CHAPTER X
THE OMEN OF THE STAR
As it chanced and can easily be understood, Rachel could not have made amore effective entry into Zululand, or one more calculated to confirm hersupernatural reputation. When the "wild beast" she rode plunged about shehad remained seated on it as though she grew there, whereas every warriorknew that he would have fallen off. When the bull charged her that bullhad died, slain by the Heavens. When the Isanuzi, a witch of repute, hadlifted voice and hand against her she had commanded her death, showingthat she feared no rival magic. True the woman would have been killed inany case, for such was the order of the King as to all who should dare toaffront the Inkosazana, yet the captains had waited to see what Rachelwould do that they might judge her accordingly. If she had shown fear, ifshe had even neglected to avenge, they might have marvelled whether afterall she were more than a beautiful white maiden filled with the wisdom ofthe whites.
Now they knew better; she was a Spirit having the power of a Spirit overbeast and man, who smote as a Spirit should. The fame of it wentthroughout the land, and little chance thence forward had Rachel ofescaping from the shadow of her own fearful renown.
Towards sundown they came to a kraal set upon a hill, and it was asked ofher if she were pleased to spend the night there. She bowed her head inassent, and they entered the kraal. It was quite empty save for certainmaidens dressed in bead petticoats, who waited there to serve her. All theother inhabitants had gone. They took her to a large and beautifully cleanhut. Kneeling on their knees, the maidens presented her with food--meatand curdled milk, and roasted cobs of corn. She ate of the corn and themilk, but the meat she sent away as a gift to the captains. Then alone inthat kraal, in which after they had served her even the girls seemed tofear to stay, Rachel slept as best she might in such solitude, whilewithout the fence two thousand armed savages watched over her safety.
It was a troubled sleep, for she dreamed always of that dreadful-lookingIsanuzi with the fish-bladders in her hair, yelling to her that her paththrough life was watered with blood, and bidding her go back to her ownkraal and see whether the words were true, an ominous saying of which shecould not read the riddle. She dreamed also of the woman's coarse, furiousface turned suddenly to one of abject terror, and then of the dreadful endthe red death without mercy and without appeal which she had let loose bya motion of her hand. Another dream she had was of her father and hermother, who seemed to be lying side by side staring towards her withwide-open eyes, and that when she spoke to them they would not answer.
So the long night wore away, till at length Rachel woke with a startthinking that a hand had been laid upon her face, to see by the faintlight of dawn which struggled into the hut through the cracks of thedoor-boards that the hand was only a great rat that had crawled over herand now nibbled at her hair. She sat up, frightening it and its companionsaway, then rose and washed herself with water that stood by in greatgourds while without she heard the women singing some kind of song or hymnof which she could not catch the words.
Scarcely was she ready than they entered the hut, saluting her andbringing more food. Rachel ate, then bade one of them say to the captainof the impi that she was ready to start. Presently the girl returned withthe message that all was prepared. She walked from the kraal to find hermare, which had been well fed and groomed by Tamboosa, who had seen horsesin Natal, and knew how they should be treated, saddled and waiting, whilstbefore and behind it, arranged as on the previous day, stood the warriors,who received her in dead, respectful silence.
She mounted, and the procession went forward. With a two hours' halt atmidday they marched on over hill and dale, passing many villages ofbeehive-shaped huts. As they came the inhabitants of these places desertedthem and fled, crying _"Nomkubulwana! Nomkubulwana!"_ It was evident toRachel that the tale of the death of the Isanuzi had preceded her, andthey feared lest, should they cross her path, her fate would be theirfate. Indeed, one of the strangest circumstances of this strange adventurewas the complete loneliness in which she lived. Except those who wereactually ordered to wait upon her, none dared come near to Rachel; she washoly, a Spirit, to approach whom unbidden might mean death.
At nightfall they reached another empty kraal, where again she sleptalone. When they left it in the morning she called Tamboosa to her andasked him at what hour they would come to Dingaan's great town,Umgugundhlovo, which means the Place of the trumpeting of the Elephant. Heanswered, at sunset.
So she rode on all that day also till as the sun began to sink, from ahill whereon grew large euphorbia trees, on a plain backed by mountains,she saw the town surrounded by a fence, inside of which were thousands ofhuts, that in their turn surrounded a great open space. Now they pushedforward quickly, and as darkness fell approached the main gate of theplace, where, as usual, there was no one to be seen. But here they did notenter, marching on till they came to another gate, that of the Intunkulu,the King's house, where, their escort done, the regiment turned and wentaway, leaving Rachel alone with the envoy, Tamboosa, who still led thewhite ox. They entered this gate, and presently came to a second. It wasthat of the Emposeni, the Dwelling of the King's wives, out of whichappeared women crawling on the ground before Rachel, and holding in theirleft hands torches of grass. These undid the baggage from the ox, and attheir signals, for they did not seem to dare to speak to her, Racheldismounted. Thereon Tamboosa saluted her, and taking the horse by thebridle, led it away with the ox.
