Chapter 7 The Witches

I asked Infadoos to enter our hut with us.

'Infadoos,' I said, 'it seems to us that Twala the king is a cruel man.'

'Yes, my lords. He does cruel things, and the land cries out. Tonight you will see. The witches will choose people and they will die. If the king wants to take a man's cattle or his wife, or if he fears a man, that man will die. Gagool or the other witches will find him. The land is tired of Twala and his bloody ways.'

' Then why, Infadoos, don't the people get rid of him ?'

' If he were killed, Scragga would rule in his place. The heart of Scragga is blacker than the heart of Twala his father. When Imotu was killed, and then Ignosi his son died, all hope died with them.'

' No,' said Umbopa.

'What do you mean,boy?' asked Infadoos.

'Listen, Infadoos,' was the answer. 'Years ago the king, Imotu, was killed in this country, and his wife ran away with the boy Ignosi. The mother and the boy did not die. They crossed the mountains and were led by desert-men across the sands, until they came to water and trees again.'

' You are mad to talk like that,' said the old soldier.

' Do you think so ? Look, I will show you, uncle.'

Then, with a single movement, Umbopa took off his cloth and stood in front of us.

' Look,' he said, and he pointed to the picture of a great snake marked in his skin around his waist.

Infadoos looked with open eyes, then fell on his knees.

' Koom! Koom!' he cried.' It is my brother's son. It is the king.'

' Stand up, Infadoos. I am not yet king, but with your help, and with the help of my brave white friends, I shall be. But the old witch Gagool was right. There will be rivers of blood, and her blood must join it, if she has any. She killed my father with her words and pushed my mother away. Now, Infadoos, choose. Will you be my man ?'

The old man got up and moved to Umbopa — or Ignosi. Then he took his hand.

' Ignosi, true king of the Kukuanas,' he said,' I am your man until death.When you were a baby I played with you on my knees. Now my old arm will strike for you and we will free the land.'

'And you, white men, will you help me? What can I offer you ? The white stones ? If I win and can find them, you can have as many as you can carry away. Is that enough ?'

I translated what he had said into English.

'Tell him,' Sir Henry said, 'that money is good, but a gentleman does not sell himself for money. But I have always liked Umbopa, and I do not like Twala, so I will help him.'

'Well,' said Good,'I enjoy a good fight, so I am his man too.'

I repeated these answers in Zulu, and added, 'Umbopa, or Ignosi, I am a man of peace, and not very brave. But I support my friends and I will support you. I do need money, so I shall accept your offer of those diamonds. Now tell me — how do you intend to become king?'

' I do not know,' replied Ignosi.' Infadoos, have you a plan ?'

' Tonight,' answered Infadoos,' the witches will work and there will be anger in the hearts of many people against King Twala. When the dance ends, I will speak to some of the great chiefs. I will bring them here and show them that you are the real king. I think that by tomorrow you will have 20,000 spears at your command.'

At that moment our talk was interrupted by the king's messengers.Three men entered the hut. Each man carried a shining shirt of chain armour and a fine battle-axe, gifts from the king.

That night, when the full moon shone, Infadoos arrived in armour with a guard of twenty men. He asked us to put on the shirts of chain armour under our other clothes. We took our revolvers to the dance.

The great square was filled with about 20,000 men. Not a sound came from them.

' They are very silent,' said Good.

'What does he say?' asked Infadoos. I told him. 'Men are silent in the shadow of Death,' he answered quietly.

'Tell me,' I asked Infadoos,'are we in danger?'

' I do not know, my lords. I hope not. But you must not seem afraid. If you live through the night, you may live. The soldiers are murmuring against the king.'

A small group came from the direction of the royal hut.

' It is the king, and Scragga his son, and Gagool, and the men who kill.' Infadoos pointed to ten huge men carrying spears.

' Look around, white lords,' said Twala, and he moved his one cruel eye along the soldiers.' There are men there who have bad things in their hearts and fear the judgement.'

'Begin! Begin!' cried Gagool, in her thin voice.

Strange and terrible figures ran towards us. They were old women. Their white hair flew out behind them as they ran. Their faces were painted with lines of white and yellow, and each woman held a bent stick in her hand. They stopped in front of Gagool and cried,' Old Mother, we are here.'

'Then go! The killers' spears are sharp. Go!'

Gagool's terrible pupils ran in every direction. We could not watch them all, so we fixed our eyes on the witch who was nearest to us. When she came near the soldiers, she began to dance wildly, turning round and round, and crying,' I can smell him, the bad one.'

She danced more and more quickly until suddenly she stopped, like a hunting dog that smells something. Then with an angry cry she touched a tall soldier with her stick. The two men next to him held the unhappy man, and moved with him towards the king. Two of the killers stepped forward to meet him.

' Kill,' said the king.

'Kill,' cried Gagool.

Almost before the words were spoken, the terrible thing was done.

Another poor fellow was brought out almost immediately after this, and so the game of death continued. Once we stood up and tried to stop it, but Twala refused to listen.

At last the witches seemed to become tired of their bloody work, but they had not finished. To our surprise, Gagool stood up and moved forward. This horrible yellow-headed old woman slowly grew stronger until at last she danced almost as quickly as her terrible pupils. Suddenly she ran at a tall man and touched him. As she did this, we heard a shout from the men that he commanded. We learnt later that he was a rich and powerful man, a cousin of the king.

Then Gagool came nearer and nearer to us.

' Who will it be ?' murmured Sir Henry.

Then she rushed to Umbopa and touched him on the shoulder.' Kill him!' she cried.' He is a bad man. Kill him, the stranger, before there are rivers of blood.'

I stood up. ' This man,' I shouted,' is a servant of the king's guests. Whoever harms him harms us. We are your guests, and I demand protection for him.'

'He must die,' was the angry answer.

'He will not die,' I replied. 'Whoever tries to touch him will die.'

' Take him!' Twala shouted to the killers who stood around. They were red with the blood of the dead.

' Stand back!' I shouted. ' Stand back if you want to see tomorrow's light. If you touch him, your king will die.' I pointed my revolver at Twala. Sir Henry and Good also pulled out their revolvers. Sir Henry pointed his at the leading killer and Good aimed carefully at Gagool.

Twala stepped back.

'Well,' I said,'what do you think,Twala?'

He spoke.' You have said that he is my guest. For that reason, and not from fear of you, I will not kill him.'

' I am glad,' I answered quietly.' We are tired of death and want to sleep. Has the dance ended ?'

' It has ended,' said Twala in an angry voice.

He lifted his spear. The soldiers began to march away through the gateway in perfect silence.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 725