For awhile there was silence. Away upon a round-topped hillock, within sight of all, the slayers were collecting great piles of dry wood, and upon these the condemned slaves were flung, bound. Then amid the fierce roar and crackle of the flames wild tortured shrieks burst from those who writhed there and burned, and to the people the shrieks were the pleasantest of sounds, for the terror of the Red Death had strangely fastened upon all minds, and they could not but hold that these who thus died had in some way brought the curse of it upon them.

Again upon the stillness arose a long roll of thunder--this time loud and near, for the great cloud which had been lying low down upon the further sky was now towering huge and black, almost above the very spot where burned those wretches, and the pointed flash which followed seemed to dart in and out of the smoke which rose from the crackling wood pile.

The mult.i.tude, watching, began to murmur about an omen.

"Talk we now of this thing of evil," said Umzilikazi, at last. "Thou, Lalusini, art a pestilent witch. For long hast thou been among us. For long has thy greatness been honoured, thou false prophetess, whose promise is as far from fulfilment as ever. Now thou shalt travel the way of those whose predictions are false."

Black and bitter wrath was in the King's mind. Hardly could he contain himself, hardly could he speak for rage. He must stop perforce, half choking for breath. And I, _Nkose_, I sitting there, how did I contain myself, as I was obliged to behold my beautiful wife--whom I loved with a love far surpa.s.sing that which I felt for King and nation, or my own life a hundred times over--standing thus awaiting the word which should adjudge her to a shameful and agonising death! _Hau_! I am an old man now--a very old man--still can I see it before me; the huge kraal like a full moon, the yellow domes of the huts within the ring fences, the great open s.p.a.ce in the middle black with listening people, bright with distended eyeb.a.l.l.s, and gleaming teeth showing white between parted lips, and away beyond this the heavy smoke-wreath mounting from the glowing wood-pile, the cries and groans of the expiring slaves, the blackness of the thunder cloud, the fierce pale glare of the sun upon the a.s.segais of the armed guard, and upon the blaze of white of the great shield held above the King. _Yeh-bo_--I see it all--the angry infuriated countenance of Umzilikazi, the dread anxiety on the faces of the other _izinduna_, which was as the shrinking before a great and terrible storm about to burst. _Haul_ and I see more. I see, as I saw it then, the face of my beautiful wife, Lalusini, Daughter of the Mighty--as she stood there before the Great One, in whose hand was death--proud, fearless, and queenly. And she was awaiting her doom.

Now she threw back her head, and in her eyes shone the light which must oft-times have shone in the eyes of that Mighty One from whom she had sprung. Then she spoke:

"In the hand of the King is death, and even the greatest of those who practise sorcery cannot withstand such--at least not always. But know this, son of Matyo-bane, with my death shall utterly perish all hope of the seat of Senzangakona to thee and thine. Further, know that, without my help, the very House of Matyobane shall in two generations be rooted up and utterly destroyed, scattered to the winds, and the people of the Amandebeli shall become even as Amaholi to those who are stronger."

Those who heard these words murmured in awe, for over Lalusini's face had come that inspired look which it wore when the spirit of divination was on her. But the King was beside himself with fury, and his features were working as those of a man who has gone mad.

"So!" he hissed. "So! And I sit in my seat only by permission of a witch--by permission of one who is greater than I! So I am no longer a King!" he mocked. "Yet two bulls cannot rule in one kraal. So, sister, thou shalt have a high throne to rule this nation from--as high a throne as had the traitor Tyuyumane before thee." Then raising his voice--for they had hitherto talked in a tone low enough to be heard only by the King and the few who sat in attendance round him--"Make ready the stake--the stake of impalement--for the _inkosikazi_ of Untuswa. Make ready a high throne for the Queen of the Bakoni _muti_."

