Books: Nada the Lily

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When they had gone I crept off the other way, and Koos followed me. At
first I thought that I would kill him, lest he should betray me; but
when I called to him to knock him on the head with my kerrie, he sat
down upon the ground wagging his tail, and seemed to smile in my face,
and I could not do it. So I thought that I would take my chance, and
we went on together. This was my purpose: first to creep into my own
hut and get my assegais and a skin blanket, then to gain speech with
Baleka. My hut, I thought, would be empty, for nobody sleeps there
except myself, and the huts of Noma were some paces away to the right.
I came to the reed fence that surrounded the huts. Nobody was to be
seen at the gate, which was not shut with thorns as usual. It was my
duty to close it, and I had not been there to do so. Then, bidding the
dog lie down outside, I stepped through boldly, reached the door of my
hut, and listened. It was empty; there was not even a breath to be
heard. So I crept in and began to search for my assegais, my water-
gourd, and my wood pillow, which was so nicely carved that I did not
like to leave it. Soon I found them. Then I felt about for my skin
rug, and as I did so my hand touched something cold. I started, and
felt again. It was a man's face--the face of a dead man, of Noma, whom
I had killed and who had been laid in my hut to await burial. Oh! then
I was frightened, for Noma dead and in the dark was worse than Noma
alive. I made ready to fly, when suddenly I heard the voices of women
talking outside the door of the hut. I knew the voices; they were
those of Noma's two wives, and one of them said she was coming in to
watch by her husband's body. Now I was in a trap indeed, for before I
could do anything I saw the light go out of a hole in the hut, and
knew by the sound of a fat woman puffing as she bent herself up that
Noma's first wife was coming through it. Presently she was in, and,
squatting by the side of the corpse in such a fashion that I could not
get to the door, she began to make lamentations and to call down curses
on me. Ah! she did not know that I was listening. I too squatted by
Noma's head, and grew quick-witted in my fear. Now that the woman was
there I was not so much afraid of the dead man, and I remembered, too,
that he had been a great cheat; so I thought I would make him cheat
for the last time. I placed my hands beneath his shoulders and pushed
him up so that he sat upon the ground. The woman heard the noise and
made a sound in her throat.

"Will you not be quiet, you old hag?" I said in Noma's voice. "Can you
not let me be at peace, even now when I am dead?"

She heard, and, falling backwards in fear, drew in her breath to
shriek aloud.

"What! will you also dare to shriek?" I said again in Noma's voice;
"then I must teach you silence." And I tumbled him over on to the top
of her.

Then her senses left her, and whether she ever found them again I do
not know. At least she grew quiet for that time. For me, I snatched up
the rug--afterwards I found it was Noma's best kaross, made by Basutos
of chosen cat-skins, and worth three oxen--and I fled, followed by
Koos.

Now the kraal of the chief, my father, Makedama, was two hundred paces
away, and I must go thither, for there Baleka slept. Also I dared not
enter by the gate, because a man was always on guard there. So I cut
my way through the reed fence with my assegai and crept to the hut
where Baleka was with some of her half-sisters. I knew on which side
of the hut it was her custom to lie, and where her head would be. So I
lay down on my side and gently, very gently, began to bore a hole in
the grass covering of the hut. It took a long while, for the thatch
was thick, but at last I was nearly through it. Then I stopped, for it
came into my mind that Baleka might have changed her place, and that I
might wake the wrong girl. I almost gave it over, thinking that I
would fly alone, when suddenly I heard a girl wake and begin to cry on
the other side of the thatch. "Ah," I thought, "that is Baleka, who
weeps for her brother!" So I put my lips where the thatch was thinnest
and whispered:--

"Baleka, my sister! Baleka, do not weep! I, Mopo, am here. Say not a
word, but rise. Come out of the hut, bringing your skin blanket."

Now Baleka was very clever: she did not shriek, as most girls would
have done. No; she understood, and, after waiting awhile, she rose and
crept from the hut, her blanket in her hand.

"Why are you here, Mopo?" she whispered, as we met. "Surely you will
be killed!"

"Hush!" I said. And then I told her of the plan which I had made.
"Will you come with me?" I said, when I had done, "or will you creep
back into the hut and bid me farewell?"

She thought awhile, then she said, "No, my brother, I will come, for I
love you alone among our people, though I believe that this will be
the end of it--that you will lead me to my death."

