Forging the Blades: A Tale of the Zulu Rebellion

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

  RETRIBUTIVE.

  The rumble of unrest was rolling like the wave of an earthquake. It washard to say where it began, but the tribes throughout the northern halfof Natal were saturated with its spirit, and it was widespread in Zululand. The authorities watched it with more anxiety than they cared todisclose, but even they had not fathomed the extent of itsramifications. They knew, for instance, that Sapazani was disaffected,but they did not know that Malemba the assegai-maker was kept busy dayand night, and that a bevy of young men was ever present at his kraal,to bear off, under cover of darkness, the bundles of weapons barely coolfrom the forge. They did not know, either, of the weighty andmysterious loads delivered stealthily at another kraal of Sapazani's, asmall one, in the most inaccessible recesses of the Lumisana forest.These had been delivered independently of the agency of Ben Halse, whoon this occasion had held out firmly against the tempting offer. Infact, Ben Halse did not know himself, he only suspected.

  The said authorities were fully alive to the desirability of arrestingSapazani, but between desirability and advisability there is somethingof a gulf fixed. For such a course would be tantamount to firing thetrain. That chief and his powerful following up in arms--for it wascertain that he would not submit to arrest tamely--would simply meanthat other plotting tribes would throw off all disguise and join himwithout reserve. The position was growing acute.

  In the small kraal just mentioned sat Sapazani at night, and others withhim. Before him, on the ground, were several of the loads referred to,and as their wrappings were undone the chief's eye glistened as theyfell on the contents. The young men who had brought them in weresquatting in the background, drinking large draughts of _tywala_. Afire burning in the centre of the open space illuminated the domed huts,and the broad face of the full moon threw an additional light upon thedark group. Not a soul could have surprised the place, for armedpickets were stationed all round at out lying distances.

  "This is good, Mandevu," Sapazani was saying. "Now when we get themamong the trees and rocks will these do their work? For my part I likenot such way of fighting, but did not Opondo tell us of that nation inthe north--that which went forth under Umzilikazi? When they fought thewhites in the old way they were shot down before they could get nearenough to strike a blow, but when they waited for their enemy to come tothem in the mountains, instead of going to him first, then they killedmany with such as these. Ah, ah! and so it will be again."

  "And when we have fought enough, and each killed our white man, thereare those across the seas who will give us peace," said Mandevu."Opondo has said it, and others."

  "The White King is angry with the people of this land," went onSapazani. "He has withdrawn his soldiers, and there are only _Nongqai_left. Those we shall easily eat up. They are scattered about in threesand fours."

  "I know not, brother. There are those who say that we shall notsurprise the whites, that they know more than we think they do--thatthey can bring all the _Nongqai_ together in a moment, and pour otherforces upon us as well."

  "Not if we all strike together. The people beyond Tukela should be ableto give them plenty to do while we eat up all the whites on this side."

  "Not if our plans are made known to them as fast as they are laid,brother," said Mandevu, meaningly. "There is treachery in our midst."

  Sapazani's face grew grim, and he and the other continued theirconversation in a lower tone still. Then the chief gave some orders,and in accordance therewith the rifles and pistols and ammunition werecarefully and cunningly hidden beneath the floors of two huts. And theband prepared to march. No cheap "trade" guns were these, butup-to-date magazine, .303's for the most part, and the ammunition wasmostly the deadly, expanding Dum-dum. The agency that caused all theseto be supplied--crafty, cruel, vengeful--may readily be guessed at.

  The party filed through the gloom, the latter lighted here and there bya silvery network of moonlight piercing through the tree-tops. All werearmed, but presently they would deposit their weapons in a safehiding-place just on the outskirts of the forest. There was not muchtalk, and presently the glow of a fire was seen in front. Instinctivelythe band came to a halt. The apparition was patent of twointerpretations. Either it meant a police patrol, and if so, their ownpresence here at such an hour was somewhat suspicious. Or, well, it wasa thing of _tagati_, for, as we have said, the forest was a place to beavoided at night, and no one but themselves would have been likely tocome into it.

  "Go forward, my children," commanded Sapazani, who had been walkingbehind. "We will rest by yon fire."

  They were astonished, but made no remark. Just before they reached itthe chief gave a rapid order in a low undertone to a couple of young menwho were nearest to him. These again had to conceal their astonishment,which was great.

  A few minutes more and they arrived at the fire, beside which two menwere squatting. No sooner was the party well within the circle of lightthan these sprang up, and threw themselves upon one of the new arrivals.Two more came to their aid, and in a moment the assailed one, in spiteof his powerful struggles, was borne to the earth and securely tied.Again astonishment was the part of most of the onlookers, but theirfather and chief was present. The matter rested with him. The boundman lay, his eyes starting from his head, a picture of amazementcombined with fear. Sapazani stood gazing down upon him in silence.

