulala only fight at night. I have said."
*-' Do you not come with us ? " I asked, dismayed.
" Nay, not in a war against Rezu, why it matters not.
Yet my Spirit will go with you, for I shall watch all that<
passes, how it matters not and perchance you may see it
there — I know not. On the third day from to-morrow we
shall meet again, in the flesh or beyond it, but as I think in
the flesh, and you can claim the reward which you journej ed
here to seek. A place shall be prepared for the white lady
whom Rezu would have set up as a rival queen to me. Fare-
well, and farewell also to yonder Bearer of the Axe that shall
drink the blood of Rezu, also to the little yellow man who is
rightly named Light -in-Darkness, as you shaJl learn ere ail is
done."
Then before I could speak she turned and glided away,
swiftly surrounded by her guards, leaving me astonished azid
very uncomfortable.
CHAPTER XVI
ALLAN'S VISION
THE old chamberlain, Billali, conducted us back to
our camp. As we went he discouised to me of
these Aniahagger, of whom it seemed he was himself
a developed specimen, one who threw back, per-
haps tens of generations, to some superior ancestor who lived
before they became debased. In substance he told me that
they were a vald and lawless lot who lived amongst ruins
or in caves, or some of them in swamp dwellings, in small
separate communities, each governed by its petty headman
who was generally a priest of their goddess Lulala.
Origiucdly they and the people of Rezu were the same, in
times when they worshipped the sun and the moon jointly,
but " thousands of years " ago, as he expressed it, they had
separated, the Rczuites having gone to dwell to the north
of the Great Mountain, whence they continually threatened
the Lulalaites whom, had it not been for She-who-commands,
they would have destroyed long before. Tlie Rezuites,it seemed,
were habitual cannibals, whereas the Lulalaite branch of the
Amahagger only practised cannibalism occasionally when by
a lucky chance they got hold of strangers. " Such as yourself,
Watcher-by-Night, and your companions," he added with
meaning. If their crime were discovered, however, Hiya,
Skewho-commands, punished it by death.
I asked if she exercised an active rule over these people.
He answered that she did not, as she lacked sufficient interest
in them ; only when she was angr}' vkith individuals she would
destroy some of them by " her arts," as she had power to do if
she chose. Most of them indeed had never seen her and only
knew of her existence by rumour. To them she was a spirit
or a goddess who inhabited the ancient tombs that lay to the
south of the old city whither she had come b«:ause of the
Allan's Vision 193
threatened war with Rezu, whom alone she feared, he did not
know why. He told me again, moreover, that she was the
greatest magician who had ever been, and that it was certain
she did not die, since their forefathers knew her generations
ago. StUl she seemed to be under some curse, like the Ama-
hagger themselves, who were the descendants of those that
had once inhabited Kor and the country around it, as far as
the sea-coast and for hundreds of miles inland, having been
a mighty people in their day before a great plague destroyed
them.
For the rest he thought that she was a very unhappy
woman who " lived with her ovm soul mourning the dead "
and consorting with none upon the earth.
I asked him why she stayed here, whereat he shook his
head and replied, he supposed because of the " curse," since
he could conceive of no other reason. He informed me also
that her moods varied very much. Sometimes she was fierce
and active and at others by comparison mild and low-spirited.
Just now she was passing through one of the latter stages,
perhaps because of the Rezu trouble, for she did not wish
her people to be destroyed by this terrible person ; or perhaps
for some other reason with which he was not acquainted.
When she chose, she knew all things, except the distant
future. Thus she knew that we were coming, also the details
of our march and that we should be attacked by the Rezuites
who were going out to meet their returning company that had
been sent afar to find a white queen. Therefore she had ordered
him to go with soldiers to our assistance. I asked why she
went veiled, and he replied, because of her beauty which
drove even savage men mad, so that in old days she had been
obliged to kill a number of them.
That was all he seemed to know about her, except that
she was kind to those who served her well, like himself, and
protected them from evil of every sort.
Then I asked him about Rezu. He answered that he was a
dreadful person, undying, it was said, like She-who-cora-
mands, though he had never seen the man himself and never
wanted to do so. His followers being cannibals and having
literally eaten up all those that they could reach, were now
desirous of conquering the people of Lulala that they might
eat them also at their leisure. Each other they did not
eat, because dog does not eat dog, and therefore they were
G
194 She and Allan
beginning to grow hungry, although they had plenty of grain
and cattle of which they used the milk and hides.
As for the coming battle, he knew nothing about it or
what would happen, save that She-who-commands said
that it would go well for the Lulalaites under my direction.
She was so sure that it would go well, that she did not think
it worth while to accompany the army, for she hated noise and
bloodshed.
It occurred to me that perhaps she was afraid that she too
would be taken captive and eaten, but I kept my reflection
to myself.
Just then we arrived at our camp-house, where BUlali bade
me farewell, saying that he wished to rest as he must be back
at dawn with litters when he hoped to find us ready to start.
Then he departed. Umslopogaas and Hans also went away
to sleep, leaving me alone who, having taken my repose in
the afternoon, did not feel drowsy at the moment. So lovely
was the night indeed that I made up my mind to take a little
walk during the midnight hours, after the manner of the Ama-
hagger themselves, for having now been recognised as Generalis-
simo of their forces, I had little fear of being attacked, especially
as I carried a pistol in my pocket. So off I set strolling slowly
down what seemed to have been a main street of the ancient
city, which in its general appearance resembled excavated
Pompeii, only on an infinitely larger scale.
As I went I meditated on the strange circumstances in
which I found myself. Really they tempted me to believe
that I was sufiering from delusions and perhaps all the while
in fact lay stretched upon a bed in the delirium of fever.
That marvellous woman, for instance — even rejecting her tale
of miraculously extended life, which I did — what was I to
make of her ? I did not know, except that wondrous as she
was, it remained clear that she claimed a great deal more
power than she possessed. This was evident from her tone
in the interview with the captains, and from the fact that she
had shuffled ofi the cconmand of her tribe on to my shoulders.
If she were so mighty, why did she not command it herself
and bring her celestial, or infernal, powers to bear upon the
enemy ? Again, I could not say, but one fact emerged, namely
that she was as interesting as she was beautiful, and uncom-
monly clever into the bargain.
But what a task was this that she had laid upon me. to
Allan's Vision 195
lead into battle, with a foe of unascei-tained strength, a mob
of savages probably quite undisciplined, of whose fighting
qualities I knew nothing and whom I had no opportunity
of organising. The affair seemed madness and I could only
hope that luck or destiny would take me through somehow.
To tell the truth, I believed it would, for I had grown almost
as superstitious about Zikali and his Great Medicine as was
Hans himself. Certainly the effect of it upon those captains
was very odd, or would have been had not the explanation
come to me in a flash. On the first night of our meeting, as
I have described, I showed this tali>man to Ayesha, as a kind
of letter of credentials, and now I could see that it was she
who had arranged all the scene with the captains, or their
tribal magician, in order to get her way about my appointment
to the command.
Ever^iihing about her conduct bore this out, even her
feigning ignorance of the existence of the charm and the leaving
of it to Hans to suggest its production, which perhaps she did
by influencing his mind subconsciously. No doubt more or
less it fitted in with one of those nebulous traditions which are
so common amongst ancient savage races, and therefore once
shown to her confederate, or confederates, would be accepted
by the common people as a holy sign, after which the rest was
easy.
Such an obvious explanation involved the death of any,
illusions I might still cherish about this Arab lady, Ayesha,
and it is true that I parted with them with regret, as we all
do when we think we have discovered something wonderful
in the female line. But there it was, and to bother any more,
about her, her history and aims, seemed useless.
So dismissing her and all present anxieties from my mind,
I began to look about me and to wonder at the marvellous
scene which unfolded itself before me in the moonlight. That
I might see it better, although I was rather afraid of snakes
which might hide among the stones, by an easy ascent I
climbed a mount of ruins and up the broad slope of a tumbled
massive wall, which from its thickness I judged must have
been that of some fort or temple. On the crest of this wall,
some seventy or eighty feet above the level of the streets, I
sat down and looked about me.
Everywhere around me stretched the ruins of the great
city, now as fallen and as desaled as Babylon herself. The
196 She and Allan
majestic loneliness of the place was something awful. Even
the vision of companies and battalions of men crossing the
plain towards the north with the moonlight glistening on their
spear-points, did little to lessen this sense of loneliness I
loiew that these were the regiments which I was destined to
command, travelling to the camp where I must meet them.
But in such silence did they move that no sound came from
them even in the deathly stillness of the perfect night, so that
almost I was tempted to believe them to be the shadow-ghosts
of some army of old K6r.
The\- vanished, and musing thus I think I must have dozed.
At any rate it seemed to me that of a sudden the city was as it
had been in the days of its glory, I saw it brilliant with a
hundred colours ; ever>'where was colour, on the painted walls
and roofs, the flowering trees that lined the streets and th^
bright dresses of the men and women who by thousands
crowded them and the marts and squares. Even the chariots
that moved to and fro were coloured as were the countless
banners which floated from palace walls and temple tops.
The enormous place teemed with every activity of life ;
brides being borne to marriage and dead men to burial ;
squadrons marching, clad in glittering armour ; merchants
chaffering ; white-robed priests and priestesses passing in
procession (who or what did they worship ? I wondered) :
children breaking out of school ; grave philosophers debating
in the shadow of a cool arcade ; a rojal person making a
progress preceded by runners and surrounded by slaves, and
lastlv the multitudes of citizens going about the daily business
of life.
Even details were visible, such as those of officers of the
law chasing an escaped prisoner who had a broken rope tied
to his arm, and a collision between two chariots in a narrow
street, about the wTecks of which an idle mob gathered as it
does to-day if two vehicles collide, while the owners
argued, gesticulating angrily, and the police and grooms tried
to lift a fallen horse on to its feet. Only no sound of the argu-
ment or of anything else reached me. I saw, and that was all.
The silence remained intense, as weU it might do, since those
chariots must have come to grief thousands upon thousands of
years ago.
A cloud seemed to pass before my eyes, a thin, gauzy cloud
which somehow reminded me of the veil that Ayesha wore.
Allan's Vision 197
Indeed at the moment, although I could not see her, I would
have sworn that she was present at my side, and what is
more that she was mocking me who had set her down as so
impotent a trickstress, which doubtless was part of the dream.
At any rate I returned to my normal state, and there
about me were the miles of desolate streets and the thousands
of broken walls, and the black blots of roofless houses and the
wide, untenanted plain bounded by the battlemented line of
encircling mountain crests, and above all, the great moon
shining softly in a tender sky.
I looked and thrilled, though oppressed by the drear
and desolate beauty of the scene around me, descended the wall
and the ruined slope and made m.y way homewards, afraid
even of mj'' owti shadow. For I seemed to be the only living
thing among the dead habitations of immemorial K6r.
Reaching our camp I found Hans awake and watching
for mei
" I was just coming to look for you. Baas," he said.
" Indeed I should have done so before, only I knew that you
had gone to pay a visit to that tall white ' Missis ' who ties
up her head in a blanket, and thought that neither of you
would like to be disturbed."
" Then you thought wrong," I answered, " and what is
more, if you had made that visit I think it might have been
one from which you would never have come back."
" Oh yes, Baas," sm'ggered Hans. " The tall white
lady would not have minded. It is you who are so particular,
after the fashion of men whom Heaven made very shy."
Without deigning reply to the gibes of Hans I went to lie
down, wondering what kind of a bed poor Robertson occupied
that night, and soon fell asleep, as fortunately for myself I
have the power to do, whatever my circumstances at the
moment. Men who can sleep are those who do the work
of the world and succeed, though personally I have had more
of the work than of the success.
I was awakened at the first grey dawn by Hans, who in-
formed me that Billali was waiting outside with litters, also
that Goroko had already made his incantations and doctored
Umslopc^as and his two men for war after the Zulu fashion
when battle was expected. He added that these Zulus had
198 She and Allan
refused to be left behind to guard and nurse their wounded com-
panions, and said that rather than do so, they would kill
tnem.
Somehow, he informed me, in what way he could not gue^s,
this had come to the ears of the White Lady who " hid her face
from men because it was so ugly," and she had sent vomen
to attend to the sick ones, with word that they shouid be well
cared for. All of this proved to be true enough, but I need
not enter into the details.
In the end off we went, I in my litter following Billali's,
with an express and a repeating rifle and plenty of ammuni-
tion for both, and Hans, also well armed, in that vhich had
been sent for Umslopc^as, who preferred to walk with Gor<jko
and the two other Zulus.
For a little while Hans enjoyed the sensation of being
carried by somebody else, and lay upon the cushions smoking
with a seraphic smile and addressing sarcastic remarks to the
bearers, who fortunately did not understand them. Soon,
however, he wearied of these novel delights and as he waa
still determined not to walk until he was obliged, climbed
on to the roof of the litter, astride of which he sat as though
it were a horse, looking for all the world like a toy monkey
on a horizontal stick.
Our road ran across the level, fertile plain but a small
portion of which was cultivated, though I could see that at
some time or other, when its population was greater, every inch
of it had been under crop. Now it was largely covered by trees,
many of them fruit-bearing, between which meandered streams
of water which once, I think, had been irrigation channels.
About ten o'clock we reached the foot of the encircling
clifis and began the climb of the escarpment, which was steep,
tortuous and difi&cult. By noon we reached its crest and here
found all our little army encamped and, except for the sentries,
sleeping, as seemed to be the invariable custom of these people
in the dajlime.
I caused the chief captains to be awakened and with them
made a circuit of the camp, reckoning the numbers of the men
which came to about 3,250, and learning what I could concern-
ing them and their way of fighting. Then, accompanied by
Umslopogaas and Hans with the Zulus as a guard, also by the
three head-captains of the Amahagger, I walked forward to
study the lie of the land.
Allan's Vision 199
Coming to the further edge of the escarpment, I found that
at this place two broad-based ridges, shaped like those that
spring from the boles of certain tropical forest trees, ran from its
crest to the plain beneath at a gentle slope. Moreover I
saw that on this plain between the ends of the ridges
an army was camped which, by the aid of my glasses, I ex-
amined and estimated to number at least ten thousand men.
This army, the Amahagger captains informed me, was that
of Rezu, who, they said, intended to commence his attack
at dawn on the following morning, since the People of Rezu,
being sun-worshippers, would never fight until their god ap-
peared above the horizon. Having studied all there was to
see I asked the captains to set out their plan of battle, if they
had a plan.
The chief of them answered that it was to advance half-
way down the right-hand ridge to a spot where there was a
narrow flat piece of ground, and there await attack, since at
this place their smaller numbers would not so much matter,
whereas these made it impossible for them to assail the enemy.
" But suppose that Rezu should choose to come up the
other ridge and get behind you. What would happen then ? "
I inquired.
He replied that he did not know, his ideas of strategy beings
it was clear, of a primitive order.
" Do your people fight best at night or in the day ? " I
went on.
He said undoubtedly at night, indeed in all their history
there was no record of their having done so in the da5rtime,
" And yet you propose to let Rezu join battle with you
when the sun is high, or in other words to court defeat," I
remarked.
Then I went a^ide and discussed things for a while with
Umslopogaas and Hans, after which I returned and gave my
orders, declining all argument. Briefly these were that in the
dusk before the rising of the moon, our Amahagger must
advance down the right-hand ridge in complete silence, and hide
themselves among the scrub which I saw grew thickly near its
root. A small party, however, under the leadership of
Goroko, whom I knew to be a brave and clever captain, was
to pass halfway down the left-hand ridge and there light fires
over a wide area, so as to make the enemy think that our whole
force had encamped there. Then at the proper moment which
200 She and" Allan
I had not yet decided upon, we would attack the army of
Rezu.
The Amahagger captains did not seem pleased with this
plan which I think was too bold for their fancy, and began
to murmur together. Seeing that I must assert my authority
at once, I walked up to them and said to their chief man,
" Hearken, my friend. B}' your own ^vish, not mine, I
have been appointed your general and I expect to be obeyed
without question. From the moment that the advance begins
you will keep close to me and to the Black One, and if so much
as one of your men hesitates or turns back, you will die," and
I nodded towards the axe of Umslopogaas. " Moreover,
afterwards She-who-commands wUl see that others of you die,
should you escape in the fight."
Still they hesitated. Thereon without another word, I
produced Zikali's Great Medicine and held it before their
eyes, with the result that the sight of this ugly thing did
what even the threat of death could not do. They went flat on
the ground, every one of them, and swore by Lulala and by
She-who-commands, her priestess, that they would do all I
said, however mad it seemed to them.
" Good," I answered. " Now go back and make ready,
and for the rest, by this time to-morrow we shall know who
is or is not mad."
From that moment till the end I had no more trouble
with these Amahagger.
I will get on quickly with the story of this fight whereof
the preliminary details do not matter. At the proper time«
Goroko went off with two hundred and fifty men and one of
the two Zulus to light the fires and, at an agreed signal,
namely the firing of two shots in rapid succession by myself, to
begin shouting and generally make as much noise as they could.
We also went off with the remaining three thousand, and
before the moon rose, crept as quietly as ghosts down the
right-hand ridge. Being such a silent folk who were accustomed
to move a*- night and could see in the dark almost as well as
cats, the Amahagger executed this manoeuvre splendidly,
wrapping their spear-blades in bands of dry grass lest light
should glint on them and betray our movements. So in
due course we came to the patch of bush where the ridge
widened out about five hundred yards from the plain beneath.
Allan's Vision 201
and there lay down in four companies or regiments, each of
them about seven hundred and fifty strong.
Now the moon had risen, but because of mist which covered
the surface of the plain, we could see nothing of the camp of
Rezu which we knew must be within a thousand yards of us,
unless indeed it had been moved, as the silence seemed to
suggest.
This circumstance gave me much anxiety, since I feared lest
abandoning their reputed habits, these Rezuites were also
contemplating a night attack. Umslopogaas, too, was dis-
turbed on the subject, though because of Goroko and his men
fwhose fires began to twinkle on the opposing ridge something
over a mile away, they could not pass up there without our
knowledge.
Still, for aught I knew there might be other ways of scaling
this mountain. I did not trust the Amahagger, who declared
that none existed, since their local knowledge was slight as
they never visited these northern slopes because of their fear of
Rezu. Supposing that the enemy gained the crest and suddenly
assaulted us in the rear I The thought of it made me feel cold
down the back.
\Miile I was wondering how I could find out the truth,
Hans, who was squatted behind a bush, suddenly rose and
gave the rifle he was carrying to the remaining Zulu.
" Baas," he said, " I am going to look and find out what
those people are doing, if they are still there, and then you
will know how and when to attack them. Don't be afraid
for me. Baas, it will be easy in that mist and you know I can
move like a snake. Also if I should not come back, it does not
matter and it will tell you that they are there."
I hesitated who did not wish to expose the brave little
Hottentot to such risks. But when he understood, Umslopo-
gaas said,
" Let the man go. It is his gift and duty to spy, as it is
mine to smite with the axe, and yours to lead, Macumazahn.
Ixt him go, I say."
T nodded my head, and having kissed my hand in his silly
fashion in token of much he did not wish to say, Hans slipped
out of sight, saving that he hoped to be back within an hour.
Except for his great knife, he went unarmed, who feared that
if he took a pistol he might be tempted to fire it and make a
noise.
CHAPTER XVII
THE MIDNIGHT BATTLE
THAT hour went by very slowly. Again and again
I consiilted my watch by the light of the moon,
which was now rising high in the heavens, and
thought that it would never come to an end. Listen
as I would, there was nothing to be heard, and as the mist
still prevailed the only thing I could see except the heavens,
was the twinkling of the fires lit by Goroko and his party.
At length it was done and there was no sign of Hans.
Another half hour passed and still no sign of Hans.
" I think that Light -in- Darkness is dead or taken prisoner,"
said Umslopogaas.
I answered that I feared so, but that I would give him
another fifteen minutes and then, if he did not appear, I pro-
posed to order an advance, hoping to find the enemy where
we had last seen them from the top of the mountain.
The fifteen minutes went by also, and as I could see that
the Amahagger captains who sat at a little distance were
getting very nervous, I picked up my double-barrelled rifle
and turned round so that I faced up hill with a view of firing
it as had been agreed with Goroko, but in such a fashion that
the flashes perhaps would not be seen from the plain below.
For this purpose I moved a few yards to the left to get behind
the trunk of a tree that grew there, and was already lifting
the rifle to my shoulder, when a yellow hand clasped the barrd
and a husky voice said,
" Don't fire yet, Baas, as I want to tell you my story first."
I looked down and there was the ugly face of Hans wearing
a grin that might have frightened the man in the moon.
" Well," I said -mth cold indiSerence, assumed I admit
to hide my excessive joy at his safe return, " tell on, and be
quick about it. I suppose you lost your way and never found
them.*'.
The Midnight Battle 203
" Yes, Baas, I lost my way for the fog was very thick down
there. But in the end I found them all right, by my nose,
Baas, for those man-eating people smell strong and I got the
wind of one of their sentries. It was easy to pass him in the
mist. Baas, so easy that I was tempted to cut his throat as I
went, but I didn't for fear lest he should make a noise. No,
I walked on right into the middle of them, which was easy too,
for they were all asleep, wrapped up in blankets. They hadn't
any fires perhaps because they did not want them to be seen,
or perhaps because it is so hot down in that low land, I don't
know which.
" So I crept on taking note of all I saw, till at last I came to a
little hill of which the top rose above the level of the mist,
so that I could see on it a long hut buUt of green boughs with
the leaves still fresh upon them. Now I thought that I would
crawl up to the hut since it came into my mind that Rezu
himself must be sleeping there and that I might kill him. But
while I stood hesitating I heard a noise like to that made by
an old woman whose husband had thrown a blanket over her
head to keep her quiet, or to that of a bee in a bottle, a sort
of droning noise that reminded me of something.
" I thought a while and remembered that when Red Beard
was on his Imees praying to Heaven, as is his habit when he has
nothing else to do, Baas, he makes a noise just like that. I
crept towards the sound and presently there I found Red-
Beard himself tied upon a stone and looking as mad as a
buffalo bull stuck in a swamp, for he shook his head and rolled
his eyes about, just as though he had had two bottles of bad
gin. Baas, and all the while he kept saying prayers. Now I
thought that I would cut him loose, and bent over him to do
so, when by ill-luck he saw my face and began to shout, saying.
" Go away, you yellow devil. I know you have come
to take me to hell, but you are too soon, and if my hands were
loose I would twist your head off your shoulders."
" He said this in English Baas, which as you know I can
understand quite well, after which I was sure that I had better
leave him aJone. Whilst I was thinking, there came out of the
hut above two old men dressed in night -shirts, such as you
white people wear, with yellow things upon their heads that
had a metal picture of the sun in front of them."
" Medicine-men," I suggested.
" Yes, Baas, or Predikants of some sort, for they were
204 She and Allan
rather like your reverend father when he dressed himself up
and went into a box to preach. Seeing them I slipped back
a little way to where the mist began, lay down and listened.
They looked at Red Beard, for his shouts at me had brought
them out, but he took no notice of them, only went on making
a noise like a beetle in a tin can.
" It is nothing," said one of the Predikants to the other
in the same tongue that these Amahagger use. " But when
is he to be sacrificed ? Soon, I hope, for I cannot sleep because
of the noise he makes."
" WTien the edge of the sun appears, not before," answered
the other Predikant. " Then the new queen will be brought
out of the hut and this white man will be sacrificed to her "
" I think it is a pity to wait so long," said the first Predi-
kant, " for never shall we sleep in peace until the red-hot
pot is on his head."
" First the victory, then the feast," answered the second
Predikant, " though he will not be so good to eat as that fat
young woman who was with the new queen."
" Then, Baas, they both smacked their lips and one of them
went back towards the hut. But the other did not go back.
No, he sat down on the ground and glowered at Baas Red-
Beard upon the stone. More, he struck him on the face to
make him quiet.
" Now, Baas, when I saw this and remembered that they
had said that they had eaten Janee whom I liked although
she was such a fool, the spirit in me grew very angry and I
tliought that I would give this old skellum (i.e. rascal) of a
Predikant a taste of sacrifice himself, after which I purposed
to creep to the hut and see if I could get speech with the Lady
Sad-Eyes, if she was there.
" So I wriggled up behind the Predikant as he sat glowering
over Red-Beard, and stuck my knife into his back where I
thought it would kill him at once. But it didn't. Baas, for
he fell on to his face and began to make a noise like a wounded
hyena before I could finish him. Then I heard a sound of
shouts, and to save my life was obliged to run away into the
mist, without loosing Red-Beard or seeing Lady Sad-Eyes.
I ran very hard, Baas, making a wide circle to the left, and
so at last got back here. That's all. Baas."
" And quite enough too," I answered, " though if they
did not see you, the death of the Medicine-man may frighten
The Midnight Battle 205
them. Poor Janee ! Well, I hope to come even with those
devils before the}^ are three hours older."
Then I called up Umslopogaas and the Amahagger cap-
tains and told them the substance of the story, also that Han3
had located the army, or part of it.
The end of it was that we made up our minds to attack
at once ; indeed I insisted on this, as I was determined if I
could to save that unfortunate man, Robertson, who, from
Hans' account, evidently was now quite mad and raving.
So I fired the two shots as had been arranged and presently
heard the sound of distant shoutings on the slope of the oppos-
ing ridge. A few minutes later we started. Umslopogaas
and I leading the vanguard and the Amahagger captains
following with the three remaining companies.
