CHAPTER SIX.
THE GHOST-BULL.
I was not dead, _Nkose_; or, indeed, how should I be here telling you mystory? Or, if I were--well, at any rate, the magic which had beenpowerful enough to draw me through the abode of those who had becomeghosts was powerful enough to bring me back to life and to the worldagain--and yet I know not. It is a terrible thing to look upon thefaces of those who have long been dead; and how shall a man--being aman--do this unless he join their number? Such faces, however, had Ilooked upon, for, as I opened my eyes once more to the light of the sun,no dim recollection of one who has slept and dreamed was mine. No; themysterious cave, the magic fire, the fearsome sights I had beheld--allwas real--as real as the trees and rocks upon which I now looked--asreal as the sky above and the sun shining from it.
Yes; I was in the outer air once more. I rose and stood up. My limbswere firm and strong as before, my hand still grasped the broad spear--the white shield lay at my feet. Before me was the smooth rock wall,there the exact spot where it had opened to receive me. But there itmight remain, closed for ever, for all I cared. I had no wish to lookfurther into its dark and evil mysteries. But now, again, the voicecame back to my ears, faint and far away this time, but without themocking mirth which had lured me before to what might have been my doom.
"Ho, Untuswa!" it cried; "wouldst thou see more of the unseen? Wouldstthou look further into the future?"
"I think not, my father," I answered. "To those who deal in magic bethe ways of magic, to warriors the ways of war--and I am a warrior."
"And thine _inkosikazi_, Untuswa, what of her?"
"Help me to slay the ghost-bull who deals forth the Red Death, myfather!" I pleaded eagerly.
There was no answer to this for long. Then, weary of waiting, I wasabout to turn away, when once more the voice spake from within therock--faint, as before.
"Great is the House of Matyobane; great is the House of Senzangakona;Umzilikazi is ruler of the world to-day--but Dingane is greater. Yetto-morrow, where now are the many nations they have stamped flat thereshall _they_ be. Dust--all dust! Gasitye sees it."
"Ha! And shall I see it too, my father?"
"Thou shalt see it, Untuswa. Thou, too, shalt see it."
Now, when I heard the name of Gasitye, I knew it as the name of a greatseer and prophet who dwelt alone among the mountains, and who was heldin wide repute among all tribes and peoples, near and far. His owntribe nobody knew exactly, but it was supposed that his age was threetimes that of the oldest man known. Even Umzilikazi himself had morethan once sent secretly to consult him, with gifts; for the rest, nobodycared to interfere with him, for even the most powerful of kings doesnot desire the enmity of a great and dreaded sorcerer, whose magic,moreover, is real, and not as that of the tribal _izanusi_--a cheat toencompass the death of men. And now I had encountered this world-famedwizard; had beheld him alone in the heart of the rock, whose face he hadthe power to open and shut at will.
"Help me to slay the ghost-bull, my father," I entreated again.
"And when thou hast slain it--what then?"
"Then it shall be well with me and mine."
"Well with thee and thine? Will it then--with thee and thine! Ha, ha!"repeated the voice within the cliff, in the same tone of mockery asbefore. "Go now and slay it, Untuswa, thou valiant one. Go!"
I waited some little time, but no further answer could I obtain, thoughI spoke both loud and softly. Then I turned away.
As I did so a strange feeling came over me, a feeling as of thefaintness caused by starvation. The fumes of the wizard fire had wornoff in the clear open air, and I felt as though I could spend the restof my life eating, so hungry was I. So, losing no time, I started backto where I had left Jambula.
Then upon my mind came the recollection of the death-yell I had heardwhen within the vault. Ha! I must proceed with care. I glancedupward. The sun was well up when I entered the rock; now it was at itshighest overhead. I had not been as long in that vault of fear as itseemed.
Now there struck upon my nostrils a most horrible stench as of death andputrefaction. What did it mean? I had passed this spot this verymorning and the air was pure and clear. Death might have taken place--but putrefaction?--_au_, there was not time for that. Yet this was aplace of witchcraft, where everything was possible. And, thus thinking,I came right upon a human body.
It was in a horrible state, _Nkose_, in the state of one who has beendead eight or ten days. Yet here such could not have been the case, forin the swollen, half-decayed features, as well as by articles ofclothing, I recognised the second of the two slaves, whom I had leftalive and well that same morning, but a very few hours before. Yet,there it lay, beneath a tree, with upturned face, and across thedecaying ribs the rending gash left by the horn of the ghost-bull.
