CHAPTER XIII
WHAT HAPPENED TO STELLA
The fight was over. In all we had lost seven men killed, and several
more severely bitten, while but few had escaped without some tokens
whereby he might remember what a baboon's teeth and claws are like.
How many of the brutes we killed I never knew, because we did not
count, but it was a vast number. I should think that the stock must
have been low about Babyan's Peak for many years afterwards. From that
day to this, however, I have always avoided baboons, feeling more
afraid of them than any beast that lives.
The path was clear, and we rushed forward along the water-course. But
first we picked up little Tota. The child was not in a swoon, as I had
thought, but paralyzed by terror, so that she could scarcely speak.
Otherwise she was unhurt, though it took her many a week to recover
her nerve. Had she been older, and had she not remembered Hendrika, I
doubt if she would have recovered it. She knew me again, and flung her
little arms about my neck, clinging to me so closely that I did not
dare to give her to any one else to carry lest I should add to her
terrors. So I went on with her in my arms. The fears that pierced my
heart may well be imagined. Should I find Stella living or dead?
Should I find her at all? Well, we should soon know now. We stumbled
on up the stony watercourse; notwithstanding the weight of Tota I led
the way, for suspense lent me wings. Now we were through, and an
extraordinary scene lay before us. We were in a great natural
amphitheatre, only it was three times the size of any amphitheatre
ever shaped by man, and the walls were formed of precipitous cliffs,
ranging from one to two hundred feet in height. For the rest, the
space thus enclosed was level, studded with park-like trees, brilliant
with flowers, and having a stream running through the centre of it,
that, as I afterwards discovered, welled up from the ground at the
head of the open space.
We spread ourselves out in a line, searching everywhere, for Tota was
too overcome to be able to tell us where Stella was hidden away. For
nearly half an hour we searched and searched, scanning the walls of
rock for any possible openings to a cave. In vain, we could find none.
I applied to old Indaba-zimbi, but his foresight was at fault here.
All he could say was that this was the place, and that the "Star" was
hidden somewhere in a cave, but where the cave was he could not tell.
At last we came to the top of the amphitheatre. There before us was a
wall of rock, of which the lower parts were here and there clothed in
grasses, lichens, and creepers. I walked along it, calling at the top
of my voice.
Presently my heart stood still, for I thought I heard a faint answer.
I drew nearer to the place from which the sound seemed to come, and
again called. Yes, there was an answer in my wife's voice. It seemed
to come from the rock. I went up to it and searched among the
creepers, but still could find no opening.
"Move the stone," cried Stella's voice, "the cave is shut with a
stone."
I took a spear and prodded at the cliff whence the sound came.
Suddenly the spear sunk in through a mass of lichen. I swept the
lichen aside, revealing a boulder that had been rolled into the mouth
of an opening in the rock, which it fitted so accurately that, covered
as it was by the overhanging lichen, it might well have escaped the
keenest eye. We dragged the boulder out; it was two men's work to do
it. Beyond was a narrow, water-worn passage, which I followed with a
beating heart. Presently the passage opened into a small cave, shaped
like a pickle bottle, and coming to a neck at the top end. We passed
through and found ourselves in a second, much larger cave, that I at
once recognized as the one of which Indaba-zimbi had shown me a vision
in the water. Light reached it from above--how I know not--and by it I
could see a form half-sitting, half lying on some skins at the top end
of the cave. I rushed to it. It was Stella! Stella bound with strips
of hide, bruised, torn, but still Stella, and alive.
She saw me, she gave one cry, then, as I caught her in my arms, she
fainted. It was happy indeed that she did not faint before, for had it
not been for the sound of her voice I do not believe we should ever
have found that cunningly hidden cave, unless, indeed, Indaba-zimbi's
magic (on which be blessings) had come to our assistance.
We bore her to the open air, laid her beneath the shade of a tree, and
cut the bonds loose from her ankles. As we went I glanced at the cave.
It was exactly as I had seen it in the vision. There burnt the fire,
there were the rude wooden vessels, one of them still half full of the
water which I had seen the baboon bring. I felt awed as I looked, and
marvelled at the power wielded by a savage who could not even read and
write.
Now I could see Stella clearly. Her face was scratched, and haggard
with fear and weeping, her clothes were almost torn off her, and her
beautiful hair was loose and tangled. I sent for water, and we
sprinkled her face. Then I forced a little of the brandy which we
distilled from peaches at the kraals between her lips, and she opened
her eyes, and throwing her arms about me clung to me as little Tota
had done, sobbing, "Thank God! thank God!"