Now the reader, presuming the existence of such a person,
will think that everything is sure to go right ; that this cun-
ning old fellow, Allan Quatermain, is going to surprise and
wipe the floor with those Rezuites, who were already beguiled
by the trick he had instructed Goroko to play. That after
this he will rescue Robertson who doubtless shortly recovers
his mind, also Inez with the greatest ease ; in fact that
ever3^hing will happen as it ought to do if this were a romance
instead of a mere record of remarkable facts. But being
the latter, as it happened, matters did not work out quite
in this convenient way.
To begin with, when those Amahagger told me that the
Rezuites never fought in the dark or before the sun was well
up, either they lied or they were much mistaken, for at any
rate on this occasion they did the exact contrary. All the
while that we thought we were stalking them, they were stalk-
ing us. The Goroko m.anceuvre had not deceived them in the
least, since from their spies they knew its exact significance.
Here I may add that those spies were in our own ranks,
traitors, in short, who were really in the pay of Rezu and
possibly belonged to his abominable faith, some of whom
slipped away from time to time to the enemy to report our
progress and plans, so far as they knew them.
Further, what Hans had stumbled on was a mere rear guard
left around the place of sacrifice and the hut where Inez was
confined. The real army he never found at all. That was
divided into two bodies and hidden in bush to the right and
left of the ridge which we were descending just at the spot
2o6 She and Allan
where it joined the plain beneath, and into the jaws of these
two armies we marched gaily.
Now that hypothetical reader will say, " Why didn't that
silly old fool, Allan, think of all these things ? Why didn't
he remember that he was commanding a pack of savages with
whom he had no real acquaintance, among whom there v/ere
sure to be traitors, especially as they were of the same blood
as the Rezuites, and take precautions ? "
Ah ! my dear reader, I will only answer that I wish you had
handled the job yourself, and enjoyed the opportunity of seeing
what you could do in the circumstances. Do you sup-
pose I didn't think of all these points ? Of course I did.
But have you ever heard of the difficulty of making silk purses
out of sows' ears, or of turning a lot of gloomy and disagreeable
barbarians whom you had never even drilled, into trust-
worthy and ef&cient soldiers ready to fight three times theii"
own number and beat them ?
Also I beg to observe that I did get through somehow, as
you shall learn, which is more than you might have done, Mr.
Wisdom, though I admit, not without help from another
quarter. It is all very well for you to sit in your armchair and
be sapient and turn up your learned nose, like the gentlemen
who criticise plays and poems, an easy job compared to the
writing of them. From all of which, however, you will under-
stand that I am, to tell the truth, rather ashamed of what fol-
lowed, since qui s'excuse, s'accuse.
As we slunk down that hill in the moonlight, -^ queer-
looking crowd, I admit also that I felt very uncomfortable.
To begin with, I did not like that remark of the Medicine-man
which Hans reported, to the effect that the feast must come
after the victory, especially as he had said just before that
Robertson was to be sacrificed as the sun rose, which would
seem to suggest that the " victory " was plarmed to take
place before that event.
While I was ruminating upon this subject, I looked round
for Hans to cross-examine him as to the priest's exact words,
only to find that he had slunk off somewhere. A few minutes
later he reappeared running back towards us swiftly and, I
noticed, taking shelter behind tree trunks and rocks as he came.
" Baas," he gasped, for he was out of breath, " be careful,
those Rezu men are on either side ahead. I went forward and
ran into them. They threw many spears at me. Look''
The Midnight Battie 207
and he showed a slight cut on his arm from which blood was
flowing.
Instantly I understood that we were ambushed and began
to think very hard indeed. As it chanced we were passincj
across a large flat space upon the ridge, say seven or eight
acres in extent, where the bush grew lightly, though owing
to the soil being better, the trees were tall.
On the steep slope below this little plain it seemed to be
denser and there it was, according to Hans, that the ambush
was set. I halted my regiment and sent back messengers to
the others that they were to halt also as they came up, on the
pretext of giving them a rest before they were marshalled
and we advanced to the battle.
Then I told Umslopogaas what Hans said and asked him to
send out his Zulu soldier whom we could trust, to see if he
could obtain confirmation of the report. This he did at once.
Also I asked him what he thought should be done, supposing
that it was true.
" Form the Amahagger into a ring or a square and await
attack," he answered.
I nodded, for that was my own opinion, but replied,
" If they were Zulus, the plan would be good. But how
do we know that these men will stand."
" We know nothing, Macumazahn, and therefore can only
try. If they run it must be up-hOJ."
Then I called the captains and told them what was toward,
which seemed to alarm them very much. Indeed one or two
of them wanted to retreat at once, but I said I would shoot
the first man who tried to do so. In the end they agreed to
my plan and said that they would post their best soldiers a bove.
at the top of the square, with orders to stop any attempt at
a flight up the mountain.
After this we formed up the square as best we could, ar-
ranging it in a rather rough, four-fold line. W^ile we were
doing this we heard some shouts below and presently the Zulu
returned, who reported that all was as Hans had said and
that Rezu's men were moving round us, having discovered,
as he thought, that we had halted and escaped their ambush.
Still the attack did not develop at once, for the reason that
the Rezu army was crawling up the steep flanks of the spur
on either side of the level piece of ground, with a view of en-
circling us altogether, so as to make a clean sweep of our force.
2o8 She and Allan
As a matter of fact, considered from our point of view, this was
a most fortunate mov.-, since thereby they stopped any attempt
at a retreat on the part of our Amahagger, whose bolt-hole
was now blocked.
When we had done all we could, we sat down, or at least
I did, and waited. The night, I remember, was strangely still,
only from the slopes on either side of our plateau came a kind
of rustling sound which in fact was caused by the feet of Rezu's
people, as they marched to surround us.
It ceased at last and the silence grew complete, so much so
that I could hear the teeth of some of our tall Amahagger
chattering with fear, a sound that gave me little confidence and
caused Umslopogaas to remark that the hearts of these big
men had never grown ; they remained " as those of babies."
I told the captains to pass the word down the ranks that those
who stood might live, but those who fled would certainly die.
Therefore if they wished to see theL- homes again they had
better stand and fight like men. Otherwise most of them
would be killed and the rest eaten by Rezu. This was done,
and I observed that ihe message seemed to produce a steadying
effect upon our ranks.
Suddenly all around us, from below, from above and on
either side there broke a most awful roar which seemed to
shape itself into the word, Rezu, and next minute also from
above, below and either side, some ten thousand men poured
forth upon our square.
In the moonlight they looked very terrible with their flow-
ing white robes and great gleaming spears. Hans and I fired
some shots, though for all the effect they produced, we might
as well have pelted a breaker with pebbles. Then, as I
thought that I should be more usefuJ alive than dead, I re-
treated wthin the square, Umslopogaas, his Zulu, and Hans
coming with me.
On the whole cur Amahagger stood the attack better than
I expected. They beat back the first rush with considerable
loss to the enemy, also the second after a longer struggle.
Then there was a pause during which we re-formed our ranks,
dragging the wounded men into the square.
Scarcely had we done this when with another mighty shout
of " Rezu I " the enemy attacked again — that was about an
hour after the battle had begun. But now they had changed
their tactics, for instead of trying to rush ail sides cf the
The Midnight Battle 209
square at once, they concentrated their efforts on the western
front, that which faced towards the plain below.
On they came, and among them in the forefront of the
battle, now and again I caught sight of a gigantic man, a huge
creature who seemed to me to be seven feet high and big in
proportion. I could not see him clearly because of the un-
certain moonlight, but I noted his fierce aspect, also that he
had an enormous beard, black streaked with grey, that flowed
down to his middle, and that his hair hung in masses upon
his shoulders.
" Rezu himself I " I shouted to Umslopogaas.
" Aye, Macumazahn, Rezu himself without doubt,
and I rejoice to see him for he will be a worthy foe to fight.
Look I he carries an axe as I do. Now I must save my
strength for when we come face to face I shall need it all,"
I thought that I would spare Umslopogaas this exertion
and watched my opportunity to put a bullet through this
giant. But I could never get one. Once when I had covered
him an Amahagger rushed in front of my gim so thatlcould not
shoot, and when a second chance came a little cloud floated
over the face of the moon and made him invisible. After
that I had other things to which to attend, since, as I ex-
pected would happen, the western face of our square gave, and
yelling like devils, the enemy began to pour in through the gap.
A cold thrill went through me for I saw that the game was
up. To re-form these undisciplined Amahagger was impossible j
nothing was to be expected except panic, rout and slaughter.
I cursed my folly for ever having had an}i:hing to do with the
business, while Hans screamed to me in a thin voice that the
only chance was for us three and the Zulu to bolt and hide
in the bush.
I did not answer him because, apart from any nasty pride,
the thing was impossible, for how could we get through those
struggling masses of men which surrounded us on every side ?
No, my clock had struck, so I went on making a kind of mental
sandwich of prayers and curses ; prayers for my soul and for-
giveness of my sins, and curses on the Amahagger and every-
thing to do with them, especially Zikali and the woman called
Ayesha, who, between them, had led me into this affair.
" Perhaps the Great Medicine of Zikali," piped Hans
again as he fired a rifle at the advancing foe
" Hang the Great Medicine," I shouted back, " and
2IO She and Allan
Ayesha v^nth it. No wonder she declined to take a hand in
this business."'
As I spoke the words I saw old Billali, who not being a
man of war was keeping as close to us as he could, go flat
onto his venerable face, and reflected that he must have got
a thrown spear through him. Casting a hurried glance at
nira to see if he were done for or only wounded, out of the
corner of my eye I caught sight of something diaphanous
which gleamed in the moonlight and reminded me of I knew
not what at the moment.
I looked round quickly to see what it might be and lo I
there, almost at my side was the veiled Ayesha herself, holding
in her hand a little rod made of black wood inlaid with ivory
not unlike a field marshal's baton, or a sceptre.
I never saw her come and to this day I do not know how
she did so ; she was just there and what is more she must
have put luminous paint or something else on her robes, for
they gleamed with a sort of faint, phosphorescent fire, which
in the moonlight made her conspicuous all over the field of
battle. Nor did she speak a single word, she only waved the
rod, pointed with it towards the fierce hordes who were drawing
near to us, killing as they came, and began to move forward
with a gliding motion.
Now from every side there went up a roar of " She-who-
eommands ! She-who-commands ! " whi]e the people of Rezu
in front shouted, " Lulaia. Lulala ! Fly, Lulala is upon us
with the witchcrafts of the moon I "
She moved forward and by some strange impulse, for no
order was given, we all began to move after her. Yes, the
ranks that a minute before were beginning to give way to
wild panic, became filled with a marvellous courage and moved
after her.
The men of Rezu also, and I suppose with them Rezu
himself, for I saw no more of him at that time, began to move
uncommonly fast over the edge of the plateau towards the
plain beneath. In fact they broke into flight and leaping
over dead and dying, we rushed after them, always following
the gleaming robe of Ayesha, who must have been an extremely
agile person, since without any apparent exertion she held
her place a few steps ahead of us.
There was another curious circumstance about this af-
fair, namely, that terrified though they were, those Rezuitee,
The Midnight Battle 211
after the first break, soon seemed to find it impossible to depart
with speed. They kept turning round to look behind them
at that following vision, as though they were so many thousands
of Lot's wives. Moreover, the same fate overtook many of
them which fell upon that scriptural lady, since they appeared
to become petrified and stood there quite still, like rabbits
fascinated by a snake, until our people came up and killed
them.
This slaying went on all down the last steep slope ot the
ridge, on which I suppose at least two-thirds of the army of
Rezu must have perished, since our Amahagger showed them-
selves very handy men when it came to exterminating foes
who were too terror-struck to fight, and, exhilarated by the
occupation, gained courage every moment.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SLAYING OF REZU
AT last we were on the plain, the bemused remnant of
Rezu's army stiJl doubling before us like a mob
of game pursued by wild dogs. Here we halted
to re-form our ranks ; it seemed to me, although
still she spoke no word, that some order reached me from
the gleaming Ayesha that I should do this. The business
took twenty minutes or so, and then, numbering about
two thousand five hundred strong, for the rest had fallen in
the fight of the square, we advanced again.
Now there came that dusk which often precedes the rising
of the sun, and through it I could ?ee 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 the men of Rezu
stood awaiting us, for they seemed to overcome their terror
with the approach of day.
The battle was fierce, a very strange battle in that dim,
uncertain light, 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 Amahagger confidence, and
as the courage of the Rezuites increased, so theirs seemed to
lessen with the passing of the night
Fortunately, however, just as the issue hung doubtful,
there was a shout to our left and looking, I made out the tnll
shape of Goroko, the witch-doctor, with the other Z lu,
followed by his two hundred and fifty men, and leaping on lo
the flank of the line of Rezu.
That settled th^ business. The enemy crumpled up and
melted, and just then the first lights of dawn appeared in the
sky I looked about me for Ayesha, but she had gone, where
The Slaying of Rezu 213
to I knew not, though at the moment I feared that she must
have been killed in the mel^e.
Then I gave up looking and thinking, since now or never
was the time for action. Signalling and shouting to those
hatchet-faced Amahagger to advance, accompanied by
Umslopogaas 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 gloom which precedes the
actual dawn, saw a group of men gathered round something,
as people collect about a street accident.
" Red- Beard on the stone. They are killing him,"
screeched Hans again.
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 fellow whom I took to be Rezu, staring
towards the east as though he were waiting for the rim of
the sun to appear before he gave some order. At that v^ry
moment it did appear, just a thin edge of bright light on the
horizon, and he turned, shouting the order.
Too late I For we were on them. Umslopogaas 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 with which Robertson was tied.
The poor man who in the growing light I could see was
raving mad, sprang up, calling out something in Scotch
about "the deil." Seizing a great spear which had fallen
from the hand of one of the priests, he rushed furiously at the
giant who had given the order, and with a yell drove it at
his heart. I saw the spear snap, from which I concluded that
this man, whom rightly I took to be Rezu, wotc some kind of
armour.
Next instant the axe he held, a great weapon, flashed aloft
and down went Robertson before its awful stroke, stone dead,
for as we found afterwards, he was cloven almost in two.
At the sight of the death of my poor friend rage 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.
214 She and Allan
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 him to me," shouted Umslopogaas. " 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 some purpose
of his own, but Umslopogaas was too hard upon his tracks.
At any rate he ran past it and dowTi the other slope of the little
hill on to the plain behind where the remnants of his army
were trying to reform. There in front of them the giant turned
and stood at bay.
Umslopogaas halted also, waiting for us to come up, since,
cunning old warrior as he was, he feared lest should he begin
the fight before that happened, the horde of them would fall on
him. Thirty seconds later we arrived and foimd him standing
stiU with bent body, small shield advanced and the great
axe raised as though in the act of striking, a wondrous picture
outlined as it was against the swiftly-rising sun.
Some ten paces away stood the giant leaning on the axe
he bore, which was not unlike to that with which woodmen
fell big trees. He was an evil man to see and at this, my first
full sight of him, I likened him in my mind to Goliath whom
David overthrew. Huge he was and hairy, with deep-set,
piercing eyes and a great hooked nose. His face seemed
thin and ancient also, when with a motion of the great head,
he tossed his long locks back from about it, but his limbs
were those of a Hercules and his movements full of a youthful
vigour. Moreover his aspect as a whole was that of a devil
rather than of a man ; indeed the sight of it sickened me.
" Let me shoot him," I cried to Umslopogaas, for I had
reloaded the rifle as I ran.
" Nay, Watcher-by-Night," answered the Zulu without
moving his head, " rifle has had its chance and failed. Now
let us see what axe can do. If I carmot kill this man, I will
be borne hence feet first who shall have made a long journey
for nothing."
Then the giant began to talk in a low, rumbling voice that
reverberated from the slope of the little hill behind us.
" Who are you," he asked, speaking in the same tongue
that the Amahagger use, " who dare to come face to face with
Rem ? Black hound, do you not know that I cannot be
The Slaying of Rezu 215
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 upon my
breast like rain-drops, and would you try to bring me do\\Ti with
that toy you carry ? My army is defeated — I know it.
But what matters that when I can get me more ? Because
the sacrifice was not completed and the white queen was not
wed, therefore my army was defeated by the magic of Lulala,
the White Witch who dwells in the tombs. But / am not
defeated who cannot be slain until I show my back, and then
only by a certain axe which long ago has rusted into dust."
Now of this long speech Umslopogaas understood nothing,
so I answered for him, briefly enough, but to the point, for
there flashed into my mind all Ayesha's tale about an axe.
" A certain axe I " I cried. " Aye, a certain axe I Well,
look at that which is held by the Black One, the captain who
is named Slaughterer, 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 doom ? "
Thus I spoke, very loudly that all might hear, slowly
also, pausing between each word because I wished to give
time for the light to strengthen, seeing as I did that the rays
of the rising sun struck upon the face of the giant, whereas
the eyes of Umslopogaas were less dazzled by it.
Rezu heard, and stared at the axe which Umslopogaas
held aloft, causing it to quiver slightly by an imperceptible
motion of his arm. As he stared I saw his hideous face change,*
and that on it for the first time gathered a look of something
resembling fear. Also his followers behind him who were
also studying the axe, began to murmur together.
For here I should say that as though by common consent
the battle had been stayed ; we no longer attacked and the
enemy no longer ran. They, or those who were left of them,
stood still as though they felt that the real and ultimate issue
of the fight depended upon the forthcoming duel between these
two champions, though 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;
2i6 She and Allan
" It is like, very like. The horn haft is the same ; the
pointed gouge is the same ; the blade shaped like the young
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 moment hesitated.
" Umslopogaas," I said in the deep silence that foHowed,
" hear me."
" I hear you," he answered without turning his head c:
moving his arms. " WTiat counsel, Watcher-by-night ? "
" 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, Macumazahn, I understand not. Yet I will do
your bidding because you are wiser than I and utter no empty
words. Now be still."
Then Umslopogaas threw the axe into the air and caught
it as it fell, and as he did so began to chant his own praises
Zulu fashion.
" Oho I " he said, " I am the child of the Lion, the Black-
maned Lion, whose claws never loosened of their prey. I am
the Wolf-king, he who hunted with the wolves upon the Witch-
mountain with my brother. Bearer of the Club named Watch er-
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 me Nada the Lily to wife. I am he who took
to the King Dingaan a gift that beloved little, and afterward
^^nth Mopo, my foster-sire, hurled this Dingaan down to
death. I am the Royal One, named Bulalio the Slaughterer,
named Woodpecker, named Umhlopekazi the Captain, before
whom never yet man has stood in fair and open fight. Now,
thou Wizard Rezu, now thou Giant, now thou Ghost-man,
come on agaiast me and before the sun has risen by a hand's
breadth, all those who watch shall see which of us is better
at the game of war. Come on, then I Come on, for I say that
my blood boils over and my feet grow cold. Come on, thou
grinning dog, thou monster grown fat with eating the flesh of
men.thouhook-beakedvulture, thou old, grey-whiskered wolf ! "
Thus he chanted in his fierce, boastful way, while his two
The Slaying of Rezu 217
remaining Zulus clapped their hands and sentence by sentence
echoed his words, and Goroko, the witch-doctor muttered
incantations behind him.
While he sang thus Umslopogaas began to stir. First
only his head and shoulders moved gently, swaying from 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 them back again, as a dancer might do, tempting Rezu
to attack.
But the giant would not, his shield held before him, he
stood still and waited to see what this black warrior would
do.
The snake struck. Umslopogaas darted in and let drive
with the long axe. Rezu raised his shield above his head and
caught the blow. From the clank it made I knew that this
shield 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 me how great was the giant's
strength, for though the stroke was heavy, like the steel-
hatted axe he bore, still when he saw that it had missed he
checked the weapon in mid air, which only a mighty man
could have done.
Umslopogaas saw these things 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 the moon-shaped blade was uppermost, and
keeping it almost at full length, began to peck with the gouge-
shaped point on the back at the head and arms of Rezu, that
as I knew was a favourite trick of his in fight from
which he won his name of " Woodpecker." Rezu defended
his head with his shield as best he could against the sharp point
of steel which flashed all about him.
Twice it seemed to me that the Zulu's pecks went home
upon the giant's breast, but if so they did no harm. Either
Rezu's thick beard, or armour beneath it stopped them from
penetrating his body. Still he roared out as though with
pain, or fury, or both, and growing mad, charged at Umslopo-
gaas and smote with all his strength
The Zulu caught the blow upon his shield, through which
it shore as though the tough hide were paper. Stay the stroke
it could not, yet it turned its direction, so that the falling
2i8 She and Allan
axe slid past Umslopogaas's shoulder, doing him no hurt.
Next instant, before Rezu could strike again, the Zulu threw
the severed shield into his face and seizing the axe with both
hands, leapt in and struck. It was a mighty blow, for I saw
the rhinoceros-horn handle of the famous axe bend like a
drawn bow, and it went home with a dull thud full upon Rezu'g
breast. He shook, but no more. Evidently the razor edge
of Inkosikaas had failed to pierce. There was a sound as
though a hollow tree had been smitten and some strands of
the long beard, shorn off, fell to the ground, but that was all.
" Tagati ! (bewitched)," cried the watching Zulus. " That
stroke should have cut him in two ! " while I thought to
myself that this man knew how to make good armour.
Rezu laughed aloud, a bellowing kind of laugh, while
Umslopogaas sprang back astonished.
" Is it thus 1 " he cried in Zulu. " Well, all wizards have
some door by which their Spirit enters and departs. I must
find the door, I must find the door I "
So he spoke and with springing movements tried to get
past Rezu, first to the right and then to the left, all the while
keeping out of reach. But Rezu ever turned and faced him,
as he did so retreating step by step down the slope of the little
hill and striking whenever he found a chance, but without
avail, for always Umslopogaas was beyond his reach. Also
the sunlight which now grew strong, dazzled him, or so I
thought. Moreover he seemed to tire somewhat — or so I
thought also.
At any rate he determined to make an end of the play, for
with a swift motion, as Umslopogaas had done, he threw away
his shield and grasping the iron handle of his axe with both
hands, charged the Zulu like a bull. Umslopogaas leapt back
out of reach. Then suddenly he turned and ran up the rise.
Yes, Bulalio the Slaughterer ran I
A roar of mockery went up from the sun- worshippers
behind, while our Amahagger laughed and Goroko and the two
Zulus stared astonished and ashamed. Only I read his
mind aright and wondered what guile he had conceived.
He ran, and Rezu ran after him, but never could he catch
the swiftest -footed man in Zululand. To and fro he followed
him, for Umslopogaas was taking a zig-zag path towards the
crest of the slope, till at length Rezu stopped breathless:
But Umslopogaas still ran another twenty yards or so until
The Slaying of Rezu 219
he reached the top of the slope and there halted and wheeled
round.
For ten seconds or more he stood drawing his breath in
great gasps, and, looking at his face, I saw that it had become
as the face of a wolf. His lips were drawn up into a terrible
grin, showing the white teeth between ; his cheeks seemed to
have fallen in and his eyes glared, while the skin over the hole
in his forehead beat up and down.
There he stood, gathering himself together as for some
mighty effort.
" Run on I " shouted the spectators, " Run back to K6r,
•black dog ! "
Umslopogaas knew that they were mocking him, but he took
no heed, only bent down and rubbed his sweating hand in the
grit of the dry earth. Then he straightened himself and
charged down on Rezu.
I, Allan Quatermain, have seen many things in battle,
but never before or since did I see aught like to this charge.
It was swift as that of a lioness, so swift that the Zulu's feet
scarcely seemed to touch the ground. On he sped like a
thrown spear, till, when within about a dozen feet of Rezu
who stood staring at him, he bent his frame almost doilble and
leapt into the air.
Oh I what a leap was that. Surely he must have learnt
it from the lion, or the spring-buck. High he rose and now I
saw his purpose ; it was to clear the tall shape of Rezu.
Aye, and he cleared him with half a foot to spare, and as he
passed above, smote downwards with the axe so that the blow
fell upon the back of Rezu's head. Moreover it went home this
time, for I saw the red blood stream and Rezu fell forward on
his face. Umslopogaas landed far beyond him, ran a little
way because he must, then wheeled round and charged again.
Rezu was rising, but before he gained his feet, the axe
Inkosikaas thundered down where the neck joins the shoulder
and sank in. Still, so great was his strength that Rezu found
his feet and smote out wildly. But now his movements were
slow and again Umslopogaas got behind him, smiting at his
back. Once, twice, thrice, he smote, and at the third blow
it seemed as though the massive spine were severed, for his
weapon fell from Rezu's hand and slowly he sank down to the
ground, and lay there, a huddled heap.
Believing that all was over I ran to where he lay with
220 She and Allan
Umslopogaas standing over him, as it seemed to me, utterly
exhausted, for he supported himself by the axe and tottered
upon his feet. But Rezu was not yet dead. He opened
his cavernous eyes and glared at the Zulu with a look of
hellish hate.
" TJwu hast not conquered me, Black One," he gasped.
" It is thine axe which gave thee victory ; the ancient, holy axe
that once was mine until the woman stole it, yes, that and the
craft of the Witch of the Caves who told thee to smite where
the Spirit of Life which I feared to enter wholly, had not
kissed my flesh, and there only left me mortal. Wolf of a black
man, may we meet elsewhere and fight this fray again. Ah I
would that I could get these hands about thy throat and take
thee with me down into the Darkness. But Lulala wins if
only for a while, since her fate, I think, shaU be worse than
mine. Ah I I see the magic beauty that she boasts turn to
shameful "
Here of a sudden life left him and throwing his great arms
wide, a last breath passed bubbling from his lips
As I stooped to examine the man's huge and hairy carcase
that to me looked only half human, with a thunder of feet
our Amahagger rushed down upon us and thrusting me aside,
fell upon the body of their ancient foe like hounds upon a
helpless fox, and with hands and spears and knives literally
toreand hacked it limbfrom limb, till no semblance of humanity
remained.
