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Henry James - "**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Henry Clay's Remarks Before The"

Richard Harding Davis - "Miss Civilization"

Marian Keith - "The Black Bearded Barbarian"

Stewart Edward White - "The Riverman"

Child of Storm

H >> H. Rider Haggard >> Child of Storm




Over a month had gone by since the night of the ambush when at last we
outspanned quite close to Umbezi's, in that bush where first I had met
the Amangwane free-spears. A very different set of men they looked on
this triumphant day to those fierce fellows who had slipped out of the
trees at the call of their chief. As we went through the country Saduko
had bought fine moochas and blankets for them; also head-dresses had
been made with the long black feathers of the sakabuli finch, and
shields and leglets of the hides and tails of oxen. Moreover, having
fed plentifully and travelled easily, they were fat and well-favoured,
as, given good food, natives soon become after a period of abstinence.

The plan of Saduko was to lie quiet in the bush that night, and on the
following morning to advance in all his grandeur, accompanied by his
spears, present the hundred head of cattle that had been demanded, and
formally ask his daughter's hand from Umbezi. As the reader may have
gathered already, there was a certain histrionic vein in Saduko; also
when he was in feather he liked to show off his plumage.

Well, this plan was carried out to the letter. On the following
morning, after the sun was well up, Saduko, as a great chief does, sent
forward two bedizened heralds to announce his approach to Umbezi, after
whom followed two other men to sing his deeds and praises. (By the way,
I observed that they had clearly been instructed to avoid any mention of
a person called Macumazahn.) Then we advanced in force. First went
Saduko, splendidly apparelled as a chief, carrying a small assegai and
adorned with plumes, leglets and a leopard-skin kilt. He was attended
by about half a dozen of the best-looking of his followers, who posed as
"indunas" or councillors. Behind these I walked, a dusty, insignificant
little fellow, attended by the ugly, snub-nosed Scowl in a very greasy
pair of trousers, worn-out European boots through which his toes peeped,
and nothing else, and by my three surviving hunters, whose appearance
was even more disreputable. After us marched about four score of the
transformed Amangwane, and after them came the hundred picked cattle
driven by a few herdsmen.

In due course we arrived at the gate of the kraal, where we found the
heralds and the praisers prancing and shouting.

"Have you seen Umbezi?" asked Saduko of them.

"No," they answered; "he was asleep when we got here, but his people say
that he is coming out presently."

"Then tell his people that he had better be quick about it, or I shall
turn him out," replied the proud Saduko.

Just at this moment the kraal gate opened and through it appeared
Umbezi, looking extremely fat and foolish; also, it struck me,
frightened, although this he tried to conceal.

"Who visits me here," he said, "with so much--um--ceremony?" and with
the carved dancing-stick he carried he pointed doubtfully at the lines
of armed men. "Oh, it is you, is it, Saduko?" and he looked him up and
down, adding: "How grand you are to be sure. Have you been robbing
anybody? And you, too, Macumazahn. Well, _you_ do not look grand. You
look like an old cow that has been suckling two calves on the winter
veld. But tell me, what are all these warriors for? I ask because I
have not food for so many, especially as we have just had a feast here."

"Fear nothing, Umbezi," answered Saduko in his grandest manner. "I have
brought food for my own men. As for my business, it is simple. You
asked a hundred head of cattle as the lobola [that is, the marriage
gift] of your daughter, Mameena. They are there. Go send your servants
to the kraal and count them."

"Oh, with pleasure," Umbezi replied nervously, and he gave some orders
to certain men behind him. "I am glad to see that you have become rich
in this sudden fashion, Saduko, though how you have done so I cannot
understand."

"Never mind how I have become rich," answered Saduko. "I _am_ rich;
that is enough for the present. Be pleased to send for Mameena, for I
would talk with her."

"Yes, yes, Saduko, I understand that you would talk with Mameena;
but"--and he looked round him desperately--"I fear that she is still
asleep. As you know, Mameena was always a late riser, and, what is
more, she hates to be disturbed. Don't you think that you could come
back, say, to-morrow morning? She will be sure to be up by then; or,
better still, the day after?"

"In which hut is Mameena?" asked Saduko sternly, while I, smelling a
rat, began to chuckle to myself.

"I really do not know, Saduko," replied Umbezi. "Sometimes she sleeps
in one, sometimes in another, and sometimes she goes several hours'
journey away to her aunt's kraal for a change. I should not be in the
least surprised if she had done so last night. I have no control over
Mameena."

