CHAPTER III
UMSLOPOGAAS OF THE AXE
Next morning at the dawn guides arrived from the Town of the Axe,
bringing with them a yoke of spare oxen, which showed that its Chief
was really anxious to see me. So, in due course we inspanned and
started, the guides leading us by a rough but practicable road down
the steep hillside to the saucer-like plain beneath, where I saw many
cattle grazing. Travelling some miles across this plain, we came at
last to a river of no great breadth that encircled a considerable
Kaffir town on three sides, the fourth being protected by a little
line of koppies which were joined together with walls. Also the place
was strongly fortified with fences and in every other way known to the
native mind.
With the help of the spare oxen we crossed the river safely at the
ford, although it was very full, and on the further side were received
by a guard of men, tall, soldierlike fellows, all of them armed with
axes as the messengers had been. They led us up to the cattle
enclosure in the centre of the town, which although it could be used
to protect beasts in case of emergency, also served the practical
purpose of a public square.
Here some ceremony was in progress, for soldiers stood round the kraal
while heralds pranced and shouted. At the head of the place in front
of the chief's big hut was a little group of people, among whom a big,
gaunt man sat upon a stool clad in a warrior's dress with a great and
very long axe hafted with wire-lashed rhinoceros horn, laid across his
knees.
Our guides led me, with Hans sneaking after me like a dejected and
low-bred dog (for the waggon had stopped outside the gate), across the
kraal to where the heralds shouted and the big man sat yawning. At
once I noted that he was a very remarkable person, broad and tall and
spare of frame, with long, tough-looking arms and a fierce face which
reminded me of that of the late King Dingaan. Also he had a great hole
in his head above the temple where the skull had been driven in by
some blow, and keen, royal-looking eyes.
He looked up and seeing me, cried out,
"What! Has a white man come to fight me for the chieftainship of the
People of the Axe? Well, he is a small one."
"No," I answered quietly, "but Macumazahn, Watcher-by-Night, has come
to visit you in answer to your request, O Umslopogaas; Macumazahn
whose name was known in this land before yours was told of, O
Umslopogaas."
The Chief heard and rising from his seat, lifted the big axe in
salute.
"I greet you, O Macumazahn," he said, "who although you are small in
stature, are very great indeed in fame. Have I not heard how you
conquered Bangu, although Saduko slew him, and of how you gave up the
six hundred head of cattle to Tshoza and the men of the Amangwane who
fought with you, the cattle that were your own? Have I not heard how
you led the Tulwana against the Usutu and stamped flat three of
Cetywayo's regiments in the days of Panda, although, alas! because of
an oath of mine I lifted no steel in that battle, I who will have
nothing to do with those that spring from the blood of Senzangacona--
perhaps because I smell too strongly of it, Macumazahn. Oh! yes, I
have heard these and many other things concerning you, though until
now it has never been my fortune to look upon your face, O Watcher-by-
Night, and therefore I greet you well, Bold one, Cunning one, Upright
one, Friend of us Black People."
"Thank you," I answered, "but you said something about fighting. If
there is to be anything of the sort, let us get it over. If you want
to fight, I am quite ready," and I tapped the rifle which I carried.
The grim Chief broke into a laugh and said,
"Listen. By an ancient law any man on this day in each year may fight
me for this Chieftainship, as I fought and conquered him who held it
before me, and take it from me with my life and the axe, though of
late none seems to like the business. But that law was made before
there were guns, or men like Macumazahn who, it is said, can hit a
lizard on a wall at fifty paces. Therefore I tell you that if you wish
to fight me with a rifle, O Macumazahn, I give in and you may have the
chieftainship," and he laughed again in his fierce fashion.
"I think it is too hot for fighting either with guns or axes, and
Chieftainships are honey that is full of stinging bees," I answered.
Then I took my seat on a stool that had been brought for me and placed
by the side of Umslopogaas, after which the ceremony went on.
The heralds cried out the challenge to all and sundry to come and
fight the Holder of the Axe for the chieftainship of the Axe without
the slightest result, since nobody seemed to desire to do anything of
the sort. Then, after a pause, Umslopogaas rose, swinging his
formidable weapon round his head and declared that by right of
conquest he was Chief of the Tribe for the ensuing year, an
announcement that everybody accepted without surprise.
Again the heralds summoned all and sundry who had grievances, to come
forward and to state them and receive redress.
After a little pause there appeared a very handsome woman with large
eyes, particularly brilliant eyes that rolled as though they were in
search of someone. She was finely dressed and I saw by the ornaments
she wore that she held the rank of a chief's wife.
