________________________________________________
_ Telling Umslopogaas to wait, I tumbled into my clothes and went
off with him to Sir Henry's room, where the Zulu repeated his
story word for word. It was a sight to watch Curtis' face as he
heard it.
'Great Heavens!' he said: 'here have I been sleeping away while
Nyleptha was nearly murdered--and all through me, too. What a
fiend that Sorais must be! It would have served her well if
Umslopogaas had cut her down in the act.'
'Ay,' said the Zulu. 'Fear not; I should have slain her ere she
struck. I was but waiting the moment.'
I said nothing, but I could not help thinking that many a
thousand doomed lives would have been saved if he had meted out
to Sorais the fate she meant for her sister. And, as the issue
proved, I was right.
After he had told his tale Umslopogaas went off unconcernedly to
get his morning meal, and Sir Henry and I fell to talking.
At first he was very bitter against Good, who, he said, was no
longer to be trusted, having designedly allowed Sorais to escape
by some secret stair when it was his duty to have handed her over
to justice. Indeed, he spoke in the most unmeasured terms on the
matter. I let him run on awhile, reflecting to myself how easy
we find it to be hard on the weaknesses of others, and how tender
we are to our own.
'Really, my dear fellow,' I said at length, 'one would never
think, to hear you talk, that you were the man who had an
interview with this same lady yesterday, and found it rather
difficult to resist her fascinations, notwithstanding your ties
to one of the loveliest and most loving women in the world. Now
suppose it was Nyleptha who had tried to murder Sorais, and YOU
had caught her, and she had pleaded with you, would you have been
so very eager to hand her over to an open shame, and to death by
fire? Just look at the matter through Good's eyeglass for a
minute before you denounce an old friend as a scoundrel.'
He listened to this jobation submissively, and then frankly
acknowledged that he had spoken hardly. It is one of the best
points in Sir Henry's character that he is always ready to admit
it when he is in the wrong.
But, though I spoke up thus for Good, I was not blind to the fact
that, however natural his behaviour might be, it was obvious that
he was being involved in a very awkward and disgraceful
complication. A foul and wicked murder had been attempted, and
he had let the murderess escape, and thereby, among other things,
allowed her to gain a complete ascendency over himself. In fact,
he was in a fair way to become her tool--and no more dreadful
fate can befall a man than to become the tool of an unscrupulous
woman, or indeed of any woman. There is but one end to it: when
he is broken, or has served her purpose, he is thrown
away--turned out on the world to hunt for his lost self-respect.
Whilst I was pondering thus, and wondering what was to be
done--for the whole subject was a thorny one--I suddenly heard a
great clamour in the courtyard outside, and distinguished the
voice of Umslopogaas and Alphonse, the former cursing furiously,
and the latter yelling in terror.
Hurrying out to see what was the matter, I was met by a ludicrous
sight. The little Frenchman was running up the courtyard at an
extraordinary speed, and after him sped Umslopogaas like a great
greyhound. Just as I came out he caught him, and, lifting him
right off his legs, carried him some paces to a beautiful but
very dense flowering shrub which bore a flower not unlike the
gardenia, but was covered with short thorns. Next, despite his
howls and struggles, he with one mighty thrust plunged poor
Alphonse head first into the bush, so that nothing but the calves
of his legs and heels remained in evidence. Then, satisfied with
what he had done, the Zulu folded his arms and stood grimly
contemplating the Frenchman's kicks, and listening to his yells,
which were awful.
'What art thou doing?' I said, running up. 'Wouldst thou kill
the man? Pull him out of the bush!'
With a savage grunt he obeyed, seizing the wretched Alphonse by
the ankle, and with a jerk that must have nearly dislocated it,
tearing him out of the heart of the shrub. Never did I see such
a sight as he presented, his clothes half torn off his back, and
bleeding as he was in every direction from the sharp thorns.
There he lay and yelled and rolled, and there was no getting
anything out of him.
At last, however, he got up and, ensconcing himself behind me,
cursed old Umslopogaas by every saint in the calendar, vowing by
the blood of his heroic grandfather that he would poison him, and
'have his revenge'.