After a while she grew quieter, and I made her and Tota eat some food
from the store that we had brought with us. I too ate and was
thankful, for with the exception of the mealie cobs I had tasted
nothing for nearly four-and-twenty hours. Then she washed her face and
hands, and tidied her rags of dress as well as she was able. As she
did so by degrees I drew her story from her.
It seemed that on the previous afternoon, being wearied with packing,
she went out to visit her father's grave, taking Tota with her, and
was followed there by the two dogs. She wished to lay some flowers on
the grave and take farewell of the dust it covered, for as we had
expected to trek early on the morrow she did not know if she would
find a later opportunity. They passed up the garden, and gathering
some flowers from the orange trees and elsewhere, went on to the
little graveyard. Here she laid them on the grave as we had found
them, and then sitting down, fell into a deep and sad reverie, such as
the occasion would naturally induce. While she sat thus, Tota, who was
a lively child and active as a kitten, strayed away without Stella
observing it. With her went the dogs, who also had grown tired of
inaction; a while passed, and suddenly she heard the dogs barking
furiously about a hundred and fifty yards away. Then she heard Tota
scream, and the dogs also yelling with fear and pain. She rose and ran
as swiftly as she could towards the spot whence the sound came.
Presently she was there. Before her in the glade, holding the
screaming Tota in her arms, was a figure in which, notwithstanding the
rough disguise of baboon skins and colouring matter, she had no
difficulty in recognizing Hendrika, and all about her were numbers of
baboons, rolling over and over in two hideous heaps, of which the
centres were the unfortunate dogs now in process of being rent to
fragments.
"Hendrika," Stella cried, "what does this mean? What are you doing
with Tota and those brutes?"
The woman heard her and looked up. Then Stella saw that she was mad;
madness stared from her eyes. She dropped the child, which instantly
flew to Stella for protection. Stella clasped it, only to be herself
clasped by Hendrika. She struggled fiercely, but it was of no use--the
Babyan-frau had the strength of ten. She lifted her and Tota as though
they were nothing, and ran off with them, following the bed of the
stream in order to avoid leaving a spoor. Only the baboons who came
with her, minus the one the dogs had killed, would not take to the
water, but kept pace with them on the bank.
Stella said that the night which followed was more like a hideous
nightmare than a reality. She was never able to tell me all that
occurred in it. She had a vague recollection of being borne over rocks
and along kloofs, while around her echoed the horrible grunts and
clicks of the baboons. She spoke to Hendrika in English and Kaffir,
imploring her to let them go; but the woman, if I may call her so,
seemed in her madness to have entirely forgotten these tongues. When
Stella spoke she would kiss her and stroke her hair, but she did not
seem to understand what it was she said. On the other hand, she could,
and did, talk to the baboons, that seemed to obey her implicitly.
Moreover, she would not allow them to touch either Stella or the child
in her arms. Once one of them tried to do so, and she seized a dead
stick and struck it so heavily on the head that it fell senseless.
Thrice Stella made an attempt to escape, for sometimes even Hendrika's
giant strength waned and she had to set them down. But on each
occasion she caught them, and it was in these struggles that Stella's
clothes were so torn. At length before daylight they reached the
cliff, and with the first break of light the ascent began. Hendrika
dragged them up the first stages, but when they came to the
precipitous place she tied the strips of hide, of which she had a
supply wound round her waist, beneath Stella's arms. Steep as the
place was the baboons ascended it easily enough, springing from a
knock of rock to the trunk of the tree that grew on the edge of the
crevasse. Hendrika followed them, holding the end of the hide reim in
her teeth, one of the baboons hanging down from the tree to assist her
ascent. It was while she was ascending that Stella bethought of
letting fall her handkerchief in the faint hope that some searcher
might see it.
By this time Hendrika was on the tree, and grunting out orders to the
baboons which clustered about Stella below. Suddenly these seized her
and little Tota who was in her arms, and lifted her from the ground.
Then Hendrika above, aided by other baboons, put out all her great
strength and pulled the two of them up the rock. Twice Stella swung
heavily against the cliff. After the second blow she felt her senses
going, and was consumed with terror lest she should drop Tota. But she
managed to cling to her, and together they reached the cleft.