It was impossible to stop them ; indeed I was too outworn
with labours and emotions to make any such attempt. This
I regret the more since I lost the opportunity of making an
examination of the body of this troll-like man, and of ascer-
taining what kind of armour it was he wore beneath that great
beard of his, which was strong enough to stop my bullets, and
even the razor edge of the axe Inkosikaas driven with all the
might of the arms of the Zulu, Bulalio. For when I looked
again at the sickening sight the giant was but scattered frag-
ments and the armour, whatever it might have been, was gone,
rent to little pieces and carried off, doubtless, by the Ama-
hagger, perhaps to be divided between them to serve as
charms.
So of Rezu I know only that he was the hugest, most
terrible-looking man I have ever seen, one too who carried his
vast strength very lite in life, since from the aspect of his
The Slaying of Rezu 221
countenance I imagine that he must have been nigh upon
seventy years of age, though his supposed unnatiual antiquity
of course was nothing but a fable put about by the natives for
their own purposes.
Presently Umslopogaas seemed to recover from the kind
of faint into which he had fallen and opening his eyes, looked
about him. The first person they fell on was old Billali
who stood stroking his white beard and contemplating the
scene with an air which was at once philosophic and satisfied.
This seemed to anger Umslopogaas, for he cried,
" I think it was you, ancient bag of words and sweeper of
paths for the feet of the great, who made a mock of me but
now, when you thought that I fled before the horns of yonder
man-eating bull — " and he nodded towards the fragments of
what once had been Rezu. " Find now his axe and though I
am weak and weary, I will wash away the insult with your
blood."
" What does this glorious black hero say, Watcher-by-
Night ? " asked Billali in his most courteous tones.
I told him word by word, whereon Billali lifted his hands
in horror, turned and fled. Nor did I see him again until
we arrived at K6r.
At the sight of the fall of their giant chief Rezu whom
they believed to be invulnerable, his followers, who were watch-
ing the fray, set up a great wailing, a most mournful and un-
canny noise to hear. Then, as I think did the hosts of the
Philistines when David brought down Goliath by his admirable
shot with a stone, they set out for their homes wherever these
may have been, at an absolutely record pace and in the
completest disarray.
Our Amahagger followed them for a while, but soon were
left standing still. So they contented themselves with killing
any wounded they could find and returned. I did not ac-
company them ; indeed the battle being won, metaphorically
I washed my hands of them, and in my thought consigned them
to a certain locality as a people of whom it might well be said
that maiLners they had none and their customs were simply
beastly. Also, although fierce and cruel, these night-bats
were not good fighting men and in short never did I wish to
have to do with such another company.
Moreover a very difierent matter pressed. The object
222 She and Allan
of this business so far as I was concerned, had been to rescue
poor Inez, since had it not been for her sake, never would I
have consented to lead those Amahagger against their fellow
blackguards, the Rezuites.
But where was Inez ? If Hans had understood the medi-
cine-man aright, she was, or had been in the hut, where it was
my earnest hope that she still remained, since otherwise
the hunt must be continued. This at any rate was easy to
discover. Calling Hans, who was amusing himself by taking
long shots at the fl\-ing enemy, so that they might not forget
him, as he said, and the Zulus, I walked up the slope to the
hut, or rather booth of boughs, for it was quite twenty feet
long by twelve or fifteen broad.
At its eastern end was a doorway or opening closed with a
heavy curtain. Here I paused full of tremors, and listened,
for totell the truth I dreadedto draw that ciutain, fearing what
I might see within. Gathering up m}' courage at length I tore
it aside and, a revolver in my hand, looked in. At first after
the strong light without, for the sun was now well up, I
could see nothing, since those green boughs and palm leaves
were very closely woven. As my eyes grew accustomed to
the gloom, however, I perceived a glittering object seated on
a kind of throne at the end of the booth, while in a double
row in front knelt six white-robed women who seemed to wear
chains about their necks and carried large knives slung round
their middles. On the floor between these women and the
throne lay a dead man, a priest of some sort as I gathered from
his garb, who still held a huge spear in his hand. So silent
were the figure on the throne and those that knelt before it,
that at first I thought that all of them must be dead.
" Lady Sad-Eyes, Baas," whispered Hans, " and her
bride-women. Doubtless that old Predikant came to kill
her when he saw that the battle was lost, but the bride-women
killed him with their knives."
Here I may state that Hans' suppositions proved to be
quite correct, which shows how quick and deductive was his
mind. The figure on the throne was Inez ; the priest in his
disappointed rage had come to kill her, and the bride- women
had lolled him with their knives before he could do so.
I bade the Zulus tear down the curtain and pull away some
of the end boughs, so as to let in more light. Then we ad-
vanced up the place, holding our pistols and spears in readiness.
The Slaying of Rezu 223
The kneeling women turned their heads to look at us and I
saw that they were all young and handsome in their fashion,
although fierce-faced. Also I saw their hands go to the knives
they wore. I called to them to let these be and come out,
and that if they did so they had nothing to fear. But if they
understood, they did not heed my words.
On the contrary while Hans and I covered them with our
pistols, fearing lest they should stab the person on the throne
whom we took to be Inez, at some word from one of them,
they bowed simultaneously towards her, then at another
word, suddenly they drew the knives and plunged them to their
own hearts !
It was a dreadful sight and one of which I never saw the
like. Nor to this day do I know why the deed was done,
unless perhaps the women were sworn to the service of the new
queen and feared that if they failed to protect her, they would
be doomed to some awful end. At any rate we got them out
dead or dying, for their blows had been strong and true, and
not one of them lived for more than a few minutes.
Then I advanced to the figure on the throne, or rather
foot-stooled chair of black wood inlaid with ivory, which sat
so silent and motionless that I was certain it was that of a dead
woman, especially when I perceived that she was fastened to
the chair with leathern straps which were se%vn over with
gold wire. Also she was veiled and, with one exception, made
up, if I may use the term, exactly to resemble the lady A3'esha,
even down to the two long plaits of black hair, each finished
with some kind of pearl and to the sandalled feet.
The exception was that about her hung a great necklace
of gold ornaments from which were suspended pendants also
of gold representing the rayed disc of the sun in rude but bold
and striking workmanship.
I went to her and having cut the straps, since I could not
stop to untie their knots, lifted the veil.
Beneath it was Inez sure enough, and Inez living, for her
breast rose and fell as she breathed, but Inez senseless. Her
eyes were wide open, yet she was quite senseless. Probably
she had been drugged, or perhaps some of the sights of horror
which she saw, had taken away her mind. I confess that I
was glad that this was so, who otherwise must have told her
the dreadful story of her father's end.
We bore her out and away from that horrible place.
224 She and Allan
apparently quite unhurt, and laid her under the shadow of
a tree till a litter could be procured. I could do no more
who knew not how to treat her state, and had no spirits with
me to pour down her throat.
This was the end of our long pursuit, and thus we rescued
Inez, whom the Zulus called the Lady Sad-Eyes.
CHAPTER XIX
THE SPELL
OF our return to K6r I need say nothing, except that
in due course we reached that interesting ruin.
The journey was chiefly remarkable for one thing,
that on this occasion, I imagine for the first and
last time in his Ufe, Umslopogaas consented to be carried in
a litter, at least for part of the way. He was, as I have said,
unwounded, for the axe of his mighty foe had never once so
much as touched his sldn. WTiat he suffered from was shock,
a kind of collapse, since, although few would have thought it,
this great and utterly fearless warrior was at bottom a nervous,
highly-strung man.
It is only the nervous that climb the highest points of
anything, and this is true of fighters as of all others. That
fearful fray with Rezu had been a great strain on the Zulu.
As he put it himself, " the wizard had sucked the strength " ont
of him, especially when he found that owing to his armour
he could not harm him in front, and owing tohis cunning could
not get at him behind. Then it was that he conceived the
desperate expedient of leaping over his head and smiting back-
wards as he leapt, a trick, he told me, that he had once played
years before vN'hen he was young, in order to break a shield ring
and reach one who stood in its centre.
In this great leap over Reru's head Umslopogaas knew he
must succeed, or be slain, which in turn would mean my death
and that of the others. For this reason he faced the shame of
seeming to fly in order to gain the higher ground, whence
alone he could gather the speed necessary to such a terrific
spring.
Well, he made it and thereby conquered, and this was the
end, but as he said, it had left him " weak as a snake when it
crawls out of its hole into the sun after the long winter ^eep."
H
226 She and Allan
Of one thing, Umslopogaas added, he was thankful, namely
that Rezu had never succeeded in getting his arms round him,
since he was quite certain that if he had he would have broken
him " as a baboon breaks a mealie-stalk." No strength, not
even his, could have resisted the iron might of that huge.
gorilla-like man.
I agreed with him who had noted Rezu's vast chest and
swelling muscles, also the weight of the blows that he struck with
the steel-hafted axe (which, by the way, when I sought for it,
was missing, stolen, I suppose, by one of the Amahagger).
Whence did that strength come, I wondered, in one wh'
from his face appeared to be old ? Was there perchance
after all, some truth in the legend of Samson and chd it dwel'
in that gigantic beard and those long locks of his ? It v.-
impossible to say and probably the man was but a Herculc
freak, for that he was as strong as Hercules all the stof
that I heard afterwards of his feats, left little room for dou
About one thing only was I certain in connection with hi
namely, that the tales of his supernatural attributes w-
the merest humbug. He was simply one of the represen*
tives of the family of " strong men," of whom examples an
still to be seen doing marvellous feats all over the earth;
For the rest, he was dead and broken up by those Ama-
hagger blood-hounds before I could examine him, or his body-
armour either, and there was an end of him and his storv.
But when I looked at the corpse of poor Robertson, which I
did as we buried it w^ere he fell, and saw that though so large
and thick-set, it was cleft almost in two by a single blow of
Rezu's axe, Icame to understand what the might of this savn
must have been.
I say savage, but I am not sure that this is a right d
("ription of Rezu. Exddently he had a religion of a sort, aj
'magination, as was shown by the theft of the white woman
be his queen ; by his veiling of her to resemble Ayesha whc
he dreaded ; by the intended propitiatory sacrifice ; by t
guard of women sworn to her service who slew the priest that
tried to kill her, and afterwards committed suicide when they
had failed in their office, and by other things. All this indic-
ated something more than savagery, perhaps survivals from a
forgotten civilisation, or perhaps native ability on the part
of an individual ruler. I do not know and it matters nothing.
Rezu is dead and the world is weU rid of him, and those
The Speil 227
who want to learn more of his people can go to study such as
remain of them in their own habitat, which for my part I
never wish to visit any more.
During our journey to Kdr poor Inez never stirred. When-
ever I went to look at her in the litter, I found her lying there
with her eyes open and a fixed stare upon her face which
frightened me very much, since I began to fear lest she should
die. Hov.'ever I could do nothing to help her, except urge
the bearers to top speed. So swiftly did we travel down the
hill and across the plain that we reached K6r just as the sun
was setting. As we crossed the moat I perceived old Billali
coming to meet us. This he did with many bows, keeping an
anxious eye upon the litter which he had learned contained
Umslopogaas. Indeed his attitude and that of all the Araa-
hagger towards the two of us, and even Hans, thenceforward
became almost abject, since after our victory over Rezu and
his death beneath the axe, they looked upon us as half divine
and treated us accordingly.
" O mighty General," he said, " She-who-commands bids
me conduct the lady who is sick to the place that has been
made ready for her, which is near your own so that you may
watch over her if you wiU."
I wondered how Ayesha knew that Inez was sick, but
being too tired to ask questions, merely bade him lead on.
This he did, taking us to another ruined house next to our
own quarters which had been swept, cleaned and furnished
after a fashion, and moreover cleverly roofed in with mats,
so that it was really quite comfortable. Here we found two
middle-aged women of a very superior type, who, BiUali
informed me, were by trade nurses of the sick. Having seen
her laid upon her bed, I committed Inez to their charge, since
the case was not one that I dared to try to doctor myself,
not knowing what drug of the few I possessed should be ad-
ministered to her. Moreover Billali comforted me with the
information that soon She-who-commands would visit her
and " make her well again," as she could do,
I answered that I hoped so and went to our quarters where
I found an excellent meal ready cooked and with it a stone
flagon, of the contents of which Billali said we were all three
to drink by the command of Ayesha, who declared that it
would take away our weariness.
«28 She and Allan
I tried the stuff, which was pale yellow in colour like sherry
and, for aught I knew, might be poison, to find it most
comforting, though it did not seem to be very strong to the
taste. Certainly, too, its effects were wonderful, since p; s-
ently all my great weariness fell from me like a discarded clo ^
and I found myself with a splendid appetite and feeling bett-
and stronger than I had done for years. In short that drink
was a " cocktail " of the best, one of which I only wish I
possessed the recipe, though Ayesha told me afterwards thai
it was distilled from quite harmless herbs and not in any sense
a spirit.
Having discovered this, I gave some of it to Hans, also to
Umslopogaas, who was with the wounded Zulus, who, we found.
were progressing well towards complete recovery, and iastr
to Goroko who also was worn out. On all of these the eiJeCi
of that magical brew jM^oved most satisfactory.
Then, having washed, I ate a splendid dinner, though in
this respect Hans, who was seated on the ground nearby,
far outpassed my finest efforts.
" Baas," he said, " things have gone very well with us
when they might have gone very ill. The Baas Red-Bear ;
is dead, which is a good thing, since a madman would hav
been difficult to look after, and a brain full of moonshine is ^
bad compariion for any one. Oh I without doubt he is better
dead, though your reverend father the Predikant will have a
hard job looking after him there in the Place of Fires."
" Perhaps; " I said with a sigh, "since it is better to be
dead than to live a lunatic. But what I fear is that the lady
his daughter will follow him."
"Oh, no I Baas," replied Hans cheerfully, "though I
daresay that she will always be a little mad also, because you
see it is in her blood and doubtless she has looked on dreadful
things. But the Great Medicine will see to it that she does
not die after we have taken so much trouble and gone into
such big dangers to save her. That Great Medicine is very
wonderful. Baas. First of all it makes you General over those
Ajnahag£;er who without you would never have fought, aa
the Witch who ties up her head in a cloth knew well enough.
Then it brings us safe through the battle and gives strength
to Umslopogaas to kill the old man-eating giant."
" Why did it not give mc strength to kill him, Hans ?
I let him have two Express bullets on his chest, which hurt
The Spell 229
him no more than a tap upon the horns with a dancing stick
would hurt a buil-bufialc'
" Oh I Baas, perhaps you missed him, who because you
hit things sometimes, think that you do so always."
Having waited to see if I would rise to this piece of in-
solence, which of course I did not, he went on by way of letting
me down easily, " Or perhaps he wore very good armour under
his beard, for I saw some of those Amahagger who pulled his
hdir off and cut him to pieces, go away v^ith what looked like
little bits of brass. Also the Great Medicine meant that he
should be killed by Umslopogaas and not by you, since other-
wise Umslopogaas would have been sad for the rest of his life,
wtiereas now he will walk about the WOTld as proud as a djck
with two tails and crow all n-irht as well as all day. Tlien,
Baas, when Rezu broke the square and the Amahagger began
to run, without doubt it was th<e Great Medicine which changed
their hearts and made them brave again, so that they charged
at the right moment when they saw it going forward on your
breast, and instead of being eaten up, ate up the cannibals."
" Indeed I I thought that the Lady who dwells yonder
had something to do with that business. Did you see her,
Hans ? "
" Oh, yes I I saw her. Baas, and I think that without doubt
she lifted the cloth from over her head and when the people of
Rezu saw how ugly was the face beneath, it did frighten them
a little. But doubtless the Great Medicine put that thought
into her also, for. Baas, what could a silly womaa do in suci
a case ? Did you ever know of any woman who was of an>
use in a battle, or for anything else except to nurse babies,
and this one does not even do that, no doubt because, b.^ing
so hideous under that sheet, no man can be found to marry her."
Now I looked up by chance and in the light of the lamps saw
Ayesha standing in the room, which she had entered through
the open doorway, within six feet of Hans' back indeed.
" Be sure Baas," he went on, "that this bundle of rags
is nothing but a common old cheat who frightens people by
pretending to be a spook, as, if she dared to say that it was she
who made those stinking Amahagger charge, and not the Great
Medicine of the Opener-of-Roac^, I would tell her to her
face."
Now I was too paralysed to speak, and while I was reflect-
ing that it was fortunate Ayesha did not understand Dutch,
230 She and Allan
she moved a little so that one of the lamps behind hPT caus-rJ
her shadow to fall on to the back of the squatting Hans an<1
over it on to the floor beyond. He saw it and stared at il
distorted shape of the hooded head, then slowly screwed ^ms
neck round and looked upwards behind him.
For a moment he went on staring as though he were frozen,
then uttering a wild yell, he scrambled to his feet, bolted oi t
of the house and vanished into the night.
"It seems, Allan," said Ayesha slowly, "that yonder
yellow ape of yours is very bold at throwing sticks whentho
leopardess is not beneath the tree. But when she comes it i?
otherwise with him. Oh ! make no excuse, for I know well
that he was speaking ill things of me, because bein^ curious,
as apes are, he burns to learn what is behind my veil, and
being simple, believes that no woman wovild hide her face unlesjr
its fashion were not pleasing to the nice taste of men."
Then, to my relief, she laughed a little, softly, which showed
me that she had a sense of humour, and went on, " Well, let
him be, for he is a good ape and courageous in his fashion,
as he showed when he went out to spy upon the host of Rezu,
and stabbed the murderer-priest by the stone of sacrifice."
" How canyou know the words of Hans, Ayesha," I asked,
" seeing that he spoke in a tongue which you have never
learned ? "
" Perchance I read faces, Allan."
" Or backs," I suggested, remembering that his was
turned to her.
" Or backs, or voices, or hearts. It matters little which,
since read I do. But have done with such childish talk and
lead me to this maiden who has been snatched from the claws
of Rezu and a fate that is worse than death. Do you under-
stand, Allan, that ere the demon Rezu took her to wife,
the plan was to sacrifice her own father to her and then eat
him as the woman with her was eaten, and before her ey^s ?
Now the father is dead, which is well, as I think the little yellow
man said to you — nay, start not, I read it from his back —
since had he lived whose brain was rotted, he would have raved
till his death's day. Better, therefore, that he should die
like a man fighting against a foe unconquerable by cdl save
one. But she stilJ lives."
" Aye, but mindless, Ayesha."
" Which, in great trouble such as she has passed, is a blessed
The Spell 231
state, O Allan. Bethink you, have there not been da5rs, aye
and months, in your own life when you would have rejoiced
to sleep in mindlessness ? And should we not, perchance,
be happier, all of us, if like the beasts we could not remember,
foreknow and understand ? Oh 1 men talk of Heaven, but
believe me, the real Heaven is one of dreamless sleep, since life
and wakefulness, however high their scale and on whatever
star, mean struggle, which being so oft mistaken, must breed
sorrow — or remorse that spoils all. Come now."
So I preceded her to the next ruined house where we found
Inez lying on the bed still clothed in her barbaric trappings,
•although the veil had been drawn from off her face. There she
lay, v^ide-eyed and stiU, while the women watched her.
Ayesha looked at her a while, then said to me,
" So they tricked her out to be Ayesha 's mock and image,
and in time accepted by those barbarians as my very self,
and even set the seals of royalty on her," and she pointed to
the gold discs stamped with the likeness of the sun. " Well,
she is a fair maiden, white and gently bred, the first such that
I have seen for many an age. Nor did she wish this trickery.
Moreover she has taken no hurt ; her soul has sunk deep into
a sea of horror and that is all, whence doubtless it can be drawn
again. Yet I think it best that for a while she should remember
naught, lest her brain break, as did her father's, and therefcwe
no net of mine shall drag her back to memory. Let that return
gently in future days, and then of it not too much, for so shall
all this terror become to her a void in which sad shapes move
like shadows, and as shadows are soon forgot and gone, no
more to be held than dreams by the awakening sense. Stand
aside, Allan, and you women, leave us for a while."
I obeyed, and the women bowed and went. Then Ayesha
drew up her veil, and knelt down by the bed of Inez, but in such
a fashion that I could not see her face although I admit that
I tried to do so. I could see, however, that she set her lips
against those of Inez and as I gathered by her motions, seemed
to breathe into her lips. Also she lifted her hands and placing
one of them upon the heart of Inez, for a minute or more
swayed the other from side to side above her eyes, pausing
at times to touch her upon the forehead with her finger-tips.
Presently Inez stirred and sat up, whereon Ayesha took a
vessel of milk which stood upon the floor and held it to her
lips. Inez drank to the last drop, then sank on to the bed
232 She and Allan
a£;ain. For a while longer Ayesha continued the motions of her
hands, then let fall her veil and rose.
" Look. I have laid a spell upon her," she said, beckoning
to me to draw near.
I did so and perceived that now the eyes of Inez were shut
and that she seemed to be plunged in a deep and natural
sleep.
" So she will remain for this night and the day which
follows," said Ayesha, "and when she wakes it will be, I
think, to believe herself once more a happy child. Not
until she sees her home again will she find her womanhood,
and then all this story will be forgotten by her. Of her father
you must tell her that he died when you went out to hunt
the river-beasts together, and if she seeks for certain others,
that they have gone away. But I think that she will ask littl
more when she learns that he is dead, since I have laid tha
command upon her soul."
" Hypnotic suggestion," thought I to myself, " and "^
only hope to heaven that it will work."
Ayesha seemed to guess what was passing through my
mind, for she nodded and said,
" Have no fear, Allan, ior I am what the black axe-bearer
and the little 3'ellow man call a " witch " which means, a',
you who are instructed know, one who has knowledge o
medicine and other things and who holds a key to some of th
mysteries that lie hid in Nature."
" For instance," I suggested, " of how to transport yourself
into a battle at the right moment, and out of it again — also
at the right moment."
" Yes, Allan, since watching all from afar, I saw that those
Amahagger curs were about to flee and that I was needed
there to hearten them and to put fear into the army of Rezu.
So I came."
" But how did 3'ou come, Ayesha ? "
She laughed as she answered,
" Perhaps I did not come at all. Perhaps you all only
thought I came ; since I seemed to be there the rest matters
nothmg."
As I still looked unconvinced she went on,
" Oh I foolish man, seek not to learn of that which ic '00
high for you. Yet, listen. You in your ignorance suppose
that the soul dwells within the body, do you not ? "
The SpeU 233
I answered that I had always been under this impry?<:ion.
" Yet, Allan, it is otherwise, for the bod*" dwells within the
soul."
" Like the pearl in an oyster," I suggested.
" Aye, in a sense, since the pearl which to you is beautiful,
is to the oyster a sickness and a poison, and so is the body
to the soul whose temple it troubles and defiles. Yet round
it is the white and holy soul that ever seeks to bring the vile
body to its own purity and colour, yet oft -times fails. Learn,
Allan, that flesh and spirit are the deadliest foes joined together
by a high decree that they may forget their hate and perfect
each other, or failing, be sepaiate to ail eteniity, the spirit
going to its own place and the flesh to its corruption."
" A strange theory," I said.
" Aye, AUan, and one which is so new to jy'ou that never
will you understand it Yet it is true and I set it out for this
reason. The soul of man, being at liberty and not cooped
within his narrow breast, is in touch with that soul of the Uni-
verse, which men know as God N^Tioin they call by many names.
Therefore it has all knowledge and perhaps all power, and at
times the body within it, if it be a wise body, can draw from
this well of knowledge and abounding power. So at least can L
And now you will understand why I am so good a doctoress
and how I came to appear in the battle, as you said, at the
right time, and to leave it when my work was done."
" Oh ! yes," I answered, " I quite understand. I thank
you much for putting it so plainly."
She laughed a little, appreciating my jest, looked at the
sleeping Inez, and said,
" The fair body of this lady dwdls in a large soul, I think,
though one of a somewhat sombre hue, for souls have their
colours, Allan, and stain that which is within them. She will
never be a happy woman."
" The black people named her Sad-Eyes," I said.
" Is it so ? Well, I name her Sad-Heart, though for such
often there is joy at last. Meanwhile she will forget ; yes,
she will forget the worst and how narrow was the edge be-
tween her and the arms of Rezu."
" Just the width of the blade of the axe, Inkosikaas," I
answered. " But tell me, Aycsha, why could not that axe
cut and why did my bullets flatten or turn aside when these
smote the breast of Rezu." ^
234 ^^^ ^^^ Allan
" Because his front -armour was good, Allan, I suppose,"
she replied indifferently, " and on his back he wore none."
'' Then why did you fill my ears with such a different tale
about that horrible giant having drunk of a Cup of Life,
and all the rest ? " I asked with irritation.
" I have forgotten, Allan. Perhaps because the curious,
such as you are, like to hear tales even stranger than their own,
which in the days to be may become their own. Therefore
you will be wise to believe only what I do, and of what I
tell you, nothing."
" I don't," I exclaimed exasperated.
She laughed again and replied,
" What need to say to me that which I know already ?
