CHAPTER XX
HEDA'S TALE
That evening when I was lying on my bed outside the cave, I heard
the tale of Anscombe and Heda. Up to a certain point he told it,
then she went on with the story.
"On the morning after our arrival at this place, Allan," said
Anscombe, "I woke up to find you gone from the hut. As you did
not come back I concluded that you were with Zikali, and walked
about looking for you. Then food was brought to us and Heda and
I breakfasted together, after which we went to where we heard the
horses neighing and found that yours was gone. Returning, much
frightened, we met Nombe, who gave me your note which explained
everything, and we inquired of her why this had been done and
what was to become of us. She smiled and answered that we had
better ask the first question of the king and the second of her
master Zikali, and in the meanwhile be at peace since we were
quite safe.
"I tried to see Zikali but could not. Then I went to inspan the
horses with the idea of following you, only to find that they
were gone. Indeed I have not seen them from that day to this.
Next we thought of starting on foot, for we were quite desperate.
But Nombe intervened and told us that if we ventured out of the
Black Kloof we should be killed. In short we were prisoners.
"This went on for some days, during which we were well treated
but could not succeed in seeing Zikali. At length one morning he
sent for us and we were taken to the enclosure in front of his
hut, Kaatje coming with us as interpreter. For a while he sat
still, looking very grim and terrible. Then he said--
"'White Chief and Lady, you think ill of me because Macumazahn
has gone and you are kept prisoners here, and before all is done
you will think worse. Yet I counsel you to trust me since
everything that happens is for your good.'
"At this point Heda, who, as you know, talked Zulu fairly well,
though not so well as she does now, broke in, and said some very
angry things to him."
"Yes," interrupted Heda. "I told him that he was a liar and I
believed that he had murdered you and meant to murder us."
"He listened stonily," continued Anscombe, "and answered, 'I
perceive, Lady Heddana, that you understand enough of our tongue
to enable me to talk to you; therefore I will send away this
half-breed woman, since what I have to say is secret.'
"Then he called servants by clapping his hands and ordered them
to remove Kaatje, which was done.
"'Now, Lady Heddana,' he said, speaking very slowly so that Heda
might interpret to me and repeating his words whenever she did
not understand, 'I have a proposal to make to you. For my own
ends it is necessary that you should play a part and appear
before the king and the Council as the goddess of this land who
is called the Chieftainess of Heaven, which goddess is always
seen as a white woman. Therefore you must travel with me to
Ulundi and there do those things which I shall tell you.'
"'And if I refuse to play this trick,' said Heda, 'what then?'
"'Then, Lady Heddana, this white lord whom you love and who is to
be your husband will--die--and after he is dead you must still do
what I desire of you, or--die also.'
"'Would he come with me to Ulundi?' asked Heda.
"'Not so, Lady. He would stay here under guard, but quite safe,
and you will be brought back to him, safe. Choose now, with
death on the one hand and safety on the other. I would sleep a
little. Talk the matter over in your own tongue and when it is
settled awaken me again,' and he shut his eyes and appeared to go
to sleep.
"So we discussed the situation, if you can call it discussion
when we were both nearly mad. Heda wished to go. I begged her
to let me be killed rather than trust herself into the hands of
this old villain. She pointed out that even if I were killed,
which she admitted might not happen, she would still be in his
hands whence she could only escape by her own death, whereas if
she went there was a chance that we might both continue to live,
and that after all death was easy to find. So in the end I gave
way and we woke up Zikali and told him so.
"He seemed pleased and spoke to us gently, saying, 'I was sure
that wisdom dwelt behind those bright eyes of yours, Lady, and
again I promise you that neither you nor the lord your lover
shall come to any harm. Also that in payment I and my child,
Nombe, will protect you even with our lives, and further, that I
will bring back your friend, Macumazahn, to you, though not yet.
Now go and be happy together. Nombe will tell the lady Heddana
when she is to start. Of all this say nothing on your peril to
the woman Kaatje, since if you do, it will be necessary that she
should be made silent. Indeed, lest she should learn something,
to-morrow I shall send her on to await you at Ulundi, therefore
be not surprised if you see her go, and take no heed of aught she
may say in going. Nombe, my child, will fill her place as
servant to the lady Heddana and sleep with her at night that she
may not be lonely or afraid.'