At last I got to the truth of the matter. It appeared that
Alphonse habitually cooked Umslopogaas's porridge, which the
latter ate for breakfast in the corner of the courtyard, just as
he would have done at home in Zululand, from a gourd, and with a
wooden spoon. Now Umslopogaas had, like many Zulus, a great
horror of fish, which he considered a species of water-snake; so
Alphonse, who was as fond of playing tricks as a monkey, and who
was also a consummate cook, determined to make him eat some.
Accordingly he grated up a quantity of white fish very finely,
and mixed it with the Zulu's porridge, who swallowed it nearly
all down in ignorance of what he was eating. But, unfortunately
for Alphonse, he could not restrain his joy at this sight, and
came capering and peering round, till at last Umslopogaas, who
was very clever in his way, suspected something, and, after a
careful examination of the remains of his porridge, discovered
'the buffalo heifer's trick', and, in revenge, served him as I
have said. Indeed, the little man was fortunate not to get a
broken neck for his pains; for, as one would have thought, he
might have learnt from the episode of his display of axemanship
that 'le Monsieur noir' was an ill person to play practical jokes
upon.
This incident was unimportant enough in itself, but I narrate it
because it led to serious consequences. As soon as he had
stanched the bleeding from his scratches and washed himself,
Alphonse went off still cursing, to recover his temper, a process
which I knew from experience would take a very long time. When
he had gone I gave Umslopogaas a jobation and told him that I was
ashamed of his behaviour.
'Ah, well, Macumazahn,' he said, 'you must be gentle with me, for
here is not my place. I am weary of it, weary to death of eating
and drinking, of sleeping and giving in marriage. I love not
this soft life in stone houses that takes the heart out of a man,
and turns his strength to water and his flesh to fat. I love not
the white robes and the delicate women, the blowing of trumpets
and the flying of hawks. When we fought the Masai at the kraal
yonder, ah, then life was worth the living, but here is never a
blow struck in anger, and I begin to think I shall go the way of
my fathers and lift Inkosi-kaas no more,' and he held up the axe
and gazed at it in sorrow.
'Ah,' I said, 'that is thy complaint, is it? Thou hast the
blood-sickness, hast thou? And the Woodpecker wants a tree. And
at thy age, too. Shame on thee! Umslopogaas.'
'Ay, Macumazahn, mine is a red trade, yet is it better and more
honest than some. Better is it to slay a man in fair fight than
to suck out his heart's blood in buying and selling and usury
after your white fashion. Many a man have I slain, yet is there
never a one that I should fear to look in the face again, ay,
many are there who once were friends, and whom I should be right
glad to snuff with. But there! there! thou hast thy ways, and I
mine: each to his own people and his own place. The high-veldt
ox will die in the fat bush country, and so is it with me,
Macumazahn. I am rough, I know it, and when my blood is warm I
know not what to do, but yet wilt thou be sorry when the night
swallows me and I am utterly lost in blackness, for in thy heart
thou lovest me, my father, Macumazahn the fox, though I be nought
but a broken-down Zulu war-dog--a chief for whom there is no room
in his own kraal, an outcast and a wanderer in strange places:
ay, I love thee, Macumazahn, for we have grown grey together, and
there is that between us that cannot be seen, and yet is too
strong for breaking;' and he took his snuff-box, which was made
of an old brass cartridge, from the slit in his ear where he
always carried it, and handed it to me for me to help myself.
I took the pinch of snuff with some emotion. It was quite true,
I was much attached to the bloodthirsty old ruffian. I do not
know what was the charm of his character, but it had a charm;
perhaps it was its fierce honesty and directness; perhaps one
admired his almost superhuman skill and strength, or it may have
been simply that he was so absolutely unique. Frankly, with all
my experience of savages, I never knew a man quite like him, he
was so wise and yet such a child with it all; and though it seems
laughable to say so, like the hero of the Yankee parody, he 'had
a tender heart'. Anyway, I was very fond of him, though I should
never have thought of telling him so.
'Ay, old wolf,' I said, 'thine is a strange love. Thou wouldst
split me to the chin if I stood in thy path tomorrow.'
'Thou speakest truth, Macumazahn, that would I if it came in the
way of duty, but I should love thee all the same when the blow
had gone fairly home. Is there any chance of some fighting here,
Macumazahn?' he went on in an insinuating voice. 'Methought that
what I saw last night did show that the two great Queens were
vexed one with another. Else had the "Lady of the Night" not
brought that dagger with her.'
