VIII
MAIWA IS AVENGED
"The impi formed up; alas, an hour before it had been stronger by a
third than it was now. Then Nala detached two hundred men to collect
and attend to the injured, and at my suggestion issued a stringent
order that none of the enemy's wounded, and above all no women or
children, were to be killed, as is the savage custom among African
natives. On the contrary, they were to be allowed to send word to
their women that they might come in to nurse them and fear nothing,
for Nala made war upon Wambe the tyrant, and not on the Matuku tribe.
"Then we started with some four hundred men for the chief's kraal.
Very soon we were there. It was, as I have said, placed against the
mountain side, but within the fortified lines, and did not at all
cover more than an acre and a half of ground. Outside was a tiny reed
fence, within which, neatly arranged in a semi-circular line, stood
the huts of the chief's principal wives. Maiwa of course knew every
inch of the kraal, for she had lived in it, and led us straight to the
entrance. We peeped through the gateway--not a soul was to be seen.
There were the huts and there was the clear open space floored with a
concrete of lime, on which the sun beat fiercely, but nobody could we
see or hear.
"'The jackal has gone to earth,' said Maiwa; 'he will be in the cave
behind his hut,' and she pointed with her spear towards another small
and semi-circular enclosure, over which a large hut was visible, that
had the cliff itself for a background. I stared at this fence; by
George! it was true, it was entirely made of tusks of ivory planted in
the ground with their points bending outwards. The smallest ones,
though none were small, were placed nearest to the cliff on either
side, but they gradually increased in size till they culminated in two
enormous tusks, which, set up so that their points met, something in
the shape of an inverted V, formed the gateway to the hut. I was
dumbfoundered with delight; and indeed, where is the elephant-hunter
who would not be, if he suddenly saw five or six hundred picked tusks
set up in a row, and only waiting for him to take them away? Of course
the stuff was what is known as 'black' ivory; that is, the exterior of
the tusks had become black from years or perhaps centuries of exposure
to wind and weather, but I was certain that it would be none the worse
for that. Forgetting the danger of the deed, in my excitement I
actually ran right across the open space, and drawing my knife
scratched vigorously at one of the great tusks to see how deep the
damage might be. As I thought, it was nothing; there beneath the black
covering gleamed the pure white ivory. I could have capered for joy,
for I fear that I am very mercenary at heart, when suddenly I heard
the faint echo of a cry for assistance. 'Help!' screamed a voice in
the Sisutu dialect from somewhere behind the hut; 'help! they are
murdering me.'
"/I knew the voice/; it was John Every's. Oh, what a selfish brute was
I! For the moment that miserable ivory had driven the recollection of
him out of my head, and now--perhaps it was too late.
"Nala, Maiwa, and the soldiers had now come up. They too heard the
voice and interpreted its tone, though they had not caught the words.
"'This way,' cried Maiwa, and we started at a run, passing round the
hut of Wambe. Behind was the narrow entrance to a cave. We rushed
through it heedless of the danger of the ambush, and this is what we
saw, though very confusedly at first, owing to the gloom.
"In the centre of the cave, and with either end secured to the floor
by strong stakes, stood a huge double-springed lion trap edged with
sharp and grinning teeth. It was set, and beyond the trap, indeed
almost over it, a terrible struggle was in progress. A naked or almost
naked white man, with a great beard hanging down over his breast, in
spite of his furious struggles, was being slowly forced and dragged
towards the trap by six or eight women. Only one man was present, a
fat, cruel-looking man with small eyes and a hanging lip. It was the
chief Wambe, and he stood by the trap ready to force the victim down
upon it so soon as the women had dragged him into the necessary
position.
"At this instant they caught sight of us, and there came a moment's
pause, and then, before I knew what she was going to do, Maiwa lifted
the assegai she still held, and whirled it at Wambe's head. I saw the
flash of light speed towards him, and so did he, for he stepped
backward to avoid it--stepped backward right into the trap. He yelled
with pain as the iron teeth of the 'Thing that bites' sprang up with a
rattling sound like living fangs and fastened into him--such a yell I
have not often heard. Now at last he tasted of the torture which he
had inflicted upon so many, and though I trust I am a Christian, I
cannot say that I felt sorry for him.
"The assegai sped on and struck one of the women who had hold of the
unfortunate Every, piercing through her arm. This made her leave go,
an example that the other women quickly followed, so that Every fell
to the ground, where he lay gasping.
"'Kill the witches,' roared Nala, in a voice of thunder, pointing to
the group of women.
"'Nay,' gasped Every, 'spare them. He made them do it,' and he pointed
to the human fiend in the trap. Then Maiwa waved her hand to us to
fall back, for the moment of her vengeance was come. We did so, and
she strode up to her lord, and flinging the white robe from her stood
before him, her fierce beautiful face fixed like stone.