Yet perhaps in the future it may be different, since often by
the adchemy of the mind the fables of our youth are changed
into the facts of oiu- age, and we come to believe in anything,
as your little yellow man believes in some savage named
Zikali, and those Amahagger believe in the talisman round your
neck, and I who am the maddest of you all, believe in Love
and Wisdom, and the black warrior, Umslopogaas, believes
in the virtue of that great axe of his, rather than in those of
his own courage and of the strength that wields it. Fools,
every one of us, though perchance I am the greatest fool among
them. Now take me to the warrior, Umslopogaas, whom I
would thank, as I thank you, AUan, and the little yellow man,
although he jeers at me with his sharp tongue, not knowing
that if I were angered, with a breath I could cause him to
cease to be."
" Then why did you not cause Rezu to cease to be, and his
army also, Ayesha ? "
" It seems that I have done these things through the axe
of Umslopogaas and by help of your generalship, AUan.
Why, then, waste my own strength when yours lay to my
hand ? "
" Because you had no power over Rezu, Ayesha, or so yoo
told me."
" Have I not said that my words are like snowflakes,
meant to melt and leave no trace, hiding my thoughts as this
veil hides my beauty ? Yet as the beauty is beneath the veil,
perchance there is truth beneath the words, though not that
truth you think. So you are well answered, and for the rest,
I wonder whether Rezu thought I had no power over him wfaea
The Spell 235
yonder on the mountain spur he saw me float down upon his
companies like a spirit of the night. Well, perchance some
day I shall learn this and many other things."
I made no answer, since what was the use of arguing with
a woman who told me frankly that all she said was false. So,
although I longed to ask her why these Amahagger had such
reverence for the talisman that Hans called the Great Medicine,
since now I guessed that her first explanations concerning
it were quite untrue, I held my tongue.
Yet as we went out of the house, by some coincidence she
alluded to this very matter.
" I wish to tell you, Allan," she said, " why it was those
Amahagger would not accept you as a General till their eyes
had seen that which you wear upon your breast. Their tale
of a legend of this very thing seemed that of savages or of their
cunning priests, not to be believed by a wise man such as you
are, like some others that you have heard in K6r. Yet it
has in it a grain of truth, for as it chanced a little while ago,
about a hundred years, I think, the old wizard whose picture
is cut upon the wood, came to visit her who held my place
before me as ruler of this tribe — she was very like me and as
I believe, my mother, Allan — because of her repute for wisdom.
" At that time I have heard there was a question of war
between the worshippers of Lulala and the grandfather of
Rezu. But this Zikali told the People of Lulala that they
must not fight the People of Rezu untU in a day to come a
white man should visit K6r and bring \nth him a piece of
wood on which was cut the image of a dwarf like tothat Zikali
himself. Then and not before they must fight and conquer
the People of Rezu. Now this story came down among them
and you who may have thought the first tale magical, will
understand it in its simplicity : Is it not so, you wise Allan ? "
" Oh ! yes," I answered, " except that I do not see how
Zikali can have come here a hundred years ago, since men do
not live as long, although he pretends to have done so."
" No Allan, nor do I, but perhaps it was his father, or
his grandfather who came, since being observant, you wilJ
have noted that if the parent is mis-formed, so often are the
descendants ; also that the pretence of wizardry at times
comes down with the blood."
Again I made no answer for I saw that Ayesha was fooling
me, and before she could exhaust that amusement we reached
236 She and Allan
the place where Umslopogaas and his men were gathered round
a camp fire. He sat silent, but Goroko with much animatior
was telling the story of the fight in picturesque and coloure
language, or that part of it which he had seen, for the benefi
of the two wounded men who took no share in it and whr
lying on iheir blankets with heads thriLst forward, were listen
ing with eagerness to the entrancing tale. Suddenly th'
caught sight of Ayesha, and those of the party who could star; .
sprang to their feet, ^ile one and all they gave her the roya'
salute of BayHe.
She waited till the sound had died away. Then she said,
" I come to thank you and your men, 0 Wielder of th'
Axe, who have shown yourself very great in battle, and to sa\
to you that my Spirit tells me that every one of you, yes, even
those who are still sick, will come safe to your own land again
and live out your years with honour."
Again they saluted at this pleasing intelligence, when I
had translated it to them, for of course they knew no Arabic
Til en she went on,
"I am told, Umslopogaas, Son of the Lion, as a certaii,
king was named in your land, that the fight you made again
Rezu was a very great fight, and that such a leap as you'
above his head when you smote him with theaxe on the hind, r
parts where he wore no armour, and brought him to his death,
has not bc-en seen before, nor m ill be again."
I rendered the words, and Umslopogaas, preferring
truth to modesty, replied emphaticaUy that this was the
case.
" Because of that fight and that leap," Ayesha went on,
" as for other deeds that you have done and will do, my Spint
tells me that your name will live in story for many genera-
tions. Yet of what use is fame to the dead ? Therefore I
make you an oiler. Bide here with me and you shall rule these
Amahagger, and with them the remnant of the People of Rezu.
Your cattle shall be countless and your wives the fairest in the
land, and your children many, for I will lift a certain curse
from off you so that no more shall you be childless. Do you
accept, O Holder ol the Axe ? "
\\Tien he undei stood, Umslopogaas, after pondering a
moment, asked if I meant to stay in this land and marry the
white chieftainess who spoke such wise words and could appear
and disappear in the battle at her will, and like a mountain-
The SpeU 237
top hid her head in a cloud, which was his way of alluding
to her veil.
I answered at once and with decision that I intended to
do nothing of the sort and immediately regretted my words,
since, although I spoke in Zulu, I suppose she read their meaning
from my face. At any rate she understood the drift of them.
" Tdl him, Allan/' she said with a kind of icy politeness,
" that you vnU not stop here and marry me, because if ever I
chose a husband he would not be a little man at the doors of
whose heart so many women's hands have knocked — yes,
even those that are black — and not, I think, in vain. One,
moreover, who holds himself so clever that he believes he has
nothing left to learn, and in every flower of truth that is
shown to him, however fair, smells only poison, and beneath,
nurturing it, sees only the gross root of falsehood planted in
corruption. Tell him these things, AHan, if it pleases you."
" It does not please me," I answered in a rage at her
insults.
" Nor is it needful, Allan, since if I caught the meaning of
that barbarous tongue you use aright, you have told him
already. WeU, let the jest pass, O rnan who least of all things
desires to be Ayesha's husband, and whom Ayesha least of all
things desires as her spouse, and ask the Axe-bearer nothing
since 1 perceive that without you he will not stay at K6r. Nor
indeed is it fated that he should do so, for now my Spirit tells
me what it hid from me when I spoke a moment gone, that
this warrior will die in a great fight far away and that between
then and now much sorrow waits him who save that of one,
knows not how to win the love of women. Let him say more-
ovc- what reward he desires since if I can give it to him, it shall
be his."
Again I translated. Umslopogaas received her prophecies
in stoical silence and as I thought with indifierence, and only
said in reply,
" The glory that I have won is my reward and the only
boon I seek at this queen's hands is that if she can she should
give me sight of a woman for whom my heart is hungry, and
with it knowledge that this woman lives in that land whither
I travel like all men."
When she heard these words Ayesha said,
" True, I had forgotten. Your heart also is hungry, I
think. Allan, for the vision of sundry faces that you see no
C38 She and Allan
more. Well, I will do my best, but since only faith fulfils
itself, howcan I who mu.>t strive to pierce the gates of darkne:-;;
for one so unbelieving, knowthat they will open at my word ?
Come to me, both of you, at the sunset to-morrow."
Then as though to change the subject, she talked to me
for a long while about K6r, of which she told me a most in-
teresting history, true or false, that I omit here.
At length, as though suddenly she had grown tired, waving
her hand to show that the conversation was ended, Ayesha
went to the wounded men and touched them each in turn.
" Now they will recover swiftlv," she said, and leaving
the place was gone into the darkness.
r
CHAPTER XX
THE GATE OF DEATH
BEFORE turning in I examined these wounded men for
myself. The truth is that I was anxious to learn their
exact condition in order that I make an estimate
as to when it would be possible for us to leave this
valley or crater bottom of K6r, of which I was heartily tired.
Who could desire to stay in a place wiiere he had not only been
involved in a deal of hard, doubtful, and very dangerous fighting
from which all personal interest was absent, but where also
he was meshed in a perfect spider's web of bewilderment, and
exposed to continual insult into the bargain ?
For that is what it came to ; this Aj^esha took every
opportunity to jeer at and affront me. And why ? Just
because I had conceived doubts, wliich somehow she dis-
covered, of the amazing tales with which it had amused her
to stuff me, as a farmer's wife does a turkey poult with meal
pellets. How could she expect me, a man, after all, of some
experience, to believe such lies, which, not half an hour before,
in the coolest possible fashion she had herself admitted to be
lies and nothing else, told for the mere pleasure of romancing ?
The inunortal Rezu, for instance, who had drunk of the
Cup of Life or some such rubbish, now turned out to be nothing
but a brawny savage descended from generations of chiefs
also called Rezu. Moreover the immemorial Ayesha, who also
had drunk of Cups of Life, and according to her first story,
had lived in this place for thousands of years, had come here
with a mother, who filled the same mystic r6le before her
for the benefit of an extremely gloomy and disagreeable tribe of
Semitic savages. Yet she was cross with me because I had
not swallowed her crude and indigestible mixture of fable
and philosophy without a moment's question.
At least I supposed that this was the reason, though another
240 She and Allan
possible explanation did come into ray mind. I had refused
to be dulv overcome by her charms, not because I was unim-
pressed, for who could be, having looked upon that blinding
beauty even for a moment ? but rather because, after sundry
experiences, I had at last attained to some power of judgment
and learned what it is best to leave alone. Perhaps this had
annoyed her, especially as no white man seemed to have come
her way for a long while and tne fabulous Kallikrates had
not put in his promised appearance.
Also it was unfortunate that in one way or another — how
did she do it, I wondered — she had interpreted Umslopogaas'
question to rae about marrying her, and my comproT'i'=ing
reply. Not that for one inoment, as I saw very dearly, did
she wish to marry me. But that fact, intuition suggested
to my mind, did not in the least prevent her from being angry
because I shared her views upon this important subject.
Oh ! the whole thing was a bore and the sooner I saw the
last of that veiled lady and the interesting but wearisome
ruins in which she dwelt, the better I should be pleased, although
apparently I must trek homewards with a poor young woman
who was out of her mind, leaving the bones of her unfortunate
father behind rae. I admitted to myself, however, that there
were consolatioa^ in the fact that Providence had thus decreed,
for Robertson since he gave up drink had not been a cheer-
ful companion, and two mad people would really have been
more than 1 could manage.
To return, for these reasons I examined the two wounded
Zulus with considerable anxid:y, only to discover another
instance of the chicanery which it amused this Ayesha to play
otf upon me. For what did I lind ? That they were practically
well. Their hurts, which had never been serious, had healed
wonderfully in that pure air, as those of savages have a way
of doing, and they told me themselves that they felt quite
strong again. Yet with colossal impudence Ayesha had
managed to suggest to my mind that she was going to work
some remarkable cure upon them, who were already cured.
Well, it was of a piece with the rest of her conduct and there
was nothing to do except go to bed, which I did with much
gratitude that my resting place that night wtis not of another
&nrt. The last thing I remember was wondering how on
earth Ayesha appeared and disappeared in the course of that
battle, a problem as to which I could find no solution, though.
The Gate of Death 241
as in the case of the others, I was sure that one would occur
to me in course of time.
I slept like a top, so soundly indeed that I think there
was some kind of soporific in the pick-me-up which looked
like sherry, especiaUy as the oth^s who had drunk of it also
passed an excellent night.
About ten o'clock on the following morning I awoke
feeling particularly well and quite as though I had been en-
joying a week at the seaside instead of my recent adventures,
which included an abominaWe battle and some agonising
moments during which I thought that my number was up
upon the board of Destiny.
I spent the most of that day lounging about, eating,
taKdng over the details of the battle with Umslopogaas and the
Zulus and smoking more than usual. (I forgot to say that
thtise Amahagger grew some capital tobacco of which I
had obtained a supply, although Uke most Africans, they only
used it in the shape of snuff). The truth was that after all
my marvellings and acute anxieties, also mental and physical
exertions, I fdt like the housemaid who caused to be cut upon
her tombstone that she had gone to a better land where her
ambition wasto do nothing "for ever and ever." I just wanted
to be completely idle and vacuous-minded fw at least a month,
but as I knew that all I could expect in that line was a single
bank holiday, like a City clerk on the spree, of it I determined
to make the most.
The result was that before the evening I fdt very bored
indeed. I had gone to look at Inez, who was still fast asleep,
as Ayesha said would be the case, but whose features seemed
to have plumped up considerably. The reason of this I
gathered from her Amahagger nurses, was that at certain
intervals she had awakened suf&ciently to swallow considerable
quantities of milk, or rather cream, which I hoped would not
make her ill. I had chatted with the wounded Zulus,
who were now walking about, more bored even than I was
myself, and heaping maledictions on their ancestral spirits
because they had not been well enough to take part in the
battle against Rezu.
I even took a little stroll to look for Hans, who had vanished
in his mysterious fashion, but the afternoon was so hot and
oppressive with coming thunder, that soon I came back again
and fell into a variety of reflections that I need not detail.
242 She and Allan
While I was thus engaged and meditating, not without
uneasiness, upon the ordeal that lay before me after sunset,
for I felt sure that it would be an ordeal, Hans appeared and
said that the Amahagger impi or army was gathered on that
spot where T had been elected to the proud position of their
General. He added that he believed — how he got this
information I do not know — that the White Lady was going
to hold a review of them and give them the rewards that they
had earned in the battle.
Hearing this, Umslopogaas and the other Zulus said that
they would like to see this review if I would accompany them.
Although I did not want to go nor indeed desired ever to look at
another Amahagger, I consented to save the trouble of argu-
ment, on condition that we should do so from a distance.
So, including the wounded men, we strolled off and
presently came to the crimiblcd wall of the old city, beyond
which lay the great moat now dry, that once had encircled it
\vith water.
Here on the top of this wall we sat down where we could
see without being seen , and o bser ved the Amahagger companies,
considerably reduced during the battle, being marshalled
by their captains beneath us and about a couple of hundred
yards away. Also we observed several groups of men und.T
guard. These we took to be prisoners captured in the fight
wth Rezu, who, as Hans remarked with a smack of his lips,
were probably awaiting sacrifice.
I said I hoped not and yawned, for really the afternoon was
intensely hot and the weather most peculiar. The sun had
vanished behind clouds, and vapours filled the still air, so dense
that at times it grew almost dark ; also when these cleared for
brief intervals, the landscape in the grey, imholy light looked
distorted and unnatural, as it does during an eclipse of the
sun.
Goroko, the witch-doctor, stared round him, snified the
air and then remarked oracularly that it was "wizard's
weather " and that there were many spirits about. Upon my
word I felt inclined to agree with him, for my feelings were
very uncomfortable, but I only replied that if so, I should be
obliged if he, as a professional, would be good enough to keep
them ofi me. Of course I knew that electrical charges were
about, which accounted for my sensations, and wished that I
had never left the camp.
The Gate of Death 243
It was during one of these periods of dense gloom that
Ayesha must have arrived uf>on the review ground. At least
when it lifted, there she was in her white garments, surrounded
by women and guards, engaged apparently in making an
oration, for although I could not hear a word, I could see by
the motions of her arms that she was speaking.
Had she been the central figure in some stage scene, no
limelights could have set her ofi to better advantage, than
did those of the heavens above her. Suddenly, through the
blanket of cloud, flowing from a hole in it that looked like an
e3'e, came a blood-red ray which fell full upon her, so that she
alone was fiercely visible whilst all aroimd was gloom in which
shapes moved dimly. Certainly she looked strange and even
terrifying in that red ray which stained her robe till I who had
but just come out of battle with its " confused noise," began
to tliink of " the garments rolled in blood " of which I often
read in my favourite Old Testament. For crimson was she
from head to foot ; a tall shape of terror and of wrath.
The eye in heaven shut and the ray went out. Then
came one of the spaces of grey light and in it I saw men being
Ir mght up, apparently from the groups of prisoners, under
guard, and, to the number of a dozen or more, stood in a line
before Ayesha.
Then I saw nothing more for a long while, because black-
ness seemed to flow in from every quarter of the heavens and
to blockout the scene beneath. At last aftera pause of perhaps
five minutes, during which the stillness was intense, the storm
broke.
It was a very curious storm ; in all my experience of
African tempests I cannot recall one which it resembled. It
began with the usual cold and wailing wind. This died away,
and suddenly the whole arch of heaven was alive with little
lightnings that seemed to strike horizontally, not downwards
to the earth, weaving a web of fire upon the surface of the
sky.
By the illumination of these lightnings which, but for the
swiftness of their flashing and greater intensity, somewhat
resembled a dense shower of shooting stars, I perceived that
Ayesha was addressing the men that had been brought before
her, who stood dejectedly in a long line with their heads bent,
quite unattended, since their guards had fallen back.
" If I were going to receive a raward of cattle or wives, I
244 She and Allan
irhould look happier than those moon -worshippers, Baas,"
remarked Hans reflectively.
"Perhaps it would depend," I answered, "upon what
the cattle and wives were like. If the cattle had red-water
and would bring disease into your herd, or wild bulls that would
gore you, and the wives were skinny old widows with evil
tongues, then I think you would look as do those men, Hans."
I don't quite know what made me speak thus, but I believe
it was some sense of pending death or disaster, suggested,
probably, by the ominous character of the setting provided by
Nature to the curious drama of which we were witnesses.
" I never thought of that. Baas," commented Hans, " but
it is true that all gifts are not good, especially witches' gifts."
As he spoke the little net -like lightnings died away, leaving
behind them a gross darkness through which, far above us,
the wind wailed again.
Then suddenly all the heaven was turned into one blaze
of light, and by it I saw Ayesha standing tall and rigid with
her hand pointed towards the line of men in front of her.
The blaze went out, to be followed by blackness, and to return
almost instantly in a yet fiercer blaze which seemed to fall
earthwards in a torrent of fire that concentrated itself in a
kmd of flame-spout upon the spot where Ayesha stood.
Through that flame or rather in the heart of it, I saw
Ayesha and the file of men in front of her, as the great King
saw the prophets in the midst of the furnace that had bti n
heated sevenfold. Only these men did not walk about in the
fire ; no, they fell baclavards, while Ayesha alone remained
upon her feet with outstretched hand.
Next came more blackness and crash upon crash of such
thunder that the earth shook as it reverberated from the
mountain cliffs. Never in my life did I hear sucn fearful
thunder. It frightenedthe Zulus so much, that they fell upon
their faces, except Goroko and Umslopogaas, whose pride
kept them upon their feet, the former because he had a
reputation to preserve as a " Heaven-herd," or Master of
tempests.
I confess that I should have liked to follow their example,
and lie down, being dreadfully afraid lest the lightning should
strike me. But there — I did not.
At last the thunder died away and in the most mysterious
fashion that violent tempest came to a sudden end, as does a
The Gate of Death 245
storm upon the stage. No rain fell, which in itscif was
surprising enough and most unusual, but in place of it a
garment of the completest calm descended upon the earth.
By degrees, too, the darkness passed and the westering sun
reappeared. Its rays fell upon the place where the Araahagger
companies had stood, but now not one of them was to be seen.
They were all gone and Ayesha with them. So completely
had they vanished away that I should have thought that we
suffered from illusions, were it not for the line of dead men
which lay there looking very small and lonesome on the veld ;
mere dots indeed at that distance.
We stared at each other and at them, and then Goroko
said that he would like to inspect the bodies to learn whether
lightning killed at K6r as it did elsewhere, also whether it
had smitten them altogether or leapt from man to man.
This, as a professional " Heaven-herd," he declared he could tell
from the marks upon these unfortunates.
As I was curious also and wanted to make a few observa-
tions, I consented. So with the exception of the wounded
men, who I thought should avoid the exertion, we scrambled
down the debris of the tumbled wall and across, the open
space beyond, reaching the scene of the tragedy without
meeting or seeing anyone.
There lay the dead, eleven of them, in an exact line as they
had stood. They were all upon their backs with widely-opened
eyes and an expression of great fear frozen upon their faces.
Some of these I recognised, as did Umslopogaas and Hans.
They were soldiers or captains who had marched under me to
attack Rezu, although until this moment I had not seen any
of them after we began to descend the ridge where the battle
took place.
" Baas," said Hans, " I believe that these were the
traitors who slipped away and tcld Rezu of our plans so that
he attacked us on the ridge, instead of our attacking him on
the plain as we had arranged so nicely. At least they were
none of them in the battle and afterwards I heard the Ama-
hagger talking of some of them."
I remarked that if so the lightning had discriminated very
well in this instance.
Meanwhile Goroko was examining the bodies one by one,
and presently called out,
"These doomed ones died not by lightning but by
246 She and Allan
witchcraft. There is not a burn upon one of them, nor are
their garments scorched."
I went to look and found that it was perfectly true ; to all
outward appearance the eleven were quite unmarked and
unharmed. Except for their frightened air, they might have
died a natural death in their sleep.
" Does lightning always scorch ? " I asked Goroko.
"Always, Macumazahn," he answered, "that is, if he
who has been struck is killed, as these are, and not only
stunned. Moreover, most of yonder dead wear knives which
should have been melted or shattered with the sheaths burnt
off them. Yet those knives are as though they had just left
the smith's hammer and the whet -stone," and he drew some
of them to show me.
Again it was quite true and here I may remark that my ex-
perience tallied with that of Groroko, since I have never seen
anyone killed by lightning on whom or on whose clothing
there was not some trace of its passage.
"Owl" said Umslopogaas, "this is witchcratt, not
Heaven-wrath. The place is enchanted. Let us get away
lest we be smitten also who have not earned doom like those
traitors."
" No need to fear," said Hans, " since with us is the Great
Medicine of Zikali which can tie up the lightning as an old
woman does a bundle of sticks."
Still I observed that for all his confidence, Hans himself
was the first to depart and with considerable speed. So we
went back to our camp without more conversation, since the
Zulus were scared and I confess that myself I could not
understand the matter, though no doubt it admitted of some
quite simple explanation.
However that might be, this K6r was a queer place with
its legends, its sullen Amahagger and its mysterious queen,
to whom at times, in spite of my inner conviction to the
contrary, I was still inclined to attribute powers beyond
those that are common even among very beautiful and able
women.
This reflection reminded me that she had promised us a
further exhibition of those powers and within an hour or two.
Remembering this I began to regret that I had ever asked for
any such manifestations, for who knew what these might or
might not involve ?
The Gate of Death 247
So much did I regret it that I determined, unless Ayesha
sent for us, as she had said she would do, I would conveniently
forget the appointment. Luckily Umslopogaas seemed to
be of the same way of thinking ; at any rate he went ofi to
eat his evening meal without alluding to it at all. So I made
up my mind that I would not bring the matter to his notice
and having ascertained that Inez was still asleep, I followed
his example and dined myself, though without any particular
appetite.
As I finished the sun was setting in a perfectly clear sky,
so asthere was no sign of any messenger, I thought that I would
go to bed early, leaving orders that I was not to be disturbed.
But on this point my luck was lacking, for just as I had
taken off my coat, Hans arrived and said that old Billali was
without and had come to take me somewhere.
Well, there was nothing to do but put it on again. Before
I had finished this operation Billali himself arrived with
undignified and unusual haste. I asked him what was the
matter, and he answered inconsequently that the Black One, the
slayer of Rezu, was at the door "with his axe."
"That generally accompanies him," I replied. Then,
remembering the cause of BiUali's alarm, I explained to him
that he must not take too much notice of a few hasty words
spoken by an essentially gentle-natured person whose nerve
had given way beneath provocation and bodily effort. The
old fellow bowed in assent and stroked his beard, but I
noticed that while Umslopogaas was near, he clung to me like
a shadow. Perhaps he thought that iwtrvous attacks might
be recurrent, like those of fever.
Outside the house I found Umslopogaas leaning on his
axe and looking at the sky in which the last red rays of
evening lingered.'
" The sun has set, Macumazahn," he said, " and it is time
to visit this white queen as she bade us, and to learn whether
she can indeed lead us ' down below ' where the dead are said
to dwell."
So he had not forgotten, which was disconcerting. To
cover up my own doubts I asked him with affected confidence
and cheerfulness whether he was not afraid to risk this journey
"down below," that is, to the Realm of Death.
" Why should I fear to tread a road that awaits the feet
of all of us and at the gate of which we knock day by day,
248 She and Allan
especially if we chance to live by war, as do you and I, Macu-
niazahn ? " he inquired with a quiet dignity, which made me
feel ashamed.
" Why indeed ? " I answered, addmg to myself, " though I
should much prefer any other highway."
After this we started without more words, I keeping up
my spirits by reflecting that the whole business was nonsense
and that there could be nothing to dread.
All too soon we passed the ruined archway and were
admitted into Ayesha's presenoe in the usual fashion. As
Biilali, who remained outside of them, drew the curtains
behind us, I observed, to my astonishment, that H&ns had
sneaked in after me, and squatted dov^-n quite close to them,
apparently in the hope of being overlooked.
It seemed, as I gathered later, that somehow or other he
had guessed, or become aware of the object of our visit, and
that his burning curiosity had overcome his terror of the
" White Witch." Or possibly he hoped to discover whether
or not she were so ugly as he supposed her veil-hidden face to
be. At any rate there he was, and if Ayesha noticed him, as
I think she did, for I saw by the motion of her head, that she
was looking in his direction, she made no remark.
For a while she sat still in her chair contemplating us
both. Then she said,
" How comes it that you are late ? Those that seek their
lost loves should run with eager feet, but yours have tarried."