_Whau, Nkose_! I had fought at the side of Umzilikazi ever since I could fight. I had stood beside him when, single-handed, we hunted fierce and dangerous game. I had stood beside him in every peril, open or secret, that could beset the path of the founder of a great and warrior nation, who must ever rule that nation with a strong and iron hand. In short, there was no peril to which the King had been exposed that I had not shared, and yet, _Nkose_, I who sat there among the _izinduna_, unarmed and listening, knew that never, since the day of his birth, had he gone in such peril of instant death as at that moment when he sat there, his own broad spear in his right hand, and guarded by the shields and gleaming a.s.segais of his body-guard--p.r.o.nouncing the words which should consign my _inkosikazi_ to a death of shame and of frightful agony. For the spell of Lalusini's witchcraft lay potent and sweet upon my soul--and I was mad--yet not so mad but that as I sat there unarmed, I could measure the few paces that intervened between myself and the Great Great One--_could mark how carelessly he held the broad-bladed spear within his grasp_.

Even the slayers--for not all had gone forth to the burning of the Bakoni--even the slayers stared as though half stupefied, hesitating to lay hands upon that queenly form, standing there erect and unutterably majestic. Upon us the spell of the moment was complete. We leaned forward as we sat, we _izinduna_, and for the rest of us it was as though stone figures sat there watching, not living men of flesh and bones. For myself, I know not how I looked. But how I felt--ah! it was well my thoughts were buried. The armed guards, too, seemed bewildered with awe and amazement. The moment had come. The Red Death had indeed presaged the accession of a new King--but for the daughter of Tshaka the Mighty, the swift and merciful stroke of a royal spear should end her life, instead of the stake of agony and shame. For myself I cared not.

I was mad. The whole world was whizzing round.

Through it all I heard the voice of Lalusini.

"Pause a moment, Ruler of the Great," she was saying, and her voice was firm and sweet and musical as ever, and utterly without fear. "Pause a moment for a sign."

She had half turned, and with one hand was pointing towards the ascending smoke-cloud towering above the hill of death. A sharp, crashing peal of thunder shook the world, and the lightning-gleam seemed to flash down right upon the smouldering pile. A silence was upon all as, with upturned faces, King, _izinduna_, guards, slayers, the whole mult.i.tude sat motionless, waiting for what should next befall. Not long had we to wait.

Lalusini stood, her eyes turned skyward, her hand outstretched, her lips moving. To many minds there came the recollection of her as she had thus stood, long ago, singing the Song of the Shield--that glorious war-song which had inspired each of our warriors with the daring of ten, which had saved the day to us at the Place of the Three Rifts. Then there came such a deafening crash that the very earth rocked and reeled; and from the rent thunder cloud a jagged stream of fire poured itself down upon the remainder of the burning wood, scattering logs, sparks, cinders, and the bones of the tortured slaves, whirling them in a mighty shower far and wide over the plain. Those of the slayers who still lingered around the spot lay as dead men.

"Behold the sign, O son of Matyobane!" cried Lalusini, in clear, ringing tones, turning again to the King. "Yonder are the dogs who lied against me. The heavens above would not suffer their very bones to rest, but have scattered them far and wide over the face of the world. No others have met with harm."

Now all began to cry aloud that indeed it was so; and from the mult.i.tude a great murmur of wonderment went up. For then those of our men who had been struck down were seen to rise and walk slowly down towards the kraal--stupified, but alive and unharmed. Then I, who could no longer sit still, came before the King.

"A boon, Great Great One," I cried. "Suffer me to go and root out this mystery of the Red Death, and slay for ever this evil thing that causeth it; I alone. So shall it trouble the land no more."

A hum of applause rose from among my fellow _izinduna_, who joined with me in praying that my undertaking be allowed.

"Ever fearless, Untuswa," said the King, half sneering; yet I could see that the wrathful mood was fast leaving him. "Yet thou art half a magician thyself, and this thing seems a thing of fearful and evil witchcraft. But hear me. Thou shalt proceed to the Valley of the Red Death, but with no armed force; and before this moon is full thou shalt slay this horror, that its evil deeds may be wrought no more. If success is thine, it shall be well with thee and thine; if failure, thou and thy house shall become food for the alligators; and as for thine _inkosikazi_, the stake which she has for the time being escaped shall still await her. I have said it, and my word stands. Now let the people go home."

