We looked at one another.
'Thou seest,' I said, 'they have taken away the door. Is there aughtwith which we may fill the place? Speak quickly for they will be on usere the daylight.' I spoke thus, because I knew that we must hold thisplace or none, as there were no inner doors in the palace, the roomsbeing separated one from another by curtains. I also knew that ifwe could by any means defend this doorway the murderers could get innowhere else; for the palace is absolutely impregnable, that is, sincethe secret door by which Sorais had entered on that memorable night ofattempted murder had, by Nyleptha's order, been closed up with masonry.
'I have it,' said Nyleptha, who, as usual with her, rose to theemergency in a wonderful way. 'On the farther side of the courtyard areblocks of cut marble--the workmen brought them there for the bed of thenew statue of Incubu, my lord; let us block the door with them.'
I jumped at the idea; and having despatched one of the remaining maidensdown the great stair to see if she could obtain assistance from thedocks below, where her father, who was a great merchant employingmany men, had his dwelling-place, and set another to watch through thedoorway, we made our way back across the courtyard to where the hewnmarble lay; and here we met Kara returning from despatching the firsttwo messengers. There were the marble blocks, sure enough, broad,massive lumps, some six inches thick, and weighing about eighty poundseach, and there, too, were a couple of implements like small stretchers,that the workmen used to carry them on. Without delay we got some of theblocks on to the stretchers, and four of the girls carried them to thedoorway.
'Listen, Macumazahn,' said Umslopogaas, 'if those low fellows come, itis I who will hold the stair against them till the door is built up.Nay, nay, it will be a man's death: gainsay me not, old friend. It hasbeen a good day, let it now be good night. See, I throw myself down torest on the marble there; when their footsteps are nigh, wake thou me,not before, for I need my strength,' and without a word he went outsideand flung himself down on the marble, and was instantly asleep.
At this time, I too was overcome, and was forced to sit down by thedoorway, and content myself with directing operations. The girlsbrought the block, while Kara and Nyleptha built them up across thesix-foot-wide doorway, a triple row of them, for less would be useless.But the marble had to be brought forty yards and then there were fortyyards to run back, and though the girls laboured gloriously, evenstaggering along alone, each with a block in her arms, it was slow work,dreadfully slow.
The light was growing now, and presently, in the silence, we heard acommotion at the far-bottom of the stair, and the faint clinking ofarmed men. As yet the wall was only two feet high, and we had been eightminutes at the building of it. So they had come. Alphonse had heardaright.
The clanking sound came nearer, and in the ghostly grey of the dawningwe could make out long files of men, some fifty or so in all, slowlycreeping up the stair. They were now at the half-way standing place thatrested on the great flying arch; and here, perceiving that somethingwas going on above, they, to our great gain, halted for three or fourminutes and consulted, then slowly and cautiously advanced again.
We had been nearly a quarter of an hour at the work now, and it wasalmost three feet high.
Then I woke Umslopogaas. The great man rose, stretched himself, andswung Inkosi-kaas round his head.
'It is well,' he said. 'I feel as a young man once more. My strength hascome back to me, ay, even as a lamp flares up before it dies. Fear not,I shall fight a good fight; the wine and the sleep have put a new heartinto me.
'Macumazahn, I have dreamed a dream. I dreamed that thou and I stoodtogether on a star, and looked down on the world, and thou wast as aspirit, Macumazahn, for light flamed through thy flesh, but I could notsee what was the fashion of mine own face. The hour has come for us,old hunter. So be it: we have had our time, but I would that in it I hadseen some more such fights as yesterday's.
'Let them bury me after the fashion of my people, Macumazahn, and setmy eyes towards Zululand;' and he took my hand and shook it, and thenturned to face the advancing foe.
Just then, to my astonishment, the Zu-Vendi officer Kara clambered overour improvised wall in his quiet, determined sort of way, and took hisstand by the Zulu, unsheathing his sword as he did so.
'What, comest thou too?' laughed out the old warrior. 'Welcome--awelcome to thee, brave heart! Ow! for the man who can die like a man;ow! for the death grip and the ringing of steel. Ow! we are ready. Wewet our beaks like eagles, our spears flash in the sun; we shake ourassegais, and are hungry to fight. Who comes to give greeting to theChieftainess [Inkosi-kaas]? Who would taste her kiss, whereof the fruitis death? I, the Woodpecker, I, the Slaughterer, I the Swiftfooted! I,Umslopogaas, of the tribe of the Maquilisini, of the people of Amazulu,a captain of the regiment of the Nkomabakosi: I, Umslopogaas, the sonof Indabazimbi, the son of Arpi the son of Mosilikaatze, I of the royalblood of T'Chaka, I of the King's House, I the Ringed Man, I the Induna,I call to them as a buck calls, I challenge them, I await them. Ow! itis thou, it is thou!'