"Then he clapped his hands again and servants came and conducted
us back to the huts. And now, Allan, Heda will go on with the
story."
"Well, Mr. Quatermain," she said, "nothing more happened that day
which we spent with bursting hearts. Kaatje did not question us
as to what the witch-doctor had said after she was sent away.
Indeed I noticed that she was growing very stupid and drowsy,
like a person who has been drugged, as I daresay she was, and
would insist upon beginning to pack up the things in a foolish
kind of way, muttering something about our trekking on the
following day. The night passed as usual, Kaatje sleeping very
heavily by my side and snoring so much" (here I groaned
sympathetically) "that I could get little rest. On the next
morning after breakfast as the huts were very hot, Nombe
suggested that we should sit under the shadow of the overhanging
rock, just where we are now. Accordingly we went, and being
tired out with all our troubles and bad nights, I fell into a
doze, and so, I think, did Maurice, Nombe sitting near to us and
singing all the while, a very queer kind of song.
"Presently, through my doze as it were, I saw Kaatje approaching.
Nombe went to meet her, still singing, and taking her hand, led
her to the cart, where they seemed to talk to the horses, which
surprised me as there were no horses. Then she brought her round
the cart and pointed to us, still singing. Now Kaatje began to
weep and throw her hands about, while Nombe patted her on the
shoulder. I tried to speak to her but could not. My tongue was
tied, why I don't know, but I suppose because I was really
asleep, and Maurice also was asleep and did not wake at all."
"Yes," said Anscombe, "I remember nothing of all this business."
"After a while Kaatje went away, still weeping, and then I fell
asleep in earnest and did not wake until the sun was going down,
when I roused Maurice and we both went back to the hut, where I
found that Nombe had cooked our evening meal. I looked for
Kaatje, but could not find her. Also in searching through my
things I missed the bag of jewels. I called to Nombe and asked
where Kaatje was, whereon she smiled and said that she had gone
away, taking the bag with her. This pained me, for I had always
found Kaatje quite honest--"
"Which she is," I remarked, "for those jewels are now in a bank
at Maritzburg."
Heda nodded and went on, "I am glad to hear it; indeed,
remembering what Zikali had said, I never really suspected her of
being a thief, but thought it was all part of some plan. After
this things went on as before, except that Nombe took Kaatje's
place and was with me day and night. Of Kaatje's disappearance
she would say nothing. Zikali we did not see.
"On the third evening after the vanishing of Kaatje, Nombe came
and said that I must make ready for a journey, and while she
spoke men arrived with a litter that had grass mats hung round
it. Nombe brought out my long cape and put it over me, also a
kind of veil of white stuff which she threw over my head, so as
to hide my face. I think it was made out of one of our
travelling mosquito nets. Then she said I must say good-bye to
Maurice for a while. There was a scene as you may imagine. He
grew angry and said that he would come with me, whereon armed men
appeared, six of them, and pushed him away with the handles of
their spears. In another minute I was lifted into the litter
which Nombe entered with me, and so we were parted, wondering if
we should ever see each other more. At the mouth of the kloof I
saw another litter surrounded by a number of Zulus, which Nombe
said contained Zikali.
"We travelled all that night and two succeeding nights, resting
during the day in deserted kraals that appeared to have been made
ready for us. It was a strange journey, for although the armed
men flitted about us, neither they nor the bearers ever spoke,
nor did I see Zikali, or indeed any one else. Only Nombe
comforted me from time to time, telling me there was nothing to
fear. Towards dawn on the third night we travelled over some
hills and I was put into a new hut and told that my journey was
done as we had reached a place near Ulundi.
"I slept most of the following day, but after I had eaten towards
evening, Zikali crept into the hut, just as a great toad might
do, and squatted down in front of me.