I did not think much of her words at the time, but afterwards they
came back to me. So we slipped away together, followed by the dog
Koos, and soon we were running over the veldt with our faces set
towards the country of the Zulu tribe.

CHAPTER IV

THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AND BALEKA

All the rest of that night we journeyed, till even the dog was tired.
Then we hid in a mealie field for the day, as we were afraid of being
seen. Towards the afternoon we heard voices, and, looking through the
stems of the mealies, we saw a party of my father's men pass searching
for us. They went on to a neighbouring kraal to ask if we had been
seen, and after that we saw them no more for awhile. At night we
travelled again; but, as fate would have it, we were met by an old
woman, who looked oddly at us but said nothing. After that we pushed
on day and night, for we knew that the old woman would tell the
pursuers if she met them; and so indeed it came about. On the third
evening we reached some mealie gardens, and saw that they had been
trampled down. Among the broken mealies we found the body of a very
old man, as full of assegai wounds as a porcupine with quills. We
wondered at this, and went on a little way. Then we saw that the kraal
to which the gardens belonged was burnt down. We crept up to it, and--
ah! it was a sad sight for us to see! Afterwards we became used to
such sights. All about us lay the bodies of dead people, scores of
them--old men, young men, women, children, little babies at the breast
--there they lay among the burnt huts, pierced with assegai wounds.
Red was the earth with their blood, and red they looked in the red
light of the setting sun. It was as though all the land had been
smeared with the bloody hand of the Great Spirit, of the Umkulunkulu.
Baleka saw it and began to cry; she was weary, poor girl, and we had
found little to eat, only grass and green corn.

"An enemy has been here," I said, and as I spoke I thought that I
heard a groan from the other side of a broken reed hedge. I went and
looked. There lay a young woman: she was badly wounded, but still
alive, my father. A little way from her lay a man dead, and before him
several other men of another tribe: he had died fighting. In front of
the woman were the bodies of three children; another, a little one,
lay on her body. I looked at the woman, and, as I looked, she groaned
again, opened her eyes and saw me, and that I had a spear in my hand.

"Kill me quickly!" she said. "Have you not tortured me enough?"

I said that I was a stranger and did not want to kill her.

"Then bring me water," she said; "there is a spring there behind the
kraal."

I called to Baleka to come to the woman, and went with my gourd to the
spring. There were bodies in it, but I dragged them out, and when the
water had cleared a little I filled the gourd and brought it back to
the woman. She drank deep, and her strength came back a little--the
water gave her life.

"How did you come to this?" I asked.

"It was an impi of Chaka, Chief of the Zulus, that ate us up," she
answered. "They burst upon as at dawn this morning while we were
asleep in our huts. Yes, I woke up to hear the sound of killing. I was
sleeping by my husband, with him who lies there, and the children. We
all ran out. My husband had a spear and shield. He was a brave man.
See! he died bravely: he killed three of the Zulu devils before he
himself was dead. Then they caught me, and killed my children, and
stabbed me till they thought that I was dead. Afterwards, they went
away. I don't know why they came, but I think it was because our chief
would not send men to help Chaka against Zweete."

She stopped, gave a great cry, and died.

My sister wept at the sight, and I too was stirred by it. "Ah!" I
thought to myself, "the Great Spirit must be evil. If he is not evil
such things would not happen." That is how I thought then, my father;
now I think differently. I know that we had not found out the path of
the Great Spirit, that is all. I was a chicken in those days, my
father; afterwards I got used to such sights. They did not stir me any
more, not one whit. But then in the days of Chaka the rivers ran blood
--yes, we had to look at the water to see if it was clean before we
drank. People learned how to die then and not make a noise about it.
What does it matter? They would have been dead now anyway. It does not
matter; nothing matters, except being born. That is a mistake, my
father.

We stopped at the kraal that night, but we could not sleep, for we
heard the Itongo, the ghosts of the dead people, moving about and
calling to each other. It was natural that they should do so; men were
looking for their wives, and mothers for their children. But we were
afraid that they might be angry with us for being there, so we clung
together and trembled in each other's arms. Koos also trembled, and
from time to time he howled loudly. But they did not seem to see us,
and towards morning their cries grew fainter.