I muttered some excuse to which she did not trouble to
listen, for she went on,
"I think, Allan, that your sandals, which should be winged
like to those of the Roman Mercury, are weighted with the grey
lead of fear. Well, it is not strange, since you have come to
travel through the Gkites of Death that are feared by all, even
by Ayesha's self, for who knows what he may find beyond
<khem ? Ask the Axe-Bearer if he also is afraid."
I obeyed, rendering all that she had said into the Zulu
idiom as best I could.
" Say to the Queen," answered Umslopogaas, when he
understood, "that I fear nothing, except women's tongues.
I am ready to pass the Gates of Death and, if need be, to come
back no more. With the white people I know it is otherwise be-
cause of some dark teachings to which they listen, that tell of
terrors to be, such as we who are black do not dread. Still, we
The Gate ot Death 249
believe that there are ghosts and that the spirits of our fathers
live on and as it chances I would learn whether this is so, who
above all things desire to meet a certain ghost, for which
reason I journeyed to this far land.
" Say these things to the white Queen, Macumazahn, and
tell her that if she should send me to a place whence there is
no return, I who do not love the world, shall not blame her
overmuch, though it is true that I should have chosen to die
in war. Now I have spoken."
When I had passed on all this speech to Ayesha, her
comment on it was,
" This black Captain has a spirit as brave as his body, but
bow is it with your spirit, Allan ? Are you also prepared to
risk so much ? Learn that I can promise you nothing, save
that when I loose the bonds of your mortality and send out
your soul to wander in the depths of Death, as I believe that
I can do, though even of this I am not certain — you must pass
through a gate of terrors that may be closed behind you by a
stronger arm than mine. Moreover, what you will find
beyond it I do not know, since be sure of this, each of us has
his own heaven or his own hell, or both, that soon or late he is
doomed to travel. Now will you go forward, or go back ?
Make choice while there is stiU time."
At all this ominous talk I felt my heart shrivel like a fire-
withered leaf, if I may use that figure, and my blood
assume the temperature and consistency of ice-cream. Ear-
nestly did I curse myself for having allowed my curiosity
about matters which we are not meant to understand to bring
me to the edge of such a choice. Swiftly I determined to
temporise, which I did by asking Ayesha whether she would
accompany me upon this eerie expedition.
She laughed a little as she answered,
" Bethmk you, Allan. Am I, whose face you have seen,
a meet companion for a man who desires to visit the loves
that once were his ? What would they say or think, if they
should see you hand in hand with such a one ? "
" I don't know and don't care," I replied desperately,
" but this is the kind of journey on which one requires a guide
who knows the road. Cannot Umslopogaas go &:st and come
back to tell me how it has fared with him ? "
" If the brave and instructed white lord, panoplied in the
world's last Faith, is not ai=^hamed to throw the savage in hia
250 She and Allan
ignorance out like a feather to test the winds of hell and watch
the while to learn whether these blow him backunscorched, or
waft him into fires whence there is no return, perchance it
might so be ordered, Allan. Ask him yourself, Allan, if
he is willing to run this errand for your sake. Or perhaps the
little yeUow man " and she paused.
At this point Hans, who having a smattering of Arabic
understood something of our talk, could contain himself no
longer.
" No, Baas," he broke in from his corner by the curtain,
" not me. I don't care for hunting spooks, Baas, which leave
no spoor that you can follow and are always behind when you
think they are in front. Also there are too many of them
waiting for me down there and how can I stand up to them
until I am a spook myself and know their ways of fighting ?
Also if you should die when your spirit is away, I want to be
left that I may bury you nicely."
" Be silent," I said in my sternest manner. Then, unable
to bear more of Ayesha's mockery, for I felt that as usual she
was mocking me, I added with all the dignity that I could
command,
" I am ready to make this journey through the gate of
Death, Ayesha, if indeed you can show me the road. For
one purpose and no other I came to K6r, n?m'='lv to learn, if
so I might, whether those who have died upon the world, live
on elsewhere. Now, what must I do ? "
CHAPTER XXI
THE LESSON
•' "^ ^ES," answered Ayesha, laughing very softly, "for
^^ that purpose alone, O truth-seeking Allan, whose
1 curiosity is so fierce that the wide world cannot
hold it, did you come to K6r and not to seek
wealth or new lands, or to fight more savages. No, not even
to look upon a certain Ayesha, of whom the old wizard told
you, though I think that you have always loved to try to lift
the veil that hides women's hearts, if not their faces. Yet it
was I who brought you to K6r for my own purposes, not your
desire, nor Zikali's map and talisman, since had not the white
lady who lies sick been stolen by Rezu, never would you have
pursued the journey nor found the way hither."
" How could you have had anything to do with that
business ? " I asked testily, for my nerves were on edge and I
said the first thing that came into my mind.
" That, Allan, is a question over which you will wonder
for a long while either beneath or beyond the sun, as you will
wonder concerning much that has to do with me, which your
little mind, shut in its iron box of ignorance and pride, cannot
understand to-day.
" For example, you have been wondering, I am sure, how
the lightning killed those eleven men whose bodies you went
to look on an hour or two ago, and left the rest untouched.
Well, I will teU you at once that it was not lightning that
killed them, although the strength within me was manifest to
you in storm, but vather what that witch-doctor of your
following called wizardry. Because they were traitors who
betrayed your army to Rezu, I killed them with my wrath and
by the wand of my power. Oh ! you do not believe, yet
perhaps ere long you will, since thus to fulfil your prayer I
must also kiU you— almost. That is the trouble, Allan. To
252 She and Allan
kill you outright would be easy, but to kill you just enonph t
set your spirit free and yet leave one crevice of mortal lii
through which it can creep back again, that is most difi&cult ,
a thing that only I can do and even of myself I am not sure."
" Pray do not try the experiment " I began
thoroughly alarmed, but she cut me short.
" Disturb me no more, Allan, with the tremors ar;
changes of your uncertain mind, lest you should work mcit
evil than you think, and making mine uncertain also, spoil
my skill. Nay, do not try to fly, for already the net h.
thrown itself atx)ut you and you cannot stir, who are boun
like a little gilded wasp in the spider's web, or like biro,
beneath the eyes of basilisks."
This svas true, for I found that, strive as I would, I ecu)
not move a limb or even an eyelid. I was frozen to that spc
and there was nothing for it except to curse my folly and sa
my prayers.
All this while she went on talking, but of what she said
have not the faintest idea, because my remaining wits wei
absorbed in these much-needed implorations.
Presently, ot a sudden. I appeared to see Ayesha seated ij
a temple, for there were columns about her, and behind he
was an altar on which a fire burned. All round her, too, wei
hooded snakes li ke to that she wore about her middle , fashions
in gold. To these snakes she sang and they danced to ht
singing ; yes. with flickering tongues they denced upon the
tails i What the scene signified I cannot conceive, unless
meant that this mistress of magic was consulting ht
familiars.
Then that vision vanished and Ayesha 's voice began t
seem very far away and dreamy, also her wondrous beauty
became visible to me through her veil, as though I had acquired
a new sense that overcame the limitations of mortal sighi.
Even in this extremity I reflected it was well that the last
thing I looked on shorild be something so glorious. No, not
quite the last thing, for out of the corners of my eyes I saw
that Umslopogaas from a sitting position had sunk on to his
back and lay, apparently dead, with his axe still gripped
tightly and held above his head, as though his arm had been
turned to ice.
After this terrible things began to happen to me and I
The Lesson 253
became aware that I was dying. A great wind seemed to
catch me up and blow me to and fro, as a leaf is blown in the
eddies of a winter gale. Enormous rushes of darkness flowed
over me, to be succeeded by vivid bursts of brightness that
dazzled like lightning. I fell off precipices and at the foot of
them was caught by some fearful strength and tossed to the
very skies.
From those skies I was hurled down again into a kind of
whirlpool of inky night, round which I spun perpetually, as it
seemed for hours and hours. But worst of all was the awful
lonelmess from which I suffered. It seemed to me as though
there were no other living thing in all the Universe and never
had been and never would be any other living thing. I felt
as though / were the Universe rushing solitary through space
for ages upon ages in a frantic search for fellowship, and
finding none.
Then something seemed to grip my throat and I knew that
I had died — for the world floated away from beneath me.
Now fear and every mortal sensation left me, to be replaced
by a new and spiritual terror. I, or rather my disembodied
consciousness, seemed to come up for judgment, and the
horror of it was that I appeared to be my own judge. There,
a very embodiment of cold justice, my Spirit, grown luminous,
sat upon a throne and to it, with dread and merciless par-
ticularity I set out all m}' misdeeds. It was as if some part of
me remained mortal, for I could see my two eyes, my mouth
and my hands, but nothing else — and strange enough they
looked. From the eyes came tears, from the mouth flowed
words and the hands were joined, as though in prayer to that
throned and adamantine Spirit which was me.
It was as though this Spirit were asking hov/ my body had
served its purposes and advanced its mighty ends, and in
reply — oh ! what a miserable tale I had to tell. Fault upon
fault, weakness upon weakness, sin upon sin ; never before did
I understand how black was my record. I tried to relieve the
picture with some incidents of attempted good, but that Spirit
would not hearken. It seemed to say that it had gathered
up the good and knew it all. It was of the evil that it would
learn, not of the good that had bettered it, but of the e\nl by
which it had been harmed.
Hearing this there rose up in my consciousness some
memory of what Ayesha had said ; namely, that the body
254 She and Allan
lived within the temple of the spint which it oft defiled, and
not the spiiit in the body.
The story was told and I hearkened for the judgment, my
own judgment on myself, which I knew would be accepted
without question and registered for good or ill. But none
came, since ere the balance sank this way or that, ere it could
be uttered, I was swept afar.
Through Infinity I was swept, and as I fled fast' r than the
light, the meaning of what I had seen came home to me. I
knew, or seemed to know for the first time, that at the last
ftian must answer to himself, or perhaps to a divine principle
within himself, that out of his own free-will, through long
aons and by a million steps, he cUmbs or sinks to the heights
or depths dormant in his nature ; that from what he was,
springs what he is, and what he is, engenders what he shall
be for ever and aye.
Now I envisaged Immortality and splendid and awful was
its face. It clasped me to its breast and in the vast circle of
its arms I was up-borne, I who knew myself to be without begin-
ning and without end, and yet of the past and of the future
knew nothing, save that these were full of mysteries.
As I went I encountered others, or overtook them, making
the same journey. Robertson swept past me, and spoke, but
in a tongue I could not understand. I noted that the madness
had left his eyes and that his fine-cut features were calm and
spiritual. The other wanderers I did not know.
I came into a region of blinding hght; the thought rose in
me that I must have reached the sun, or a sun, though I felt
no heat. I stood in a lovely, shining valley about which
burned mountains of fire. There were huge trees in that
valley, but they glowed like gold and their flowers and fruit were
as though they had been fashioned of many-coloured flames.
The place was glorious beyond compare, but very strange
to me and not to be described. I sat me down upon a boulder
which burned hke a ruby, whether with heat or colour I do not
know, by the edge of a stream that flowed with what looked
like fire and made a lovely music. I stooped down and drank
of this water of flames and the scent and the taste of it were as
those of the costhest wine.
There, beneath the spreading limbs of a fire-tree I sat.
The Lesson 255
and examined the strange fi..wers that grew around, coloured
like rich jewels and perfumed above imagining. There were
birds also which might have been feathered with sapphires,
rubies and amethysts, and their song was so sweet that I
could have wept to hear it. The scene was wonderful and
filled me with exaltation, for I thought of the land where it is
promised that there shall be no more night.
People began to appear ; men, women, and even children,
though whence they came I could not see. They did not fly
and they did not walk ; they seemed to drift towards me, as
unguided boats drift upon the tide. One and all they were
very beautiful, but their beauty was not human although their
shapes and faces resembled those of men and women made
glorious. None were old, and except the children, none seemed
very young ; it was as though they had grown backwards or
forwards to middle hfe and rested there at their very best.
Now came the marvel ; all these uncounted people were
known to me, though so far as my knowledge went I had never
set eyes on most of them before. Yet I was aware that in
some forgotten Ufe or epoch I had been intimate with every
one of them ; also that it was the fact of my presence and the
call of my sub-conscious mind which drew them to this spot.
Yet that presence and that call were not visible or audible
to them, who, I suppose, flowed down some stream of sympathy,
why or whither they did not know. Had I been as they were
perchance they would have seen me, as it was they saw
nothing and I could not speak and tell them of my presence.
Some of this multitude, however, I knew well enough even
when they had departed years and years ago. But about
these I noted this, that every one of them was a man or a
woman or a child for whom I had felt love or sympathy or
friendship. Not one was a person whom I had dishked or
whom I had no wish to see again. If they spoke at all I
could not hear — or read — their speech, yet to a certain extent
I could hear their thoughts.
Many of these were beyond the power of my appreciation
on subjects of which I had no knowledge, or that were too high
for me, but some were of quite simple things such as concern
us upon the earth, such as of friendship, or learning, or journeys
made or to be made, or art, or literature, or the wonders of
Nature, or of the fruits of the earth, as they knew them Id
this region.
«56 She and Allan
This I noted too, that each separate thought seemed to be
hallowed and enclosed in an atmosphere of prayer or heavenly
aspiration, as a seed is enclosed in the heart of a flower, or a
fruit in its odorous rind, and that this prayer or aspiration
presently appeared to bear the thought away, whither I knew
not. Moreover, all these thoughts, even of the humblest
things, were beauteous and spiritual, nothing cruel or impure
or even coarse was to be found among them : they radiated
charity, purity and goodness.
Among them I perceived were none that had to do with
our earth ; this and its afikirs seemed to be left far behind
these thinkers, a truth that chilled my soul which was alien to
their company. Worse still, so far as I could discover,
although I knew that all these bright ones had been near to me
at some hour in the measurements of time and space, not one
of their musings dwelt upon me or on aught with which I had
to do.
Between me and them there was a great gulf fixed and a
high wall built.
Oh, look 1 One came shining like a star, and from far
away came another with dove-like eyes and beautiful ex-
ceedingly, and with this last a maiden, whose eyes were as
hers who my heart told me was her mother.
Well, I knew them both ; they were those whom I had
come to seek, the women who had been mine upon the earth,
and at the sight of them my spirit thrilled. Surely they
would discover me. Surely at least they would speak of me
and feel my presence.
But, although they stayed within a pace or two of where
I rested, alas ! it was not so. They seemed to kiss and to
exchange swift thoughts about many things, high things of
which I will not write, and common things ; yes, even of the
shining robes they wore, but never a one oi me f I strove to
rise and go to them, but could not ; I strove to speak and
could not ; I strove to throw out my thought to them and
could not ; it fell back upon my head like a stone burled
heavenward.
They were remote from me, utterly apart. I wept tears
of bitterness that I should be so near and yet so far ; a dull
and jealous rage burned in my heart, and this they did seem
to feel, or so I fancied ; at any rate, apparently by mutual
consent, they moved further from me as though something
The LessoQ 257
pained them. Yes, my love could not reach their perfected
natures, but my anger hurt them.
As I sat chewing this root of bitterness, a man appeared, a
▼ery noble man, in whom I recognised my father grown
younger and happier-looking, but still my father, with whom
came others, men and women whom I knew to be my brothers
and sisters who had died in youth far away in Oxfordshire.
Joy leapt up in me, for I thought — these will surely know me
and give me welcome, since, though here sex has lost its power,
blood still must call to blood.
But it was not so. They spoke, or interchanged their
thoughts, but not one of me. I read something that passed
from my father to them. It was a speculation as to what had
brought them aD together there, and read also the answer
hazarded, that perhaps it might be to give welcome to some
unknown who was drawing near from below and would feel
lonely and unfriended. Thereon my father replied that he
did not see or feel this wanderer, and thought that it could not
be so, since it was his mission to greet such on their coming.
Then in an instant all were gone and that lovely, glowing
plain was empty, save for myself seated on the rubj'-Iike stone,
weeping tears of blood and shame and loss within my soul.
So I sat a long while, till presently I was aware of a new
presence, a presence dusky and splendid and arrayed in rich,
barbaric robes. Straight she came towards me, like a thrown
spear, and I knew her for a certain royal and savage woman
who on earth was named Mameena, or " Wind-that -wailed."
Moreover she divined me, though see me she could not. 5
" Art there. Watcher -in-the-Night, watching in the
light ? " she said or thought, I knov/ not which, but the wwds
came to me in the Zulu tongue.
" Aye," she went on, " I know that thou art there ; from
ten thousand leagues away I felt thy presence and broke from
my own place to welcome thee, though I must pay for it with
burning chains and bondage. How did those welcomethee whom
thou camest out to seek ? Did they clasp thee in their arms and
press their kisses on thy brow ? Or did they shrink away from
thee because the smell of earth was on thy hands and lips ? "
I seemed to answer that they did not appear to know thf<c
I was there.
258 She and Allan
" Aye, they did not know because their love is not enough,
because they have grown too fine for love. But I, the sinner.
I knew well, and here am I ready to suffer all for thee and to
gi ve thee place within this stormy heart of mine. Forget them,
then, and come to rule with me who still am queen in my own
house that thou shalt share. There we will live royally an^l
when our hour comes, at least we shall have had our day."
Now before I could reply, some power seemed to seize this
splendid creature and whirl her thence so that she departed,
flashing these words from her mind to mine,
" For a little while farewell, but remember always that
Mameena, the Wailing Wind, being still as a sinful woman with
a woman's love and of the earth, earthy, found thee, whorr.
all the rest forgot. O Watcher-in-the-Night, watch in the
night for me, for there thou sheJt find me, the Child of Storm,
again, and yet again."
She was gone and once more I sat in utter solitude upon
that ruby stone, staring at the jewelled flowers and the glorious
flaming trees and the lambent waters of the brook. What
was the meaning of it all, I wondered, and why was I deserted
by everyone save a single savage woman, and why had she a
pov/er to find me which was denied to all the rest ? Well, she
had given me an answer, because she was " as a sinful woman
with a woman's love and of the earth, earthy," while with the
rest it was otherwise. Oh I this was clear, that in the heavens
man has no friend among the heavenly, save perhaps the
greatest Friend of all Who understands both flosh and spirit.
Thus I mused in this burning worl d which was still so beauti-
ful, this alien world into which I had thrust myself unwanted
and unsought. And while I mused this happened. The fiery
waters of the stream were disturbed by something and looking
tip I saw the cause.
A dog had plunged into them and was swimming towards
me. At a glance I knew that dog on which my eyes had not
fa'len for decades. It was a mongrel, half spaniel and half
bull-terrier, which for years had been the dear friend of my
vouth and died at last on the horns of a wounded wildebeeste
that attacked m.e when I had fallen from my horse upon the
veld. Boldly it tackled the maddened buck, thus giving me
time to scramble to my rifle and shoot it, but not before the
poor hound had yielded its life for mine, since presently it died
The Lesson 259
disembowelled, but licking my hand and forgetful of its
agonies. This dog. Smut by name, it was that swam or
seemed to swim the brook of fire. It scrambled to the hither
shore, it nosed the earth and ran to the ruby stone and stared
about it whining and sniffing.
At last it seemed to see or feel me, for it stood upon its
hind legs and licked my face, yelping with mad joy, as I could
see though I heard nothing. Now I wept in earnest and bent
down to hug and kiss the faithful beast, but this I could not
do, since like myself it was only shadow.
Then suddenly all dissolved in a cataract of many coloured
flames and I fell down into an infinite gulf of blackness.
Surely Ayesha was talking to me I What did she say ?
What did she say ? I could not catch her words, but I caught
her laughter and knew that after her fashion she was making
a mock of me. My eyelids were dragged down as though with
heavy sleep ; it was difficult to lift them. At last they were
open and I saw Ayesha seated on her couch before me and —
this I noted at once — with her lovely face unveiled. ■ I looked
about me, seeking Umslopogaas and Hans. But they were
gone as I guessed they must be, since otherwise Ayesha would
not have been unveiled. We were quite alone. She was
addressing me and in a new fashion, since now she had aban-
doned the formal " you " and was using the more impressive
and intimate " thou," much as is the manner of the French.
"Thou hast made thy journey, Allan," she said, " and
what thou hast seen there thou shalt tell me presently. Yet
from thy mien I gather this — ^that thou art glad to look upon
flesh and blood again and, after the company of spirits, to
find that of mortal woman. Come then and sit beside me and
tell thy tale."
" WTiere are the others ? " I asked as I rose slowly to obey,
for my head swam and my feet seemed feeble.
" Gone, AUan, who as I think have had enough of ghosts,
which is perhaps thy case also. Come, drink this and be a
man once more. Drink it to me whose skill and power have
brought thee safe from lands that human feet were never
meant to tread," and taking a strange-shaped cup from a stool
that stood beside her, she offered it to me.
I drank to the last drop, neither knowing nor caring
nbu She and Allan
whether it were wine or poison, since my heart se^mrd desperate
at its failure and my spirit crushed beneath the weight of its
great betrayal. I suppose it was the former, for the content^
of that cup ran through my veins like fire and gave me back
my courage and the joy of life.
I stepped to the dais and sat me down upon the couch,
leaning against its rounded end so that I was almost face to
face with Ayesha who had turned towards me, and thence
could study her unveiled loveliness. For a while she said
nothing, only eyed me up and down and smiled and smiled, as
though she were waiting for that wine to doits work with me
" N ow that thou art a man again, Allan, tell me what thou
didst see when thou wast more — or less — than man."
So I told her all, for some power within her seemed to drav
the truth out of me. Nor did the tale appear to cause her
much surprise.
" There is truth in thy dream," she said wheu I had
fiiiished ; " a lesson also."
" Then it was all a dream ? " I interrupted.
" Is not everything a dream, even life itself, Allan ? If
so, what can this be that thou hast seen, but a dream within a
dream, and itsdf containing other dreams, as in the old days
the ball fashioned by the eastern workers of ivory would oft
be found to contain another ball, and this yet another and
another and another, till at the irunost might be found a bead
of gold, or perchance a jewel, which was the prize of him who
could draw out ball from ball and leave them all unbroken.
That search was difi&cult and rarely was the jewel come by, if
at all, so that some said there was none, save in the maker's
mind. Yes, I have seen a man go crazed with seeking and
die with the mystery unsolved. How much harder, then, is it
to come at the diamond of Truth which lies at the core of all
our nest of dreams and without which to rest upon they could
not be fashioned to seem realities ? "
" But was it really a dream, and if so, what were the truth
and the lesson ? " I asked, determined not to allow her to be-
muse or escape me with her metaphysical talk and illustrations.
" The first question has been answered, Allan, as well as
I can answer, who am not the architect of this great globe of
dreams, and as yet cannot clearly see the ineffable gem within,
whose prisoned rays illuminate their substance, though so
dinily that only those with the insight of a god can catch their
The Lesson 261
glamour in the night of thought, since to most they are dark
as glow-flies in the glare of noon."
"Then what are the truth and the lesson ? " I persisted,
perceiving that it was hopeless to extract from her an opinion
as to the real nature of my experiences and that I must
content myself with her deductions from them.
" Thou tell est me, Allan, that in th\' dream or vision thou
didst seem to appear before thyself seated on a throne and in
that self to find thy judge. That is the Truth whereof I
spoke, though how it found its way through the black and
ignorant shell of one whose wit is so small, is more than I can
g^iess, since I believed that it was revealed to me alone."
(Now I, Allan, thought to myself that I began to see the
origin of all these fantasies and that for once Ayesha had made
a slip. If she had a theory and I developed that same theory
in an hypnotic condition, it was not difficult to guess its
fount. However, I kept my mouth shut, and luckily for once
she did not seem to read my mind, perhaps because she was
too much occupied in spinning her smooth web of entangling
words.)
' All men worship their own god," she went on, " and yet
seem not to know that this god dwells within them and that
of him they are a part. There he dwells and there they mould
him to their own fashion, as the potter moulds his clay, though
whatever the shape he seems to take beneath their fingers,
still he remains the god infinite and unalterable. Still he ii
the Seeker and the Sought, the Prayer and its Fulfilment,
the Love and the Hate, the Virtue and the Vice, since all these
quahties the alchemy of his spirit turns to an ultimate and
eternal Good. For the god is in all things and all things are
in the god, whom men clothe with such diverse garments and
whose countenance they hide beneath so many masks.
•' In the tree flows the sap, yet what knows the great tree
it nurtures of the sap ? In the world's womb burns the fire
that gives life, yet what of the fire knows the glorious earth it
conceived and will destroy ; in the heavens the great globes
s\ving through space and rest not, yet what know they of the
Strength that sent them spinning and in a time to come wiU
stay their mighty motions, or turn them to another course ?
Therefore of everything this all-present god is judge, or rather,
not one but many judges, since of each living creature he makes
its owTi magistrate to deal out justice according to that
262 She and Allan
creature's law which in the beginning the god established for
it and decreed. Thus in the breast of everyone there is a rule
and by that rule, at work through a countless chain of lives,
in the end he shall be lifted up to Heaven, or bound about and
cast dowTi to Hell and death."
" You mean a conscience," I suggested rather feebly, for
her thoughts and images overpowered me.
" Aye, a conscience if thou wilt, and canst only understand
that term, though it fits my theme but ill. This is my
meaning, that consciences, as thou namest them, are many.
I have one ; thou, Allan, hast another ; that black Axe-bearer
has a third ; the little yellow man a fourth, and so on through the
tale of living things. For even a dog such as that thousawest
has a conscience and — like thyself or I — must in the end be its
own judge, because of the spark that comes to it from above,
the same spark which in me burns as a great fire, and in thee
as a smouldering ember of green wood."
