CHAPTER XIX
HOW THE SCHIMMEL CROSSED THE RED WATER
When they turned their horses' heads, Swart Piet and his men were not
much more than a hundred paces from them, but in the wood they gained
much ground, for he did not think that they would dare to leave it,
and hunted for them there while they were racing over the open plain
more than a mile away. At last he caught sight of them crossing a
distant ridge, and the long chase began. For hour after hour they
galloped on through the moonlight across the wide and rolling veldt
until the moon sank, and they must pick their way as best they could
in the darkness. Then came the dawn, and still they rode forward,
though now the horses were beginning to grow weary, except the
/schimmel/, who pulled upon his bit as though he were fresh from the
stable. In front of them, some twenty miles away, rose the lofty peak
for which they were heading, and behind lay the great expanse of plain
which they had passed. Suzanne looked back over her shoulder, but
there was no one in sight.
"Let us halt," she said, "and rest ourselves and the horses." So they
pulled up by a stream and suffered the beasts to drink some water,
though not much, while they themselves devoured biltong, of which they
had a little in the saddle-bags.
"Why do we ride for the peak?" asked Suzanne.
"Because there are places where we may lie hid," Sihamba answered,
"and thence we can make our way down to the seashore and so back
homewards, whereas here upon the plain we can be seen from miles
away."
"Do any people live on the peak?"
"Yes, Swallow; it is the home of the great chief Sigwe, the chief-
paramount of the Red Kaffirs, who counts his spears by thousands, but
I have heard that he is away to the north upon a war which he makes
against some of the Swazi tribes with whom he has a quarrel."
"Will the people of Sigwe protect us, Sihamba?"
"Perhaps. We shall see. At least, you are safer with them than in the
hands of Swart Piet."
At this moment, Zinti, who was watching the plain over which they had
travelled, uttered a cry of warning. Looking back, they saw the reason
of it, for there, crossing the crest of a wave of ground, not more
than a mile away, were five horsemen riding hard upon their spoor.
"Swart Piet and four of his men," said Sihamba, "and by my Spirit,
they have fresh horses; they must have taken them from the kraal of
the half-breed which we passed at daybreak, and that is why we lost
sight of them for a while."
Now even as Zinti helped her to mount the /schimmel/ Suzanne turned so
faint with terror that she almost fell to the ground again.
"Have no fear, Swallow," said Sihamba, "he has not caught us yet, and
a voice in me says that we shall escape him."
But though she spoke thus bravely, in her heart Sihamba was much
afraid, for except the /schimmel/ their horses were almost spent,
whereas Van Vooren was fresh mounted, and not a mile behind. Still
they galloped forward till they reached a more broken stretch of
veldt, where trees grew singly, and here and there were kloofs with
bush in them.
"Mistress," cried Zinti, "my horse can go no more, and Bull-Head is
hard upon us. Of your wisdom tell me what I should do or presently I
must be killed."
"Ride into that kloof and hide yourself," answered Sihamba, "for Bull-
Head will never seek you there; he hunts the white Swallow, not the
black finch. Afterwards you can follow on our spoor, and if you cannot
find us, make your way back to the Baas Botmar and tell him all you
know. Quick, into the kloof, for here they cannot see you."
"I hear you, lady," said Zinti, and the next minute they saw him
leading his weary horse into the shelter of the thick bush, for the
poor beast could carry him no more.
For the next three miles the ground trended downwards to the banks of
a great river, beyond which were the gentle rising slopes that
surrounded the foot of the high peak. On they galloped, the /schimmel/
never faltering in his swinging stride, although his flanks grew thin
and his eyes large. But with the grey mare it was otherwise, for
though she was a gallant nag her strength was gone. Indeed, with any
heavier rider upon her back, ere this she would have fallen. But still
she answered to Sihamba's voice and plunged on, rolling and stumbling
in her gait.
"She will last till the river," she said, seeing Suzanne look at the
mare.
"And then----?" gasped Suzanne, glancing behind her to where, not five
hundred yards away, Swart Piet and his Kaffirs hunted them sullenly
and in silence, as strong dogs hunt down a wounded buck.
"And then--who knows?" answered Sihamba, and they went on without more
words, for they had no breath to spare.