When the first light came we rose and picked our way through the dead
down to the plain. Now we had an easy road to follow to Chaka's kraal,
for there was the spoor of the impi and of the cattle which they had
stolen, and sometimes we came to the body of a warrior who had been
killed because his wounds prevented him from marching farther. But now
I was doubtful whether it was wise for us to go to Chaka, for after
what we had seen I grew afraid lest he should kill us. Still, we had
nowhere to turn, so I said that we would walk along till something
happened. Now we grew faint with hunger and weariness, and Baleka said
that we had better sit down and die, for then there would be no more
trouble. So we sat down by a spring. But I did not wish to die yet,
thought Baleka was right, and it would have been well to do so. As we
sat, the dog Koos went to a bush that was near, and presently I heard
him spring at something and the sound of struggling. I ran to the bush
--he had caught hold of a duiker buck, as big as himself, that was
asleep in it. Then I drove my spear into the buck and shouted for joy,
for here was food. When the buck was dead I skinned him, and we took
bits of the flesh, washed them in the water, and ate them, for we had
no fire to cook them with. It is not nice to eat uncooked flesh, but
we were so hungry that we did not mind, and the good refreshed us.
When we had eaten what we could, we rose and washed ourselves at the
spring; but, as we washed, Baleka looked up and gave a cry of fear.
For there, on the crest of the hill, about ten spear-throws away, was
a party of six armed men, people of my own tribe--children of my
father Makedama--who still pursued us to take us or kill us. They saw
us--they raised a shout, and began to run. We too sprang up and ran--
ran like bucks, for fear had touched our feet.

Now the land lay thus. Before us the ground was open and sloped down
to the banks of the White Umfolozi, which twisted through the plain
like a great and shining snake. On the other side the ground rose
again, and we did not know what was beyond, but we thought that in
this direction lay the kraal of Chaka. We ran for the river--where
else were we to run? And after us came the warriors. They gained on
us; they were strong, and they were angry because they had come so
far. Run as we would, still they gained. Now we neared the banks of
the river; it was full and wide. Above us the waters ran angrily,
breaking into swirls of white where they passed over sunken rocks;
below was a rapid, in which none might live; between the two a deep
pool, where the water was quiet but the stream strong.

"Ah! my brother, what shall we do?" gasped Baleka.

"There is this to choose," I answered; "perish on the spears of our
people or try the river."

"Easier to die by water than on iron," she answered.

"Good!" I said. "Now may our snakes look towards us and the spirits of
our fathers be with us! At the least we can swim." And I led her to
the head of the pool. We threw away our blankets--everything except an
assegai, which I held in my teeth--and we plunged in, wading as far as
we could. Now we were up to our breasts; now we had lost the earth and
were swimming towards the middle of the river, the dog Koos leading
the way.

Then it was that the soldiers appeared upon the bank. "Ah! little
people," one cried, "you swim, do you? Well, you will drown; and if
you do not drown we know a ford, and we will catch you and kill you--
yes! if we must run over the edge of the world after you we will catch
you." And he hurled an assegai after us, which fell between us like a
flash of light.

While he spoke we swam hard, and now we were in the current. It swept
us downwards, but still we made way, for we could swim well. It was
just this: if we could reach the bank before we were swept into the
rapids we were safe; if not, then--good-night! Now we were near the
other side, but, alas! we were also near the lip of the foaming water.
We strained, we struggled. Baleka was a brave girl, and she swam
bravely; but the water pushed her down below me, and I could do
nothing to help her. I got my foot upon the rock and looked round.
There she was, and eight paces from her the broken water boiled. I
could not go back. I was too weak, and it seemed that she must perish.
But the dog Koos saw. He swam towards her, barking, then turned round,
heading for the shore. She grasped him by the tail with her right
hand. Then he put out his strength--he was very strong. She took
struck out with her feet and left hand, and slowly--very slowly--drew
near. Then I stretched out the handle of my assegai towards her. She
caught it with her left hand. Already her feet were over the brink of
the rapids, but I pulled and Koos pulled, and we brought her safe into
the shadows, and from the shallows to the bank, and there she fell
gasping.

Now when the soldiers on the other bank saw that we had crossed, they
shouted threats at us, then ran away down the bank.

"Arise, Baleka!" I said: "they have gone to see a ford."

"Ah, let me die!" she answered.

But I forced her to rise, and after awhile she got her breath again,
and we walked on as fast as we could up the long rise. For two hours
we walked, or more, till at last we came to the crest of the rise, and
there, far away, we saw a large kraal.