"I, Monazi, have a complaint to make," she said, "as it is the right
of the humblest to do on this day. In succession to Zinita whom
Dingaan slew with her children, I am your /Inkosikaas/, your head-
wife, O Umslopogaas."
"That I know well enough," said Umslopogaas, "what of it?"
"This, that you neglect me for other women, as you neglected Zinita
for Nada the Beautiful, Nada the witch. I am childless, as are all
your wives because of the curse that this Nada left behind her. I
demand that this curse should be lifted from me. For your sake I
abandoned Lousta the Chief, to whom I was betrothed, and this is the
end of it, that I am neglected and childless."
"Am I the Heavens Above that I can cause you to bear children, woman?"
asked Umslopogaas angrily. "Would that you had clung to Lousta, my
blood-brother and my friend, whom you lament, and left me alone."
"That still may chance, if I am not better treated," answered Monazi
with a flash of her eyes. "Will you dismiss yonder new wife of yours
and give me back my place, and will you lift the curse of Nada off me,
or will you not?"
"As to the first," answered Umslopogaas, "learn, Monazi, that I will
not dismiss my new wife, who at least is gentler-tongued and truer-
hearted than you are. As to the second, you ask that which it is not
in my power to give, since children are the gift of Heaven, and
barrenness is its bane. Moreover, you have done ill to bring into this
matter the name of one who is dead, who of all women was the sweetest
and most innocent. Lastly, I warn you before the people to cease from
your plottings or traffic with Lousta, lest ill come of them to you,
or him, even though he be my blood-brother, or to both."
"Plottings!" cried Monazi in a shrill and furious voice. "Does
Umslopogaas talk of plottings? Well, I have heard that Chaka the Lion
left a son, and that this son has set a trap for the feet of him who
sits on Chaka's throne. Perchance that king has heard it also;
perchance the People of the Axe will soon have another Chief."
"Is it thus?" said Umslopogaas quietly. "And if so, will he be named
Lousta?"
Then his smouldering wrath broke out and in a kind of roaring voice he
went on,
"What have I done that the wives of my bosom should be my betrayers,
those who would give me to death? Zinita betrayed me to Dingaan and in
reward was slain, and my children with her. Now would you, Monazi,
betray me to Cetywayo--though in truth there is naught to betray?
Well, if so, bethink you and let Lousta bethink him of what chanced to
Zinita, and of what chances to those who stand before the axe of
Umslopogaas. What have I done, I say, that women should thus strive to
work me ill?"
"This," answered Monazi with a mocking laugh, "that you have loved one
of them too well. If he would live in peace, he who has wives should
favour all alike. Least of anything should he moan continually over
one who is dead, a witch who has left a curse behind her and thus
insulted and do wrong to the living. Also he would be wise to attend
to the matters of his own tribe and household and to cease from
ambitions that may bring him to the assegai, and them with him."
"I have heard your counsel, Wife, so now begone!" said Umslopogaas,
looking at her very strangely, and it seemed to me not without fear.
"Have you wives, Macumazahn?" he asked of me in a low voice when she
was out of hearing.
"Only among the spirits," I answered.
"Well for you then; moreover, it is a bond between us, for I too have
but one true wife and she also is among the spirits. But go rest a
while, and later we will talk."
So I went, leaving the Chief to his business, thinking as I walked
away of a certain message with which I was charged for him and of how
into that message came names that I had just heard, namely that of a
man called Lousta and of a woman called Monazi. Also I thought of the
hints which in her jealous anger and disappointment at her lack of
children, this woman had dropped about a plot against him who sat on
the throne of Chaka, which of course must mean King Cetywayo himself.
I came to the guest-hut, which proved to be a very good place and
clean; also in it I found plenty of food made ready for me and for my
servants. After eating I slept for a time as it is always my fashion
to do when I have nothing else on hand, since who knows for how long
he may be kept awake at night? Indeed, it was not until the sun had
begun to sink that a messenger came, saying that the Chief desired to
see me if I had rested. So I went to his big hut which stood alone
with a strong fence set round it at a distance, so that none could
come within hearing of what was said, even at the door of the hut. I
observed also that a man armed with an axe kept guard at the gateway
in this fence round which he walked from time to time.
The Chief Umslopogaas was seated on a stool by the door of his hut
with his rhinoceros-horn-handled axe which was fastened to his right
wrist by a thong, leaning against his thigh, and a wolfskin hanging
from his broad shoulders. Very grim and fierce he looked thus, with
the red light of the sunset playing on him. He greeted me and pointed
to another stool on which I sat myself down. Apparently he had been
watching my eyes, for he said,
"I see that like other creatures which move at night, such as leopards
and hyenas, you take note of all, O Watcher-by-Night, even of the
soldier who guards this place and of where the fence is set and of how
its gate is fashioned."