"'Lady,' he said, 'listen. To-night, perhaps one hour after
sundown, perhaps two, perhaps three, Nombe will lead you, dressed
in a certain fashion, from this hut. See now, outside of it
there is a tongue of rock up which you may climb unnoted by the
little path that runs between those big stones. Look,' and he
showed me the place through the door-hole. 'The path ends on a
flat boulder at the end of the rock. There you will take your
stand, holding in your right hand a little assegai which will be
given to you. Nombe will not accompany you to the rock, but she
will crouch between the stones at the head of the path and
perhaps from time to time whisper to you what to do. Thus when
she tells you, you must throw the little spear into the air, so
that it falls among a number of men gathered in debate who will
be seated about twenty paces from the rock. For the rest you are
to stand quite still, saying nothing and showing no alarm
whatever you may hear or see. Among the men before you may be
your friend, Macumazahn, but you must not appear to recognize
him, and if he speaks to you, you must make no answer. Even if
he should seem to shoot at you, do not be afraid. Do you
understand? If so, repeat what I have told you.' I obeyed him
and asked what would happen if I did not do these things, or some
of them.
"He answered, 'You will be killed, Nombe will be killed, the lord
Mauriti your lover will be killed, and your friend Macumazahn
will be killed. Perhaps even I shall be killed and we will talk
the matter over in the land of ghosts.'
"On hearing this I said I would do my best to carry out his
orders, and after making me repeat them once more, he went away.
Later, Nombe dressed me up as you saw me, Mr. Quatermain, put
some glittering powder into my hair and touched me beneath the
eyes with a dark kind of pigment. Also she gave me the little
spear and made me practise standing quite still with it raised in
my right hand, telling me that when I heard her say the word
'Throw,' I was to cast it into the air. Then the moon rose and
we heard men talking at a distance. At last some one came to the
hut and whispered to Nombe, who led me out to the little path
between the rocks.
"This must have been nearly two hours after I heard the men begin
to talk--"
"Excuse me," I interrupted, "but where was Nombe all those two
hours?"
"With me. She never left my side, Mr. Quatermain, and while I
was on the rock she was crouched within three paces of me between
two big stones at the mouth of the path."
"Indeed," I replied faintly, "this is very interesting. Please
continue--but one word, how was Nombe dressed? Did she wear a
necklace of blue beads?"
"Just as she always is, or rather less so, for she had nothing on
except her moocha, and certainly no blue beads. But why do you
ask?"
"From curiosity merely. I mean, I will tell you afterwards, pray
go on."
"Well, I stepped forward on to the rock and at first saw nothing,
because at that moment the moon was hid by a cloud; indeed Nombe
had waited for the cloud to pass over its face, before she thrust
me forward. Also some smoke from a fire below was rising
straight in front of me. Presently the cloud passed, the smoke
thinned, and I saw the circle of those savage men seated beneath,
and in their centre a great chief wearing a leopard's skin cloak
who I guessed was the king. You I did not see, Mr. Quatermain,
because you were behind a tree, yet I felt that you were there, a
friend among all those foes. I stood still, as I had been taught
to do, and heard the murmur of astonishment and caught the gleam
of the moonlight from the white feathers that were sewn upon my
robe.
"Then I heard also the voice of Zikali speaking from beneath. He
called on you to come out to shoot at me, and the man whom I took
to be the king, ordered you to obey. You appeared from behind
the tree, and I was certain from the look upon your face that at
that distance you did not know who I was in my strange and
glittering raiment. You lifted the pistol and I was terribly
afraid, for I had seen you shoot with it before on the verandah
of the Temple and knew well that you do not miss. Very nearly I
screamed out to you, but remembered and was silent, thinking that
after all it did not much matter if I died, except for the sake
of Maurice here. Also by now I guessed that I was being used to
deceive those men before me into some terrible act, and that if I
died, at least they would be undeceived.
"I thought that an age passed between the time you pointed the
pistol and I saw the flash for which I was waiting."
"You need not have waited, Heda," I interposed, "for if I had
really aimed at you you would never have seen that flash, at
least so it is said. I too guessed enough to shoot above you,
although at the time I did not know that it was you on the rock;
indeed I thought it was Nombe painted up."
"Yes, I heard the bullet sing over me. Then I heard the voice of
Zikali challenging you to shoot him, and to tell the truth, hoped
that you would do so. Just before you fired for the second time,
Nombe whispered to me--'Throw' and I threw the little red-handled
spear into the air. Then as the pistol went off Nombe
whispered--'Come.' I slipped away down the path and back with
her into the hut, where she kissed me and said that I had done
well indeed, after which she took off my strange robe and helped
me to put on my own dress.