"Keep heart," I said. "See, there is the kraal of Chaka."

"Yes, brother," she answered, "but what waits us there? Death is
behind us and before us--we are in the middle of death."

Presently we came to a path that ran to the kraal from the ford of the
Umfolozi. It was by it that the Impi had travelled. We followed the
path till at last we were but half an hour's journey from the kraal.
Then we looked back, and lo! there behind us were the pursuers--five
of them--one had drowned in crossing the river.

Again we ran, but now we were weak, and they gained upon us. Then once
more I thought of the dog. He was fierce and would tear any one on
whom I set him. I called him and told him what to do, though I knew
that it would be his death. He understood, and flew towards the
soldiers growling, his hair standing up on his spine. They tried to
kill him with spears and kerries, but he jumped round them, biting at
them, and kept them back. At last a man hit him, and he sprang up and
seized the man by the throat. There he clung, man and dog rolling over
and over together, till the end of it was that they both died. Ah! he
was a dog! We do not see such dogs nowadays. His father was a Boer
hound, the first that came into the country. That dog once killed a
leopard all by himself. Well, this was the end of Koos!

Meanwhile, we had been running. Now we were but three hundred paces
from the gate of the kraal, and there was something going on inside
it; that we could see from the noise and the dust. The four soldiers,
leaving the dead dog and the dying man, came after us swiftly. I saw
that they must catch us before we reached the gate, for now Baleka
could go but slowly. Then a thought came into my head. I had brought
her here, I would save her life if I could. Should she reach the kraal
without me, Chaka would not kill a girl who was so young and fair.

"Run on, Baleka! run on!" I said, dropping behind. Now she was almost
blind with weariness and terror, and, not seeing my purpose, staggered
towards the gate of the kraal. But I sat down on the veldt to get my
breath again, for I was about to fight four men till I was killed. My
heart beat and the blood drummed in my ears, but when they drew near
and I rose--the assegai in my hand--once more the red cloth seemed to
go up and down before my eyes, and all fear left me.

The men were running, two and two, with the length of a spear throw
between them. But of the first pair one was five or six paces in front
of the other. This man shouted out loud and charged me, shield and
spear up. Now I had no shield--nothing but the assegai; but I was
crafty and he was overbold. On he came. I stood waiting for him till
he drew back the spear to stab me. Then suddenly I dropped to my knees
and thrust upward with all my strength, beneath the rim of his shield,
and he also thrust, but over me, his spear only cutting the flesh of
my shoulder--see! here is its scar; yes, to this day. And my assegai?
Ah! it went home; it ran through and through his middle. He rolled
over and over on the plain. The dust hid him; only I was now
weaponless, for the haft of my spear--it was but a light throwing
assegai--broke in two, leaving nothing but a little bit of stick in my
hand. And the other one was upon me. Then in the darkness I saw a
light. I fell on to my hands and knees and flung myself over sideways.
My body struck the legs of the man who was about to stab me, lifting
his feet from beneath him. Down he came heavily. Before he had touched
the ground I was off it. His spear had fallen from his hand. I
stooped, seized it, and as he rose I stabbed him through the back. It
was all done in the shake of a leaf, my father; in the shake of a leaf
he also was dead. Then I ran, for I had no stomach for the other two;
my valour was gone.

About a hundred paces from me Baleka was staggering along with her
arms out like one who has drunk too much beer. By the time I caught
her she was some forty paces from the gate of the kraal. But then her
strength left her altogether. Yes! there she fell senseless, and I
stood by her. And there, too, I should have been killed, had not this
chanced, since the other two men, having stayed one instant by their
dead fellows, came on against me mad with rage. For at that moment the
gate of the kraal opened, and through it ran a party of soldiers
dragging a prisoner by the arms. After them walked a great man, who
wore a leopard skin on his shoulders, and was laughing, and with him
were five or six ringed councillors, and after them again came a
company of warriors.

The soldiers saw that killing was going on, and ran up just as the
slayers reached us.

"Who are you?" they cried, "who day to kill at the gate of the
Elephant's kraal? Here the Elephant kills alone."

"We are of the children of Makedama," they answered, "and we follow
these evildoers who have done wickedness and murder in our kraal. See!
but now two of us are dead at their hands, and others lie dead along
the road. Suffer that we slay them."

"Ask that of the Elephant," said the soldiers; "ask too that he suffer
you should not be slain."