I agreed with him that it showed that more or less pique and
irritation existed between the ladies, and told him how things
stood, and that they were quarrelling over Incubu.
'Ah, is it so?' he exclaimed, springing up in delight; 'then will
there be war as surely as the rivers rise in the rains--war to
the end. Women love the last blow as well as the last word, and
when they fight for love they are pitiless as a wounded buffalo.
See thou, Macumazahn, a woman will swim through blood to her
desire, and think nought of it. With these eyes have I seen it
once, and twice also. Ah, Macumazahn, we shall see this fine
place of houses burning yet, and hear the battle cries come
ringing up the street. After all, I have not wandered for
nothing. Can this folk fight, think ye?'
Just then Sir Henry joined us, and Good arrived, too, from
another direction, looking very pale and hollow-eyed. The moment
Umslopogaas saw the latter he stopped his bloodthirsty talk and
greeted him.
'Ah, Bougwan,' he cried, 'greeting to thee, Inkoos! Thou art
surely weary. Didst thou hunt too much yesterday?' Then,
without waiting for an answer, he went on--
'Listen, Bougwan, and I will tell thee a story; it is about a
woman, therefore wilt thou hear it, is it not so?
'There was a man and he had a brother, and there was a woman who
loved the man's brother and was beloved of the man. But the
man's brother had a favourite wife and loved not the woman, and
he made a mock of her. Then the woman, being very cunning and
fierce-hearted for revenge, took counsel with herself and said to
the man, "I love thee, and if thou wilt make war upon thy brother
I will marry thee." And he knew it was a lie, yet because of his
great love of the woman, who was very fair, did he listen to her
words and made war. And when many people had been killed his
brother sent to him, saying, "Why slayest thou me? What hurt
have I done unto thee? From my youth up have I not loved thee?
When thou wast little did I not nurture thee, and have we not
gone down to war together and divided the cattle, girl by girl,
ox by ox, and cow by cow? Why slayest thou me, my brother, son
of my own mother?"
'Then the man's heart was heavy, and he knew that his path was
evil, and he put aside the tempting of the woman and ceased to
make war on his brother, and lived at peace in the same kraal
with him. And after a time the woman came to him and said, "I
have lost the past, I will be thy wife." And in his heart he
knew that it was a lie and that she thought the evil thing, yet
because of his love did he take her to wife.
'And the very night that they were wed, when the man was plunged
into a deep sleep, did the woman arise and take his axe from his
hand and creep into the hut of his brother and slay him in his
rest. Then did she slink back like a gorged lioness and place
the thong of the red axe back upon his wrist and go her ways.
'And at the dawning the people came shouting, "Lousta is slain in
the night," and they came unto the hut of the man, and there he
lay asleep and by him was the red axe. Then did they remember
the war and say, "Lo! he hath of a surety slain his brother," and
they would have taken and killed him, but he rose and fled
swiftly, and as he fleeted by he slew the woman.
'But death could not wipe out the evil she had done, and on him
rested the weight of all her sin. Therefore is he an outcast and
his name a scorn among his own people; for on him, and him only,
resteth the burden of her who betrayed. And, therefore, does he
wander afar, without a kraal and without an ox or a wife, and
therefore will he die afar like a stricken buck and his name be
accursed from generation to generation, in that the people say
that he slew his brother, Lousta, by treachery in the
night-time.'
The old Zulu paused, and I saw that he was deeply agitated by his
own story. Presently he lifted his head, which he had bowed to
his breast, and went on:
'I was the man, Bougwan. Ou! I was that man, and now hark thou!
Even as I am so wilt thou be--a tool, a plaything, an ox of
burden to carry the evil deeds of another. Listen! When thou
didst creep after the "Lady of the Night" I was hard upon thy
track. When she struck thee with the knife in the sleeping place
of the White Queen I was there also; when thou didst let her slip
away like a snake in the stones I saw thee, and I knew that she
had bewitched thee and that a true man had abandoned the truth,
and he who aforetime loved a straight path had taken a crooked
way. Forgive me, my father, if my words are sharp, but out of a
full heart are they spoken. See her no more, so shalt thou go
down with honour to the grave. Else because of the beauty of a
woman that weareth as a garment of fur shalt thou be even as I
am, and perchance with more cause. I have said.'