" WTien you sit in judgment on yourself in a day to come,
Ayesha," I could not help interpolating, " I trust that you
will remember that humility did not shine among your
virtues."
She smiled in her vivid way — only twice or thrice did I
see her smile thus and then it was like a flash of summer
lightning illumining a clouded sky, since for the most part her
face was grave and even sombre.
" Well answered," she said. " Goad the patient ox
enough and even it will grow fierce and paw the ground.
" Humility I \^^lat have I to do with it, O Allan ? Let
humility be the part of the humble-souled and lowly, but for
those who reign as I do, and they are few indeed, let there be
pride and the glory they have earned. Now I have told thee
of the Truth thou sawest in thy vision and wouldst thou
hear the Lesson ? "
" Yes," I answered, " since I may as well be done with it
at once, and doubtless it will be good for me."
"The Lesson, Allan, is one which thou preachest —
humility. Vain man and foolish as thou art, thou didt
desire to travel the Under- world in search of certain ones who
once were all in all to thee — nay, not all in all since of them
there were two or more — but at least much. Thus thou
wouldst do because, as thou saidest, thou didst seek to know
Mi^ether they still lived on beyond the gates of Blackness.
The Lesson 263
<
Yes, thou saidest this, but what thou di-dst hope to learn in
truth was whether they lived on in thee and for thee only.
For thou, thou in thy vanity, didst picture these departed
souls as doing naught in that Heaven they had won, save
think of thee still burrowing on the earth, and, at times
lightening thy labours with kisses from other lips than theirs "
" Never t " I exclaimed indignantly. " Never I it is not
true."
" Then I pray pardon, Allan, who only judged of thee by
others that were as men are made, and being such, not to be
blamed if perchance from time to time, they turned to look on
women, who alas I were as they are made. So at least it was
when I knew the world, but mayhap since then its richest
\\dne has turned to water, whereby I hope it has been bettered.
At the least this was thy thought, that those women who had
been thine for an hour, through all eternity could dream of
naught else save thy perfections, and hope for naught else
than to see thee at their sides through that eternity, or such part
of thee as thou couldst spare to each of them. For thou didst
forget that where they have gone there may be others even
more peerless than thou art and more fit to hold a woman's
love, which as we know on earth was ever changeful, and
perhaps may so remain where it is certain that new lights must
shine and new desires beckon. Dost understand me, Allan ? "
" I think so," I answered with a groan. " I understand
you to mean that worldly impressions soon wear out and that
people who have departed to other spheres may there form
new ties and forget the old."
" Yes, Allan, as do those who remain upon this earth,
whence these others have departed. Do men and women still
re-marry in the world, Allan, as in my day they were wont'
to do ? "
" Of course — it is allowed."
" As many other things, or perchance this same thing, may
be allowed elsewhere, for when there are so many habitations
from which to choose, why should we always dwell in one of
them, however strait the house or poor the prospect ? "
Now understanding that I was symbolised by the " strait
house " and the " poor prospect " I should have grown angry,
had not a certain sense of humour come to my rescue, who
remembered that after all Ayesha's satire was profoundly
tnie. Why, beyond the earth, should anyone desire to remain
264 She and Allan
unalterably tied to and inextricably wrapped up in such a
personality as my own, especially if others of superior texture
abounded about them ? Now that I came to think of it, the
thing was absurd and not to be the least expected in the
midst of a thousand new and vi\'id interests. I had met with
one more disillusionment, that was all.
" Dost understand, Allan," went on Ayesha, who evi-
dently was determined that I should drink this cup to the
last drop, " that these dwellers in the sun, or the far planet
where thou hast been according to thy tale, saw thee not aiin
knew naught of thee ? It may chance therefore that at thi
time thou wast not in their minds which at others dream c'
thee continually. Or it may chance that they never drear:
of thee at all, having quite forgotten thee, as the weaned cui
forgets its mother."
" At least there was one who seemed to remember," I
exclaimed, for her poisoned mocking stung the words out of
me, " one woman and — a dog."
" Aye, the savage, wiio b^og Nature's child, a sinner tha*
departed hence by her own act " (how Ayesha knew thi:^ 1
carmot say, I never told her), " has not yet put on perfection
and therefore still remembers him whose kiss was last upon
her lips. But surely, Allan, it is not thy desire to pass from
the gentle, ordered claspings of those white souls to th^
tumiiltuous arms of such a one as this. Still, let that be, fo
who knows what men will or will not do in jealousy and dis
appointed love ? And the dog, it remembered also and evev
sought thee out, since dogs are more faithful and single
hearted than is mankind. Thereat least thou hast thy lesson,
namely to grow more humble and never to think again that
thou boldest all a woman's soul for aye, because once she was
kind to thee for a little while on earth.
*' Yes," I answered, jumping up in a rage, " as you say,
I have my lesson, and more of it than I want. So by your
lt.ave, I will now bid you farewell, hoping that when it comes
to be your turn to learn this lesson, or a worse, Ayesha, as I
am sure it will one day, for something tells me so, you may enjoy
it more than I have done."
CHAPTER XXII
ayesha's farewell
THUS I spoke whose nerves were on edge after all
that I had seen or, as even then I suspected,
seemed to see. For how couJd I believe that these
visions of mine had any higher origin than
Ayesha's rather malicious imagination ? Already I had formed
my theory.
It was that she must be a hypnotist of power, who, after
she had put a spell upon her subject, could project into his
mind such fancies as she chose together with a selection of
her own theories. Only two points remained obscure. The
first was — how did she get the necessary information about
the private affairs of a humble individual like myselfj for thesa
were not known even to Zikali with whom she seemed to be
in some kind of correspondence, or to Hans, at any rate in
such completeness ?
I could but presume that in some mysterious way she
drew them from, or rather excited them in my own mind and
memory, so that I seemed to see those vnth whom once I had
been intimate, with modifications and in surroundings that
her intelligence had carefully prepared. It would not be
difl&cult for a mind like hers familiar, as I gathered it was,
with the ancient lore of the Greeks and the Egyptians, to
create a kind of Hades and, by way of difference, to change it
from one of shadow to one of intense illumination, and into it
to plunge the consciousness of him upon whom she had laid
her charm of sleep. I had seen nothing and heard nothing
that she might not thus have moulded, always given that she
had access to the needful clay of facts which I alone could
furnish.
Granting this hypothesis, the second point was — what
might be the object of her elaborate and most bitter jest ?
Well, I thought that I could guess. First, she wished to show
266 She and Allan
her power, or rather to make me believe that she had power
of a very unusual sort. Secondly, she owed Umslopogaas and
myself a debt for our services in the war v^ith Rezu which wp
had been told would be repaid in this way. Thirdly, I hao
ofiended her in some fashion and she took her opportunity oi
settling the score. Also there was a fourth possibility — that
really she considered herself a moral instructress and desired,
as she said, to teach me a lesson by showing how futile wer
human hopes and vanities in respect to the departed and their
afiections.
Now I do not pretend that all this analysis of Ayesha s
motives occurred to me at the moment of my interview wt'
her; indeed,! onlj'completeditlateraftermuchcarefulthough
when I found it sound and good. At that time, althoui:
I had inklings, I was too bewildered to form a just judgmen
Further, I was too angry and it was from this bow of m
anger that I loosed a shaft at a venture as to some lessi:
which awaited her. Perhaps certain words spoken by th
dying Rezu had shaped that shaft. Or perhaps some shado..
of her advancing fate fell upon me.
The success of the shot, however, was remarkable. Evi
dently it pierced the joints of her harness, and indeed wer
home to x\yesha's heart. She turned pale; all the peach
bloom hues faded from her lovely face, her great eyes seemed
to lessen and grow dull and her cheeks to fall in. Indee '
for a moment she looked old, very old, quite an aged woma-
Moreover, she wept, for I saw two big tears drop upon her
white raiment and I was horrified,
" What has happened to you ? " I said, or rather gasped
" Naught," she answered, " save that thou hast hurt mt
sore. Dost thou not know, Allan, that it is cruel to prophesy
ill to any, since such words feathered from Fate's own win
and barbed with venom, fester in the breast and mayhr-
bring about their own accomplishment Most cruel of all
it when with them are repaid friendship and gentleness."
I reflected to myself — j'es, friendship of the order that is
called candid, and gentleness such as is hid in a cat's velvet
paw, but contented myself with asking how it was that she
who said she was so powerful, came to fear an>i;hing at all.
" Because as I have told thee, Allan, there is no armoijj
that can turn the spear of Destiny which, when I heard those
"ords of thine, it seemed to me, I know not why, was directed
Ayesha*s Farewell 267
by thy hand. Look now on Rezu who thought himself
unconquerable and yet was slain by the black Axe-bearer and
whose bones to-night stay the famine of the jackals. More-
over I am accursed who sought to steal its servant from
Heaven to be my love, and how know I when and where ven-
geance will fall at last ? Indeed, it has fallen already on me,
who through the long ages amid savages must mourn widowed
and alone, but not all of it — oh I I think, not all."
Then she began to weep in good earnest, and watching
her, for the first time I understood that this glorious creature
who seemed to be so powerful, was after all one of the most
miserable of women and as much a prey to loneliness, every
sort of passion and apprehensive fear, as can be any common
mortal. If, as she said, she had found the secret of life, which
of course I did not believe, at least it was obvious that she had
lost that of happiness.
She sobbed softly and wept and while she did so the
loveliness, which had left her for a little while, returned to her
like light to a grey and darkened sky. Oh, how beautiful she
seemed with the abundant locks in disorder over her tear-
stained face, how beautiful beyond imagining ! My heart
melted as I studied her ; I could think of nothing else except
her surpassing charm and glory.
" I pray you, do not weep," I said; "it hurts me and
indeed I am sorry if I said anvthing to give you pain."
But she only shook that glorious hair further about her
face and behind its veil wept on.
" You know, Ayesha," I continued, " you have said many
hard things to me, making me the target of your bitter wit,
therefore it is not strange that at last I answered you."
" And hast thou not deserved them, Allan ? " she mur-
mured in soft and broken tones from behind that veil of
scented locks.
" Why ? " I asked.
" Because from the beginning thou didst defy me, showing
in thine every accent that thou heldest me a liar and one of
no account in body or in spirit, one not worthy of thy kind
look, or of those gentle words which once were my portion
among men. Oh I thou hast dealt hardly with me and
therefore perchance — I know not — I paid thee back with
such poor weapons as a woman holds, though all the while I
liked thee well."
268 She and Allan
Then again she fell to sobbing, swajnng herself gently to
and fro in her sweet sorrow.
It was too much. Not kno\\'ing what else to do to comfort
her, I patted her ivory hand which lay upon the couch beside
me, and as this appeared to have no effect, I kissed it, which
she did not seem to resent. Then suddenly I remembered and
let it fall.
She tossed back her hair from her face and fixing her big
jyes on me, said gently enough, looking down at her hand,
" What ails thee, Allan ? "
" Oh, nothing," I answered ; " only I remembered the
story you told me about some man called Kallikrates."
She frowned.
" And what of Kallikrates, Allan ? Is it not enough that
for my sins, with teaxs, empty longings and repentance, I must
wait for him through all the weary centuries ? Must I
also wear the chains of this Kallikrates, to whom I owe many
a debt, when he is far a\vay ? Say, didst thou see him in
that Heaven of thine, Allan, for there perchance he dwells ? "
I shook my head and tried to think the thing out while sU
the time those wonderful eyes of hers seemed to draw the so\il
from me. It seemed to me that she bent forward and held
op her face to me. Then I lost my reason and also bent for-
ward. Yes, she made me mad, and, save her, I forgot all.
Swiftly she placed her hand upon my heart, sajdng,
"Stay I What meanest thou ? Dost love me, Allan?"
" I think so — that is — yes," I answered.
She sank back upon the couch away from me and began
to laugh very softly.
" vCliat words are these," she said, " that they pass thy
lips so easily and so unmeant, perchance from long practice ?
Oh I Allan, I am astonished. Art thou the same man who
some few days ago told me, and this unasked, that as soon
wouldst thou think of courting the moon as of courting me ?
Art thou he who not a minute gone swore proudly that never
had his heart and his lips wandered from certain angels
whither they should not ? And now, and now ? "
I coloured to my eyes and rose, muttering.
" Let me be gone I "
" Nay, Allan, why ? I see no mark here," and she held
np her hand, scanning it carefully. " Thou too art much
what thou wert before, except perhaps in thy soul, which is
Ayesha's FareweD 269
invisible," she added with a touch of malice. "Nor am I
angry with thee ; indeed, hadst thou not tried to charm away
my woe, I should have thought but poorly of thee as a man.
There let it rest and be forgotten — or remembered as thou
wilt. StUl, in answer to thy words concerning my Kallikrates,
what of those adored ones that, according to thy tale, but
now thou didst find again in a place of light ? Because they
seemed faithless, shouldst thou be faithless also ? Shame on
thee, thou fickle Allan I "
She paused, waiting for me to speak.
Well, I could not. I had nothing to say who was utterly
disgraced and overwhelmed.
" Thou thinkest, Allan," she went on, " that I have cast
my net about thee, and this is true. Learn wisdom from it,
Allan, and never again defy a woman — ^that is, if she be fair,
for then she is stronger than thou art, since Nature for its
own purpose made her so. Whatever I have done by tears,
that ancient artifice of my sex, as in other ways, is for thy
instruction, Allan, that thou mayest benefit thereby."
Again I sprang up, uttering an English exclamation which
I trust Ayesha did not understand, and again she motioned to
me to be seated, saying,
" Nay, leave me not yet since, even if the light fancy of a
man that comes and goes like the evening wind and for a
breath made me dear to thee, has passed away, there remains
certain work which we must do together. Although, thinking
of thjrsdf alone, thou hast forgotten it, having been paid thine
own fee, one is yet due to that old wizard in a far land who
sent thee to visit K6r and me, as indeed he has reminded
me and within an hour."
This amazing statement aroused me from my personal and
painful pre-occupation and caused me to stare at her blankly.
" Again thou disbelievest me," she said, with a little
stamp. " Do so once more, Allan, and I swear I'll bring thee
to grovel on the ground and kiss my foot and babble nonsense
to a woman sworn to another man, such as never for all thy
days thou shalt think of vsithout a blush of shame."
" Oh ! no," I broke in hurriedly, '' I assure you that you
are mistaken. I believe every word you have said, or say
or will say ; I do in truth."
" Now thou liest. Well, what is one more falsehood among
so many ? So let it pass."
270 She and Allan
" What, indeed ? " I echoed in eager afi5rraation, " and as
f )r Zikali's message " and I paused.
" It was to recall to my mind that he desired to learn
whether a certain great enterprise of his will succeed, the
details of which he says thou canst tell me. Repeat them
to me."
So, glad enough to get away from more dangerous topics, I
narrated to her as briefly and clearly as I could, the history
of the old witch-doctor's feud with the royal House of Zulu-
land. She listened, taking in every word, and said,
" So now he yearns to know whether he will conquer or be
conquered ; and that is why he sent, or thinks that he sent
thee on this journey, not for thy sake, Allan, but for his own.
I cannot tell thee, for what have I to do with the finish of
this petty business, which to him seems so large ? Still, as I
owe him a debt for luring the Axe-Bearer here to rid me of
mine enemy, and thee to lighten my solitude for an hour by
the burnishing of thy mind, I wiU try. Set that bowl before
me, Allan," and she pointed to a marble tripod on which
stood a basin half full of water, " and come, sit close by me
and look into it, telling me what thou seest."
I obeyed her instructions and presently found myself
with my head over the basin, staring into the water in the
exact attitude of a person who is about to be shampooed.
" This seems rather foolish," I said abjectly, for at that
moment I resembled the Queen of Sheba in one particular, if in
no other, namely, that there was no more spirit in me.
'-' What am I supposed to do ? I see nothing at all."
" Look again, ' she said, and as she spoke the water grew
clouded. Then on it appeared a picture. I saw the interior
of a Kaffir hut dimly lighted by a single candle set in the neck
of a bottle. To the left of the door of the hut was a bedstead
and on it lay stretched a wasted and djing man, in whom, to
my astonishment, I recognised Cetywayo, King of the Zulus.
ht the foot of the bed stood another man — myself grown
tlder by many years, and leaning over the bed, apparently
whispering into the dpng man's ear, was a grotesque and
malevolent figure which I knew to be that of Zikali, Opener-
of-Roads, whose glowing eyes were fixed upon the terrified
and tortured face of Cetywayo. All was as it happened after-
wards, as I have \\Titten down in the book called " Finished."
I described what I saw to Ayesha, and while I was doing
Ayesha's Farewell 271
so the picture vanished away, so that nothing remained save
the clear water in the marble bowl. The story did not seera
to interest her ; indeed, she leaned back and yawned a little.
" Thy vision is good, Allan," she said indifferently, " and
wide also, since thou canst see what passes in the sun or
distant stars, and pictures of things to be in the water, to say
nothing of other pictures in a woman's eyes, all within an
hour. Well, this savage business concerns me not and of it
I want to know no more. Yet it would appear that here the
old wizard who is thy friend, has the answer that he desires.
For there in the picture the king he hates lies d}ing while he
hisses curses in his ear and thou dost watch the end. What
more can he seek ? Tell him it when ye meet, and tell him
also it is my will that in future he should trouble me less, since
I love not to be \vakened from my sleep to listen to his half-
instructed talk and savage vapourings. Indeed, he presumes
too much. And now enough of him £ind his dark plots. Ye
have your desires, all of you, and are paid in full."
" Over-paid, perhaps," I said with a sigh.
" Ah, Allan, I think that Lesson thou hast learned pleases
thee but little. Well, be comforted for the thing is common.
Hast never heard that there is but one morsel more bitter to
the taste than desire denied, namely, desire fulfilled ? Believe
me that there can be no happiness for man until he attains a
land where all desire is dead."
" That is what the Buddha preached, Ayesha."
" Aye, I remember the doctrines of that wise man well,
who without doubt had found a key to the gate of Truth, one
key only, for, mark thou, Allan, there are many. Yet, man
being man must know desires, since without them, robbed of
ambitions, strivings, hopes, fears, aye and of life itself, the
race must die, which is not the will of the Lord of Life who
needs a nursery for his servant's souls, wherein his swords of
Good and 111 shall shape them to his pattern. So it comes
about, Allan, that what we think the worst is oft the best for
us, and with that knowledge, if we are wise, let us assuage our
hatterness and wipe away our tears."
" I have often thought that," I said-
" I doubt it not, Allan, since though it has pleased me to
make a jest of thee, I know that thou hast thy share of wisdom,
such little share as thou canst gather in thy few short years.
I know, too, that thy heart is good and aspires high, and
272 She and Allan
Friend — well, I find in thee a friend indeed, as I think not for
the first time, nor certainly for the last. Mark, Allan, what I
say, not a lover, but a friend, which is higher far. For when
passion dies with the passing of the flesh, if there be no
friendship what will remain save certain memories that,
ma3'hap, are as well forgot? Aye, how would those lovers
meet elsewhere who were never more than lovers ? With
weariness, I hold, as they stared into each other's empty soul,
or even with disgust.
" Therefore the wise will seek to turn those with whom
Fate mates them into friends, since otherwise soon they will
be lost for aye. More, if they are wiser still, having madr
them friends, they will suffer them to find lovers where thev
wil. Good maxims, are they not ? Yet hard to follow, or
so, perchance, thou thinkest them — as I do"
She grew silent and brooded a while, resting her chin
upon her hand and staring down the hall. Thus the aspect
of her face was different from any that I had seen it wear
No longer had it the allure of Aphrodite or the majesty oJ
Hera ; rather might it have been that of Athene herself. So
wise it seemed, so calm, so full of experience and of foresight,
that almost it frightened me.
WTiat was this woman's true story, I wondered, what her
real self, and what the sum of her gathered knowledge ■
Perhaps it was accident, or perhaps, again, she guessed my
mind. At any rate her next words seemed in some sense an
answer to these speculations. Lifting her eyes she con-
templated me a while, then said,
" My friend, we part to meet no more in thy life's day
Often thou wilt wonder concerning me, as to what in truth I
am, and mayhap in the end thy judgment will be to write me
down some false and beauteous wanderer who, rejected of the
world or driven from it by her crimes, made choice to rule
among savages, playing the part of Oracle to that littlt
audience and telling strange tales to such few travellers a^
come her way. Perhaps, indeed, I do play this part amon^
many others, and if so, thou wilt not judge me wrongly.
" Allan, in the old days, mariners who had sailed the
northern seas, told me that therein amidst mist and storrr'
float mountains of ice, shed from dizzy cliffs which are hid
in darkness where no sun shines. They told me also that
whereas above the ocean's breast appears but a blue and
Ayesha's Farewell 273
dazzling point, sunk beneath it is oft a whole frozen isle, invisible
to man.
" Such am I, AJlan. Of mj? being thou seest but one
little peak glittering in light or crowned with storm, as
heaven's moods sweep over it. But in the depths beneath are
hid its white and broad foundations, hollowed by the seas of
time to caverns and to palaces which my spirit doth inhabit.
So picture me, therefore, as wise and fair, but with a soul
unkno'vvn, and pra)' that in a time to come thou mayest see
it in its splendour.
" Hadst thou been other than thou art, I might have
shown thee secrets, making clear to thee the parable of much
that I have told thee in metaphor and varying fable, aye, and
given thee great gifts of power and enduring da}^ of which
thou knowest nothing. But of those who visit shrines. O Allan,
two things are required, worship and faith, since without
these the oracles are dumb and the healing waters will not flow.
" Now I, Aycsha, am a shrine ; yet to me thou broughtest
no worship until I won it by a woman's trick, and in me thou
hast no faith. Therefore for thee the oracle will not speak
and the waters of deliverance will not flow. Yet I blame
thee not, who art as thou wast made and the hard world has
shaped thee.
"And so we part : Think not I am far from thee because
thou seest me not in the days to come, since like that Isis
whose majesty alone I still exercise on earth, I, whom men
name Ayesha, am in all things. I tell thee that I am not One
but Many and, being many, am both Here and Every^vhere.
When thou standest beneath the sky at night and lookest on
the stars, remember that in them mine eyes behold thee ;
when the soft winds of evening blow, that my breath is on
thy brow and when the thunder rolls, that there am I riding
on the lightnings and rushing with the gale."
" Do you mean that you are the goddess Isis ? " I asked,
bewildered. " Because if so why did you tell me that you
were but her priestess ? "
" Have it as thou wHt, Allan. All sounds do not reach
thine ears ; all sights are not open to thine eyes and therefore
thou art both half deaf and blind. Perchance now that her
shrines are dust and her worship is forgot, some spark of the
spirit of that immortal Lady whose chariot was the moon,
'ingers on the earth in this v.'oman's shape of mine, though
274 She and Allan
her essence dwells afar, and perchance her other name is
Nature, my mother and thine, O Allan. At the least hath
not the World a soul — and of that soul am I not mayhap a
part, aye, and thou also ? For the rest are not the pnest
and the Divine he bows to, oft the same ? "
It was on my lips to answer, Yes, if the priest is a knave
or a self -deceiver, but I did not.
" Farewell, Allan, and let Ayesha's benison go with thee.
Saie shalt thou reach thy home, for all is prepared to take
thee hence, and thy companions %\'ith thee. Safe shalt thou
live for many a year, till thy time comes, and then, perchance,
thou wilt find those whom thou hast lost more kind than
they seemed to be to-night."
She paused awhile, then added,
" Hearken unto my last word ! As I have said, much
that I have told thee may bear a double meaning, as is the
way of parables, to be interpreted as thou wilt. Yet ene
thing is true. I love a certain man, in the old days named
Kallikrates, to whom alone I am appointed by a divine
decree, and I await him here. Oh, shouldest thou find him
in the world without, tell him that Ayesha awaits him and
grows weary in the waiting Nay, thou wilt never find him,
since even if he be born again, by what token would he be
known to thee ? Therefore I charge thee, keep my secrets
well, lest Ayesha's curse should fall on thee. While thou
livest tell naught of me to the world thou knowest. Dost
thou swear to keep my secrets, Allan ? "
" I swear, Ayesha.^'
" I thank thee, Allan," she answered, and grew silent for a
while.
At length Ayesha rose and drawing herself up to the full
of her height, stood there majestic. Next she beckoned to
me to come near, for I too had risen and left the dais.
I obeyed, and bending down she held her hands over me
as though in blessing, then pointed towards the curtains which
at this moment were drawn asunder, by whom I do not know.
I went and when I reached them, turned to look my last
on her.
There she stood as I had left her, but now her eyes were
fixed upon the ground and her face once more was brooding
absently as though no such a man as I had ever been. It came
into my mind that already she had forgotten me, the plaj^thing
of an hour, who had served her turn and been cast aside.
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT UMSLOPOGAAS SAW
LIKE one who dreams I passed down the outer hall
where stood the sJJent guards as statues might,
and out through the archway. Here I paused for
a moment, partly to calm my mind in the familiar
surroundings of the night, and partly because I thought that
I heard someone approaching me through the gloom, and in
such a place where I might have many enemies, it was well
to be prepared.
As it chanced, however, my imagined assailant was only
Hans, who emerged from some place where he had been
hiding ; a very disturbed and frightened Hans.
" Oh, Baas," he said in a low and shaky whisper, " I am
glad to see you again, and standing on your feet, not being
carried with them sticking straight in front of you as I
expected."
" Why ? " I asked.
" Oh, Baas, because of the things that happened in that
place where the tall vrouw with her head tied up as though she
had toothache, sits like a spider in a web."