With these words Umzilikazi rose and retired within the _isiG.o.dhlo_, and, as the rain began to fall in cold torrents, in a very short time the open s.p.a.ce was clear, all men creeping within the huts to take shelter and to talk over the marvel that had befallen. But while only the _iza.n.u.si_ retired growling with discontent, all men rejoiced that Lalusini had so narrowly escaped what had seemed a certain doom.

Such doom, too, _Nkose_, had the King himself narrowly escaped; but that all men did not know, it being, indeed, only known to me.

CHAPTER THREE.

AN OMINOUS PARTING.

You will see, _Nkose_, that my times now were stormy and troublesome, and indeed I have ever observed that as it is with nations and people so it is with individuals. There comes a time when all is fair--all is power and strength and richness--then comes a decline, and neither nation nor individual is as before.

Such a time had come upon myself. After the battle of the Three Rifts, when we had rolled back the might of Dingane--a matter, indeed, wherein I had fully borne my part--there had followed a time of great honour and of rest. I was, next to the King, the greatest man in the nation, for Kalipe, the chief fighting induna, was getting on in age, and would fain have seen me in his place, having no jealousy of me. I had taken to wife the beautiful sorceress whose love I had longed to possess; moreover, the King had rid me of Nangeza, whose tongue and temper had become too pestilent for any man to bear aught of. My cattle had increased, and spread over the land, and they who owned me as chief were many, and comprised some of the best born and of the finest fighting men in the nation. Yet this was not to last, and as age and security increased for Umzilikazi, his distrust of me gained too, and now I knew he would almost gladly be rid of me, and quite gladly of Lalusini, my princ.i.p.al wife. Yes. To this had things come. I, Untuswa, the second in command of the King's troops, who had largely borne part in the saving of our nation, who had even been hailed as king by the flower of the Zulu fighting indunas, had now to set out upon a ghost hunt, and, in the event of failure, the penalty hanging over me was such as might have fallen upon a miserable cheat of an _iza.n.u.si_.

Thus pondering I took my way back to my princ.i.p.al kraal, followed by Lalusini and others of my wives and followers who had separated from the throng and joined themselves on to me when the order was given to disperse. Arrived there, I entered my hut, accompanied by Lalusini alone. Then I sat down and took snuff gloomily and in silence. This was broken by Lalusini.

"Wherefore this heaviness, holder of the White Shield?" she said. "Do you forget that you have a sorceress for _inkosikazi_?"

For a while I made no reply, but stood gazing at her with a glance full of admiration and love. For, standing there, tall and beautiful and shapely, it seemed to me that Lalusini looked just as when I first beheld her in the rock cave high up on the Mountain of Death. Time had gone by since I had taken her to wife, yet she seemed not to grow old as other women do. My two former wives, Fumana and Nxope, were no longer young and pleasing, but Lalusini seemed ever the same. Was it her magic that so kept her? She had borne me no children, but of this I was rather glad than otherwise, for we loved each other greatly, and I desired that none should come between to turn her love away from me, as children would surely do. For my other wives it mattered nothing, but with Lalusini it was different. I loved her, _Nkose_, as some of you white people love your women. _Whau_! Do you not allow your women to walk side by side with you instead of behind? This I have seen in my old age. And those among us who have been at Tegwini [Durban] tell strange tales of white men who go out with their women, that they might load themselves with all the little things their women had bought from the traders. Few of us could believe that, _Nkose_--the tale is too strange; and yet it was somewhat after this manner that I loved Lalusini--I, the second induna of the King's warriors, I, who since I was but a boy had slain with my own hand more of the King's enemies than I could count. I, moreover, who had known what the ingrat.i.tude and malice of women could do, in the person of my first wife, Nangeza, for whom I had sacrificed my fidelity to the King and the nation--even my life itself. But with Lalusini, ah! it was very different. No evil or sullen mood was ever upon her; nor did she ever by look or word give me to understand that a daughter of the House of Senzangakona, the royal house of Zululand, might perchance be greater than even the second induna of a revolted and fugitive tribe, now grown into a nation. Even her counsels, which were weighty and wise, she would put forward as though she had not caused me to win the White Shield--had not saved our nation at the Place of the Three Rifts.