Then Rachel felt that she was indeed alone, for Tamboosa at any rate hadseen her home, which now was so far away. Still proudly enough shefollowed the women, who, bent double as before, led her to a great hut litby a rude lamp filled with melted hippopotamus fat, where they set downher bags, and departed, to return presently with food and water.
Having washed off the dust of her long journey, and combed out her hair,Rachel ate all she could, for she was hungry, and guessed that she mightneed her strength that night. Then she lay down upon a pile of beautifulkarosses that had been placed ready for her, and rested. An hour or morewent by, and just as she was beginning to fall asleep the door-board ofthe hut was thrust aside, and a tall woman entered, who knelt to her andsaid:
"Hail, Inkosazana! The King asks whether it be thy pleasure to appearbefore him this night."
"It is my pleasure," answered Rachel; "for that purpose have I travelledhere. Lead me to the King."
So the woman went out of the hut, Rachel following her to find that themoon shone brightly in a clear sky. The woman conducted her throughtortuous reed fences, until presently they came to an open court where, inthe shadow of a hut, sat a number of men wrapped about with fur karosses.Guessing that she was in the presence of Dingaan, Rachel drew her whitecloak round her tall form and walked forward slowly, till she reached thecentre of the space, where she stopped and stood quite still, looking likea ghost in the moonlight. Then all the men to right and left rose andsaluted her silently by the uplifting of one arm; only he who was in themidst of them remained seated and did not salute. Still she stayedmotionless, uttering no word for a long while, six or seven minutes,perhaps. Her silence fought against theirs, and she knew that the one whospoke first would own to inferiority.
At length, in answering salutation, she lifted the little wand of whitehorn that she carried and turned slowly as though to leave the place, sothat now the moonlight glistened on her lovely hair. Then, fearing perhapslest she should depart or vanish away, the man seated in the centre saidin a low half-awed voice:
"I am Dingaan, King of the Amazulu. Say, White One, who art thou?"
"By what name am I known here, O Dingaan the King?" she replied, answeringthe question with a question.
"By a high name, White One, a name that is seldom spoken, the name ofInkosazana-y-Zoola, the title of Nomkubulwana, the Spirit of our people.How camest thou by that name?"
"My name is my name," she said.
"We know, White One; the wind has borne all that story through the land,it whispers it from the leaves of
the forest and the reeds of the waterand the grass of the plains. We know that the Heavens gave thee their ownname, O Child of Heaven, O Holder of the Spirit of Nomkubulwana."
"Thou sayest it, King. I do not say it, thou sayest it."
"I say it, and having seen thee I know that it is true, for thy beauty,White One, is not the beauty of woman alone, although still thou beestwoman. Now I confirm to thee the words my messengers bore thee in pastdays. Here, with me, thou rulest. The land is thine, my impis wait thyword. Death and life are in thy hands; command, and they go forth to slay;command, and they return again. Only thou rulest alone with me, and theblack folk, not the white, shall be thy servants."
"I hear thee, King. Now, as a first fruit, give to me Noie, daughter ofSeyapi, my slave whom the soldiers stole away from Ramah beyond the riverwhere I dwell."
"She is dead, White One, she is dead for her crimes," answered Dingaan,looking at her.
Now Rachel's heart sank in her, for it might well be that a trick had beenplayed on her, and that this was true. Or perhaps this tale of Noie'sdeath was but a trap to test her powers; moreover, it was not likely thatthe King, who had promised that she should live, would dare to break hisword to one whom he believed or half-believed to be a spirit.
For a moment she thought; then, after her nature, determined to be boldand hazard all upon a throw. Therefore she did not argue or reproach, butsaid:
"She is not dead. I have questioned every spear in Zululand, and none ofthem is red with her blood."
"Thou art right," he answered; "the spears are clean. She died in theriver."
Now Rachel was sure, and answered in her clear voice:
"I have questioned the waters, and I have questioned the crocodiles, andthey answer that Noie has passed them safely."
"Thou art right, White One. She died by a rope in yonder huts."
Now Rachel looked at the huts and cried:
"Noie, I hear thee, I see thee, I smell thee out. Come forth, Noie."