Now I heard a voice in salute, behind me--a voice I knew. Looking up, Ibeheld my slave, Jambula.
He was looking strangely at me. Then he broke forth into extravagantwords of welcome, and it seemed to me he had been badly frightened, andwas glad enough to behold me once more. That was it, of course; sogiving no further thought to the matter at all, I bade him find food.He had a number of speckled pigeons, which he had knocked over with hiskerries; and having kindled a fire on the flat top of a high rock forsafety's sake--_whau, Nkose_!--there was soon nothing left of thosebirds. The while Jambula eyed me strangely.
Now this Jambula--although my slave--was a man I held in great favour.He was not of any of the races we had conquered, but came of a tribefurther to the southward than even the Zulu arms had ever reached. HimI had captured while storming the fortress of a mountain tribe, and theKing had allotted him to me: He was a tall, strong man, and knew notfear, and was faithful and devoted to me as any dog. Now he said:
"I think _this_ night must this thing of _tagati_ be slain, my father."
"We think the same, Jambula," I answered. "But what I cannot quitethink out is _how_. But that will come."
"Nevertheless, let it be this night, father. I have a plan."
This plan he then unfolded to me, and by the time we had talked it outand around it was nearly dark--nearly time to set it working.
Never had any spot struck upon my mind as more ghostly and eventerrifying than that haunted valley when night drew fairly down; and,_Nkose_, what I had seen and gone through in the wizard cave thatmorning seemed to have sapped my former fearlessness. A low-lying mistwreathed around the tree-stems and bushes, thick to near the height of aman, then thinning out dimly just enough to show out the twinkle of astar or two. But there was light enough for our purpose.
Hard by the place where Suru, the first slave, had been killed was anopen space, thickly studded with rocks embedded in the earth, and oneside of this open was overhung with mimosas of a good height andstrength. Clambering up one of these, I lay out upon the spreadingbranches. Jambula remained below.
The night watch wore on--even the night side of life seemed hushed inthis abode of wizardry and fear. Suddenly all the blood within metingled and burned. Something was moving. And then above the ghostlywreathings of the white mist I could see the gigantic head--the hugehorns curving upwards--of the ghost-beast.
Only the head was visible as, tilted upwards, nose in air, it movedabove the sea of vapour, to and fro, as though seeking for something orsomebody--for a fresh victim, perhaps--and I thought it might indeedsoon find one. And as I looked the mist suddenly rolled away, revealingthe dark form of Jambula, standing upright against a small rock.
For the moment the beast did not see him. It continued to run hitherand thither in the moonlight, and as I marked its gigantic proportions,my heart sank, for I knew that to kill such a thing as thissingle-handed was very nearly the hardest task ever entrusted to me.
It was huge in the dim light--black as night, and as large as anelephant almost. There was that in the very size of the thing no lessthan in the glaring ferocity of its eyes--which was enough to turn aman'
s heart to water--for it could not be a thing of this earth. How,then, could it be slain?
Now it began to mutter, like the growlings of a heavy thunderstorm, asit ran to and fro, shaking its horrible head, and its dark, shaggyfrontlet of hair. _Whau_! That was a fearful sight as the thing drewnearer. What of Jambula! He had not moved, beyond half turning hishead to get a better view of the horror. Would his heart fail him? Ialmost expected it would.
Ha! It had seen him. It dropped into a sort of stealthy crouch, morelike that of a leopard or a lion than the movement of any horned animal;and thus it came up swiftly behind him.
But Jambula was not asleep--oh no! There was no lack of wakefulness inhim. In a moment he whirled behind a rock, as the ghost-bull, utteringa roar that shook the world, came at him with the swiftness of alightning flash.
Then began a scene indeed. Jambula, watching his opportunity, flittedfrom rock to rock, but not less swiftly did the monster come after him--seeming to fly through the air as it leaped over some of the lower rockswhich were in its way. _Hau_! Could this last? Would not Jambula, outof breath, falter for one instant? Would not his foot stumble in thetortuous rapidity of his flight? _Au_! Did that happen he were lost--we both were lost.
Hither and thither he sped, the horrible beast ever behind him, roaringin a fashion to turn a man's heart to water--the foam flying from itsmouth, the points of its huge horns tossing wildly, its savage eyesseeming indeed to flash flame. Would they never come beneath the treewhere I--the great assegai gripped and ready--lay out along the boughwaiting my chance?