Now, not half a mile away, they came in sight of the river, which had
been hidden from them before by the lie of the ground, and a groan of
despair broke from their lips, for it was in flood. Yes, the storms in
the mountains had swollen it, and it rolled towards the sea a red
flood of foam-flecked water, well-nigh two hundred yards from bank to
bank. Still they rode on, for they dared not stop, and presently
behind them they heard a shout of triumph, and knew that their
pursuers had also seen the Red Water, and rejoiced because now they
had them in a trap.
Within ten yards of the lip of the river, the grey mare stopped
suddenly, shivered like a leaf in the wind and sank to the ground.
"Now, Swallow," said Sihamba as she slipped from the saddle, "you must
choose between that raging torrent and Swart Piet. If you choose the
torrent the great horse is still strong and he may swim through; I can
say no more."
"And you?" asked Suzanne.
"I? I bide here, and oh! I would that Zinti had left the gun with me."
"Never," cried Suzanne. "Together we will live or die. Mount, I say--
mount. Nay, if you refuse I will throw myself into the water before
your eyes."
Then seeing that she would indeed do no less, Sihamba took her
outstretched hand, and placing her foot upon the foot of Suzanne,
scrambled up upon the pad in front of her, whereat the pursuers, who
now were little over two hundred yards away, laughed out loud, and
Swart Piet shouted to Suzanne to yield. But they did not laugh long,
for Sihamba, having first bent her head and kissed Suzanne on the
hand, leaned forward and began to stroke the /schimmel's/ neck and to
whisper into his ear, till indeed it seemed as though the great brute
that loved her understood. At the least he pricked his ears and tossed
his head, then looked, first round at the horses that drew near, and
next at the foaming flood in front.
"Sit fast, Swallow," said Sihamba, and then she cried a word aloud to
the horse, and struck it lightly with her hand. At the sound of that
word the stallion drew himself together, sprang forward with two
bounds over the ten paces of level bank and leapt far out into the
flood that foamed beneath. Down sank the horse and his riders till the
Red Water closed over their heads, then they rose again and heard the
shout of wonder of their enemies, who by now had almost reached the
bank. With a yell of rage Black Piet rode his horse at the river, for
to do him justice he was a brave man, but do what he might it would
not face it, so with the others he sat still and watched.
Now the /schimmel/ struck out bravely, heading for the other bank, but
in the fierce current it was not possible that any horse should reach
it swimming in a straight line, for the weight of the stream was too
great. Sihamba had noted, however, that from the further shore, but
two or three hundred paces lower down the river, a little point of
land projected into it, and this the horse had seen also, or perhaps
she told him of it, at least for that point he swam steadily. In five
minutes they were in the centre of the torrent, and here it ran with a
roar and mighty force so that its waves began to break over the
/schimmel's/ head, and they feared that he would drown. So much did
Sihamba fear it, indeed, that she slipped from his back, and leaving
Suzanne to cling to the saddle, caught hold of his mane, floating
alongside of him and protected by his neck from the whirl of the
water. Lying thus she continued to call to the horse and to urge him
forward, and ever he answered to her words, so that although twice he
nearly sank, in the end he set his feet upon a sandbank and, having
rested there a while, plunged forward, half wading and half swimming,
to the projecting point of land, up which he scrambled, still carrying
Suzanne and dragging Sihamba with him, until once more they found
themselves safe upon the solid earth, where he stood shaking himself
and snorting.
Suzanne slipped from the saddle and lay flat upon the ground, looking
at the awful water they had passed, and by her lay Sihamba. Presently
the little doctoress spoke.
"It is well to have lived," she said, "if only to have dared that
deed, for no others have ever made the passage across the Red Water in
flood, two of them on one tired horse," and she caught in her arms the
muzzle of the /schimmel/ that hung above her, pressing it to her
breast as though it had been a child, whereon the brute whinnied
faintly, knowing well that she was thanking him for his toil and
courage.
"I pray God that I may never be called upon to make it again,"
answered Suzanne, staggering to her feet, the water running from her
dripping dress as she turned to look across the river.