Before Saduko could answer, a shrill, rasping voice broke upon our ears,
which after some search I saw proceeded from an ugly and ancient female
seated in the shadow, in whom I recognised the lady who was known by the
pleasing name of "Worn-out-Old-Cow."

"He lies!" screeched the voice. "He lies. Thanks be to the spirit of
my ancestors that wild cat Mameena has left this kraal for good. She
slept last night, not with her aunt, but with her husband, Masapo, to
whom Umbezi gave her in marriage two days ago, receiving in payment a
hundred and twenty head of cattle, which was twenty more than _you_ bid,
Saduko."

Now when Saduko heard these words I thought that he would really go mad
with rage. He turned quite grey under his dark skin and for a while
trembled like a leaf, looking as though he were about to fall to the
ground. Then he leapt as a lion leaps, and seizing Umbezi by the
throat, hurled him backwards, standing over him with raised spear.

"You dog!" he cried in a terrible voice. "Tell me the truth or I will
rip you up. What have you done with Mameena?"

"Oh! Saduko," answered Umbezi in choking tones, "Mameena has chosen to
get married. It was no fault of mine; she would have her way."

He got no farther, and had I not intervened by throwing my arms about
Saduko and dragging him back, that moment would have been Umbezi's last,
for Saduko was about to pin him to the earth with his spear. As it
proved, I was just in time, and Saduko, being weak with emotion, for I
felt his heart going like a sledge-hammer, could not break from my grasp
before his reason returned to him.

At length he recovered himself a little and threw down his spear as
though to put himself out of temptation. Then he spoke, always in the
same terrible voice, asking:

"Have you more to say about this business, Umbezi? I would hear all
before I answer you."

"Only this, Saduko," replied Umbezi, who had risen to his feet and was
shaking like a reed. "I did no more than any other father would have
done. Masapo is a very powerful chief, one who will be a good stick for
me to lean on in my old age. Mameena declared that she wished to marry
him--"

"He lies!" screeched the "Old Cow." "What Mameena said was that she had
no will towards marriage with any Zulu in the land, so I suppose she is
looking after a white man," and she leered in my direction. "She said,
however, that if her father wished to marry her to Masapo, she must be a
dutiful daughter and obey him, but that if blood and trouble came of
that marriage, let it be on his head and not on hers."

"Would you also stick your claws into me, cat?" shouted Umbezi, catching
the old woman a savage cut across the back with the light dancing-stick
which he still held in his hand, whereon she fled away screeching and
cursing him.

"Oh, Saduko," he went on, "let not your ears be poisoned by these
falsehoods. Mameena never said anything of the sort, or if she did it
was not to me. Well, the moment that my daughter had consented to take
Masapo as her husband his people drove a hundred and twenty of the most
beautiful cattle over the hill, and would you have had me refuse them,
Saduko? I am sure that when you have seen them you will say that I was
quite right to accept such a splendid lobola in return for one
sharp-tongued girl. Remember, Saduko, that although you had promised a
hundred head, that is less by twenty, at the time you did not own one,
and where you were to get them from I could not guess. Moreover," he
added with a last, desperate, imaginative effort, for I think he saw
that his arguments were making no impression, "some strangers who called
here told me that both you and Macumazahn had been killed by certain
evil-doers in the mountains. There, I have spoken, and, Saduko, if you
now have cattle, why, on my part, I have another daughter, not quite so
good-looking perhaps, but a much better worker in the field. Come and
drink a sup of beer, and I will send for her."

"Stop talking about your other daughter and your beer and listen to me,"
replied Saduko, looking at the assegai which he had thrown to the ground
so ominously that I set my foot on it. "I am now a greater chief than
the boar Masapo. Has Masapo such a bodyguard as these
Eaters-up-of-Enemies?" and he jerked his thumb backwards towards the
serried lines of fierce-faced Amangwane who stood listening behind us.
"Has Masapo as many cattle as I have, whereof those which you see are
but a tithe brought as a lobola gift to the father of her who had been
promised to me as wife? Is Masapo Panda's friend? I think that I have
heard otherwise. Has Masapo just conquered a countless tribe by his
courage and his wit? Is Masapo young and of high blood, or is he but an
old, low-born boar of the mountains?