"That is all I know, except that some hours later I was awakened
from sleep and put into the litter where I went to sleep again,
for what I had gone through tired me very much. I need not
trouble you with the rest, for we journeyed here in the same way
that we had journeyed to Ulundi--by night. I did not see Zikali,
but in answer to my questions, Nombe told me that the Zulus had
declared war against the English. What part in the business I
had played, she would not tell me, and I do not know to this
hour, but I am sure that it was a great one.
"So we came back to the Black Kloof, where I found Maurice quite
well, and now he had better go on with the tale, for if I begin
to tell you of our meeting I shall become foolish."
"There isn't much more to tell," said Anscombe, "except about
yourself. While Heda was away I was kept a prisoner and watched
day and night by Zikali's people who would not let me stir a
yard, but otherwise treated me kindly. Then one day at sunrise,
or shortly after it, Heda re-appeared and told me all this story,
for the end of which, as you may imagine, I thanked God.
"After that we just lived on here, happily enough since we were
together, until one day Nombe told us that there had been a great
battle in which the Zulus had wiped out the English, killing
hundreds and hundreds of them, although for every soldier that
they killed, they had lost two. Of course this made us very sad,
especially as we were afraid you might be with our troops. We
asked Nombe if you were present at the battle. She answered that
she would inquire of her Spirit and went through some very
strange performances with ashes and knuckle bones, after which
she announced that you had been in the battle but were alive and
coming this way with a dog that had silver on it. We laughed at
her, saying that she could not possibly know anything of the
sort, also that dogs as a rule did not carry silver. Whereon she
only smiled and said--'Wait.'
"I think it was three days later that one night towards dawn I
was awakened by hearing a dog barking outside my hut, as though
it wished to call attention to its presence. It barked so
persistently and in a way so unlike a Kaffir dog, that at length
about dawn I went out of the hut to see what was the matter.
There, standing a few yards away surrounded by some of Zikali's
people, I saw Lost and knew at once that it was an English
Airedale, for I have had several of the breed. It looked very
tired and frightened, and while I was wondering whence on earth
it could have come, I noticed that it had a silver-mounted collar
and remembered Nombe and her talk about you and a dog that
carried silver on it. From that moment, Allan, I was certain
that you were somewhere near, especially as the beast ran up to
me--it would take no notice of the Kaffirs--and kept looking
towards the mouth of the kloof, as though it wished me to follow
it. Just then Nombe arrived, and on seeing the dog looked at me
oddly.
"'I have a message for you from my master, Mauriti,' she said to
me through Heda, who by now had arrived upon the scene, having
also been aroused by Lost's barking. 'It is that if you wish to
take a walk with a strange dog you can do so, and bring back
anything you may find.'"
"The end of it was that after we had fed Lost with milk and meat,
I and six of Zikali's men started down the kloof, Lost going
ahead of us and now and again running back and whining. At the
mouth of the kloof it led us over a hill and down into a
bush-veld valley where the thorns grew very thick. When we had
gone along the valley for about two miles, one of the Kaffirs saw
a Basuto pony still saddled, and caught it. The dog went on past
the pony to a tree that had been shattered by lightning, and
there within a few yards of the tree we found you lying
senseless, Allan, or, as I thought at first, dead, and by your
side a Martini rifle of which the stock also seemed to have been
broken by lightning.
"Well, we put you on a shield and carried you here, meeting no
one, and that is all the story, Allan."
He stopped and we stared at each other. Then I called Lost and
patted its head, and the dear beast licked my hand as though it
understood that it was being thanked.
"A strange tale," I said, "but God Almighty has put much wisdom
into His creatures of which we know nothing. Let us thank Him,"
and in our hearts we did.
Thus was I rescued from death by the intelligence and fidelity of
a four-footed creature. Doubtless in my semi-conscious state
that resulted from shock, weariness and sun-stroke, I had all the
while headed sub-consciously and without any definite object for
the Black Kloof. When I was within a few miles of it I was
stunned by the lightning which ran down the rifle to the ground,
though not actually struck. Then the dog, which had escaped,
played its part, wandering about the country to find help for me,
and so I was saved.