  "Why art thou afraid, Sebela?" he said in an even tone.

  "_Nkose_! I am afraid because I seem to have come under the frown of myfather and chief," answered the man. "But I have done no wrong."

  "No wrong? _Hau_! And is treachery no wrong?" said the chief, his tonenow stern and denunciatory.

  "Treachery? Now has some evil person been poisoning the ears of myfather," replied the prisoner, who fully realised the desperate straithe was in. "I would like to see that person."

  "Evil person, indeed; but he did not live long after his treachery hadbeen found out. But he was a Kafula, and thou, Sebela, art one ofourselves. _Whau_, Sebela!"

  "_Whau_, Sebela!" roared the squatting group in abhorrent contempt.

  "But if he is dead he cannot speak now, my father," pleaded the other,grasping at a straw. "It is only the word of one man, and he is aliar."

  "We shall see. First of all, what is the name of the other man who waswith thee at Ezulwini?"

  "Now it is of some one else my father is talking. Not for a long timepast have I been at Ezulwini, and then it was alone," was the answer.

  "That is the first lie," said Sapazani. Then turning to the others, "Adog who betrays his father's house, what should be his fate?"

  A roar went up--savage, vengeful, simultaneous.

  "The fire! Give this dog to us, father. There is the fire all ready."

  Sapazani nodded. Willing, ferocious hands were upon Sebela. He wasdragged to the glowing wood and stretched right against it, yet notbefore with his only available weapons he had bitten two fingers of oneof his torturers nearly off.

  "Is it warm enough, Sebela?" said the chief. "If it is, name, then, theother man who helped thee to sell thy father's house to the whites."

  The wretched victim writhed hideously in the grasp of those who heldhim, indeed, so powerful were his struggles that it was all they coulddo to hold him down at all. He uttered no cry, but his wet face androlling eyeballs and bared teeth testified to the agony he wasundergoing. The spectators, their most savage passions aroused, gazedgloatingly on.

  "Name him, name him, Sebela, that thy torments may cease," repeatedSapazani.

  "Pandulu."

  The name burst forth in a tone that was half gasp, half shriek. Theagony of the wretch had become too great for the endurance of even abarbarian. At a sign from the chief he was dragged away from the fire.

  "That for the one," said the latter. "Now for the other. Name theother, Sebela."

  "There was no other, _Nkose_."

  "No other? What? Was the fire not hot enough?
Take him back."

  But before the order could be carried out the victim decided that hecould not face further torment. Every nerve in his body was throbbingwith the agony he was undergoing.

  "If I name him," he groaned, "shall I die immediately the death of thespear instead of by fire?"

  Sapazani thought a moment.

  "If thou liest not--yes," he answered.

  "I have the chief's promise." And he named a name. It was that wrestedfrom Pandulu at the point of the assegai under those same dark forestshades.

  "This time thou hast not lied, Sebela," said the chief. "Well, go."

  He made a sign, and in a moment as many assegais were driven into thebody of the tortured wretch as there were of those wielding them whocould get near enough, while those who could not pressed hungrilyforward to get in their stab even after life was extinct. And it wasthat, well-nigh instantaneously.

  "_Ou_! The justice of our father and chief!" cried the whole band asthey surveyed their bloodstained blades and gazed adoringly at thesplendid frame and majestic bearing of Sapazani. "He is the lion whowill lead us to our meat. Ough--Ough--Ough!" in imitation of theroaring of the king of beasts.

  "_Gahle_, my children," said Sapazani warningly. "Yet forget not--whenthe time comes."

  Even as they moved away stealthy shapes were pattering up from afar.The blood scent carries an incredible distance to the nostrils of thewild creatures of the waste, and already there were many such, stealingamid the undergrowth, waiting until the fire should die, to quarrel andsnarl over this unexpected feast. Even as in the case of the othervictim which this grim forest had swallowed, there would be little leftof this one to tell any tales. And the broad, cold moon shonerelentlessly down.