Throughout this long and eloquent address Good had been perfectly
silent, but when the tale began to shape itself so aptly to his
own case, he coloured up, and when he learnt that what had passed
between him and Sorais had been overseen he was evidently much
distressed. And now, when at last he spoke, it was in a tone of
humility quite foreign to him.
'I must say,' he said, with a bitter little laugh, 'that I
scarcely thought that I should live to be taught my duty by a
Zulu; but it just shows what we can come to. I wonder if you
fellows can understand how humiliated I feel, and the bitterest
part of it is that I deserve it all. Of course I should have
handed Sorais over to the guard, but I could not, and that is a
fact. I let her go and I promised to say nothing, more is the
shame to me. She told me that if I would side with her she would
marry me and make me king of this country, but thank goodness I
did find the heart to say that even to marry her I could not
desert my friends. And now you can do what you like, I deserve
it all. All I have to say is that I hope that you may never love
a woman with all your heart and then be so sorely tempted of
her,' and he turned to go.
'Look here, old fellow,' said Sir Henry, 'just stop a minute. I
have a little tale to tell you too.' And he went on to narrate
what had taken place on the previous day between Sorais and
himself.
This was a finishing stroke to poor Good. It is not pleasant to
any man to learn that he has been made a tool of, but when the
circumstances are as peculiarly atrocious as in the present case,
it is about as bitter a pill as anybody can be called on to
swallow.
'Do you know,' he said, 'I think that between you, you fellows
have about worked a cure,' and he turned and walked away, and I
for one felt very sorry for him. Ah, if the moths would always
carefully avoid the candle, how few burnt wings there would be!
That day was a Court day, when the Queens sat in the great hall
and received petitions, discussed laws, money grants, and so
forth, and thither we adjourned shortly afterwards. On our way
we were joined by Good, who was looking exceedingly depressed.
When we got into the hall Nyleptha was already on her throne and
proceeding with business as usual, surrounded by councillors,
courtiers, lawyers, priests, and an unusually strong guard. It
was, however, easy to see from the air of excitement and
expectation on the faces of everybody present that nobody was
paying much attention to ordinary affairs, the fact being that
the knowledge that civil war was imminent had now got abroad. We
saluted Nyleptha and took our accustomed places, and for a little
while things went on as usual, when suddenly the trumpets began
to call outside the palace, and from the great crowd that was
gathered there in anticipation of some unusual event there rose a
roar of 'SORAIS! SORAIS!'
Then came the roll of many chariot wheels, and presently the
great curtains at the end of the hall were drawn wide and through
them entered the 'Lady of the Night' herself. Nor did she come
alone. Preceding her was Agon, the High Priest, arrayed in his
most gorgeous vestments, and on either side were other priests.
The reason for their presence was obvious--coming with them it
would have been sacrilege to attempt to detain her. Behind her
were a number of the great lords, and behind them a small body of
picked guards. A glance at Sorais herself was enough to show
that her mission was of no peaceful kind, for in place of her
gold embroidered 'kaf' she wore a shining tunic formed of golden
scales, and on her head a little golden helmet. In her hand,
too, she bore a toy spear, beautifully made and fashioned of
solid silver. Up the hall she came, looking like a lioness in
her conscious pride and beauty, and as she came the spectators
fell back bowing and made a path for her. By the sacred stone
she halted, and laying her hand on it, she cried out with a loud
voice to Nyleptha on the throne, 'Hail, oh Queen!'
'All hail, my royal sister!' answered Nyleptha. 'Draw thou near.
Fear not, I give thee safe conduct.'
Sorais answered with a haughty look, and swept on up the hall
till she stood right before the thrones.
'A boon, oh Queen!' she cried again.
'Speak on, my sister; what is there that I can give thee who hath
half our kingdom?'
'Thou canst tell me a true word--me and the people of Zu-Vendis.
Art thou, or art thou not, about to take this foreign wolf,' and
she pointed to Sir Henry with her toy spear, 'to be a husband to
thee, and share thy bed and throne?'