The King and his councillors stared at her, whispering to one another, andbefore ever they had done their whisperings out from among the gloom ofthe huts crept Noie.
To Rachel she crept, taking no heed even of the King, and crouching downin the faint shadow of her that the moonlight threw, she flung her armsabout her knees and pressed her forehead on her feet. Now Rachel's heartbounded with joy at the sight of her, and she longed to bend down and kissher, but did not, lest her great dignity should be lessened in the eyes ofthe King; only she said:
"I greet you, Noie; be seated in my shadow, where you are safe, and tellme, have these men dealt well by you?"
"Not so ill, Inkosazana, that is since I reached the Great Kraal. But oneof them, he who sits yonder," and she pointed to a certain induna, "struckme on the journey, and took away my food."
Now Rachel looked at the man angrily, playing with the little wand in herhand, whereon this induna shivered with terror, fearing lest she shouldpoint it at him. Rising, he came to Rachel and flung himself down beforeher.
"What have you to say," asked Rachel, "you who have dared to strike myservant?"
"Inkosazana," he mumbled, "the maid was obstinate, and tried to run away,and our orders were to bring her to the King. Spare my life, I pray thee."
"King," said Rachel, "I have power over this man, have I not?"
"It is so," answered Dingaan. "Kill him if thou wilt."
Rachel seemed to consider while the poor wretch, with chattering teeth,implored her to forgive. Then she turned to Noie, saying:
"He struck you, not me. I give him to you to do by as you will. Shall hesleep to-night with the living or the dead?"
Noie looked at him, and next at a mark on her arm, and the induna, ceasingfrom his prayers to Rachel, clutched Noie by the ankle, and begged hermercy.
"Your life has been given to you," he said, "give mine to me, lestill-fortune follow you."
"Do you remember," asked Noie contemptuously, "how, when you had beatenme, yonder by the Tugela, you said you hoped that it would be your luck toput a spear through this heart of mine? And do you remember that Ianswered you that the spear would be over your own heart first, and thatthereon you called me 'Daughter of Wizards' and struck me again--me, thechild of Seyapi, upon whom the mantle of the Inkosazana lies, me who havedrunk of her wisdom and of his--you struck _me_, you dog," and lifting herfoot she spurned him in the face.
Now the King and his company, concluding that the thing was finished,glanced at Rachel to see her point with the rod and thus give the man todeath. But Rachel waited, sure that Noie had not done. Moreover, whateverNoie might say, she had determined to save him.
Meanwhile, the girl, after a pause, said:
"Were you a man you would be too proud to ask your life of me, but you area dog; and, Dog, I remember that you have children, among them a daughterof my own age, whom, I saw come out to greet you. For her sake, then, takeyour life, and with it this new name that I giveyou--'Soldier-who-strikes-girls.'"
So the man rose, and weak with shame and the agony of suspense, creptswiftly from the place, fearing lest the Inkosazana or her servant mightchange her mind and kill him after all. But Noie's name clung to him soclosely that at length, unable to bear the ridicule of it, he and hisfamily fled from Zululand.
So this matter ended.
Now the King spoke, saying:
"White One, thy magic is great, and thine eyes could pierce the darknessand see thy servant hidden, and call her forth to thee. Yet know, she ismine, not thine, for when she fled I had already chosen her to be my wife,and afterwards I sent and killed the wizard Seyapi, and all his House."
"But this girl thou didst not kill, O King, for I saved her."
"It is so, White One. I have heard lately how thou didst call down thelightning and burn up my soldier who followed after her, so that nothingof him remained."
"Yes," said Rachel quietly, "as, were it to please me, I could burn theeup also, O King," a saying at which. Dingaan looked afraid.
"Yet," he went on, waving his hand as though to put aside this unpleasantsuggestion, "the maid is mine, not thine, and therefore I took her."
"How didst thou learn that she dwelt at my kraal?" asked Rachel.
The King hesitated.
"The white man, Ishmael, he whom thou callest Ibubesi, told thee, did henot?"
Dingaan bowed his head.
"And he told thee that thou couldst make what promises thou wouldst to meas to the girl's life, but that afterwards when thou hadst called me hereto claim it, thou mightest kill her or keep her as a wife, as it pleasedthee."
"I can hide nought from thee; it is so," said Dingaan.
"Is that still in thy mind, O King?" asked Rachel again, beginning to playwith the little wand.
"Not so, not so," he answered hurriedly. "Hadst thou not come the girlwould have died, as she deserved to do according to our law. But thou hastcome and claimed her, O Holder of the Spirit of Nomkubulwana, and she sitsin thy shadow and is clothed with thy garment. Take her then, forhenceforth she is holy, as thou art holy."