"Had I not done so I should have been dead long ago, O Chief."
"Yes, and because it is not my nature to do so as I should, perchance
I shall soon be dead. It is not enough to be fierce and foremost in
the battle, Macumazahn. He who would sleep safe and of whom, when he
dies, folk will say 'He has eaten' (i.e., he has lived out his life),
must do more than this. He must guard his tongue and even his
thoughts! he must listen to the stirring of rats in the thatch and
look for snakes in the grass; he must trust few, and least of all
those who sleep upon his bosom. But those who have the Lion's blood in
them or who are prone to charge like a buffalo, often neglect these
matters and therefore in the end they fall into a pit."
"Yes," I answered, "especially those who have the lion's blood in
them, whether that lion be man or beast."
This I said because of the rumours I had heard that this Slaughterer
was in truth the son of Chaka. Therefore not knowing whether or no he
were playing on the word "lion," which was Chaka's title, I wished to
draw him, especially as I saw in his face a great likeness to Chaka's
brother Dingaan, whom, it was whispered, this same Umslopogaas had
slain. As it happened I failed, for after a pause he said,
"Why do you come to visit me, Macumazahn, who have never done so
before?"
"I do not come to visit you, Umslopogaas. That was not my intention.
You brought me, or rather the flooded rivers and you together brought
me, for I was on my way to Natal and could not cross the drifts."
"Yet I think you have a message for me, White Man, for not long ago a
certain wandering witch-doctor who came here told me to expect you and
that you had words to say to me."
"Did he, Umslopogaas? Well, it is true that I have a message, though
it is one that I did not mean to deliver."
"Yet being here, perchance you will deliver it, Macumazahn, for those
who have messages and will not speak them, sometimes come to trouble."
"Yes, being here, I will deliver it, seeing that so it seems to be
fated. Tell me, do you chance to know a certain Small One who is
great, a certain Old One whose brain is young, a doctor who is called
Opener-of-Roads?"
"I have heard of him, as have my forefathers for generations."
"Indeed, and if it pleases you to tell me, Umslopogaas, what might be
the names of those forefathers of yours, who have heard of this doctor
for generations? They must have been short-lived men and as such I
should like to know of them."
"That you cannot," replied Umslopogaas shortly, "since they are
/hlonipa/ (i.e. not to be spoken) in this land."
"Indeed," I said again. "I thought that rule applied only to the names
of kings, but of course I am but an ignorant white man who may well be
mistaken on such matters of your Zulu customs."
"Yes, O Macumazahn, you may be mistaken or--you may not. It matters
nothing. But what of this message of yours?"
"It came at the end of a long story, O Bulalio. But since you seek to
know, these were the words of it, so nearly as I can remember them."
Then sentence by sentence I repeated to him all that Zikali had said
to me when he called me back after bidding me farewell, which
doubtless he did because he wished to cut his message more deeply into
the tablets of my mind.
Umslopogaas listened to every syllable with a curious intentness, and
then asked me to repeat it all again, which I did.
"Lousta! Monazi!" he said slowly. "Well, you heard those names to-day,
did you not, White Man? And you heard certain things from the lips of
this Monazi who was angry, that give colour to that talk of the
Opener-of-Roads. It seems to me," he added, glancing about him and
speaking in a low voice, "that what I suspected is true and that
without doubt I am betrayed."
"I do not understand," I replied indifferently. "All this talk is dark
to me, as is the message of the Opener-of-Roads, or rather its
meaning. By whom and about what are you betrayed?"
"Let that snake sleep. Do not kick it with your foot. Suffice it you
to know that my head hangs upon this matter; that I am a rat in a
forked stick, and if the stick is pressed on by a heavy hand, then
where is the rat?"
"Where all rats go, I suppose, that is, unless they are wise rats that
bite the hand which holds the stick before it is pressed down."
"What is the rest of this story of yours, Macumazahn, which was told
before the Opener-of-Roads gave you that message? Does it please you
to repeat it to me that I may judge of it with my ears?"
"Certainly," I answered, "on one condition, that what the ears hear,
the heart shall keep to itself alone."
Umslopogaas stooped and laid his hand upon the broad blade of the
weapon beside him, saying,
"By the Axe I swear it. If I break the oath be the Axe my doom."
Then I told him the tale, as I have set it down already, thinking to
myself that of it he would understand little, being but a wild
warrior-man. As it chanced, however, I was mistaken, for he seemed to
understand a great deal, perchance because such primitive natures are
in closer touch with high and secret things than we imagine; perchance
for other reasons with which I became acquainted later.