"It seems to me, Lalusini," I said at last, "it seems to me that in this nation there is no longer any room for us two. I have served Umzilikazi faithfully and well. I have more than once s.n.a.t.c.hed back the life of the King, when it was tottering on the very brink of the Dark Unknown, but kings are ever ungrateful; and now I and my house are promised the death of the traitor. The destruction of the Red Terror, which is my ordeal, is no real trial at all--it is but a trick. The King would be rid of us, and, whether I succeed or whether I fail, the Dark Unknown is to be our portion."

Lalusini bent her head with a murmur of a.s.sent, but made no remark.

"And now I am weary of this ingrat.i.tude," I went on, sinking my voice to a whisper, but speaking in a tone of fierce and gloomy determination.

"What has been done before can be done again. I have struck down more of the enemies of our nation than the King himself. One royal spear-- one white shield is as good to sit under as another; and--it is time our new nation sat down under its _second_ king."

"Great dreams, Untuswa," said Lalusini, with a smile that had something of sadness in it.

"Great acts shouldst thou say rather, for I am no dreamer of dreams," I answered bitterly. "Ha! do I not lead the whole nation in war? for, of late, Kalipe is old, and stiff in the limbs. One swift stroke of this broad spear, and the nation will be crying '_Bayete_' to him who is its leader in war. Ah! ah! What has happened before can happen again."

But here I stopped, for I was referring darkly to the death of that Great Great One, the mighty Tshaka, from whose loins my _inkosikazi_ had sprung. Yet no anger did she show.

"So shall we be great together at last, Lalusini, and my might in war, and thy _muti_ combined, shall indeed rule the world," I went on. "Ha!

I will make believe to go on this _tagati_ business, but to-night I will return in the darkness, and to-morrow--_whau_!--it may indeed be that the appearance of the Red Death has presaged the accession of a new King--even as those dogs, who were burnt to-day, did declare. How now for that, Lalusini?"

"The throne of Dingiswayo is older than that of Senzangakona, and both are older than that of Matyobane," she answered. "Yet I know not--my _muti_ tells me that the time is not yet. Still, it will come--it will come."

"It will come--yes, it will come--when we two have long since been food for the alligators," I answered impatiently. "The King's word is that I slay this horror--this _tagati_ thing--by the foil of the moon. What if I fail, Lalusini?"

"Fail? Fail? Does he who rolled back the might of the Twin Stars of Zulu talk about failure? Now, nay, Untuswa--now, nay," she answered, with that strange and wonderful smile of hers.

"I know not. Now cast me 'the bones,' Lalusini, that I may know what success, if any, lieth before me against the Red Terror."

"The bones? Ha! Such methods are too childish for such as I, Untuswa,"

she answered lightly. "Yet--wait--"

She ceased to speak and her face clouded, even as I had seen it when she was about to fall into one of her divining trances. Anxiously I watched her. Her lips moved, but in silence. Her eyes seemed to look through me, into nowhere. Then I saw she was holding out something in her hand.

Bending over I gazed. She had held nothing when we sat down nor was there any place of concealment whence she could have produced anything.

But that which lay in her hand was a flat bag, made of the dressed skin of an impala. Then she spoke--and her voice was as the voice of one who talks in a dream.

"See thou part not from this, Untuswa. Yet seek not to look within-- until such time as thy wit and the wit of others fail thee--or the _muti_ will be of no avail--nay more, will be harmful. But in extremity make use of what is herein--in extremity only--when at thy wit's end."

Still held by her eyes, I reached forth my hand and took the _muti_ bag, securing it round my neck by a stout leather thong which formed part of the hide from whence the bag had been cut. As I did so, Lalusini murmured of strange things--of ghost caves, and of whole impis devoured in alligator-haunted swamps--and of a wilder, weirder mystery still, which was beyond my poor powers of understanding--I being but a fighter and no _iza.n.u.si_ at all. Then her eyes grew calm, and with a sigh as of relief she was herself again.

Now I tried to go behind what she had been saying, but it was useless.

She had returned from the spirit world, and being once more in this, knew not what she had seen or said while in the other. Even the _muti_ pouch, now fastened to my neck, she glanced upon as though she had never seen it before.

"Go now, Untuswa," she said.