Now of the long months that followed I have little to tell. They
were not unhappy in their way, for week by week I felt myself
growing stronger, though very slowly. There was a path, steep,
difficult and secret, which could be gained through one of the
caves in the precipice, not that in which I slept. This path ran
up a water-cut kloof through a patch of thorns to a flat
tableland that was part of the Ceza stronghold. By it, when I
had gained sufficient strength, sometimes we used to climb to the
plateau, and there take exercise, It was an agreeable change from
the stifling atmosphere of the Black Kloof. The days were very
dull, for we were as much out of the world as though we had been
marooned on a desert island. Still from time to time we heard of
the progress of the war through Nombe, for Zikali I saw but
seldom.
She told of disasters to the English, of the death of a great
young Chief who was deserted by his companions and died fighting
bravely--afterwards I discovered that this was the Prince
Imperial of France--of the advance of our armies, of defeats
inflicted upon Cetewayo's impis, and finally of the destruction
of the Zulus on the battlefield of Ulundi, where they hurled
themselves by thousands upon the British square, to be swept away
by case-shot and the hail of bullets. This battle, by the way,
the Zulus call, not Ulundi or Nodwengu, for it was fought in
front of Panda's old kraal of that name, but Ocwecweni, which
means--"the fight of the sheet-iron fortress." I suppose they
give it this name because the hedge of bayonets, flashing in the
sunlight, reminded them of sheet-iron. Or it may be because
these proved as impenetrable as would have done walls of iron.
At any rate they dashed their naked bodies against the storm of
lead and fell in heaps, only about a dozen of our men being
killed, as the little graveyard in the centre of the square
entrenchment, about which still lie the empty cartridge cases,
records to-day.
There, then, on that plain perished the Zulu kingdom which was
built up by Chaka.
Now it was after this event that I saw Zikali and begged him to
let us go. I found him triumphant and yet strangely disturbed
and, as I thought, more apprehensive than I had ever seen him.
"So, Zikali," I said, "if what I hear is true, you have had your
way and destroyed the Zulu people. Now you should be happy."
"Is man ever happy, Macumazahn, when he has gained that which he
sought for years? The two out there sigh and are sad because
they cannot be married after their own white fashion, though what
there is to keep them apart I do not know. Well, in time they
will be married, only to find that they are not so happy as they
thought they would be. Oh! a day will come when they will talk
to each other and say--'Those moons which we spent waiting
together in the Black Kloof were the true moons of sweetness, for
then we had something to gain; now we have gained all--and what
is it?'
"So it is with me, Macumazahn. Since the Zulus under Chaka
killed out my people, the Ndwandwe, year by year I have plotted
and waited to see them wedded to the assegai. Now it has come
about. You white men have stamped them flat upon the plain of
Ulundi; they are no more a nation. And yet I am not happy, for
after all it was the House of Senzangacona and not the people of
the Zulus, that harmed me and mine, and Cetewayo still lives.
While the queen bee remains there may be a hive again. While an
ember still glows in the dead ashes, the forest may vet be fired.
Perhaps when Cetewayo is dead, then I shall be happy. Only his
death and mine are set by Fate as close together as two sister
grains of corn upon the cob."
I turned the subject, again asking his leave to depart to Natal
or to join the English army.
"You cannot go yet," he answered sternly, "so trouble me no more.
The land is full of wandering bands of Zulus who would kill you
and your blood would be on my head. Moreover, if they saw a
white woman who had sheltered with me, might they not guess
something? To dress a doll for the part of the Inkosazana-y-Zulu
is the greatest crime in the world, Macumazahn, and what would
happen to the Opener of Roads and all his House if it were even
breathed that he had dressed that doll and thus brought about the
war which ruined them? When Cetewayo is killed and the dead are
buried and peace falls upon the land, the peace of death, then
you shall go, Macumazahn, and not before."
"At least, Zikali, send a message to the captains of the English
army and tell them that we are here."