" WeU, what happened, Hans ? " I asked as we walked
forward.
" This, Baas. The Doctoress talked and talked at you
and Umslopogaas, and as she talked, your faces began to look
as though you had drunk half a flask too much of the best
gin, such as I wish I had some of here to-night, at once wise
and foolish, and full and empty. Baas. Then you both rolled
over and lay there quite dead, and whilst I was wondering
what I should do and how I should get out your bodies to
bury them, the Doctoress came down ofi her platform and
bent, first over you and next over Umslopogaas, whispering
into the ears of both of you. Then she took ofi a snake that
looked as though it were made of gold with green eyes, which
she wears about her middle beneath the long dish-cloth,
Baas, and held it to your lips and next to those of
Umslopogaas."
276 She and Allan
" Well, and what then, Hans ? "
" After that all sorts of things came about, Baas, and I
felt as though the whole house were travelling through the
air, Baas, twice as fast as a bullet does from a rifle.. Sud
denly, too, the room became filled with fire so hot that it
scorched me, and so bright that it made my eyes water,
although they can look at the sun without winking. Aad,
Baas, the fire was full of spooks which walked around ; yes,
I saw some of them standing on your head and stomach,
Baas, also on that of UmsJopogaas, whilst others went and
talked to the white Doctoress as quietly as though they had
met her in the market-place and wanted to sell her eggs or
bitt«". Then, Baas, suddenly I saw your reverend father,
the Predikant, who looked as though he were red-hot, ab
doubtless he is in the Place of Fires. I thought he came up
to me. Baas, and said, ' Get out of this, Hans. This is no
place for a good Hottentot like you, Hans, for here only the
very best Christians can bear the heat ior long.'
" That finished me. Baas. I just answered that I handed
you, the Baas Allan his son, over to his care, hoping that he
would see that you did not burn in that oven, whatever
hapj>ened to Umslopogaas Then I shut my eyes and mouth
and held my nose, and T^riggled beneath those curtains as a
snake does. Baas, and ran down the hall and across the kraal-
yard and through the archway out into the night, where I
have been sitting cooling myself ever since, waiting for you
to be carried away, Baas. And now you have come alive
and with not even your hair burnt off, which shows how
wonderful must be the Great Medicine of Zikali, Baas, since
nothing else could have saved you in that fire, no, not even
your reverend father, the Predikant."
" Hans," I said when he had finished, " you are a very
wonderful fellow, for you can get drunk on nothing at all.
Please remember, Hans, that you have been drunk to-night,
yes, very drunk indeed, and never dare to repeat anything
rhat you thought you saw while you were drunk."
" Yes, Baas, I understand that I was drunk and already
I have forgotten everything. But, Baas, there is still a bottle
full of brandy and if I could have just one tot I should forget
so much better I "
By now we had reached our camp and here I found
Umslopogaas sitting in the doorway and staring at the sky.
What Umslopogaas Saw 277
'' Good-evening to you, Umslopogaas," I said in my most
unconcerned manner, and waited.
" Good-evening, Watcher-by-Night, who I thought was
lost in the night, since in the end the night is stronger than
any of its watchers."
At this cryptic remark I looked bewildered but said
nothing. At length Umslopogaas, whose nature, for a Zulu, was
impulsive and lacking in the ordinary native patience, asked,
" Did you make a journey this evening, Macumazahn,
and if so, what did you see ? "
" Did you have a dream this evening, Umslopogaas ? " I
inquired by way of answer, ''and if so, what was it about ?
I thought that I saw you shut your eyes in the Hoiise of the
\\'hite One yonder, doubtless because you were weary of
talk which you did not understand.''
" Aye, Macumazahn, as you suppose I grew weary of that
talk which flowed from the lips of the White Witch like the
music that comes from a little stream babbling over stones
when the sun is hot, and being weary, I fell asleep and dreamed.
What I dreamed does not much matter. It is enough to say
that I felt as though I were thrown through the air like a
stone cast from his sling by a boy who is set upon a stage to
scare the birds out of a mealie garden. Further than any
stone I went, aye, further than a shooting star, till I reached a
wonderful place It does not much matter what it was like
either, and indeed I am already begiimingto forget, but there
I met everyone I have ever known. I met the Lion of the
Zulus, the Black One, the Earth-Shaker, he who had a ' sister '
named Baleka, which sister," here he dropped his vcace and
looked about him suspiciously, " bore a child, which child was
fostered by one Mopo, that Mopo who afterwards slew the
Black One with the Princes. Now, Macumazahn, I had a
score to settle with this Black One, aye, even though otir
blood be much of the same colour, I had a score to settle
with him, becasue of the slaying of this sister of his. Baleka.
together with the Langeni tribe. « So I walked up to him and
took him by the head-ring and spat in his face and bade him
find a spear and shield, and meet me as man to man. Yes, I
did this."
1 For the history of Baleka, the mother of Umslopogaas, and Mcpo,
see the book called " Nada the Lily." — EorroR.
278 She and Allan
" And what happened then, Umslopogaas ? " I said,
when he paused in his narrative.
" Macumazahn, nothing happened at all. My hand
seemed to go through his head-ring and the skull beneath,
and to shut upon itself while he went on talking to someone
else, a captain whom I recognised, yes, one Faku, whom in
the days of Dingaan, the Black One's brother, I myself slew
upon the Ghost-Mountain.
" Yes, Macumazahn, and Faku was telling him the tale of
how I killed him and of the fight that I and my blood-brother
and the wolves made, there on the knees of the old witch who
sits aloft on the Ghost -Mountain waiting for the world to die,
for I could understand their talk, though mine went by them
like the wind.
" Macumazahn, they passed away and there came others,
Dingaan among them, aye, Dingaan who also knows something
of the Witch-Mountain, seeing that there Mopo and I hurled
him to his death. With him also I would have had words,
but it was the same story, only presently he caught sight of
the Black One, yes, of Chaka whom he slew, stabbing him with
the little red assegai, and turned and fled, because in that land
I think he stni fears Chaka, Macumazahn, or so the dream
told.
" I went on and met others, men I had fought in my day,
most of them, among them was Jikiza, he who ruled the
People of the Axe before me whom I slew with his own axe.
I lifted the axe and made me ready to fight again, but not
cne of them took any note of me. There they walked about,
or sat drinking beer or taking snuff, but never a sup of the
beer or a pinch of the snuff did they offer to me, no, not even
those among them whom I chanced not to have killed. So I left
them and walked on, seeking for Mopo, my foster-father, and
a certain man, my blood-brother, by whose side I hunted
with the wolves, yes, for them, and for another."
" Well, and did you find them ? " I asked.
*• Mopo I found not, which makes me think, Macumazahn,
that, as once you hinted to me, he whom I thought long dead,
perchance still lingers on the earth. But the others I did
find . . ." and he ceased, brooding.
Now I knew enough of Umslopogaas's history to be aware
that he had loved this man and woman of whom he spoke more
than any others on the earth. The " blood-brother, whose
What Umslopogaas Saw 279
name he would not utter, by which he did not mean th^t
be was his brother in blood but one with whom he had made
a pact of eternal friendship by the interchange of blood or
some such ceremony, according to report, had dwelt with
him on the Witch-Mountain where legend told, though this I
could scarcely believe, that they hunted with a pack of
hyenas. There, it said also, they fought a great fight witli a
band sent out by Dingaan the king under the command of
that Faku whom Umslopogaas had mentioned, in which fght
the " Blood-Brother," v\'ielder of a famous club known as
Watcher-of-the-Fords, got his death after doing mighty deeds.
There also, as I had heard, Nada the Lily, whose beauty was
still famous in the land, died under circumstances strange as
they were sad.
Naturally, remembering my own experiences, or rather
what seemed to be my experiences, for already I had made
up my mind that they were but a dream, I was most anxious
to learn whether these two who had been so dear to this fierce
Zulu, had recognised him.
" Well, and what did they say to you, Umslopogaas ? " I
asked.
!' Macumazahn, they said nothing at ail. Hearken I
There stood this pair, or sometimes they moved to and fro ;
my brother, an even greater man than he used to be, ^^ith the
wolfskin girt about him and the club, Watcher-of-the-Fords,
which he alone could wield, upon his shoulder, and Nada,
grown lovelier even than she was of old, so lovely, Macu-
mazahn, that my heart rose into my throat when I saw her
and stopped my breath. Yes, Macumazahn, there they stood,
or walked about arm in arm as lovers might, and looked into
each other's eyes and tafked of how they had known each
other on the earth, for I could understand their words or
thoughts, and how it was good to be at rest together where
they were."
" You see, they were old friends, Umslopogaas," I said.
" Yes, Macumazahn, very old friends as I thought. So
much so that they had never a word to say of me -v^o also was
the old friend of both of them. Aye, m.y brother, whose
name I am sworn not to speak, the woman-hater who vo'.ved
he loved nothing save me and the wolves, could smile into the
face of Nada the Lily, Nada the bride of my youth, yet never
a word of me, while she could smile back and tell him how
28o She and Allan
great a warrior he had been and never a word of me whose
detds she was v%'ont to p^ai^,e, who saved her in the Halakazi
caves and from Diiigaan ; no, never a word of me although I
stood there staring at them."
" I suppose that they flid not see you, Umslopogaas."
" That is so, Macumazahn; I am sure that they did not
see me, for if they had they would not have been so much
at ease. But I saw them andas they wouldnot take heed when
I shouted, I ran up calling to my brother to defend himself
with his club. Then, as he still took no note, I lifted the axe
Ivkosikaas, making it circle in the light, and smote with all
my strength."
" And what happened, Umslopogaas ? "
" Only this, Macumazahn, that the axe went straight
through my brother from the crown of his head to the groin,
cutting him in two, and he just went on talking I Indeed, he
did more, for stooping down he gathered a white lily-bloom
which grew there and gave it to Nada, who smelt at it, smiled
and thanked him, and then thrust it into her girdle, sti:!
thanking him all the while. Yes, she did this for I saw it
with my eyes, Macumazahn."
Here the Zulu's voice broke and I think that he wept, for
in the faint light I saw him draw his long hand across his eyes,
whereon I took the opportunity to turn my back and light a
pipe.
"Macumazahn," he went on presently, "it seems that
madness took hold of me for a while, for I shouted and raved
at them, thinking that words and rage might hurt where good
steel could not, and as I did so they faded away and dis-
appeared, still smiling and talking, Nada smelling at the lily
which, having a long stalk, rose up above her breast.
After this I rushed away and suddenly met that savage king,
Rezu, whom I slew a few days gone. At him I went with the
axe, wondering whether he would put up a better fight this
second time."
" And did he, Umslopogaas ? "
" Nay, but I think he felt me for he turned and fled and
when I tried to follow I could not see him. So I ran on and
presently who should I find but Baleka, Baleka, Chaka's
'sister ' who — repeat it not, Macumazahn — vra.s my mother ;
and, Macumazahn, she saw me. Yes, though I was but little
when !ast she looked on me who now am great and grim, she
What Umslopogaas Saw 281
saw and knew me, for she floated up to me and smiled at me
and seemed to press her lips upon my forehead, though I could
feel no kiss, and to draw the soreness out of my heart. Then
she, too, was gone and of a sudden I fell down through space,
having, I suppose, stepped into some deep hole, or perchance
a well.
" The next I knew was that I awoke in the house of the
White Witch and saw you sleeping at my side and the Witch
leaning back upon her bed and smiling at me through the
thin blanket with which she covers herself up, for I could see
the laughter in her eyes.
" Now I grew mad with her because of the things that I
had seen in the Place of Dreams, and it came into my heart
that it would be well to kill her that the world might be rid
of her and her e\'il magic which can show lies to men. So,
being distraught, I sprang up and lifted the axe and stepped
towards her, whereon she rose and stood before me, laughing
out loud. Then she said something in the tongue I cannot
understand, and pointed with her finger, and lo I next moment
it was as if giants had seized me and were whirling me away,
till presently I found myself breatliless but unharmed beyond
the arch and — what does it all mean, Macumazahn ? ' '
" Very little, as I think, Umslopogaas, except that this
queen has powers to which those of Zikali are as nothing, and
can cause \dsions to float before the eyes of men. For know
that such things as you saw, I saw, and in them those whom
I have loved also seemed to take no thought of me but only
to be concerned with each other. Moreover when I awoke
and told this to the queen who is called She-who-commands,
she laughed at me as she did at you, and said that it was a
good lesson for my pride who in that pride had believed that
the dead only thought of the living. But I think that the
lesson came from her who wished to humble us, Umslopc^aas,
and that it was her mind that shaped these visions which we
saw."
" I think so too, Macumazahn, but how she knew of all
the matters of your life and mine, I do not know, unless
perchance Zikali told them to her, speaking in the night-
watches as wizards can."
" Nay, Umslopogaas, I believe that by her magic she
drew our stories out of our own hearts and then set them
forth to us afresh, putting her own colour on them. Also it
282 She and Allan
may be that she drew something from Hans, and from Goroko
and the other Zulus with you, and thus paid us the fee that
she had promised for our service, but in lung-sick oxen and
barren cows, not in good cattle, Umslopogaas."
He nodded and said,
" Though at the time I seemed to go mad and though I
know that women are false and men must follow where they
lead them, never will I believe that my brother, the woman-
hater, and Nada are lovers in the land below and have there
forgotten me, the comrade of one of them and the husband of
the other. Moreover I hold, Macumazahn, that you and I
have met with a just reward for our folly.
" We have sought to look through the bottom of the grave
at things which the Great-Great in Heaven above did not
mean that men should see, and now that we have seen we are
unhappier than we were, since such dreams burn themselves
upon the heart as a red-hot iron burns the hide of an ox, so
that the hair will never grow again where it has been and the
hide is marred.
" To you, Watcher-by-Night, I say, ' Content yourself
with your ^^-atching and whatever it may bring to you in
fame and wealth.' And to myself I say, ' Holder of the Axe,
content yourself with the axe and what it may bring to you
in fair fight and glory ' ; and to both of us I say, ' Let the
Dead sleep una wakened until we go to join them, which surely
will be soon enough.' "
" Good words, Umslopogaas, but they should have been
spoken ere ever we set out on this journey."
" Not so, Macumazahn, since that journey we were fated
to make to save one who lies yonder, the Lady Sad-Eyes^
and, as they tell me, is well again. Also Zikali willed it, ana
who can resist the \^'ill of the Opener-of-Roads ? So it is
made and we have seen many strange things and won some
glory and come to know how deep is the pool of our own
foolishness, who thought that we could search out the secrets
of Death, and there have only found those of a witch's mind
and venom, reflected as in water. And now having dis-
covered all these things I \vish to be gone from this haunted
land. When do we march, Macumazahn ? "
" To-morrow morning, I believe, if the Lady Sad-Eyes and
the others are well enough, as She-who-commands says they
will be."
What Umslopogaas Saw 283
" Good. Then I would sleep who am more weary than
I was after I had killed Rezu in the battle on the mountain. "
" Yes," I answered, " since it is harder to fight ghosti
than men, and dreams, if they be bad, are more dreadful than
deeds. Good-night, Umslopogaas."
He went, and I too went to see how it fared with Inez.
I found that she was fast asleep but in a quite different sleep
to that into which Ayesha seemed to have plunged her. Now
it was absolutely natural and looking at her lying there upon
the bed, I thought how young and healthy was her appearance.
The women in charge of her also told me that she had awak-
ened at the hour appointed by She-who-commands, as it
seemed, quite well and very hungry, although she appeared
to be puzzled by her surroundings. After she had eaten, they
added that she had " sung a song " which was probably a
hymn, and prayed upon her knees, " making signs upon her
breast " and then gone quietly to bed.
My anxiety relieved as regards Inez, I returned to my own
quarters. Not feeling inclined for slumber, however, instead
of turning in I sat in the doorway contemplating the beauty
of the night while I watched the countless fireflies that seemed
to dust the air ^^'ith sparks of burning gold ; also the great
owls and other fowl that haunt the dark. These had come
out in numbers from their hiding-places among the ruins and
sailed to and fro like white- winged spirits, now seen and now
lost in the gloom.
While I sat thus many reflections came to me as to the
extraordinary nature of my experiences during the past few
days. Had any man ever known the like, I wondered ?
What could they mean and what could this marvellous woman
Ayesha be ? Was she perhaps a personification of Nature
itself, as indeed to some extent all women are ? Was she
human at all, or was she some spirit symbolising a departed
people, faith and civilisation, and haunting the ruins where
once she reigned as queen ? No, the idea was ridiculous,
since su^h beings do not exist, though it was impossible to
doubt that she possessed powers beyond those of common
humanity, as she possessed beauty and fascination greater
than are given to any other woman.
Of one thing I was certain, however, that the Shades I
284 She and Allan
had seemed to visit had their being in the circle of her own
imagination and intelligence. There Umslopogaas was right ;
we had seen no dead, we had only seen pictures and images
that she drew and fashioned.
Why did she do this, I wondered. Perhaps to pretend to
powers which she did not possess, perhaps out of sheer elfish
mischief, or perhaps, as she asserted, just to teach us a lesson
and to humble us in our own sight. Well, if so she had
succeeded, for never did I feel so crushed and humiUated as
at that moment.
I had seemed to descend, or ascend, into Hades, and there
had only seen things that gave me little joy and did but serve
to reopen old wounds. Then, on awaking, I had been be-
witched ; yes, fresh from those visions of the most dear dead,
I had been bewitched by the overpowering magic of this
woman's loveliness and charm, and made a fool of myself,
only to be brought back to my senses by her triumphant
mockery. Oh, I was humbled indeed, and yet the odd thing is
that I could not feel angry with her, and what is more that,
perhaps from vanity, I believed in her professions of friendship
towards myself.
Well, the upshot of it was that, like Umslopogaas, more
than anything else in the world did I desire to depart from
this haunted K6r and to bury all its recollections in such
activities as fortune might bring to me. And yet, and yet it
was well to have seen it and to have plucked the flower of
such marvellous experience, nor, as I knew even then, could I
ever inter the memory of Ayesha the wise, the perfect in aU
loveliness, and the half -divine in power.
When I awoke the next morning the sun was well up and
after I had taken a swim in the old b.ith and dressed myself,
I went to see how it fared with Inez. I found her sitting at
the door of her house looking extremely well and with n
radiant face. She was engaged in making a chain of some
small and beautiful blue flowers of the iiis tribe, of which
quantities grew about, that she threaded together upon stalks
of dry grass.
This chain, which was just finished, she threw over her
head so that it hung down upon her white robe, for now she
was dressed like an Arab woman though without the veil.
I watched her unseen for a little while then came forward and
What Umslopogaas Saw 285
spoke to her. She started at the sight of me and rose as
though to run away ; then, apparently reassured by my
appearance, selected a particularly fine flower and ofiered it
to me.
I saw at once that she did not know me in the least and
thought that she had never seen me before, in short, that her
mind had gone, exactly as Ayesha had said that it would do.
By way of making conversation I asked her if she felt well,
She replied. Oh, yes, she had never felt better, then added,
" Daddy has gone on a long journey and will not be back
for weeks and weeks,"
An idea came to me and I answered,
" Yes, Inez, but I am a friend of his and he has sent me
to take you to a place where I hope that we shall find him.
Only it is fax away, so you also must make a long journey."
She clapped her hands and answered,
" Oh, that will be nice, I do so love travelling, especially
to find Daddy, who I expect will have my proper clothes with
him, not these which, although they are very comfortable
and pretty, seem different to what I used to wear. You look
very nice too and I am sure that we shall be great friends,
which I am glad of, for I have been rather lonely since my
mother went to live with the saints in Heaven, because, you
see, Daddy is so busy and so often away, that I do not see
much of him."
Upon my word I could have wept when I heard her prattle
on thus. It is so terribly unnatural, almost dreadful indeed,
to listen to a full-grown woman who talks in the accents and
expresses the thoughts of a child. However, under all the
circumstances I recognised that her calamity was merciful,
and remembering that Ayesha had prophesied the recovery of
her mind as well as its loss and how great seemed to be her
powers in these directions, I took such comfort as I could.
Leaving her I went to see the two Zulus who had beet
wounded and found to my joy that they were now quite well
and fit to travel, for here, too, Ayesha's prophecy had proved
good. The other men also were completely rested and anxious
to be gone like Umslopogaas and myself.
WTiile I was eating my breakfast Hans announced the
venerable Billah, who with a sweeping bow informed me that
he had come to inquire when we should be ready to start, as
he had received orders to see to all the necessary arrange-
286 She and Allan
ments. I replied — within an hour, and he departed in a
hurry.
But Httle after the appointed time he reappeared with a
number of litters and their bearers, also with a bodyguard of
twenty-five picked men, all of whom we recognised as brave
fellows who had fought well in the battle. These men and
the bearers old Billali harangued, telling them that they were
to guide, carry and escort us to the other side of the great
swamp, or further if we needed it, and that it was the word of
She-who-commands that if so much as the smallest harm came
to any one of us, even by accident, they should die every
man of them " by the hot-pot," whatever that might be, for
I was not sure of the significance of this horror. * Then he asked
them if they understood. They replied with fervour that
they understood perfectly and would lead and guard us as
though we were their own mothers.
As a matter of fact they did, and I think would have done
so independently of Ayesha's command, since they looked
upon Umslopogaas and myself almost as gods and thought
that we coiild destroy them all if we wished, as we had
destroyed Rezu and his host.
I asked Billali if he were not coming with us, to which he
replied, No, as She-who-commands had returned to her
own place and he must follow her at once. I asked him again
where her own place might be, to which he answered vaguely
that it was every^'here, and he stared first at the heavens and
then at the earth as though she inhabited both of them,
adding that generally it was " in the Caves," though what he
meant by that I did not know. Then he said that he was
very glad to have met us and that the sight of Umslopogaas
killing Rezu was a spectacle that he would remember with
pleasure all his life. Also he asked me for a present. I gave
him a spare pencU that I possessed in a little German silver
case, with which he was delighted. Thus I parted with old
Billali, of whom I shall always think with a certain affection.
I noticed even then that he kept very clear indeed of
Umslopogaas, thinking, I suppose, that he might take a last
opportunity to fulfil his threats and introduce him to his
terrible Axe.
> For this see the book called " She." — EDrrcR.
CHAPTER XXIV
UMSLOPOGAAS WEARS THE GREAT MEDICINE
A LITTLE while later we started, some of us in litters,
including the wounded Zulus, who I insisted should
be carried for a day or two, and some on foot.
Inez I caused to be borne immediately in front of
myself so that I could keep an eye upon her. Moreover I
put her in the especial charge of Hans, to whom fortunately
she took a great fancy at once, perhaps because she re-
membered subconsciously that she knew hira and that he had
been kind to her, although when they met after her long
sleep, as in my own case, she did not recognise him in the
least.
Soon, however, they were again the fastest of friends, so
much so that within a day or two the little Hottentot prac-
tically filled the place of a maid to her, attending to her
every want and looking after her exactly as a nurse does after
a child, with the result that it was quite touching to see how
she came to depend upon him, " her monkey," as she called
him, and how fond he grew of her.
Once, indeed, there was trouble, since hearing a noise, I
came up to find Hans bristling with fury and threatening to
shoot one of the Zulus, who stupidly, or perhaps rudely, had
knocked against the litter of Inez and nearly turned it over.
For the rest, the Lady Sad-Eyes, as they called her, had for
the time become the Lady Glad-Eyes, since she \\'as merry as
the day was long, laughing and singing and playing just as a
healthy happy child should do.
Only once did I see her wretched and weep. It was wher,
a kitten which she had insisted in bringing with her, sprang
out of the litter and vanished into some bush where it could
not be found. Even then she was soon consoled and dried
her tears, when Hans explained to her in a mixture of bad
288 She and Allan
Enc;lish and worse Portuguese, that it had only run away
because it wished to get back to its mother which it loved,
an<l that it was cruel to separate it from its mother.
We made good progress and by the evening of the first
day were over the crest of the cliff or volcano lip that encircles
the great plain of K6r, and descending rapidly to a sheltered
spot on the outer slope where our camp was to be set for the
night.
Not very far from this place, as 1 think I have mentioned,
stood, and I suppose still stands, a very curious pinnacle of
rock, which, doubtless being of some harder sort, had re-
mained when, hundreds of thousands or millions of years
before, the surrounding lava had been washed or had corroded
away. This rock pillar was perhaps fifty feet high and as
smooth as though it had been worked by man ; indeed, I
remembered having remarked to Hans, or Umslopogaas —
I forget which — when we passed it on our inward journey,
that there was a column which no monkey could climb.
As we went by it f cr the second time, the sun had already
disappeared behind the western cliff, but a fierce ray from it^
sinking orb, struck upon a storm-cloud that hung over us,
and thence was reflected in a glow of angry light of which the
focus or centre seemed to fall upon the summit of this strange
and obelisk-like pinnacle of rock.
At the moment I was out of my litter and walking with
Umslopogaas at the end of the line, to make sure that no one
straggled in the oncoming darkness. When we had passed
the column by some forty or fifty yards, something caused
Umslopogaas to turn and look back. He uttered an ex^
ciamation which made me follow his example, with the result
that I saw a very wonderful thing. For there on the point
of the pillar, like St. Simeon Stylites on his famous column,
glowing in the sunset rays as though she were on fire, stood
Ayesha herself I
It was a strange and in a way a glorious sight, for poised
thus between earth and heaven, she looked like some glowing
angel rather than a woman, standing as she seemed to do
upon the darkness ; since the shadows, save for the faintest
outline, had swallowed up the column that supported her.