Now, when Van Vooren's horse refused to face the stream, he had ridden
up and down shouting like a madman; once even he lifted his gun and
pointed it, then let it fall again, remembering that he could not make
sure of hitting the horse, and that if he did so Suzanne must
certainly be drowned. When they were quite beyond his reach in the
middle of the stream, he stood still and watched until he saw them
come to the further shore in safety. Then he called his men about him
and consulted with them, and the end of it was that they rode off in a
body up the bank of the river.
"They go to seek a ford," said Suzanne.
"Yes, Swallow, but now we shall have the start of them. Come, let us
mount."
So they climbed upon the back of the /schimmel/, and once more he went
on with them, not fast, for now he could not even canter, but ambling
or walking, according to the nature of the ground, at a rate perhaps
of seven miles the hour. Soon they had left the river and were toiling
up the slopes of the peak, until presently they struck a well-worn
footpath.
"I think that this must lead to the town of Sigwe," said Sihamba.
"I pray that it does," answered Suzanne, "and that it is not far, for
I feel as though Death were near to me."
"Keep a great heart," said Sihamba, "for we have met Death face to
face and conquered him."
So still they toiled on till at length the path took a turn, and
there, in a fold of the hill, they beheld the great kraal of Sigwe, a
very large Kaffir town. Before the kraal was a wide open space, and on
that space armed men were assembled, several full regiments of them.
In front of this impi was gathered a company of chiefs.
"Now we have no choice," said Sihamba, and turned the /schimmel/
towards them, while all that army stared at this strange sight of two
women, one tall and fair, one black and little, riding towards them
mounted together upon a great blood horse which was so weary that he
could scarcely set one foot before the other.
When they reached the captains Sihamba slipped to the ground, but
Suzanne remained seated upon the /schimmel/.
"Who are you?" asked a broad man in a leopard-skin cloak, of Sihamba;
but although she was small and dishevelled, her hair and garments
being wet with water, he did not laugh at her, for he saw that this
stranger had the air of one who is of the blood of chiefs.
"I am Sihamba Ngenyanga, the doctoress, of whom you may have heard,"
she answered; and some of the people said, "We have heard of her; she
is a great doctoress."
"To what people do you belong, Sihamba?" asked the captain again.
"I belong to the people of Zwide, whom Chaka drove from Zululand, and
by birth I am a chieftainess of the Umpondwana, who live in the
mountain Umpondwana, and who were the Children of Zwide, but are now
the Children of Chaka."
"Why then do you wander so far from home, Sihamba?"
"For this reason. When Zwide and his people, the Endwandwe, were
driven back, my people, the Umpondwana, who were subject to Zwide,
made peace with Chaka against my will. Therefore, because I would not
live as a Zulu dog, I left them."
"Although your body is small you have a large heart," said the
captain, and one of his people cried out: "The story of Sihamba is
true, for when you sent me as messenger to the Endwandwe, I heard it--
it is a tale there."
Then the captain asked, "And who is the beautiful white woman who sits
upon the great horse?"
"She is my mother and my sister and my mistress, whom I serve till
death, for she saved me from death, and her name is Swallow."
Now at this word /Swallow/, most of those present started, and some
uttered exclamations of wonder, especially a little band of people,
men and women, who stood to the left, and who from their dress and
other tokens it was easy to see were witch-doctors and diviners.
Sihamba noted the movements and words of wonder, but pretending to see
nothing she went on:
"The lady Swallow and I have fled hither from far, hoping to find the
chief Sigwe, for we need his counsel and protection, but he is away,
making war to the north, is it not so?"
"Nay," answered the captain. "I am the chief Sigwe, and I have not yet
begun my war."
"I am glad," said Sihamba. "Chief, listen to my tale and suffer us to
creep into the shadow of your strength----" and in a few words she
told them the story of the capture of Suzanne by Swart Piet and of
their flight from him. Now when she spoke of Van Vooren, or of Bull-
Head rather, for she called him by his native name, she saw that Sigwe
and the captains looked at each other, and when she told how they had
swum the Red Water in flood, the two of them upon one horse, she was
sure that they did not believe her, for such a deed they thought to be
impossible. But still Sihamba went on and ended--"Chief, we seek this
from you; protection from Bull-Head, who doubtless will be here ere
long, and an escort of spears to lead us down the coast to the home of
the Swallow, a hundred miles away, where they and you will be well
rewarded for the service. Answer us quick, chief, I pray you, for our
need is great and we are weary."