"It stands thus," he said when I had finished, "or so I think. You,
Macumazahn, seek certain women who are dead to learn whether they
still live, or are really dead, but so far have failed to find them.
Still seeking, you asked the counsel of Zikali, Opener-of-Roads, he
who among other titles is also called 'Home of Spirits.' He answered
that he could not satisfy your heart because this tree was too tall
for him to climb, but that far to the north there lives a certain
white witch who has powers greater than his, being able to fly to the
top of any tree, and to this white witch he bade you go. Have I the
story right thus far?"
I answered that he had.
"Good! Then Zikali went on to choose you companions for your journey,
but two, leaving out the guards or servants. I, Umhlopekazi, called
Bulalio the Slaughterer, called the Woodpecker also, was one of these,
and that little yellow monkey of a man whom I saw with you to-day,
called Hansi, was the other. Then you made a mock of Zikali by
determining not to visit me, Umhlopekazi, and not to go north to find
the great white Queen of whom he had told you, but to return to Natal.
Is that so?"
I said it was.
"Then the rain fell and the winds blew and the rivers rose in wrath so
that you could not return to Natal, and after all by chance, or by
fate, or by the will of Zikali, the wizard of wizards, you drifted
here to the kraal of me, Umhlopekazi, and told me this story."
"Just so," I answered.
"Well, White Man, how am I to know that all this is not but a trap for
my feet which already seem to feel cords between the toes of both of
them? What token do you bring, O Watcher-by-Night? How am I to know
that the Opener-of-Roads really sent me this message which has been
delivered so strangely by one who wished to travel on another path?
The wandering witch-doctor told me that he who came would bear some
sign."
"I can't say," I answered, "at least in words. But," I added after
reflection, "as you ask for a token, perhaps I might be able to show
you something that would bring proof to your heart, if there were any
secret place----"
Umslopogaas walked to the gateway of the fence and saw that the sentry
was at his post. Then he walked round the hut casting an eye upon its
roof, and muttered to me as he returned.
"Once I was caught thus. There lived a certain wife of mine who set
her ear to the smoke-hole and so brought about the death of many, and
among them of herself and of our children. Enter. All is safe. Yet if
you talk, speak low."
So we went into the hut taking the stools with us, and seated
ourselves by the fire that burned there on to which Umslopogaas threw
chips of resinous wood.
"Now," he said.
I opened my shirt and by the clear light of the flame showed him the
image of Zikali which hung about my neck. He stared at it, though
touch it he would not. Then he stood up and lifting his great axe, he
saluted the image with the word "/Makosi!/" the salute that is given
to great wizards because they are supposed to be the home of many
spirits.
"It is the big Medicine, the Medicine itself," he said, "that which
has been known in the land since the time of Senzangacona, the father
of the Zulu Royal House, and as it is said, before him."
"How can that be?" I asked, "seeing that this image represents Zikali,
Opener-of-Roads, as an old man, and Senzangacona died many years ago?"
"I do not know," he answered, "but it is so. Listen. There was a
certain Mopo, or as some called him, Umbopo, who was Chaka's body-
servant and my foster-father, and he told me that twice this
Medicine," and he pointed to the image, "was sent to Chaka, and that
each time the Lion obeyed the message that came with it. A third time
it was sent, but he did not obey the message and then--where was
Chaka?"
Here Umslopogaas passed his hand across his mouth, a significant
gesture amongst the Zulus.
"Mopo," I said, "yes, I have heard the story of Mopo, also that
Chaka's body became /his/ servant in the end, since Mopo killed him
with the help of the princes Dingaan and Umhlangana. Also I have heard
that this Mopo still lives, though not in Zululand."
"Does he, Macumazahn?" said Umslopogaas, taking snuff from a spoon and
looking at me keenly over the spoon. "You seem to know a great deal,
Macumazahn; too much as some might think."
"Yes," I answered, "perhaps I do know too much, or at any rate more
than I want to know. For instance, O fosterling of Mopo and son of--
was the lady named Baleka?--I know a good deal about /you/."
Umslopogaas stared at me and laying his hand upon the great axe, half
rose. Then he sat down again.
"I think that this," and I touched the image of Zikali upon my breast,
"would turn even the blade of the axe named Groan-maker," I said and
paused. As nothing happened, I went on, "For instance, again I think I
know--or have I dreamed it?--that a certain chief, whose mother's name
I believe was Baleka--by the way, was she not one of Chaka's
'sisters'?--has been plotting against that son of Panda who sits upon
the throne, and that his plots have been betrayed, so that he is in
some danger of his life."