Just then the tall chief saw blood and heard words. He stalked up; and
he was a great man to look at, though still quite young in years. For
he was taller by a head than any round him, and his chest was big as
the chests of two; his face was fierce and beautiful, and when he grew
angry his eye flashed like a smitten brand.

"Who are these that dare to stir up dust at the gates of my kraal?" he
asked, frowning.

"O Chaka, O Elephant!" answered the captain of the soldiers, bending
himself double before him, "the men say that these are evildoers and
that they pursue them to kill them."

"Good!" he answered. "Let them slay the evildoers."

"O great chief! thanks be to thee, great chief!" said those men of my
people who sought to kill us.

"I hear you," he answered, then spoke once more to the captain. "And
when they have slain the evildoers, let themselves be blinded and
turned loose to seek their way home, because they have dared to lift a
spear within the Zulu gates. Now praise on, my children!" And he
laughed, while the soldiers murmured, "Ou! he is wise, he is great,
his justice is bright and terrible like the sun!"

But the two men of my people cried out in fear, for they did not seek
such justice as this.

"Cut out their tongues also," said Chaka. "What? shall the land of the
Zulus suffer such a noise? Never! lest the cattle miscarry. To it, ye
black ones! There lies the girl. She is asleep and helpless. Kill her!
What? you hesitate? Nay, then, if you will have time for thought, I
give it. Take these men, smear them with honey, and pin them over ant-
heaps; by to-morrow's sun they will know their own minds. But first
kill these two hunted jackals," and he pointed to Baleka and myself.
"They seem tired and doubtless they long for sleep."

Then for the first time I spoke, for the soldiers drew near to slay
us.

"O Chaka," I cried, "I am Mopo, and this is my sister Baleka."

I stopped, and a great shout of laughter went up from all who stood
round.

"Very well, Mopo and thy sister Baleka," said Chaka, grimly. "Good-
morning to you, Mopo and Baleka--also, good-night!"

"O Chaka," I broke in, "I am Mopo, son of Makedama of the Langeni
tribe. It was I who gave thee a gourd of water many years ago, when we
were both little. Then thou badest me come to thee when thou hadst
grown great, vowing that thou wouldst protect me and never do me harm.
So I have come, bringing my sister with me; and now, I pray thee, do
not eat up the words of long ago."

As I spoke, Chaka's face changed, and he listened earnestly, as a man
who holds his hand behind his ear. "Those are no liars," he said.
"Welcome, Mopo! Thou shalt be a dog in my hut, and feed from my hand.
But of thy sister I said nothing. Why, then, should she not be slain
when I swore vengeance against all thy tribe, save thee alone?"

"Because she is too fair to slay, O Chief!" I answered, boldly; "also
because I love her, and ask her life as a boon!"

"Turn the girl over," said Chaka. And they did so, showing her face.

"Again thou speakest no lie, son of Makedama," said the chief. "I
grant thee the boon. She also shall lie in my hut, and be of the
number of my 'sisters.' Now tell me thy tale, speaking only the
truth."

So I sat down and told him all. Nor did he grow weary of listening.
But, when I had done, he said but one thing--that he would that the
dog Koos had not been killed; since, if he had still been alive, he
would have set him on the hut of my father Makedama, and made him
chief over the Langeni.

Then he spoke to the captain of the soldiers. "I take back my words,"
he said. "Let not these men of the Langeni be mutilated. One shall die
and the other shall go free. Here," and he pointed to the man whom we
had seen led out of the kraal-gate, "here, Mopo, we have a man who has
proved himself a coward. Yesterday a kraal of wizards yonder was eaten
up by my order--perhaps you two saw it as you travelled. This man and
three others attacked a soldier of that kraal who defended his wife
and children. The man fought well--he slew three of my people. Then
this dog was afraid to meet him face to face. He killed him with a
throwing assegai, and afterwards he stabbed the woman. That is
nothing; but he should have fought the husband hand to hand. Now I
will do him honour. He shall fight to the death with one of these pigs
from thy sty," and he pointed with his spear to the men of my father's
kraal, "and the one who survives shall be run down as they tried to
run you down. I will send back the other pig to the sty with a
message. Choose, children of Makedama, which of you will live."

Now the two men of my tribe were brothers, and loved one another, and
each of them was willing to die that the other might go free.
Therefore, both of them stepped forward, saying that they would fight
the Zulu.

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