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  Tekana, the son of Msiza, rose blithely in the blithe early morningbefore the sun had peeped over the rim of the world. He was a goodlyyouth, tall and supple, and as he left the kraal of his relative--adistant relative who was not over-attached to him, for his father wasdead--his thoughts were the thoughts of love. He had been offering_lobola_ for a girl whose father was the head of a kraal some five milesdistant; but the said parent had fixed his price too high, and Tekanawas in despair lest some richer suitor should step in and put him forever out of the running. He had been dejected on this point for sometime past, and had been wondering whether if he went away to work in themines at Johannesburg for a year he could earn enough to make up theamount demanded, and to this end he had consulted one or two who hadgone through that experience. In fact, he was for ever talking aboutit. His relative was surly and close-fisted, and, as we have said, hadno great love for him; moreover, he had more than hinted of late that hepreferred his room to his company. Yet a year was a long time, and onceaway, what might not happen? He was very much drawn to the girl, andshe to him, but on that account her avaricious parent stuck firm to hisprice--eight good cows to wit, or their equivalent in hard Englishsovereigns, five of the cows payable, of course, in advance. Now Tekanacould muster but three, and a doubtful one that a sympathising cousinhad promised to lend him. He was in despair, and so was Ntombisa; infact, she hinted to him that an elderly, unlovely suitor, with fourwives already, and much cattle, had more than once cast his eyes uponher, and had been palavering with her father in rather an ominous way.

  Then, suddenly, the whole situation had changed. Tekana owned anotherrelative, who in turn was related to the induna of the court atEzulwini, and this man had pointed out to him insidiously how money wasto be made, and plenty of it. This would bring him Ntombisa at once.But he did not like the method of it--not at first. Not at first. Buthis relative proved that nothing would come of it. No harm would cometo anybody, least of all to his chief. It would be a mere matter ofGovernment officialism, and there the affair would end. Besides, hewould actually be serving his chief if anything, in that the latterwould be obliged to sit still, and thus be saved from joining in anytrouble, which could only end in disaster and ruin. So Tekana swallowedthe bait and accepted the price.

  Thus Tekana was found to be wending his way in the blithe early morning,blithe at heart, to the kraal of his prospective father-in-law. He hadgot the balance of the _lobola_ in good English sovereigns, and soon allthe preliminary ceremonies of the marriage would be settled. Everythinglooked rosy.

  "_Au_! Thou art hurried, brother. Whither bound?"

  Four men were sitting on the grass by the side of the path. These hadrisen as he approached.

  "For the kraal of Sondisi, but a short way hence," he replied.

  "First sit and take snuff," one of them answered. "Thine errand willbreak no ox's head."

  He could not refuse; yet it was with ill-concealed impatience that hesat down among them. Yet not quite among them. He knew them forSapazani's people, yet they were wearing European clothes. Tekana wasno fool of a Zulu, wherefore this fact struck him as singular; moreover,his own conscience was not clear. So he squatted as much as he could onthe edge of the group. Incidentally he squatted in such wise as to beable to spring to his feet in a fraction of a second.

  The snuff-horn went round, and they chatted on about ordinary topics.The while Tekana was wondering why they were wearing clothes contrary tothe chief's deadly prejudice. They were wearing them awkwardly, too.

  One of them, the nearest to Tekana, rose. But while in the act ofpassing behind him Tekana rose also, and not a moment too soon. Fromunder the suspicious-looking coat was drawn a broad assegai, and hewhipped round barely in time to avoid its full stroke. Each of theother three also had risen and held a broad, gleaming blade, and withouta word came straight for him.

  Tekana, as we have said, was no fool, also his conscience was not clear;moreover, he was quite unarmed except for a stick. With this he knockedthe weapon from the first man's grasp, and then, without a word, hestarted to run.

  Now his chances were even. The assegais of his assailants were uselessfor throwing purposes, and could he but gain his goal first hisprospective father-in-law would certainly afford him protection, if onlyto save all that _lobola_ from slipping through his own fingers.

  But his would-be murderers were as good at running as he, and he had nostart. They, too, wasted no words as they sprinted in his wake, andthere was scarcely a dozen yards between them. Yet the distance wasevenly kept.

  For about a hundred yards this went on. Then the hindermost of thepursuers stopped, and with lightning-like rapidity picked up a largestone. This he hurled with power and precision. It smote the huntedman hard and full on the base of the skull, bringing him to earth morethan half stunned. In a moment four assegai blades were buried againand again in his body.

  "The last of the three!" exclaimed one of the slayers, all of whom werepanting after their run. "Here is a thick bush. We will hide him."

  This was done. Swinging it up by the wrists and heels they threw thebody into the thickest part of a thick clump that grew just beside thetrack, not even troubling to see whether he had anything worth taking.Plunder was not their object. Thus disappeared Tekana, who had setforth so blithely in the early morning. When the next return should bemade for purposes of poll-tax collecting it would be represented thatSebela and Tekana had gone away to work at the mines, as the latter hadfrequently expressed his intention of doing. Pandulu did not matter.He came from Natal, and had come secretly at that. He would not bemissed.

  Whereby two things are manifest--that Sapazani was a very dangerous manto betray, and that in a sparsely settled and savage country things aredone that never come to the knowledge of the ruling race at all.