"'Who am I?' she cried in so terrible a voice that he ceased his
yells. 'Am I that woman who was given to thee for wife, and whose
child thou slewest? Or am I an avenging spirit come to see thee die?
"'What is this?' she went on, drawing the withered baby-hand from the
pouch at her side.
"'Is it the hand of a babe? and how came that hand to be thus alone?
What cut it off from the babe? and where is the babe? Is it a hand? or
is it the vision of a hand that shall presently tear thy throat?
"'Where are thy soldiers, Wambe? Do they sleep and eat and go forth to
do thy bidding? or are they perchance dead and scattered like the
winter leaves?'
"He groaned and rolled his eyes while the fierce-faced woman went on.
"'Art thou still a chief, Wambe? or does another take thy place and
power, and say, Lord, what doest thou there? and what is that slave's
leglet upon thy knee?
"'Is it a dream, Wambe, great lord and chief? or'--and she lifted her
clenched hands and shook them in his face--'hath a woman's vengeance
found thee out and a woman's wit o'ermatched thy tyrannous strength?
and art thou about to slowly die in torments horrible to think on, oh,
thou accursed murderer of little children?'
"And with one wild scream she dashed the dead hand of the child
straight into his face, and then fell senseless on the floor. As for
the demon in the trap, he shrank back so far as its iron bounds would
allow, his yellow eyes starting out of his head with pain and terror,
and then once more began to yell.
"The scene was more than I could bear.
"'Nala,' I said, 'this must stop. That man is a fiend, but he must not
be left to die there. See thou to it.'
"'Nay," answered Nala, 'let him taste of the food wherewith he hath
fed so many; leave him till death shall find him.'
"'That I will not,' I answered. 'Let his end be swift; see thou to
it.'
"'As thou wilt, Macumazahn,' answered the chief, with a shrug of the
shoulders; 'first let the white man and Maiwa be brought forth.'
"So the soldiers came forward and carried Every and the woman into the
open air. As the former was borne past his tormentor, the fallen
chief, so cowardly was his wicked heart, actually prayed him to
intercede for him, and save him from a fate which, but for our
providential appearance, would have been Every's own.
"So we went away, and in another moment one of the biggest villains on
the earth troubled it no more. Once in the fresh air Every recovered
quickly. I looked at him, and horror and sorrow pierced me through to
see such a sight. His face was the face of a man of sixty, though he
was not yet forty, and his poor body was cut to pieces with stripes
and scars, and other marks of the torments which Wambe had for years
amused himself with inflicting on him.
"As soon as he recovered himself a little he struggled on to his
knees, burst into a paroxysm of weeping, and clasping my legs with his
emaciated arms, would have actually kissed my feet.
"'What are you about, old fellow?' I said, for I am not accustomed to
that sort of thing, and it made me feel uncomfortable.
"'Oh, God bless you?' he moaned, 'God bless you! If only you knew what
I have gone through; and to think that you should have come to help
me, and at the risk of your own life! Well, you were always a true
friend--yes, yes, a true friend.'
"'Bosh,' I answered testily; 'I'm a trader, and I came after that
ivory,' and I pointed to the stockade of tusks. 'Did you ever hear of
an elephant-hunter who would not have risked his immortal soul for
them, and much more his carcase?'
"But he took no notice of my explanations, and went on God blessing me
as hard as ever, till at last I bethought me that a nip of brandy, of
which I had a flask full, might steady his nerves a bit. I gave it
him, and was not disappointed in the result, for he brisked up
wonderfully. Then I hunted about in Wambe's hut, and found a kaross to
put over his poor bruised shoulders, and he was quite a man again.
"'Now,' I said, 'why did the late lamented Wambe want to put you in
that trap?'
"'Because as soon as they heard that the fight was going against them,
and that Maiwa was charging at the head of Nala's impi, one of the
women told Wambe that she had seen me write something on some leaves
and give them to Maiwa before she went away to purify herself. Then of
course he guessed that I had to do with your seizing the koppie and
holding it while the impi rushed the place from the mountain, so he
determined to torture me to death before help could come. Oh, heavens!
what a mercy it is to hear English again.'
"'How long have you been a prisoner here, Every?' I asked.
"'Six years and a bit, Quatermain; I have lost count of the odd months
lately. I came up here with Major Aldey and three other gentlemen and
forty bearers. That devil Wambe ambushed us, and murdered the lot to
get their guns. They weren't much use to him when he got them, being
breech-loaders, for the fools fired away all the ammunition in a month
or two. However, they are all in good order, and hanging up in the hut
there. They didn't kill me because one of them saw me mending a gun
just before they attacked us, so they kept me as a kind of armourer.