Moreover, in the intense, rich light that was focussed on her,
we could see every detail of her form and face, for she was
unveiled, and even her large and tender eyes which gazed
Umslopogaas Wears the Great Medicine 289
upwards emptily (at this moment they seemed very tender),
yes, and the little gold studs that glittered on her sandals and
the shine of the snake girdle she wore about her waist.
We stared and stared till I said inconsequently,
" Learn, Umslopogaas, what a liar is that old Billali, who
toM me that She-who-commands had departed from K6r to
her own place."
' Perhaps this rock edge is her own place, il she be there
at all, Macumazahn."
" If she be there," I answered angrily, for my nerves were
at once thrilled and torn. " Speak not empty words, Um-
slopogaas, for where else can she be when we see her wdth our
eyes ? "
'.' Who am I that I should know the ways of witches who,
like the winds, are able to go and come as they will ? Can a
woman run up a wall of rock like a lizard, Macumazahn ? "
" Doubtless " and I began some explanation which I
have forgotten, when a passing cloud, or I know not what,
cut off the light so that both the pinnacle and she v/ho stood
on it became invisible. A minute later it returned for a little
while, and there was the point of the needle-shaped rock, but
it was empty, as, save for the birds that rested on it, it had
been since the beginning of the world.
Then Umslopogaas and I shook our heads and pursued our
way in silence.
This was the last that I saw of the glorious Ayesha, if
indeed I did see her and not her ghost. Yet it is true that for
all the first part of the journey, till we were through the great
swamp in fact, from time to time I was conscious, or
imagined that I was conscious of her presence. Moreover,
once others saw her, or someone who might have been her.
It happened thus.
We were in the centre of the great swamp and the trained
guides who were leading came to a place where the path
forked and were uncertain which road to take. Finally
they fixed on the right-hand path and were preparing to
follow it together with those who bore the litter of Inez, by
the side of which Hans was walking as usual.
At this moment, as Hans told me, the guides went down
upon their faces and he saw standing in front of them a v hite-
veiled form who pointed to the left-hand path, and then
■
ago She and Allan
seemed to be lost in the mist. Without a word the guide"?
rose and followed this left-hand path. Hans stopped fht
litter till I came up when he told me what had happened,
while Inez also began to chatter in her childish fashion about
a " Wnitc I^idy."
I had rhe curiosity to walk a little way along the right-
hand path M'li'ch they were about to take. Only a few yards
further on I found myself sinking in a floating quagmire, from
which I extricated myself with much difl&culty and but just in
time, for u? I discovered afterwards by probing with a pole,
rhe water beneath the matted reeds was deep. That night I
(questioned the guides upon the subject, but without resuU
for they pretended to have seen nothing and not to understai;
what I meant. Of neither of these incidents have I an
explanation to offer, except that once contracted, it is as
difficult to be rid of the habit of hallucinations as of any
other.
It is not necessary that I should give all the details of our
long homeward journey. So I will only say that having dis-
missed our bearers and escort when wo reached higher ground
beyond the horrible swamp, keeping one litter for Inez in
which the Zulus cairied her when she was tired, we accom-
plished it in complete safety and having crossed the Zambesi,
kf last one evening reached the house called Strathmuir.
Here we found the waggon and oxen quite safe and were
welcomed rapturously by my Zulu driver and the voorlooper,
who had made up their minds that we were dead and were
thinking ot trekking homewards. Here also Thomaso greeted'
us, though I think that, like the Zulus, he was astonished at
our safe return and indeed not over-pleased to see us. I
told him that Captain Robertson had been killed in a fight
in which we had rescued his daughter from the cannibals who
had carried her ofi (information which I cautioned him to
keep to himself) but nothing else that I could help.
Also I warned the Ztdus through Umslopogaas and Goroko,
that no mention was to be made of our adventures either then
or afterwards, since if this were done the curse of the White
Queen would fall on them and bring them to disaster and
death. I added that the name of this queen and everythin
that was coimected with her, or her doings, must be lock<
up in their own hearts. It must be like the name of d au
Umslopogaas Wears the Great Medicine 291
kings, not to be spoken Nor indeed did they ever speak it or
tell the story of our search, because they were too much afraid
both of Ayesha .\'hom they believed to be the greatest of all
witches, and of the axe of their captain, Umslopogaas.
Inez went to bed that night without seeming to recognise
her old home, to all appearance just a mindless child as she
had been ever since she awoke from her trance at K6r. Next
morning, however, Hans came to tell me that she was changed
and that she wished to speak with me. I went, wondering,
to find her in the sitting-room dressed in European clothes
which she had taken from where she kept them, and once more
a reasoning woman.
" Mr. Quattraiain," she said, " I suppose that I must
have been ill, for the last thing I remember is going to sleep
on the night after you started for the hippopotamus hunt.
Where is my father ? Did any harm come to him while he
was hunting ? "
" Alas ! " I answered, \}i.ng boldly, for I feared lest the
truth should take away her mind again, " it did. He was
trampled upon by a hippopotamus bull, which charged him,
and killed, and we were obliged to bury him where Tie died."
She bowed her head for a while and muttered some prayer
for his soul, then looked at me keenly and said,
" I do not think you are telling me everj'thing, Mr. Quater-
main, but something seems to say to me that this is because
it is not well that I should learn ever}i;hing."
" No," I answered, " you have been ill and out of your
mind for quite a long while ; something gave you a shock.
I think that you learned of your father's death, which you
have now forgotten, and were overcome with the news.
Please trust to me and believe that if I keep anything back
trom you, it is because I think it best to do so for the present."
" I trust and I believe," she answered. " Now please
leave me, but tell me first where are those women and their
children ? "
" After your father died they went away," I replied, Ijing
once more.
She looked at me again but made no comment.
Then I left her.
How much Inez ever learned of the true story of her
adventures I do not know to this hour, though my opinion is
292 She and Allan
that it was but little. To begin with, everyone, including
Thomaso, \vas threatened with the direst consequences if he-
said a word to her on the subject ; moreover in her way she
was a wise woman, one who knew when it \^'as best not to ask
questions. She was aware that she had suffered from a fit
of aberration or madness and that during this time her father
had died and certain peculiar things had happened. There
she was content to leave the business and she never again spoke
to me upon the subject. Of this I was very glad, as how on
earth coi:l I 1 have explained to her about Ayesha's prophecies
as to her lapse into childishness and subsequent return to a
normal state when she reached her home, seeing that I did
not understand them myself ?
Once indeed she did inquire what had become of Janee,
to which I answered that she had died during her sickness.
It was another lie, at any rate by implication, but I hold that
there are occasions when it is righteous to lie. At least these
particular falsehoods have never troubled my conscience.
Here I may as will finish the story of Inez, that is, as far
as I can. As I have shown she was always a woman of a
melancholy and religious temperament, qualities that seemed
to grow upon her after her return to health. Certainly the
religion did, for continually she was engaged in prayer, a
development with which heredity may have had something to
do, since after he became a reformed character and grew
unsettled in his minJ, her father followed the same road.
On our return to civilisation, as it chanced, one of the
first persons with whom she came in contact was a very
earnest and excellent old priest of her own faith. The end
of this intimacy was much what might have been expected.
Very soon Inez determined to renounce the world, which
I think never had any great attractions for her, and entered a
sisterhood of an extremely strict Order in Natal, where, added
to her many merits, her considerable possessions made her
very welcome indeed.
Once in after years I saw her again when she expected
before long to become the Mother-Superior of her convent.
I found her very cheerful and she told me that her happiness
was complete. Even then she did not ask me the true story
of what had happened to her during that period when her
mind was a blank. She said that she knew something had
happened but that as she no longer felt any curiosity about
Umsiopo^aas Wears the Great Medicine 293
earthly things, she did not wish to know the details. Again
I rejoiced, for how could I tell the true tale and expect
to be believed, even by the most confiding and simple-
minded nun ?
To return to more immediate events. When we had been
at Strathmuir for a day or two and I thought that her mind
was clear enough to judge of affairs, I told Inez that I must
journey on to Natal, and asked her what she wished to do.
Without a moment's hesitation she replied that she desired
to come with me, as now that her father was dead nothing
would induce her to continue to live at Strathmuir \vithout
friends, or indeed the consolations of religion.
Then she showed me a secret hiding-place cunningly
devised in a sort of cellar under the sitting-room floor, where
her father was accustomed to keep the spirits of which he
consumed so great a quantity. In this hole beneath some
bricks, we discovered a large sum in gold stored away, which
Robertson had always told his daughter she would findthere, in
the event of anything happening to him. With the money
were his Nvill and securities, also certain mementos of his youth
and some love-letters together with a prayer-book that his
mother had given him.
These valuables, of which no one knew the existence except
herself, we removed and then made our preparations for
departure. They were simple ; such articles of value as we
coiild carry were packed into the waggon and the best of tJie
cattle we drove with us. The place with the store and th-^
rest of the stock were handed over to Thomaso on a half -profit
agreement under arrangement that he should remit the share
of Inez twice a year to a bank on the coast, where her father
had an account. Whether or not he ever did this I am unable
to say, but as no one wished to stop at Strathmuir, I could
conceive no better plan because purchasers of property in
that district did not exist.
As we trekked away one fine morning I asked Inez whether
she was sorry to leave the place.
" No," she replied with energy, " my life there has been a
hell and I never wish to see it again."
Now it was after this, on the northern borders of Zululand,
that Zikali's Great Medicine, as Hans called it, really played
294 She and Allan
its chief part, for without it i think that we should have been
killed, every one of us. I do not propose to set out the
business in detail ; it is too long and intricate. Suffice it to
saj', therefore, that it had to do with the plots of Umslopogaas
against Cetywayo, which had been betrayed by his wife Monaza
and her lover Lousta, both of whom I have mentioned earlier
in this record. The result was that a watch for him was kept
on all the frontiers, because it was guessed that sooner or
later he would return to Zululand ; also it had become known
that he was travelling in my company.
So it came about that when my approach was reported
by spies, a company was gathered under the command of a
man connected with the Royal House, and by it we were
surrounded. Before attacking, however, this captain sent
men to me with the message that with me the King had no
quarrel, although I \\'as travelling in doubtful company, and
that if I would deliver over to him Umslopogaas, Chief of the
People of the Axe, and his followers, I might go whither I
wished unharmed, taking my goods with me. Otherwise we
should be attacked at once and killed every one of us, since it
was not desired that any witnesses should be left of what
happened to Umslopogaas. Having delivered this ultimatum
and declined any argument as to its terms, the messengers
retired, saving that they would return for my answer within
half an hour.
'WTien they were out of hearing Umslopogaas, who had
listened to their words in grim silence, turned and spoke in
such fashion as might have been expected of him.
" Macumazahn," he said, " now I come to the end of an
unlucky journey, though mayhap it is not so evil as it seems,
since I who went out to seek the dead but to be filled by
yonder White Witch with the meat of mocking shadows, am
about to find the dead in the only way in which they can be
found, namely by becoming of their number."
" It seems that this is the case with all of us, Umslopogaas."
" Not so, Macumazahn. That child of the King will give
you safe-conduct. It is I and mine whose blood he seeks, as
he has the right to do, since it is true that I would have raised
rebellion against the King, I who wearied of my petty lot and
knewthat by bloodhis place was mine. In this quarrel you have
no share, though you, whose heart isas white as your skin, are
not minded to desert me. Moreover, evenif you wishedto fight.
Umslopogaas Wears the Great Medicine 295
there is one in the waggon yonder whose life is not yours to
give. The Lady Sad-Eyes is as a child in your arms and her
you must bear to safety."
Now this argument was so unanswerable that I did not
know what to say. So I only asked what he meant to do, as
escape was impossible, seeing that we were surrounded on
every side.
Make a glorious end, Macumazahn," he said with a
smile. " I will go out with those who cling to me, that is
with all who remain of my men, since my fate must be theirs,
and stand back to back on yonder mound and there wait till
these dogs of the King come up against us. Watch a while,
Macumazahn, and see how Umhlopekazi, Bearer of the Axe,
and the warriors of the Axe can fight and die."
Now I was silent for I knew not what to say. There we
all stood silent, while minute by minute I watched the shadow
creeping forward towards a mark that the head messenger had
made with his spear on the ground, for he had said that when
it touched that mark he would return for his answer.
In this rather dreadful silence I heard a drj' little cough,
which I knew came from the throat of Hans, and to be his
method of indicating that he had a remark to make.
" What is it ? " I asked with irritation, for it was annoying
to see him seated there on the ground fanning himself with the
remains of a hat and staring vacantly at the sky.
" Nothing, Baas, or rather, only this. Baas : Those
hj^enas of Zulus, are even more afraid of the Great Medicine
than were the cannibals up north, since the maker of it is
nearer to them, Baas. You remember. Baas, they knelt to
it, as it were, when we were going out of Zululand."
" Well, what of it, now that we are going into Zululand ? "
I inquired sharply. " Do you want me to show it to them ? "
" No, Baas. What is the use, seeing that they are ready
to let you pass, also the Lady Sad-Eyes, and me and the
cattle with the driver and voolooper, which is better still, and
all the other goods. So what have you to gain by showing
them the medicine ? But perchance if it were on the neck of
Umslopogaas and he showed it to them and brought it to their
minds that those who touch him who is in the shadow of
Zi kali's Great Medicine, or aught that is his, die within three
moons in this way or in that — ^well. Baas, who knows?''
and again he coughed drUy and stared at the sky.
296 She and Allan
I translated what Hans had said in Dutch to Umslopogaas,
who remarked indifferently,
" This little yellow man is well named Light -in-Darkness ;
at least the plan can be tried — if it fails there is always time
to die "
So thinking that this was an occasion on which I might
properly do so, for the first time I took off the talisman which
I had worn for so long, and Umslopogaas put it over his head
and hid it beneath his blanket.
A little while later the messengers returned and this time
the captain himself came with them, as he said to greet me,
for I kiew him slightly and once we had dealt together about
some cattle. After a friendly chat he turned to the matter of
Umslopogaas, explaining the case at some length. I said that
I quite understood his position but that it was a very awkward
thing to interfere with a man who was the actual wearer of
the Great Medicine of Zikali itself. When the captain heard
this his eyes almost started out of his head.
"The Great Medicine of the 0 pener-of- Roads t " he ex-
claimed. " Oh. now I understand why this Chief of the
People of the Axe is unconquerable — such a wizard that no
one is able to kill him."
" Yes," I replied, " and you remember, do you not, that
he who offends the Great Medicine, or offers violence to him
who wears it, dies horribly' x^ithin three moons, he and his
household and all those with him ? "
" I have heard it," he said with a sickly smile.
"And now you are about to learn whether the tale is
true," I added cheerfully.
Then he asked to see Umslopogaas alone.
I did not overhear their conversation, but the end of it was
that Umslopogaas came and said in a loud voice so that no
one could miss a single word, that as resistance was useless
and he did not wish me, his friend, to be involved in any
trouble, together with his men he had agreed to accompany
this King's captain to the royal kraal where he had been
guaranteed a fair trial as to certain false charges which had
been brought against him. He added that the King's captain
had sworn upon the Great Medicine of the Opener-of-Roads
to give him safe conduct and attempt no mischief against him
which, as was well known throughout the land, was an oath
Umslopogaas Wears the Great Medicine 297
that could not be broken by anyone who wished to continue
to look upon the sun.
I asked the captain if these things were so, also speaking
in a loud voice. He replied, Yes, since his orders were to take
Umslopogaas alive if he might. He was only to kill him if he
would not come.
Afterwards, while pretending to give him certain articles
out of the waggon, I had a few private words with Umslopo-
gaas, who told me that the arrangement was that he should
be allowed to escape at night with his people.
" Be sure of this, Macumazahn," he said, " that if I do not
escape, neither will that captain, since I walk at his side
and keep my axe, and at the first sign of treachery the axe
will enter the house of that thick head of his and make friends
with the brain inside.
" Macumazahn," he added, " we have made a strange
journey together and seen such things as I did not think the
world had to show. Also T have fought and killed Rezu in a
mad battle of ghosts and men which alone was worth all the
trouble of the journey. Now it has come to an end as every-
thing must, and we part, but as I believe, not for always. I
do not think that I shall die on this journey with the captain,
though I do think that others will die at the end of it," he
added grimly, a saying which at the time I did not under-
stand.
" It comes into my heart, Macumazahn, that in yonder
land of witches and wizards, the spirit of prophecy got caught
in my moocha and crept into my bowels. Now that spirit
tells me that we shall meet again in the after-years and stand
together in a great fray which will be our last, as I believe that
the WTiite Witch said. Or perhaps the spirit lives in Zikali's
Medicine which has gone down my throat and comes out of it
in words. I cannot say, but I pray that it is a true spirit,
since although you are white and I am black and you are
small and I am big, and you are gentle and cunning, whereas
T am fierce and as open as the blade of my own axe, yet I
love you as well, Macumazahn, as though we were born of the
same mother and had been brought up in the same kraal.
Now that captain waits and grows doubtful of our talk, so
farewell. I will return the Great Medicine to Zikali, if I
hve, and if I die he must send one of the ghosts that serve
him, to fetch it from among my bones.
29^ She and Allan
•' Farewell also to you, Yellow Man," he went on to Hans,
who had appeared, hovering about like a dog that is doubtful
of its welcome ; " well are you named Light -in-Darkness, and
glad am I to have met you, who have learned from you how a
snake moves and strikes, and how a jackal thinks and avMds
the snare. Yes, farewell, for the spirit within me does not
tell me that you and I shall meet again."
Then he lifted the great axe, and gave me a formal salute,
naming me " Chief and Father, Great Chief and Father, from
of old" {Baba ! Koos y umcooH Koos y pagaie f), thereby
acknowled£,'ng my superiority over him, a thing that he had
never done before, and as he did, so did Goroko and the other
Zulus, adding to their salute many titles of praise. In another
minute he had gone with the King's captain, to whose side I
noted he clung lovingly, his long, thin fingers playing about
the horn handle of the axe that was named Inkosikaas and
Groan-maker.
" I am glad we have seen the last of him and his axe, Baas, "
remarked Hans, spitting reflectively. " It is very well to
sleep ir the same hut with a tame lion sometimes, but after
you have done so for many moons, you begin to wonder when
you will wake up at night to find him pulling the blankets off
you and combing your hair with his claws. Yes, I am very
glad that this half-tame lion is gone, since sometimes I have
thought that I should be obliged to poison it that we might
lleep in peace. You know he called me a snake. Baas, and
poison is a snake's only spear. Shall I tell the boys to inspan
the oxen. Baas ? I think the further we get from that King's
captain and his men, the more comfortably shall we travel,
especially now when we no longer have the Great Medicine to
protect us."
" You suggested giving it to him, Hans," I saidj
" Yes, Baas, I had rather that Umslopogaas went away
with the Great Medicine, than that you kept the Great
Medicine and he stopped with us here. Never travel with a
traitor. Baas, at any rate in the land of the king whom he
^vishes to kill. Kings are very selfish people. Baas, and do
not like being killed, especially by someone who wishes to sit
upon their stool and to take the royal salute. No one gives
the royal salute to a dead king. Baas, however great he was
before he died, and no one thinks the worse of a king who was
a traitor before he became a kin^."
o
CHAPTER XXV
ALLAN DELIVERS THE MESSAGE
NCE more I sat in the Black Kloof face to face with
old Zikali.
" So you have got back safely, Macumazahn,"
he said. "Well, I told you you would, did I not ? As for
what happened to you upon the journey, let it be, for now that
I am old long stories tire me and I daresay that there is
nothing wonderful about this one. Where is the charm I
lent you "> Give it back now that it has served its turn."
'' I have not got it, Zikali. I passed it on to Umslopogaas
of the Axe to save his life from the King's men."
'' Oh I yes, so you did. I had forgotten. Here it is," and
opening his robe of fur, he showed me the hideous little
talisman hanging about his neck, then added, " Woxild you
like a copy of it, Macumazahn, to keep as a memory ? If so,
I will carve one for you."
" No,'' I answered, " I should not. Has Umslopogaas
been here ? "
" Yes, he has been and gone again, which is one of the
reasons why I do not y,ish to hear your tale a second time."
" WTiere to ? The Town of the People of the Axe ? "
" No, Macumazahn, he came thence, or so I understood,
but thither he will return no more."
"Why not, Zikali?"
" Because after his fashion he made trouble there and
left some dead behind him; one Lousta, I believe, whom he
had appointed to sit on his stool as chief while he was away,
and a woman called Monazi, who was his wife, or Lousta 's
wife, or the wife of both of them, I forget which. It is said
that having heard stories of her — and the ears of jealousy are
long. Macumazahn — he cut off this woman's head with a sw':;ep
300 She and Allan
of the axe and made Lousta fight him till he fell, which the
fool did almost before he had lifted his shield. It served him
right who should have made sure that Umslopogaas was dead
before he wTapped himself in his blanket and took the woman
to cook his porridge.''
" Where has the Axe-bearer gone ? " I asked without sur-
prise, for this news did not astonish me.
" I neither know nor care, Macumazahn. To become a
wanderer, I suppose. He will tell you the tale when you meet
again in the after-days, as I understand he thinks that you
will do * Hearken I I have done with this lion's whelp,
who is Chaka over again, but without Chaka's wit. Yes, he
is just a fighting man ^ith a long reach, a sure eye and the
trick of handling an axe, and such are of little use to me who
know too many of them. Thrice have I tried to make him
till my garden, but each time he has broken the hoe, although
the wage I promised him was a royal kaross and nothing less.
So enough of Umslopogaas, the Woodpecker. Almost I wish
that you had not lent him the charm, for then the King's men
would have made an end of him, who knows too much and
like some silly boaster, may shout out the truth when his axe
is aloft and he is full of the beer of battle. For in battle he
will live and in battle he will die, Macumazahn, as perhaps
you may see one day."
" Tlie fate of your friends does not trouble you over much,
Opener-of-Roads, " I said witli sarcasm.
" Not at all, Macumazahn, because I have none. The
only friends of the old are those whom they can turn to their
own ends, and if these fail them they find others."
" I understand, Zikali, and know now what to expect
from you."
He laughed in his strange way, and answered,
'' Aye and it is good that you must expect, good in the
future as in the past, for you, Macumazahn, who are brave
in your own fashion, uilhout being a fool like Umslopogaas,
and, although you know it not, like some master -smith, forge
my assegais out of the red ore I give you, tempering them in
the blood of men, and yet keep your mind innocent and
your hands clean. Friends like you are useful to such as I,
' For the tale of tbiis meeting see the book called " Allaa
Quatennain ' — Editor.
Allan Delivers the Message 301
Macumazahn, and must be well paid in those wares that
please them."
The old wizard brooded for a space, while I reflected upon
his amazing cynicism, which interested me in a way, for the
extreme of unmorality is as fascinating to study as the extreme
of virtue and often more so. Then jerking up his great head,
he asked suddenly,
" What message had the White Queen for me ? "
" She said that you troubled her too much at night in
dreams, Zikali."
" Aye, but if I cease to do so, ever she desires to know the
reason why, for I hear her asking me in the voices of the
wind, or in the twittering of bats. After all, she is a woman,
Macumazahn, and it must be dull sitting alone from year to
year with naught to staj' her appetite save the ashes of the
past and dreams of the future, so dull that I wonder, having
once meshed you In her web, how she found the heart to let
you go before she had sucked out your life and spirit, I
suppose that having made a mock of you and drained you
dry, she was content to throw you aside like an empty gourd.
Perchance, had she kept you at her side, you would have
been a stone in her path in days to come. Perchance, Macu-
mazahn, she waits for other travellers and would welcome
them, or one of them alone, saying nothing of a certain
Watcher-by-Night who has served her turn and vanished into
the night.
" But what other message had the White Queen for the
poor old savage witch-doctor whose talk wearies her so much
in her haunted sleep ? "
Then I told him of the picture that Ayesha had shown me in
the water ; the picture of a king d)dng in a hut and of two
who watched his end.
Zikali listened intently to every word, then broke into a
peal of his unholy laughter,
" Oho-ho ! " he laughed, " so all goes well, though the road
be long, since whatever this White One may have shown you
in the fire of the heavens above, she could show you nothing
but truth in the water of the earth below, for that is the law
of our company of seers. You have worked well for me,
Macumazahn, and you have had your fee, the fee of the vision
of the dead which you desired above all mortal things."
"Aye," I answered indignantly, "a fee of bitter fruits
302 She and Allan
whereof the juice burns and twists the mouth and the stones
still stick fast within the gizzard. I tell you, Zikali, that she
stuffed my heart with lies."
" I daresay', Macumazahn, I daresay, but they were very
pretty lies, were they not ? And after all I am sure that there
was wisdom in them, as you will discover when you have
thought them over for a score of years.
" Lies, lies, all is lies 1 But beyond the lies stands Truth,
as the WTiite Witch stands behind her veil. You drew the
veil, Macumazahn, and saw that beneath which brought you
to your knees. Why, it is a parable. Wander on through
the Valley of Lies till at last it takes a turn and, glittering in
the sunshine, glittering like gold, you perceive the Mountain
of everlasting Truth, sought ol all men but found by tew.
" Lies, lies, all is liesl Yet beyond, I tell you, beauteous
and eternal stands the Truth, Macumazahn. Oho-ho I
Oho-ho ! Fare you well, Watcher-by-Night, fare you well,
Seeker after Truth. After the Night comes Dawn and after
Death comes what — Macumazahn ? Well, you will learn
one day, for always the veil is lifted at last, as the White
Witch shewed you yonder, Macumazahn."
THE END
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