The King's Assegai Part 8

"At this my eyes again sought Nangeza. But she did not meet my glance.

There was the same half-amused and wholly fearless expression in her face. What a wonderful girl she was! I thought, my own fears vanis.h.i.+ng as I saw how full of courage she was.

"'Now, confess, _umfane_!' said the King suddenly, speaking quickly and bending upon my brother a terrible frown. 'Are not these all lies?

Hast thou not been the author of thine own undoing, by having dealings with a woman while thou shouldest have been watching at thy post?'

"'No lies have I told, O Great Great One, in whose light we live,'

answered Sekweni steadily. 'It is as I have said--I was bewitched.'

"'Good,' said the King. 'Now will we get to the root of this. Come forth, ye snakes of the darkness!'

"At these words the doors of three of the huts opened, and there burst forth from them the whole company of the _iza.n.u.si_. They were smeared with blood and napping with entrails, and with their charms of bird-claws and human bones, snakes' skins and cow-tail tufts, rattling around them, came dancing and leaping before the King, whistling and howling, a most hideous company.

"'Behold this thong--this bit of skin,' said Umzilikazi, holding up the articles. 'Find the owner, ye ringed snakes! Find the owners!'

"The _iza.n.u.si_ went howling round the circle as is their wont, and all hearts quailed. Not a man could tell but that a wizard rod should be turned his way; yet on this occasion it was the women who had the most cause to fear, for had not Sekweni declared that his captors wore female shape? All, however, as the witch-doctors ran howling before them, kept up a most doleful song, calling for the speedy finding and punishment of the witch. Still, the _iza.n.u.si_ ran twice round the circle without naming anybody, and, indeed, I, among others, thought I knew the reason of this; for it happened that at the last 'smelling-out' they had named one of the King's favourite fighting chiefs, which had so enraged Umzilikazi, whom it had put to so much difficulty in finding a pretext for sparing the denounced man's life, that he had more than half vowed the death of the witch-doctors the next time they should accuse the wrong person. This, then, was the cause of their hesitation, the more so that they suspected the old Mosutu had been spared in order to supersede themselves.

"But now indeed I had cause to quake, for the _iza.n.u.si_ had stopped, and with renewed vigour were howling and dancing in front of the group of women among whom Nangeza was the most prominent. I could see the faces of these women quivering with fear, but not so hers. She echoed the witch-finding song louder than any, seeming to fling it back defiantly into their faces.

"'We name--' they shrieked, flouris.h.i.+ng their arms and rattles, and leaping high in the air. The rods were already extended.

"'We name--'

"'Hold!' cried the King. 'Go no further. I have a new idea. Where is Masuka? Where is the old Mosutu?'

"'Here, lord,' said the old man, coming from a hut close by.

"'Hast thou been making _muti_ alone, Masuka?' said the King.

"'I require no _muti_, O Black Elephant. That may be needful to such as these.'

"'I hear thee, Masuka. Look, now. Twice have these _iza.n.u.si_ gone round the circle, and yet have named no one. Let them stand aside now, and go thou around it once; for I believe their _muti_ is worn thin, and thy power without it is greater than theirs with it.'

"'The King shall be satisfied,' answered the Mosutu.

"Now, although he had been well treated and kept in abundance, the old man had affected no superiority over any of us, great or mean. He had worn only one or two 'charms,' and, indeed, there was little about him to denote his estate, unlike our own magicians, who were ever performing strange and mysterious rites. When the time came, he would say, then his power would be proved; meanwhile he was under no necessity to do anything to keep it from tottering. And this was the first time since the fire-making that he had been called upon to exercise his power.

"Now, as he paced round the ring, with nothing in his hand but a short pointed stick, and no ornaments save three black wooden beads suspended to his neck and two gnu's tails on his left arm, I felt no fear, for he was aware that I, and not Gungana, had saved his life, and I knew he would do nothing to harm me. So I breathed freely and watched the proceedings.

"Unlike the others, Masuka, as he went round the circle, looked at n.o.body. With his head thrown back, he stared skyward, muttering the while in a strange language, and every now and then breaking into a short yelling chant. But when he returned before the King he had named no one.