Twice I tried to make a bolt of it, but was caught each time. Last
time Wambe had me flogged very nearly to death--you can see the scars
upon my back. Indeed I should have died if it hadn't been for the girl
Maiwa, who nursed me by stealth. He got that accursed lion trap among
our things also, and I suppose he has tortured between one and two
hundred people to death in it. It was his favourite amusement, and he
would go every day and sit and watch his victim till he died.
Sometimes he would give him food and water to keep him alive longer,
telling him or her that he would let him go if he lived till a certain
day. But he never did let them go. They all died there, and I could
show you their bones behind that rock.'
"'The devil!' I said, grinding my teeth. 'I wish I hadn't interfered;
I wish I had left him to the same fate.'
"'Well, he got a taste of it any way,' said Every; 'I'm glad he got a
taste. There's justice in it, and now he's gone to hell, and I hope
there is another one ready for him there. By Jove! I should like to
have the setting of it.'
"And so he talked on, and I sat and listened to him, wondering how he
had kept his reason for so many years. But he didn't talk as I have
told it, in plain English. He spoke very slowly, and as though he had
got something in his mouth, continually using native words because the
English ones had slipped his memory.
"At last Nala came up and told us that food was made ready, and
thankful enough we were to get it, I can tell you. After we had eaten
we held a consultation. Quite a thousand of Wambe's soldiers were put
/hors de combat/, but at least two thousand remained hidden in the
bush and rocks, and these men, together with those in the outlying
kraals, were a source of possible danger. The question arose,
therefore, what was to be done--were they to be followed or left
alone? I waited till everybody had spoken, some giving one opinion and
some another, and then being appealed to I gave mine. It was to the
effect that Nala should take a leaf out of the great Zulu T'Chaka's
book, and incorporate the tribe, not destroy it. We had a good many
women among the prisoners. Let them, I suggested, be sent to the
hiding-places of the soldiers and make an offer. If the men would come
and lay down their arms and declare allegiance to Nala, they and their
town and cattle should be spared. Wambe's cattle alone would be seized
as the prize of war. Moreover, Wambe having left no children, his wife
Maiwa should be declared chieftainess of the tribe, under Nala. If
they did not accept this offer by the morning of the second day it
should be taken as a declaration that they wished to continue the war.
Their town should be burned, their cattle, which our men were already
collecting and driving in in great numbers, would be taken, and they
should be hunted down.
"This advice was at once declared to be wise, and acted on. The women
were despatched, and I saw from their faces that they never expected
to get such terms, and did not think that their mission would be in
vain. Nevertheless, we spent that afternoon in preparations against
possible surprise, and also in collecting all the wounded of both
parties into a hospital, which we extemporized out of some huts, and
there attending to them as best we could.
"That evening Every had the first pipe of tobacco that he had tasted
for six years. Poor fellow, he nearly cried with joy over it. The
night passed without any sign of attack, and on the following morning
we began to see the effect of our message, for women, children, and a
few men came in in little knots, and took possession of their huts. It
was of course rather difficult to prevent our men from looting, and
generally going on as natives, and for the matter of that white men
too, are in the habit of doing after a victory. But one man who after
warning was caught maltreating a woman was brought out and killed by
Nala's order, and though there was a little grumbling, that put a stop
to further trouble.
"On the second morning the head men and numbers of their followers
came in in groups, and about midday a deputation of the former
presented themselves before us without their weapons. They were
conquered, they said, and Wambe was dead, so they came to hear the
words of the great lion who had eaten them up, and of the crafty white
man, the jackal, who had dug a hole for them to fall in, and of Maiwa,
Lady of War, who had led the charge and turned the fate of the battle.
"So we let them hear the words, and when we had done an old man rose
and said, that in the name of the people he accepted the yoke that was
laid upon their shoulders, and that the more gladly because even the
rule of a woman could not be worse than the rule of Wambe. Moreover,
they knew Maiwa, the Lady of War, and feared her not, though she was a
witch and terrible to see in battle.
"Then Nala asked his daughter if she was willing to become
chieftainess of the tribe under him.
"Maiwa, who had been very silent since her revenge was accomplished,
answered yes, that she was, and that her rule should be good and
gentle to those who were good and gentle to her, but the froward and
rebellious she would smite with a rod of iron; which from my knowledge
of her character I thought exceedingly probable.
"The head man replied that that was a good saying, and they did not
complain at it, and so the meeting ended.