"Send a message to the hyenas and tell them where the carcase is;
send a message to the hunters and tell them where the buck Zikali
crouches on its form! Hearken, Macumazahn, if you do this, or
even urge me again to do it, neither you nor your friends shall
ever leave the Black Kloof. I have spoken."
Then understanding that the case was hopeless, I left him and he
glowered after me, for fear had made him cruel. He had won the
long game and success had turned to ashes in his mouth. Or
rather, he had not won--yet--since his war was against the House
of Senzangacona from which he and his tribe had suffered cruel
wrong. To pull it down he must pull down the Zulu nation; it was
like burning a city to destroy a compromising letter. He had
burnt the city, but the letter still remained intact and might be
produced in evidence against him. In other words Cetewayo yet
lived. Therefore his vengeance remained quite unslaked and his
danger was as great, or perhaps greater than it had ever been
before. For was he not the prophet who by producing the Princess
of Heaven, the traditional goddess of the Zulus, before the eyes
of the king and Council, had caused them to decide for war? And
supposing it were so much as breathed that this spirit which they
seemed to see, had been but a trick and a fraud, what then? He
would be tortured to death if his dupes had time, or torn limb
from limb if they had not, that is if he could die like other
men--a matter as to which personally I had no doubts.
Shortly after I left Zikali Heda and I ate our evening meal
together. Anscombe, as it chanced, had gone by the secret path
to the tableland of which I have spoken, where he amused himself,
as of course we were not allowed to fire a gun, by catching
partridges, with the help of an ingenious system of grass nets
which he had invented. There were springs on this tableland that
formed little pools of water, at which the partridges, also
occasionally guineafowl and bush pheasants, came to drink at
sunrise and sunset. Here it was that he set his nets and retired
to work them at those hours by means of strings that he pulled
from hiding-places. So Heda and I were alone.
I told her of my ill success with Zikali, at which she was much
disappointed. Then by an afterthought I suggested that perhaps
she might try to do something in the way of getting a message
through to the English camp at Ulundi, or elsewhere, by help of
the witch-doctoress, Nombe, adding that I would speak to her
myself had I not observe that I seemed to be out of favour with
her of late. Heda shook her head and answered that she thought
it would be useless to try, also too dangerous. Remembering
Zikali's threat, on reflection I agreed with her.
"Tell me, Mr. Quatermain," she added, "is it possible for one
woman to be in love with another?"
I stared at her and replied that I did not understand what she
meant, since women, so far as I had observed them, were generally
in love either with a man or with themselves, perhaps more often
with the latter than the former. Rather a cheap joke I admit,
with just enough truth in it to make it acceptable--in the Black
Kloof.
"So I thought," she answered, "but really Nombe behaves in a most
peculiar way. As you know she took a fancy to me from the
beginning, perhaps because she had never had any other woman with
whom to associate, having, so far as I can make out, been brought
up here among men from a child. Indeed, her story is that she
was one of twins and therefore as the younger, was exposed to die
according to the Zulu superstition. Zikali, however, or a
servant of his who knew what was happening, rescued and reared
her, so practically I am the only female with whom she has ever
been intimate. At any rate her affection for me has grown and
grown until, although it seems ungrateful to say so, it has
become something of a nuisance. She has told me again and again
that she would die to protect me, and that if by chance anything
happened to me, she would kill herself and follow me into another
world. She is continually making divinations about my future,
and as these, in which she entirely believes, always show me as
living without her, she is much distressed and at times bursts
into tears."
"Hysteria! It is very common among the Zulu women, and
especially those of them who practise magic arts," I answered.
"Perhaps, but as it results in the most intense jealousy, Nombe's
hysteria is awkward. For instance, she is horribly jealous of
Maurice."
"The instincts of a chaperone developed early," I suggested
again.
"That won't quite do, Mr. Quatermain," answered Heda with a
laugh, "since she is even more jealous of you. With reference to
Maurice, she explains frankly that if we marry she might, as she
puts it, 'continue to sit outside the hut,' but that in your case
you live 'in my head,' where she cannot come between you and me."
"Mad," I remarked, "quite mad. Still madness has to be dealt
with in this world like other things, and Nombe, being an
abnormal person, may suffer from abnormal ideas. It just amounts
to this; she has conceived a passionate devotion to you, at which
I am sure neither Maurice nor I can wonder."