Rachel heard, and without any change of countenance waved her hand to showthat this question was finished. Then she asked suddenly:
"What is this great matter whereof thou wouldst speak with me, O King?"
"Surely thy wisdom has told thee, White One," he answered uneasily.
"Perchance, yet I would have it from thy lips, and now."
Now Dingaan consulted a little with his council.
"White One," he said presently, "the thing is grave, and we need guidance.Therefore, as the circle of the witch-doctors have declared must be done,we ask it of thee who art named with the name of the Spirit of our peopleand hast of her wisdom. Thou knowest, White One, of the fights in pastyears between the white people of Natal and the Zulus, in which many wereslain on either side. But now, when we are at peace with the English, wehear of another white people, the Amaboona" (_i.e._ the Dutch Boers), "whoare marching towards us from the Cape, and have alread
y fought withMoselikatze--the traitor who was once my captain--and killed thousands ofhis men. These Amaboona threaten us also, and say aloud that they will eatus up, for they are brave and armed with the white man's weapons that spitout lightning. Now, White One, what shall we do? Shall I send out my impisand fall on them while they are unprepared, and make an end of them, asseems wisest, and is the wish of my indunas? Or, shall I sit at home andwatch, trying to be at peace with them, and only strike back if theystrike at me? Answer not lightly, O Zoola, for much may hang upon thywords. Remember also that he whose name may not be spoken, the Lion whoruled before me and is gone, with his last breath uttered a certainprophecy concerning the white people and this land."
"Let me hear that prophecy, O King."
"Come forth," said Dingaan pointing to a councillor who sat in the circle,"come forth, thou who knowest, and tell the tale in the ears of this WhiteOne."
A figure rose, a draped figure whose face was hidden in a hood of blanket.It came forward, and as it came it drew the blanket tighter about it.Rachel, watching all things, saw, or thought she saw, that one of itshands was white as though it had been burned with fire. Surely she hadseen such a hand before.
"Speak," she said.
"Name me by my name and tell me who I am and I will obey thee," answeredthe man.
Then she was sure, for she remembered the voice. She looked at himindifferently and asked:
"By what name shall I name you, O Slayer of a King? Will you be calledMopo or Umbopa, who have borne them both?"
Now Dingaan stared, and the shrouded form before her started as though insurprise.
"Why do you seek to mock me?" she went on. "Can a blanket of bark hidethat face of yours from these eyes of mine which saw it a while ago atRamah, when you came thither to judge of me, O Mouth of the King?"
Now the man let the blanket slip from his head and looked at her.
"It seems that it cannot," he answered. "Then I told thee that I haddreamed of the Spirit of our people, and that thou, White One, wast liketo her of whom I had dreamed. Canst thou tell me what was the fashion ofthat dream of mine?"
Now Rachel understood that notwithstanding his words at Ramah, this manstill doubted her, and was set up to prove her, and all that Noie had toldher about him and the secret history of the Zulus came back into her mind.
"Surely Mopo or Umbopa," she replied, "you dreamed three dreams, not one.Is it of the last you speak?--that dream at the kraal Duguza, when theInkosazana rode past you on a storm clothed in lightning, and shaking inher hand a spear of fire?"
"Yes, I speak of it," he replied in an awed voice, "but if thou art but awoman as thou hast said, how knowest thou these things?"
"Perchance I am both woman and spirit, and perchance the past tells themto me," Rachel answered; "but the past has many voices, and now that Idwell in the flesh I cannot hear them all. Let me search you out. Let meread your heart," and she bent forward and fixed her eyes upon him,holding him with her eyes.
"Ah! now I see and I hear," she said presently. "Had you not a sister,Mopo, a certain Baleka, who afterwards entered the house of the Black Oneand bore a son and died in the Tatiyana Cleft? Shall I tell you how shedied?"
"Tell it not! Tell it not!" exclaimed the old man quaveringly.
"So be it. There is no need. Yet ere she died you made a promise to thisBaleka, and that promise you kept at the kraal Duguza, you and the princeUmhlangana, and another prince whose name I forget," and she looked atDingaan, who put his hand before his face. "You kept that promise with anassegai--let me look, let me look into your heart--yes, with a littleassegai handled with the royal red wood, an assegai that had drunk muchblood."
Now a low moan broke from the lips of Dingaan, and those who sat withthem, while Umbopa shivered as though with cold.
"Have mercy, I pray thee," he gasped. "Forgive me if at times since we metat Ramah I thought thee but a white maiden, beautiful and bold, as thoudidst declare thyself to be. Now I see thou hast the spirit, or else howdidst thou know these things?"