As he spake, or rather chanted, his wild war-song, the armed men,among whom in the growing light I recognized both Nasta and Agon, camestreaming up the stair with a rush, and one big fellow, armed with aheavy spear, dashed up the ten semicircular steps ahead of his comradesand struck at the great Zulu with the spear. Umslopogaas moved hisbody but not his legs, so that the blow missed him, and next instantInkosi-kaas crashed through headpiece, hair and skull, and theman's corpse was rattling down the steps. As he dropped, his roundhippopotamus-hide shield fell from his hand on to the marble, and theZulu stooped down and seized it, still chanting as he did so.
In another second the sturdy Kara had also slain a man, and then began ascene the like of which has not been known to me.
Up rushed the assailants, one, two, three at a time, and as fast as theycame, the axe crashed and the sword swung, and down they rolled again,dead or dying. And ever as the fight thickened, the old Zulu's eyeseemed to get quicker and his arm stronger. He shouted out his war-criesand the names of chiefs whom he had slain, and the blows of his awfulaxe rained straight and true, shearing through everything they fell on.There was none of the scientific method he was so fond of about thislast immortal fight of his; he had no time for it, but struck with hisfull strength, and at every stroke a man sank in his tracks, and wentrattling down the marble steps.
They hacked and hewed at him with swords and spears, wounding him in adozen places till he streamed red with blood; but the shield protectedhis head and the chain-shirt his vitals, and for minute after minute,aided by the gallant Zu-Vendi, he still held the stair.
At last Kara's sword broke, and he grappled with a foe, and they rolleddown together, and he was cut to pieces, dying like the brave man thathe was.
Umslopogaas was alone now, but he never blenched or turned. Shoutingout some wild Zulu battle-cry, he beat down a foe, ay, and another, andanother, till at last they drew back from the slippery blood-stainedsteps, and stared at him with amazement, thinking that he was no mortalman.
The wall of marble block was four feet six high now, and hope rose in myteeth as I leaned there against it a miserable helpless log, and groundmy teeth, and watched that glorious struggle. I could do no more for Ihad lost my revolver in the battle.
And old Umslopogaas, he leaned too on his good axe, and, faint as hewas with wounds, he mocked them, he called them 'women'--the grand oldwarrior, standing there one against so many! And for a breathing spacenone would come against him, notwithstanding Nasta's exhortations, tillat last old Agon, who, to do him justice, was a brave man, mad withbaffled rage, and seeing that the wall would soon be built and his plansdefeated, shook the great spear he held, and rushed up the drippingsteps.
'Ah, ah!' shouted the Zulu, as he recognized the priest's flowing whitebeard, 'it is thou, old "witch-finder"! Come on! I await thee, white"medicine man"; come on! come on! I have sworn to slay thee, and I everkeep my faith.'
On he came, taking him at h
is word, and drave the big spear with suchforce at Umslopogaas that it sunk right through the tough shield andpierced him in the neck. The Zulu cast down the transfixed shield, andthat moment was Agon's last, for before he could free his spearand strike again, with a shout of '_There's for thee, Rain-maker!_'Umslopogaas gripped Inkosi-kaas with both hands and whirled on high anddrave her right on to his venerable head, so that Agon rolled down deadamong the corpses of his fellow-murderers, and there was an end to himand his plots altogether. And even as he fell, a great cry rose from thefoot of the stair, and looking out through the portion of the doorwaythat was yet unclosed, we saw armed men rushing up to the rescue, andcalled an answer to their shouts. Then the would-be murderers who yetremained on the stairway, and amongst whom I saw several priests, turnedto fly, but, having nowhere to go, were butchered as they fled. Only oneman stayed, and he was the great lord Nasta, Nyleptha's suitor, andthe father of the plot. For a moment the black-bearded Nasta stood withbowed face leaning on his long sword as though in despair, and then,with a dreadful shout, he too rushed up at the Zulu, and, swinging theglittering sword around his head, dealt him such a mighty blow beneathhis guard, that the keen steel of the heavy blade bit right through thechain armour and deep into Umslopogaas' side, for a moment paralysinghim and causing him to drop his axe.
Raising the sword again, Nasta sprang forward to make an end of him,but little he knew his foe. With a shake and a yell of fury, the Zulugathered himself together and sprang straight at Nasta's throat, as Ihave sometimes seen a wounded lion spring. He struck him full as hisfoot was on the topmost stair, and his long arms closing round him likeiron bands, down they rolled together struggling furiously. Nasta was astrong man and a desperate, but he could not match the strongest man inZululand, sore wounded though he was, whose strength was as the strengthof a bull. In a minute the end came. I saw old Umslopogaas staggerto his feet--ay, and saw him by a single gigantic effort swing up thestruggling Nasta and with a shout of triumph hurl him straight over theparapet of the bridge, to be crushed to powder on the rocks two hundredfeet below.