"'Well, Father of the Fire-spirit?' said Umzilikazi. 'Who is to die?'

"We saw that blank look come over the old man's face which had come upon it that other time when we thought him dead. It was as if his spirit had suddenly left his body. Then he fell over and lay on the ground, still, motionless as a stone.

"All gazed upon him with awe and dread, gazed upon him in a silence which was only broken by the deep breathing of the mult.i.tude. At length his lips were seen to move. Words came forth:

"'Who has bewitched the soldier of the King?'

"The voice was so strange and far-away and hollow that it seemed to come from the very depths of the earth. Moreover, the eyes of the old Mosutu were so turned inwards that nothing but the whites were visible at a time. As he proceeded with his questions and answers he would roll his eyeb.a.l.l.s around in a manner that was dreadful to behold. It was as if they were quite loose in his head.

"'Who has bewitched the soldier of the King? Is it Nkaleni?'

"'It is not Nkaleni.'

"'Is it Matupe?'

"'It is not Matupe.'

"'Is it Nangeza?'

"At these words, _Nkose_, and the pause that followed them, I was so startled that I nearly let fall the s.h.i.+eld upon the royal head-ring, which would have meant my instant death. As it was, I found I was holding it in such wise as to allow the sun to scorch one of the King's ears; but Umzilikazi was, fortunately, so interested in the witch-finding that he failed to notice it. Then, to my relief, the answer came:

"'It is not Nangeza.'

"In this way old Masuka ran through a number of names, and the terror upon the countenances of the women named, for they were all women, until the answer came, was something to witness. Then he changed the form of question.

"'Were there two in it?'

"'There were two in it.'

"'Was it Shushungani?'

"Such an exclamation of amazement broke from all, for Masuka had named one of the royal wives. It gathered in intensity as, after a longer pause than before, the answer came:

"'Shushungani--Shushungani! It was Shushungani!'

"A wild shriek burst from the owner of the name, who was standing among the royal women.

"'He lies! he lies!' she screamed in her terror. 'The stranger _isa.n.u.si_ lies!'

"'Peace, woman!' thundered the King. 'Proceed, Masuka.'

"Again followed a number of names, one at last being fixed upon as before. She, too, was of the royal household, though not of the King's wives, and was called Pangulwe. With her the naming ceased, and for long the old man lay in death-like silence, nor would the King suffer a word or a sound to be uttered. Then suddenly Masuka returned to life, and, sitting up, looked wonderingly around, as a man waking from a dream who finds himself in a strange place.

"To us there was something especially terrible about this method of 'smelling-out,' the old man's spirit seeming to leave his body thus and to talk with those of the unseen air--so different to the hideous clangour and wild dancing wherewith our own _iza.n.u.si_ were wont to proceed--and resulting as it did in the naming of two of the royal women, our awe and wonder was without bounds.

"At a sign from the King the two named were brought forward.

Shushungani was a tall, straight woman, very black, and with a sullen countenance and evil eyes. The other, Fangulwe, was young and rather pretty. On the faces of both was a dreadful look of terror over their coming fate.

"'Is the King bewitched himself,' cried the former wildly, 'that this dog of a stranger dares lift his tongue against the royal House?'

"'It seems that tongues are often lifted _within_ the royal House, Shushungani, and that too much. Even the royal House is not always free from _abatagati_,' replied the King, with a sneer. '_Hambani gahle_!'

['Go in peace,' the Zulu form of farewell to anybody leaving.] 'A peaceful night awaits you both. Take them hence. Stay, though. They are of the Royal House. Let them die the death of the spear!'

"The despairing shrieks of the two women whom the executioners had seized to drag forth to the place of death were completely drowned in the great chorus of _bonga_ that arose by reason of this act of mercy on the part of the King. For he had ordered them the n.o.bler death of the a.s.segai instead of having their brains clubbed out with k.n.o.bsticks, as the usual method was.

"'Now that the witches have gone to sleep,' said the King, 'it seems right that the bewitched should join them; for in good truth a sentinel at his post should be proof even against the spells of witchcraft.'