"Are those the kind of compliments you used to pay in your youth,
Mr. Quatermain? I expect so, and now that you are old you cannot
stop them. Well, I thank you all the same, because perhaps you
mean what you say. But what is to be done about Nombe? Hush!
here she comes. I will leave you to reason with her, if you get
the chance," and she departed in a hurry.
Nombe arrived, and something in her aspect told me that I was
going to get the chance. Her eternal smile was almost gone and
her dark, beautiful eyes flashed ominously. Still she began by
asking in a mild voice whether the lady Heddana had eaten her
supper with appetite. It will be observed that she was not
interested in my appetite or whether enough was left for Anscombe
when he returned. I replied that so far as I noted she had
consumed about half a partridge, with other things.
"I am glad," said Nombe, "since I was not here to attend upon
her, having been summoned to speak with the Master."
Then she sat down and looked at me like a thunder storm.
"I nursed you when you, were so ill, Macumazahn," she began, "but
now I learn that for the milk with which I fed you, you would
force me to drink bitter water that will poison me."
I replied I was well aware that without her nursing I should long
ago have been dead, which was what caused me to love her like my
own daughter. But would she kindly explain? This she did at
once.
"You have been plotting to take away from me the lady Heddana who
to me is as mother and sister and child. It is useless to lie to
me, for the Master has told me all; moreover, I knew it for
myself, both through my Spirit and because I had watched you."
"I have no intention of lying to you, Nombe, about this or any
other matter, though I think that sometimes in the past you have
lied to me. Tell me, do you expect the Inkosi Mauriti, the lady
Heddana and myself to pass the rest of our lives in the Black
Kloof, when they wish to get married and go across the Black
Water to where their home will be, and I wish to attend to my
affairs?"
"I do not know what I expect, Macumazahn, but I do know that
never while I live will I be parted from the lady Heddana. At
last I have found some one to love, and you and the other would
steal her away from me."
I studied her for a while, then asked--
"Why do you not marry, Nombe, and have a husband, and children to
love?"
"Marry?" she replied. "I am married to my Spirit which does not
dwell beneath the sun, and my children are not of earth;
moreover, all men are hateful to me," and her eyes added,
"especially you."
"That is a calf with a dog's head," I replied in the words of the
native proverb, meaning that she said what was not natural.
"Well, Nombe, if you are so fond of the lady Heddana, you had
better arrange with her and the Inkosi Mauriti to go away with
them."
"You know well I cannot, Macumazahn. I am tied to my Master by
ropes that are stronger than iron, and if I attempted to break
them my Spirit would wither and I should wither with it."
"Dear me! what a dreadful business. That is what comes of taking
to magic. Well, Nombe, I am afraid I have nothing to suggest,
nor, to tell you the truth, can I see what I have to do with the
matter."
Then she sprang up in a rage, saying--
"I understand that not only will you give me no help, but that
you also mock at me, Macumazahn. Moreover, as it is with you, so
it is with Mauriti, who pretends to love my lady so much, though
I love her more with my little finger than he does with all his
body and what he calls his soul. Yes, he too mocks at me. Now
if you were both dead," she added with sudden venom, "my lady
would not wish to go away. Be careful lest a spell should fall
upon you, Macumazahn," and without more words she turned and
went.
At first I was inclined to laugh; the whole thing seemed so
absurd. On reflection, however, I perceived that in reality it
was very serious to people situated as we were. This woman was a
savage; more, a mystic savage of considerable powers of mind--a
formidable combination. Also there were no restraints upon her,
since public opinion had as little authority in the Black Kloof
as the Queen's Writ. Lastly, it was not unknown for women to
conceive these violent affections which, if thwarted, filled them
with something like madness. Thus I remembered a very terrible
occurrence of my youth which resulted in the death of one who was
most dear to me. I will not dwell on it, but this, too, was the
work of a passionate creature, woman I can scarcely call her, who
thought she was being robbed of one whom she adored.
The end of it was that I did not enjoy my pipe that night, though
luckily Anscombe returned after a successful evening's netting,
about which he was so full of talk that there was no need for me
to say much. So I put off any discussion of the problem until
the morrow.