Noie heard and smiled in the shadow, but Rachel stood silent.
"I was bidden to tell thee of the last words of the Black One," went onUmbopa hurriedly; "but what need is there to tell thee anything whoknowest all? They were that he heard the sound of the running of the feetof a great white people which shall stamp out the children of the Zulus."
"Nay," answered Rachel, "I think they were; _'Where-fore wouldst thou killme, Mopo?'"_
Again Dingaan moaned, for he had heard these very words spoken. Umbopaturned and stared at him, and he stared at Umbopa.
"Come hither," said Rachel, beckoning to the old man.
He obeyed, and she threw the corner of her cloak over his head, andwhispered into his ear. He listened to her whisperings, then with a crybroke from her and fled away out of the council of the King.
When he had gone there was silence, though Dingaan looked a question withhis eyes.
"Ask it not," she said, "ask it not of me, or of him. I think this Mopohere had his secrets in the past. I think that once he sat in a hut atnight and bargained with certain Great Ones, a prince who lives, and aprince who died. Come hither, come hither, thou son of Senzangacona, comefrom the fields of Death and tell me what was that bargain which thoumadest with Mopo, thou and another?" and once again Rachel beckoned, thistime upwards in the air.
Now the face of Dingaan went grey, even in the moonlight it went greybeneath the blackness of his skin, for there rose before his mind a visionof a hut and of Mopo and of Umhlangana, the prince his brother whom he hadslain, and of himself, seated in the darkness, their heads togetherbeneath a blanket whispering of the murder of a king.
"Thou knowest all," he gasped, "thou art Nomkubulwana and no other. Spareus, Spirit who canst summon our dead sins from the grave of time, and makethem walk alive before us."
"Nay, nay," she answered, mockingly, "surely I am but a woman, daughter ofa Teacher who lives yonder over the Tugela, a white maiden who eats andsleeps and drinks as other maidens do. Take notice, King, and you hiscaptains, that I am no spirit, nothing but a woman who chances to bear ahigh name, and to have some wisdom. Only," she added with meaning, "if anyharm should come to me, if I should die, then I think that I should becomea spirit, a terrible spirit, and that ill would it go with that peopleagainst whom my blood was laid."
"Oh!" said the King, who still shook with fear, "we know, we know. Mock usnot, I pray. Thou art the Spirit who hast chosen to wear the robe ofwoman, as flame hides itself in flint, and woe be to the hand that strikesthe fire from this stone. White One, give us now that wisdom whereof thouspeakest. Shall I fall upon the Boers or shall I let them be?"
Rachel looked upwards, studying the stars.
"She takes counsel with the Heavens, she who is their daughter," mutteredone of the indunas in a low voice.
As he spoke it chanced that a bright meteor travelling from the south-westswept across the sky to burst and vanish over the kraal of Umgugundhlovo.
"It is a messenger to her," said one. "I saw the fire shine upon her hairand vanish in her breast."
"Nay," answered another, "it is the _Ehlose_, the guardian ghost of theAmazulu that appears and dies."
"Not so," broke in a third, "that light shows the Amaboona travelling fromthe south-west to be eaten up in the blackness of our impis."
"Such a star runs ever before the death of king. It fell the night ere theBlack One died," murmured a fourth as though he spoke to himself.
Only Dingaan, taking no heed of them, said, addressing Rachel:
"Read thou the omen."
"Nay," she replied upon the swift impulse of the moment, "I read it not.Interpret it as ye will. Here is my answer to thy question, King. _Thosewho lift the spear shall perish by the spear."_
At this saying the captains murmured a little, for they, who desired war,understood that she counselled peace between them and the Boers, thoughothers thought that she meant that the Boers would perish. Dingaan alsolooked downc
ast. Watching their faces, Rachel was sure that not even herhand could hold them back from their desire. That war must come. Again shespoke:
"The star travels whither it is thrown by the hand of the Umkulunkulu, theMaster of men; the spear finds the heart to which it is appointed. Readyou the omen as you will. I have spoken, but ye will not understand. Thatwhich shall be, shall be."
She bent her head, and turned her ear towards the ground as though tohearken.
"What was that tale of the last words of the Great Lion who is gone?" shewent on. "Ask it of Mopo, ask it of Dingaan the King. It seems to me thatI also hear the feet of a people travelling over plain and mountain, andthe rivers behind them run red with blood. Are they black feet or whitefeet? Read ye the omen as ye will. I have spoken for the first time andthe last; trouble me no more with this matter of the white men and yourwar," and turning, Rachel glided from the court, followed by Noie withbowed head.