"Macumazahn," said Umslopogaas hoarsely, "I tell you that did you not
wear the Great Medicine on your breast, I would kill you where you sit
and bury you beneath the floor of the hut, as one who knows--too
much."
"It would be a mistake, Umslopogaas, one of the many that you have
made. But as I /do/ wear the Medicine, the question does not arise,
does it?"
Again he made no answer and I went on, "And now, what about this
journey to the north? If indeed I must make it, would you wish to
accompany me?"
Umslopogaas rose from the stool and crawled out of the hut, apparently
to make some inspection. Presently he returned and remarked that the
night was clear although there were heavy storm clouds on the horizon,
by which I understood him to convey in Zulu metaphor that it was safe
for us to talk, but that danger threatened from afar.
"Macumazahn," he said, "we speak under the blanket of the Opener-of-
Roads who sits upon your heart, and whose sign you bring to me, as he
sent me word that you would, do we not?"
"I suppose so," I answered. "At any rate we speak as man to man, and
hitherto the honour of Macumazahn has not been doubted in Zululand. So
if you have anything to say, Chief Bulalio, say it at once, for I am
tired and should like to eat and rest."
"Good, Macumazahn. I have this to say. I who am the son of one who was
greater than he, have plotted to seize the throne of Zululand from him
who sits upon that throne. It is true, for I grew weary of my idleness
as a petty chief. Moreover, I should have succeeded with the help of
Zikali, who hates the House of Senzangacona, though me, who am of its
blood, he does not hate, because ever I have striven against that
House. But it seems from his message and those words spoken by an
angry woman, that I have been betrayed, and that to-night or to-morrow
night, or by the next moon, the slayers will be upon me, smiting me
before I can smite, at which I cannot grumble."
"By whom have you been betrayed, Umslopogaas?"
"By that wife of mine, as I think, Macumazahn. Also by Lousta, my
blood-brother, over whom she has cast her net and made false to me, so
that he hopes to win her whom he has always loved and with her the
Chieftainship of the Axe. Now what shall I do?--Tell me, you whose
eyes can see in the dark."
I thought a moment and answered, "I think that if I were you, I would
leave this Lousta to sit in my place for a while as Chief of the
People of the Axe, and take a journey north, Umslopogaas. Then if
trouble comes from the Great House where a king sits, it will come to
Lousta who can show that the People of the Axe are innocent and that
you are far away."
"That is cunning, Macumazahn. There speaks the Great Medicine. If I go
north, who can say that I have plotted, and if I leave my betrayer in
my place, who can say that I was a traitor, who have set him where I
used to sit and left the land upon a private matter? And now tell me
of this journey of yours."
So I told him everything, although until that moment I had not made up
my mind to go upon this journey, I who had come here to his kraal by
accident, or so it seemed, and by accident had delivered to him a
certain message.
"You wish to consult a white witch-doctoress, Macumazahn, who
according to Zikali lives far to the north, as to the dead. Now I too,
though perchance you will not think it of a black man, desire to learn
of the dead; yes, of a certain wife of my youth who was sister and
friend as well as wife, whom too I loved better than all the world.
Also I desire to learn of a brother of mine whose name I never speak,
who ruled the wolves with me and who died at my side on yonder Witch-
Mountain, having made him a mat of men to lie on in a great and
glorious fight. For of him as of the woman I think all day and dream
all night, and I would know if they still live anywhere and I may look
to see them again when I have died as a warrior should and as I hope
to do. Do you understand, Watcher-by-Night?"
I answered that I understood very well, as his case seemed to be like
my own.
"It may happen," went on Umslopogaas, "that all this talk of the dead
who are supposed to live after they are dead, is but as the sound of
wind whispering in the reeds at night, that comes from nowhere and
goes nowhere and means nothing. But at least ours will be a great
journey in which we shall find adventure and fighting, since it is
well known in the land that wherever Macumazahn goes there is plenty
of both. Also it seems well for reasons that have been spoken of
between us, as Zikali says, that I should leave the country of the
Zulus for a while, who desire to die a man's death at the last and not
to be trapped like a jackal in a pit. Lastly I think that we shall
agree well together though my temper is rough at times, and that
neither of us will desert the other in trouble, though of that little
yellow dog of yours I am not so sure."
"I answer for him," I replied. "Hans is a true man, cunning also when
once he is away from drink."
Then we spoke of plans for our journey, and of when and where we
should meet to make it, talking till it was late, after which I went
to sleep in the guest-hut.