This came. Jambula, who had been drawing the thing nearer and nearer tomy side of the ground, now broke from his shelter, and ran with all theswiftness of which he was capable beneath my place of ambush. After himcame the ghost-beast, right under me.
This was my chance, _Nkose_, and my only one. Swift as the movements ofthe horror itself, I dropped down upon the thing's back, and clingingfast with the one hand, with the other I drove the point of my greatassegai into the joint of the spinal bone behind the skull.
_Whau, Nkose_! That was a moment. I know not quite what I expected tohappen. I felt the point of the great horn, thrown backward, narrowlygraze my side; then I was hurled through the air, as the huge body,arrested in mid course, turned right over, falling with its head twistedunder its own enormous weight.
I was on my feet in a moment--not daring to think I had slain themonster--although I had felt the blade of my noble spear bite deep intothe marrow. But there it lay, a huge black mass in the moonlight.While I stood contemplating it, still panting after my exertions and thefall, I heard the voice of Jambula:
"That was well done, my father. Those horns will deal out the Red Deathno more."
"I know not whether a headless ghost may come to life again, Jambula," Isaid, "but anyhow we will cut off the head of this one. But, first ofall, this"--and I buried the blade of my great spear in the thing'sheart.
We were both strong men, Jambula and I, yet it was with a vast deal oflabour we at last succeeded in cutting off the head, which was twistedunder the huge body.
"_Whau_!" exclaimed Jambula, gazing upon the great deluge of blood whichpoured forth upon the ground. "It is as though the blood of all thoseslain by the Red Death were flowing there. But now, father, suffer meto ran to Maqandi's kraal and fetch slaves to carry this, and indeed,the skin and hoofs, to lay before the King, for we have no time tolose."
"No time to lose!" I repeated. "What mean you?"
He pointed upward with his blood-smeared assegai.
"The moon," he said.
Then, indeed, _Nkose_, amazement was my lot--amazement and dismay. Andwell it might be. For last night the moon had not quite passed itsfirst quarter. _To-night it was nearly full_.
Like one in a dream I gazed. Anything might be possible in this abodeof _tagati_, but that the moon should change in one day from half tonearly full--_au_! that was too much.
"What does it mean, Jambula?" I said at length. "Last night the moonwas less than half, and now--?"
"_Au_!" muttered Jambula, bringing his hand to his mouth with a strangesort of laugh. "Who am I that I should contradict you, my father? Butlast night the moon was nearly as it is now. But the night you left usit was but at half."
"And was not that last night, O fool? In truth the wizardry of thisplace has eaten into thy brain. And yet--!"
There was the moon, _Nkose_, within a day or two of full. It could notlie, even though Jambula could. Stupidly I gazed at it, then at him.
"And how long ago is it that I left you, Jambula?"
"Six days, father."
Ha! Now I saw. Now everything was clear. The wizard, and the _muti_fire--the green, choking vapour that had filled my lungs and brain,causing me to see strange and fearful things--had kept me in a state ofslumber. For six days I had lain within the heart of the rock, and Ihad thought it but the short part of one day. My hunger on myrecovery--the state of putrefaction of the body of the slave whom I hadsupposed to have been slain only that morning--the change of the moon--all, indeed, stood clear enough now.
But whatever Jambula may have imagined, it was not in my mind to tellhim, or anybody, what had really happened, for it is not good among usfor a man to have a name for dealings with _abatagati_. So I sent himoff there and then to Maqandi's kraal, with orders to bring back anumber of men immediately to flay the great ghost-bull and carry thehide, with the head and hoofs, before the King, without loss of time.
After he had gone, and while I sat alone in the haunted place, I watchedby the great black mass lying so still and quiet; and, _Nkose_, Ibelieve I should have felt little surprise had the thing come to lifeagain, head and all, so great was the awe it had set up among us. I amnot even sure that I did not once or twice hear the voice of oldGasitye, and behold his spidery old form shambling among the trees. Thedawn came at last, however, but before it came Jambula, with a number ofthe iron-working slaves. These were in great delight over the slainmonster who had destroyed so many of them, yet no time did I allow themto give way to their joy over dancing and such. It behoved us to returnto the Great Great One with all speed, for on the next night the moonwould be at full.
The Induna's Wife Page 7