"You do not answer, Umbezi, and perhaps you do well to be silent. Now
listen again. Were it not for Macumazahn here, whom I do not desire to
mix up with my quarrels, I would bid my men take you and beat you to
death with the handles of their spears, and then go on and serve the
Boar in the same fashion in his mountain sty. As it is, these things
must wait a little while, especially as I have other matters to attend
to first. Yet the day is not far off when I will attend to them also.
Therefore my counsel to you, Cheat, is to make haste to die or to find
courage to fall upon a spear, unless you would learn how it feels to be
brayed with sticks like a green hide until none can know that you were
once a man. Send now and tell my words to Masapo the Boar. And to
Mameena say that soon I will come to take her with spears and not with
cattle. Do you understand? Oh! I see that you do, since already you
weep with fear like a woman. Then farewell to you till that day when I
return with the sticks, O Umbezi the cheat and the liar, Umbezi,
'Eater-up-of-Elephants,'" and turning, Saduko stalked away.

I was about to follow in a great hurry, having had enough of this very
unpleasant scene, when poor old Umbezi sprang at me and clasped me by
the arm.

"O Macumazana," he exclaimed, weeping in his terror, "O Macumazana, if
ever I have been a friend to you, help me out of this deep pit into
which I have fallen through the tricks of that monkey of a daughter of
mine, who I think is a witch born to bring trouble upon men.
Macumazahn, if she had been your daughter and a powerful chief had
appeared with a hundred and twenty head of such beautiful cattle, you
would have given her to him, would you not, although he is of mixed
blood and not very young, especially as she did not mind who only cares
for place and wealth?"

"I think not," I answered; "but then it is not our custom to sell women
in that fashion."

"No, no, I forgot; in this as in other matters you white men are mad
and, Macumazahn, to tell you the truth, I believe it is you she really
cares for; she said as much to me once or twice. Well, why did you not
take her away when I was not looking? We could have settled matters
afterwards, and I should have been free of her witcheries and not up to
my neck in this hole as I am now."

"Because some people don't do that kind of thing, Umbezi."

"No, no, I forgot. Oh! why can I not remember that you are _quite_ mad
and therefore that it must not be expected of you to act as though you
were sane. Well, at least you are that tiger Saduko's friend, which
again shows that you must be very mad, for most people would sooner try
to milk a cow buffalo than walk hand in hand with him. Don't you see,
Macumazahn, that he means to kill me, Macumazahn, to bray me like a
green hide? Ugh! to beat me to death with sticks. Ugh! And what is
more, that unless you prevent him, he will certainly do it, perhaps
to-morrow or the next day. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

"Yes, I see, Umbezi, and I think that he _will_ do it. But what I do
not see is how I am to prevent him. Remember that you let Mameena grow
into his heart and behaved badly to him, Umbezi."

"I never promised her to him, Macumazahn. I only said that if he
brought a hundred cattle, then I might promise."

"Well, he has wiped out the Amakoba, the enemies of his House, and there
are the hundred cattle whereof he has many more, and now it is too late
for you to keep your share of the bargain. So I think you must make
yourself as comfortable as you can in the hole that your hands dug,
Umbezi, which I would not share for all the cattle in Zululand."

"Truly you are not one from whom to seek comfort in the hour of
distress," groaned poor Umbezi, then added, brightening up: "But perhaps
Panda will kill him because he has wiped out Bangu in a time of peace.
Oh Macumazahn, can you not persuade Panda to kill him? If so, I now
have more cattle than I really want--"

"Impossible," I answered. "Panda is his friend, and between ourselves I
may tell you that he ate up the Amakoba by his especial wish. When the
King hears of it he will call to Saduko to sit in his shadow and make
him great, one of his councillors, probably with power of life and death
over little people like you and Masapo."

"Then it is finished," said Umbezi faintly, "and I will try to die like
a man. But to be brayed like a hide! And with thin sticks! Oh!" he
added, grinding his teeth, "if only I can get hold of Mameena I will not
leave much of that pretty hair of hers upon her head. I will tie her
hands and shut her up with the 'Old Cow,' who loves her as a meer-cat
loves a mouse. No; I will kill her. There--do you hear, Macumazahn,
unless you do something to help me, I will kill Mameena, and you won't
like that, for I am sure she is dear to you, although you were not man
enough to run away with her as she wished."

"If you touch Mameena," I said, "be certain, my friend, that Saduko's
sticks and your skin will not be far apart, for I will report you to
Panda myself as an unnatural evil-doer. Now hearken to me, you old
fool. Saduko is so fond of your daughter, on this point being mad, as
you say I am, that if only he could get her I think he might overlook
the fact of her having been married before. What you have to do is to
try to buy her back from Masapo. Mind you, I say buy her back--not get
her by bloodshed--which you might do by persuading Masapo to put her
away. Then, if he knew that you were trying to do this, I think that
Saduko might leave his sticks uncut for a while."