"From that time," Stella went on, "I remember no more till I woke to
find myself in a gloomy cave resting on a bed of skins. My legs were
bound, and Hendrika sat near me watching me, while round the edge of
the cave peered the heads of those horrible baboons. Tota was still in
my arms, and half dead from terror; her moans were pitiful to hear. I
spoke to Hendrika, imploring her to release us; but either she has
lost all understanding of human speech, or she pretends to have done
so. All she would do was to caress me, and even kiss my hands and
dress with extravagant signs of affection. As she did so, Tota shrunk
closer to me. This Hendrika saw and glared so savagely at the child
that I feared lest she was going to kill her. I diverted her attention
by making signs that I wanted water, and this she gave me in a wooden
bowl. As you saw, the cave was evidently Hendrika's dwelling-place.
There are stores of fruit in it and some strips of dried flesh. She
gave me some of the fruit and Tota a little, and I made Tota eat some.
You can never know what I went through, Allan. I saw now that Hendrika
was quite mad, and but little removed from the brutes to which she is
akin, and over which she has such unholy power. The only trace of
humanity left about her was her affection for me. Evidently her idea
was to keep me here with her, to keep me away from you, and to carry
out this idea she was capable of the exercise of every artifice and
cunning. In this way she was sane enough, but in every other way she
was mad. Moreover, she had not forgotten her horrible jealousy.
Already I saw her glaring at Tota, and knew that the child's murder
was only a matter of time. Probably within a few hours she would be
killed before my eyes. Of escape, even if I had the strength, there
was absolutely no chance, and little enough of our ever being found.
No, we should be kept here guarded by a mad thing, half ape, half
woman, till we perished miserably. Then I thought of you, dear, and of
all that you must be suffering, and my heart nearly broke. I could
only pray to God that I might either be rescued or die swiftly.
"As I prayed I dropped into a kind of doze from utter weariness, and
then I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that Indaba-zimbi stood over
me nodding his white lock, and spoke to me in Kaffir, telling me not
to be frightened, for you would soon be with me, and that meanwhile I
must humour Hendrika, pretending to be pleased to have her near me.
The dream was so vivid that I actually seemed to see and hear him, as
I see and hear him now."
Here I looked up and glanced at old Indaba-zimbi, who was sitting
near. But it was not till afterwards that I told Stella of how her
vision was brought about.
"At any rate," she went on, "when I awoke I determined to act on my
dream. I took Hendrika's hand, and pressed it. She actually laughed in
a wild kind of way with happiness, and laid her head upon my knee.
Then I made signs that I wanted food, and she threw wood on the fire,
which I forgot to tell you was burning in the cave, and began to make
some of the broth that she used to cook very well, and she did not
seem to have forgotten all about it. At any rate the broth was not
bad, though neither Tota nor I could drink much of it. Fright and
weariness had taken away our appetites.
"After the meal was done--and I prolonged it as much as possible--I
saw Hendrika was beginning to get jealous of Tota again. She glared at
her and then at the big knife which was tied round her own body. I
knew the knife again, it was the one with which she had tried to
murder you, dear. At last she went so far as to draw the knife. I was
paralyzed with fear, then suddenly I remembered that when she was our
servant, and used to get out of temper and sulk, I could always calm
her by singing to her. So I began to sing hymns. Instantly she forgot
her jealousy and put the knife back into its sheath. She knew the
sound of the singing, and sat listening to it with a rapt face; the
baboons, too, crowded in at the entrance of the cave to listen. I must
have sung for an hour or more, all the hymns that I could remember. It
was so very strange and dreadful sitting there singing to mad Hendrika
and those hideous man-like apes that shut their eyes and nodded their
great heads as I sang. It was a horrible nightmare; but I believe that
the baboons are almost as human as the Bushmen.
"Well, this went on for a long time till my voice was getting
exhausted. Then suddenly I heard the baboons outside raise a loud
noise, as they do when they are angry. Then, dear, I heard the boom of
your elephant gun, and I think it was the sweetest sound that ever
came to my ears. Hendrika heard it too. She sprang up, stood for a
moment, then, to my horror, swept Tota into her arms and rushed down
the cave. Of course I could not stir to follow her, for my feet were
tied. Next instant I heard the sound of a rock being moved, and
presently the lessening of the light in the cave told me that I was
shut in. Now the sound even of the elephant gun only reached me very
faintly, and presently I could hear nothing more, straining my ears as
I would.
"At last I heard a faint shouting that reached me through the wall of
rock. I answered as loud as I could. You know the rest; and oh, my
dear husband, thank God! thank God!" and she fell weeping into my
arms.