Curtis winced at this, and turning towards Sorais, said to her in
a low voice, 'Methinks that yesterday thou hadst other names than
wolf to call me by, oh Queen!' and I saw her bite her lips as,
like a danger flag, the blood flamed red upon her face. As for
Nyleptha, who is nothing if not original, she, seeing that the
thing was out, and that there was nothing further to be gained by
concealment, answered the question in a novel and effectual
manner, inspired thereto, as I firmly believe, by coquetry and a
desire to triumph over her rival.
Up she rose and, descending from the throne, swept in all the
glory of her royal grace on to where her lover stood. There she
stopped and untwined the golden snake that was wound around her
arm. Then she bade him kneel, and he dropped on one knee on the
marble before her, and next, taking the golden snake with both
her hands, she bent the pure soft metal round his neck, and when
it was fast, deliberately kissed him on the brow and called him
her 'dear lord'.
'Thou seest,' she said, when the excited murmur of the spectators
had died away, addressing her sister as Sir Henry rose to his
feet, 'I have put my collar round the "wolf's" neck, and behold!
he shall be my watchdog, and that is my answer to thee, Queen
Sorais, my sister, and to those with thee. Fear not,' she went
on, smiling sweetly on her lover, and pointing to the golden
snake she had twined round his massive throat, 'if my yoke be
heavy, yet is it of pure gold, and it shall not gall thee.'
Then, turning to the audience, she continued in a clear proud
tone, 'Ay, Lady of the Night, Lords, Priests, and People here
gathered together, by this sign do I take the foreigner to
husband, even here in the face of you all. What, am I a Queen,
and yet not free to choose the man whom I will love? Then should
I be lower than the meanest girl in all my provinces. Nay, he
hath won my heart, and with it goes my hand, and throne, and all
I have--ay, had he been a beggar instead of a great lord fairer
and stronger than any here, and having more wisdom and knowledge
of strange things, I had given him all, how much more so being
what he is!' And she took his hand and gazed proudly on him, and
holding it, stood there boldly facing the people. And such was
her sweetness and the power and dignity of her person, and so
beautiful she looked standing hand in hand there at her lover's
side, so sure of him and of herself, and so ready to risk all
things and endure all things for him, that most of those who saw
the sight, which I am sure no one of them will ever forget,
caught the fire from her eyes and the happy colour from her
blushing face, and cheered her like wild things. It was a bold
stroke for her to make, and it appealed to the imagination; but
human nature in Zu-Vendis, as elsewhere, loves that which is bold
and not afraid to break a rule, and is moreover peculiarly
susceptible to appeals to its poetical side.
And so the people cheered till the roof rang; but Sorais of the
Night stood there with downcast eyes, for she could not bear to
see her sister's triumph, which robbed her of the man whom she
had hoped to win, and in the awfulness of her jealous anger she
trembled and turned white like an aspen in the wind. I think I
have said somewhere of her that she reminded me of the sea on a
calm day, having the same aspect of sleeping power about her.
Well, it was all awake now, and like the face of the furious
ocean it awed and yet fascinated me. A really handsome woman in
a royal rage is always a beautiful sight, but such beauty and
such a rage I never saw combined before, and I can only say that
the effect produced was well worthy of the two.
She lifted her white face, the teeth set, and there were purple
rings beneath her glowing eyes. Thrice she tried to speak and
thrice she failed, but at last her voice came. Raising her
silver spear, she shook it, and the light gleamed from it and
from the golden scales of her cuirass.
'And thinkest thou, Nyleptha,' she said in notes which pealed
through the great hall like a clarion, 'thinkest thou that I,
Sorais, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, will brook that this base
outlander shall sit upon my father's throne and rear up
half-breeds to fill the place of the great House of the Stairway?
Never! never! while there is life in my bosom and a man to follow
me and a spear to strike with. Who is on my side? Who?
'Now hand thou over this foreign wolf and those who came hither
to prey with him to the doom of fire, for have they not committed
the deadly sin against the sun? or, Nyleptha, I give thee
War--red War! Ay, I say to thee that the path of thy passion
shall be marked out by the blazing of thy towns and watered with
the blood of those who cleave to thee. On thy head rest the
burden of the deed, and in thy ears ring the groans of the dying
and the cries of the widows and those who are left fatherless for
ever and for ever.