"I will try. I will indeed, Macumazahn. I will try very hard. It is
true Masapo is an obstinate pig; still, if he knows that his own life is
at stake, he might give way. Moreover, when she learns that Saduko has
grown rich and great, Mameena might help me. Oh, I thank you,
Macumazahn; you are indeed the prop of my hut, and it and all in it are
yours. Farewell, farewell, Macumazahn, if you must go. But why--why
did you not run away with Mameena, and save me all this fear and
trouble?"


So I and that old humbug, Umbezi, "Eater-up-of-Elephants," parted for a
while, and never did I know him in a more chastened frame of mind,
except once, as I shall tell.



CHAPTER VIII




THE KING'S DAUGHTER





When I got back to my wagons after this semi-tragical interview with
that bombastic and self-seeking old windbag, Umbezi, it was to find that
Saduko and his warriors had already marched for the King's kraal,
Nodwengu. A message awaited me, however, to the effect that it was
hoped that I would follow, in order to make report of the affair of the
destruction of the Amakoba. This, after reflection, I determined to do,
really, I think, because of the intense human interest of the whole
business. I wanted to see how it would work out.

Also, in a way, I read Saduko's mind and understood that at the moment
he did not wish to discuss the matter of his hideous disappointment.
Whatever else may have been false in this man's nature, one thing rang
true, namely, his love or his infatuation for the girl Mameena.
Throughout his life she was his guiding star--about as evil a star as
could have arisen upon any man's horizon; the fatal star that was to
light him down to doom. Let me thank Providence, as I do, that I was so
fortunate as to escape its baneful influences, although I admit that
they attracted me not a little.

So, seduced thither by my curiosity, which has so often led me into
trouble, I trekked to Nodwengu, full of many doubts not unmingled with
amusement, for I could not rid my mind of recollections of the utter
terror of the "Eater-up-of-Elephants" when he was brought face to face
with the dreadful and concentrated rage of the robbed Saduko and the
promise of his vengeance. Ultimately I arrived at the Great Place
without experiencing any adventure that is worthy of record, and camped
in a spot that was appointed to me by some _induna_ whose name I forget,
but who evidently knew of my approach, for I found him awaiting me at
some distance from the town. Here I sat for quite a long while, two or
three days, if I remember right, amusing myself with killing or missing
turtle-doves with a shotgun, and similar pastimes, until something
should happen, or I grew tired and started for Natal.

In the end, just as I was about to trek seawards, an old friend, Maputa,
turned up at my wagons--that same man who had brought me the message
from Panda before we started to attack Bangu.

"Greeting, Macumazahn," he said. "What of the Amakoba? I see they did
not kill you."

"No," I answered, handing him some snuff, "they did not quite kill me,
for here I am. What is your pleasure with me?"

"O Macumazana, only that the King wishes to know whether you have any of
those little balls left in the box which I brought back to you, since,
if so, he thinks he would like to swallow one of them in this hot
weather."

I proffered him the whole box, but he would not take it, saying that the
King would like me to give it to him myself. Now I understood that this
was a summons to an audience, and asked when it would please Panda to
receive me and "the-little-black-stones-that-work-wonders." He
answered--at once.

So we started, and within an hour I stood, or rather sat, before Panda.

Like all his family, the King was an enormous man, but, unlike Chaka and
those of his brothers whom I had known, one of a kindly countenance. I
saluted him by lifting my cap, and took my place upon a wooden stool
that had been provided for me outside the great hut, in the shadow of
which he sat within his isi-gohlo, or private enclosure.

"Greeting, O Macumazana," he said. "I am glad to see you safe and well,
for I understand that you have been engaged upon a perilous adventure
since last we met."

"Yes, King," I answered; "but to which adventure do you refer--that of
the buffalo, when Saduko helped me, or that of the Amakoba, when I
helped Saduko?"

"The latter, Macumazahn, of which I desire to hear all the story."

So I told it to him, he and I being alone, for he commanded his
councillors and servants to retire out of hearing.

"Wow!" he said, when I had finished, "you are clever as a baboon,
Macumazahn. That was a fine trick to set a trap for Bangu and his
Amakoba dogs and bait it with his own cattle. But they tell me that you
refused your share of those cattle. Now, why was that, Macumazahn?"