The succour which had been summoned by the girl who had passed down thestair before the assassins passed up was at hand, and the loud shoutswhich reached us from the outer gates told us that the town was alsoaroused, and the men awakened by the women were calling to be admitted.Some of Nyleptha's brave ladies, who in their night-shifts and withtheir long hair streaming down their backs, just as they had beenaroused from rest, went off to admit them at the side entrance, whilstothers, assisted by the rescuing party outside, pushed and pulled downthe marble blocks they had placed there with so much labour.
Soon the wall was down again, and through the doorway, followed by acrowd of rescuers, staggered old Umslopogaas, an awful and, in a way, aglorious figure. The man was a mass of wounds, and a glance at his wildeye told me that he was dying. The 'keshla' gum-ring upon his head wassevered in two places by sword-cuts, one just over the curious hole inhis skull, and the blood poured down his face from the gashes. Also onthe right side of his neck was a stab from a spear, inflicted byAgon; there was a deep cut on his left arm just below where the mailshirt-sleeve stopped, and on the right side of his body the armour wassevered by a gash six inches long, where Nasta's mighty sword had bittenthrough it and deep into its wearer's vitals.
On, axe in hand, he staggered, that dreadful-looking, splendid savage,and the ladies forgot to turn faint at the scene of blood, andcheered him, as well they might, but he never stayed or heeded. Withoutstretched arms and tottering gait he pursued his way, followed by usall along the broad shell-strewn walk that ran through the courtyard,past the spot where the blocks of marble lay, through the round archeddoorway and the thick curtains that hung within it, down theshort passage and into the great hall, which was now filling withhastily-armed men, who poured through the side entrance. Straight upthe hall he went, leaving behind him a track of blood on the marblepavement, till at last he reached the sacred stone, which stood in thecentre of it, and here his strength seemed to fail him, for he stoppedand leaned upon his axe. Then suddenly he lifted up his voice and criedaloud--
'I die, I die--but it was a kingly fray. Where are they who came up thegreat stair? I see them not. Art thou there, Macumazahn, or art thougone before to wait for me in the dark whither I go? The blood blindsme--the place turns round--I hear the voice of waters.'
Next, as though a new thought had struck him, he lifted the red axe andkissed the blade.
'Farewell, Inkosi-kaas,' he cried. 'Nay, nay, we will go together; wecannot part, thou and I. We have lived too long one with another, thouand I.
'One more stroke, only one! A good stroke! a straight stroke! astrong stroke!' and, drawing himself to his full height, with a wildheart-shaking shout, he with both hands began to whirl the axe round hishead till it looked like a circle of flaming steel. Then, suddenly, withawful force he brought it down straight on to the crown of the massof sacred stone. A shower of sparks flew up, and such was the almostsuperhuman strength of the blow, that the massive marble split witha rending sound into a score of pieces, whilst of Inkosi-kaas thereremained but some fragments of steel and a fibrous rope of shatteredhorn that had been the handle. Down with a crash on to the pavement fellthe fragments of the holy stone, and down with a crash on to them, stillgrasping the knob of Inkosi-kaas, fell the brave old Zulu--_dead_.
And thus the hero died.
A gasp of wonder and astonishment rose from all those who witnessedthe extraordinary sight, and then somebody cried, '_The prophecy! theprophecy!_ He has shattered the sacred stone!' and at once a murmuringarose.
'Ay,' said Nyleptha, with that quick wit which distinguishes her.'Ay, my people, he has shattered the stone, and behold the prophecy isfulfilled, for a stranger king rules in Zu-Vendis. Incubu, my lord, hathbeat Sorais back, and I fear her no more, and to him who hath saved theCrown it shall surely be. And this man,' she said, turning to me andlaying her hand upon my shoulder, 'wot ye that, though wounded in thefight of yesterday, he rode with that old warrior who lies there, onehundred miles 'twixt sun set and rise to save me from the plots of cruelmen. Ay, and he has saved me, by a very little, and therefore because ofthe deeds that they have done--deeds of glory such as our history cannotshow the like--therefore I say that the name of Macumazahn and the nameof dead Umslopogaas, ay, and the name of Kara, my servant, who aided himto hold the stair, shall be blazoned in letters of gold above my throne,and shall be glorious for ever while the land endures. I, the Queen,have said it.'