"Next day we spent in preparations for departure. Mine consisted
chiefly in superintending the digging up of the stockade of ivory
tusks, which I did with the greatest satisfaction. There were some
five hundred of them altogether. I made inquiries about it from Every,
who told me that the stockade had been there so long that nobody
seemed to know exactly who had collected the tusks originally. There
was, however, a kind of superstitious feeling about them which had
always prevented the chiefs from trying to sell this great mass of
ivory. Every and I examined it carefully, and found that although it
was so old its quality was really as good as ever, and there was very
little soft ivory in the lot. At first I was rather afraid lest, now
that my services had been rendered, Nala should hesitate to part with
so much valuable property, but this was not the case. When I spoke to
him on the subject he merely said, 'Take it, Macumazahn, take it; you
have earned it well,' and, to speak the truth, though I say it who
shouldn't, I think I had. So we pressed several hundred Matuku bearers
into our service, and next day marched off with the lot.
"Before we went I took a formal farewell of Maiwa, whom we left with a
bodyguard of three hundred men to assist her in settling the country.
She gave me her hand to kiss in a queenly sort of way, and then said,
"'Macumazahn, you are a brave man, and have been a friend to me in my
need. If ever you want help or shelter, remember that Maiwa has a good
memory for friend and foe. All I have is yours.
"And so I thanked her and went. She was certainly a very remarkable
woman. A year or two ago I heard that her father Nala was dead, and
that she had succeeded to the chieftainship of both tribes, which she
ruled with great justice and firmness.
"I can assure you that we ascended the pass leading to Wambe's town
with feelings very different from those with which we had descended it
a few days before. But if I was grateful for the issue of events, you
can easily imagine what poor Every's feelings were. When we got to the
top of the pass, before the whole impi he actually flopped down upon
his knees and thanked Heaven for his escape, the tears running down
his face. But then, as I have said, his nerves were shaken--though now
that his beard was trimmed and he had some sort of clothes on his
back, and hope in his heart, he looked a very different man from the
poor wretch whom we had rescued from death by torture.
"Well, we separated from Nala at the little stairway or pass over the
mountain--Every and I and the ivory going down the river which I had
come up a few weeks before, and the chief returning to his own kraal
on the further side of the mountain. He gave us an escort of a hundred
and fifty men, however, with instructions to accompany us for six
days' journey, and to keep the Matuku bearers in order and then
return. I knew that in six days we should be able to reach a district
where porters were plentiful, and whence we could easily get the ivory
conveyed to Delagoa Bay."
"And did you land it up safe?" I asked.
"Well no," said Quatermain, "we lost about a third of it in crossing a
river. A flood came down suddenly just as the men were crossing and
many of them had to throw down their tusks to save their lives. We had
no means of dragging it up, and so we were obliged to leave it, which
was very sad. However, we sold what remained for nearly seven thousand
pounds, so we did not do so badly. I don't mean that I got seven
thousand pounds out of it, because, you see, I insisted upon Every
taking a half share. Poor fellow, he had earned it, if ever a man did.
He set up a store in the old colony on the proceeds and did uncommonly
well."
"And what did you do with the lion trap?" asked Sir Henry.
"Oh, I brought that away with me also, and when I reached Durban I put
it in my house. But really I could not bear to sit opposite to it at
nights as I smoked. Visions of that poor woman and the hand of her
dead child would rise up in my mind, and also of all the horrors of
which it had been the instrument. I began to dream at last that it
held me by the leg. This was too much for my nerves, so I just packed
it up and shipped it to its maker in England, whose name was stamped
upon the steel, sending him a letter at the same time to tell him to
what purpose the infernal machine had been put. I believe that he gave
it to some museum or other."
"And what became of the tusks of the three bulls which you shot! You
must have left them at Nala's kraal, I suppose."
The old gentleman's face fell at this question.
"Ah," he said, "that is a very sad story. Nala promised to send them
with my goods to my agent at Delagoa, and so he did. But the men who
brought them were unarmed, and, as it happened, they fell in with a
slave caravan under the command of a half-bred Portuguese, who seized
the tusks, and what is worse, swore that he had shot them. I paid him
out afterwards, however," he added with a smile of satisfaction, "but
it did not give me back my tusks, which no doubt have been turned into
hair brushes long ago;" and he sighed.
"Well," said Good, "that is a capital yarn of yours, Quatermain,
but----"
"But what?" he asked sharply, foreseeing a draw.
"But I don't think that it was so good as mine about the ibex--it
hasn't the same /finish/."
Mr. Quatermain made no reply. Good was beneath it.
"Do you know, gentlemen," he said, "it is half-past two in the
morning, and if we are going to shoot the big wood to-morrow we ought
to leave here at nine-thirty sharp."
"Oh, if you shoot for a hundred years you will never beat the record
of those three woodcocks," I said.
"Or of those three elephants," added Sir Henry.
And then we all went to bed, and I dreamed that I had married Maiwa,
and was much afraid of that attractive but determined lady.