By way of answer I repeated to Panda my reasons, which I have set out
already.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, when I had finished. "Every one seeks greatness in
his own way, and perhaps yours is better than ours. Well, the White man
walks one road--or some of them do--and the Black man another. They
both end at the same place, and none will know which is the right road
till the journey is done. Meanwhile, what you lose Saduko and his
people gain. He is a wise man, Saduko, who knows how to choose his
friends, and his wisdom has brought him victory and gifts. But to you,
Macumazahn, it has brought nothing but honour, on which, if a man feeds
only, he will grow thin."

"I like to be thin, O Panda," I answered slowly.

"Yes, yes, I understand," replied the King, who, in common with most
natives, was quick enough to seize a point, "and I, too, like people who
keep thin on such food as yours, people, also, whose hands are always
clean. We Zulus trust you, Macumazahn, as we trust few white men, for
we have known for years that your lips say what your heart thinks, and
that your heart always thinks the thing which is good. You may be named
Watcher-by-Night, but you love light, not darkness."

Now, at these somewhat unusual compliments I bowed, and felt myself
colouring a little as I did so, even through my sunburn, but I made no
answer to them, since to do so would have involved a discussion of the
past and its tragical events, into which I had no wish to enter. Panda,
too, remained silent for a while. Then he called to a messenger to
summon the princes, Cetewayo and Umbelazi, and to bid Saduko, the son of
Matiwane, to wait without, in case he should wish to speak with him.

A few minutes later the two princes arrived. I watched their coming
with interest, for they were the most important men in Zululand, and
already the nation debated fiercely which of them would succeed to the
throne. I will try to describe them a little.

They were both of much the same age--it is always difficult to arrive at
a Zulu's exact years--and both fine young men. Cetewayo, however, had
the stronger countenance. It was said that he resembled that fierce and
able monster, Chaka the Wild Beast, his uncle, and certainly I perceived
in him a likeness to his other uncle, Dingaan, Umpanda's predecessor,
whom I had known but too well when I was a lad. He had the same surly
eyes and haughty bearing; also, when he was angry his mouth shut itself
in the same iron fashion.

Of Umbelazi it is difficult for me to speak without enthusiasm. As
Mameena was the most beautiful woman I ever saw in Zululand--although it
is true that old war-dog, Umslopogaas, a friend of mine who does not
come into this story, used to tell me that Nada the Lily, whom I have
mentioned, was even lovelier--so Umbelazi was by far the most splendid
man. Indeed, the Zulus named him "Umbelazi the Handsome," and no
wonder. To begin with, he stood at least three inches above the tallest
of them; from a quarter of a mile away I have recognised him by his
great height, even through the dust of a desperate battle, and his
breadth was proportionate to his stature. Then he was perfectly made,
his great, shapely limbs ending, like Saduko's, in small hands and feet.
His face, too, was well-cut and open, his colour lighter than
Cetewayo's, and his eyes, which always seemed to smile, were large and
dark.

Even before they passed the small gate of the inner fence it was easy
for me to see that this royal pair were not upon the best of terms, for
each of them tried to get through it first, to show his right of
precedence. The result was somewhat ludicrous, for they jammed in the
gateway. Here, however, Umbelazi's greater weight told, for, putting
out his strength, he squeezed his brother into the reeds of the fence,
and won through a foot or so in front of him.

"You grow too fat, my brother," I heard Cetewayo say, and saw him scowl
as he spoke. "If I had held an assegai in my hand you would have been
cut."

"I know it, my brother," answered Umbelazi, with a good-humoured laugh,
"but I knew also that none may appear before the King armed. Had it
been otherwise, I would rather have followed after you."

Now, at this hint of Umbelazi's, that he would not trust his brother
behind his back with a spear, although it seemed to be conveyed in jest,
I saw Panda shift uneasily on his seat, while Cetewayo scowled even more
ominously than before. However, no further words passed between them,
and, walking up to the King side by side, they saluted him with raised
hands, calling out "Baba!"--that is, Father.

"Greeting, my children," said Panda, adding hastily, for he foresaw a
quarrel as to which of them should take the seat of honour on his right:
"Sit there in front of me, both of you, and, Macumazahn, do you come
hither," and he pointed to the coveted place. "I am a little deaf in my
left ear this morning."

So these brothers sat themselves down in front of the King; nor were
they, I think, grieved to find this way out of their rivalry; but first
they shook hands with me, for I knew them both, though not well, and
even in this small matter the old trouble arose, since there was some
difficulty as to which of them should first offer me his hand.
Ultimately, I remember, Cetewayo won this trick.

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