'I tell thee I will tear thee, Nyleptha, the White Queen, from
thy throne, and that thou shalt be hurled--ay, hurled even from
the topmost stair of the great way to the foot thereof, in that
thou hast covered the name of the House of him who built it with
black shame. And I tell ye strangers--all save Bougwan, whom
because thou didst do me a service I will save alive if thou wilt
leave these men and follow me' (here poor Good shook his head
vigorously and ejaculated 'Can't be done' in English)--'that I
will wrap you in sheets of gold and hang you yet alive in chains
from the four golden trumpets of the four angels that fly east
and west and north and south from the giddiest pinnacles of the
Temple, so that ye may be a token and a warning to the land. And
as for thee, Incubu, thou shalt die in yet another fashion that I
will not tell thee now.'
She ceased, panting for breath, for her passion shook her like a
storm, and a murmur, partly of horror and partly of admiration,
ran through the hall. Then Nyleptha answered calmly and with
dignity:
'Ill would it become my place and dignity, oh sister, so to speak
as thou hast spoken and so to threat as thou hast threatened.
Yet if thou wilt make war, then will I strive to bear up against
thee, for if my hand seem soft, yet shalt thou find it of iron
when it grips thine armies by the throat. Sorais, I fear thee
not. I weep for that which thou wilt bring upon our people and
on thyself, but for myself I say--I fear thee not. Yet thou, who
but yesterday didst strive to win my lover and my lord from me,
whom today thou dost call a "foreign wolf", to be THY lover and
THY lord' (here there was an immense sensation in the hall),
'thou who but last night, as I have learnt but since thou didst
enter here, didst creep like a snake into my sleeping-place--ay,
even by a secret way, and wouldst have foully murdered me, thy
sister, as I lay asleep--'
'It is false, it is false!' rang out Agon's and a score of other
voices.
'It is NOT false,' said I, producing the broken point of the
dagger and holding it up. 'Where is the haft from which this
flew, oh Sorais?'
'It is not false,' cried Good, determined at last to act like a
loyal man. 'I took the Lady of the Night by the White Queen's
bed, and on my breast the dagger broke.'
'Who is on my side?' cried Sorais, shaking her silver spear, for
she saw that public sympathy was turning against her. 'What,
Bougwan, thou comest not?' she said, addressing Good, who was
standing close to her, in a low, concentrated voice. 'Thou
pale-souled fool, for a reward thou shalt eat out thy heart with
love of me and not be satisfied, and thou mightest have been my
husband and a king! At least I hold THEE in chains that cannot
be broken.
'WAR! WAR! WAR!' she cried. 'Here, with my hand upon the
sacred stone that shall endure, so runs the prophecy, till the
Zu-Vendi set their necks beneath an alien yoke, I declare war to
the end. Who follows Sorais of the Night to victory and honour?'
Instantly the whole concourse began to break up in indescribable
confusion. Many present hastened to throw in their lot with the
'Lady of the Night', but some came from her following to us.
Amongst the former was an under officer of Nyleptha's own guard,
who suddenly turned and made a run for the doorway through which
Sorais' people were already passing. Umslopogaas, who was
present and had taken the whole scene in, seeing with admirable
presence of mind that if this soldier got away others would
follow his example, seized the man, who drew his sword and struck
at him. Thereon the Zulu sprang back with a wild shout, and,
avoiding the sword cuts, began to peck at his foe with his
terrible axe, till in a few seconds the man's fate overtook him
and he fell with a clash heavily and quite dead upon the marble
floor.
This was the first blood spilt in the war.
'Shut the gates,' I shouted, thinking that we might perhaps catch
Sorais so, and not being troubled with the idea of committing
sacrilege. But the order came too late, her guards were already
passing through them, and in another minute the streets echoed
with the furious galloping of horses and the rolling of her
chariots.
So, drawing half the people after her, Sorais was soon passing
like a whirlwind through the Frowning City on her road to her
headquarters at M'Arstuna, a fortress situated a hundred and
thirty miles to the north of Milosis.
And after that the city was alive with the endless tramp of
regiments and preparations for the gathering war, and old
Umslopogaas once more began to sit in the sunshine and go through
a show of sharpening Inkosi-kaas's razor edge. _
Read next: CHAPTER XIX - A STRANGE WEDDING
Read previous: CHAPTER XVII - THE STORM BREAKS
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