This spirited speech was met with loud cheering, and I said that afterall we had only done our duty, as it is the fashion of both Englishmenand Zulus to do, and there was nothing to make an outcry about; atwhich they cheered still more, and then I was supported across the outercourtyard to my old quarters, in order that I might be put to bed. AsI went, my eyes lit upon the brave horse Daylight that lay there, hiswhite head outstretched on the pavement, exactly as he had fallen onentering the yard; and I bade those who supported me take me near him,that I might look on the good beast once more before he was draggedaway. And as I looked, to my astonishment he opened his eyes and,lifting his head a little, whinnied faintly. I could have shouted forjoy to find that he was not dead, only unfortunately I had not a shoutleft in me; but as it was, grooms were sent for and he was lifted upand wine poured down his throat, and in a fortnight he was as well andstrong as ever, and is the pride and joy of all the people of Milosis,who, whenever they see him, point him out to the little children as the'horse which saved the White Queen's life'.
Then I went on and got off to bed, and was washed and had my mail shirtremoved. They hurt me a great deal in getting it off, and no wonder, foron my left breast and side was a black bruise the size of a saucer.
The next thing that I remember was the tramp of horsemen outside thepalace wall, some ten hours later. I raised myself and asked what wasthe news, and they told me that a large body of cavalry sent by Curtisto assist the Queen had arrived from the scene of the
battle, which theyhad left two hours after sundown. When they left, the wreck of Sorais'army was in full retreat upon M'Arstuna, followed by all our effectivecavalry. Sir Henry was encamping the remains of his worn-out forces onthe site (such is the fortune of war) that Sorais had occupied the nightbefore, and proposed marching to M'Arstuna on the morrow. Having heardthis, I felt that I could die with a light heart, and then everythingbecame a blank.
When next I awoke the first thing I saw was the round disc of asympathetic eyeglass, behind which was Good.
'How are you getting on, old chap?' said a voice from the neighbourhoodof the eyeglass.
'What are you doing here?' I asked faintly. 'You ought to be atM'Arstuna--have you run away, or what?'
'M'Arstuna,' he replied cheerfully. 'Ah, M'Arstuna fell lastweek--you've been unconscious for a fortnight, you see--with all thehonours of war, you know--trumpets blowing, flags flying, just as thoughthey had had the best of it; but for all that, weren't they glad to go.Israel made for his tents, I can tell you--never saw such a sight in mylife.'
'And Sorais?' I asked.
'Sorais--oh, Sorais is a prisoner; they gave her up, the scoundrels,' headded, with a change of tone--'sacrificed the Queen to save their skins,you see. She is being brought up here, and I don't know what will happento her, poor soul!' and he sighed.
'Where is Curtis?' I asked.
'He is with Nyleptha. She rode out to meet us today, and there wasa grand to-do, I can tell you. He is coming to see you tomorrow; thedoctors (for there is a medical "faculty" in Zu-Vendis as elsewhere)thought that he had better not come today.'
I said nothing, but somehow I thought to myself that notwithstanding thedoctors he might have given me a look; but there, when a man is newlymarried and has just gained a great victory, he is apt to listen to theadvice of doctors, and quite right too.
Just then I heard a familiar voice informing me that 'Monsieur mustnow couch himself,' and looking up perceived Alphonse's enormous blackmustachios curling away in the distance.
'So you are here?' I said.
'Mais oui, Monsieur; the war is now finished, my military instincts aresatisfied, and I return to nurse Monsieur.'
I laughed, or rather tried to; but whatever may have been Alphonse'sfailings as a warrior (and I fear that he did not come up to the levelof his heroic grandfather in this particular, showing thereby how trueis the saying that it is a bad thing to be overshadowed by some greatancestral name), a better or kinder nurse never lived. Poor Alphonse! Ihope he will always think of me as kindly as I think of him.
On the morrow I saw Curtis and Nyleptha with him, and he told me thewhole history of what had happened since Umslopogaas and I gallopedwildly away from the battle to save the life of the Queen. It seemedto me that he had managed the thing exceedingly well, and showed greatability as a general. Of course, however, our loss had been dreadfullyheavy--indeed, I am afraid to say how many perished in the desperatebattle I have described, but I know that the slaughter has appreciablyaffected the male population of the country. He was very pleased to seeme, dear fellow that he is, and thanked me with tears in his eyesfor the little that I had been able to do. I saw him, however, startviolently when his eyes fell upon my face.
As for Nyleptha, she was positively radiant now that 'her dear lord' hadcome back with no other injury than an ugly scar on his forehead. I donot believe that she allowed all the fearful slaughter that had takenplace to weigh ever so little in the balance against this one fact, oreven to greatly diminish her joy; and I cannot blame her for it, seeingthat it is the nature of loving woman to look at all things through thespectacles of her love, and little does she reck of the misery of themany if the happiness of the _one_ be assured. That is human nature,which the Positivists tell us is just perfection; so no doubt it is allright.
'And what art thou going to do with Sorais?' I asked her.
Instantly her bright brow darkened to a frown.
'Sorais,' she said, with a little stamp of the foot; 'ah, but Sorais!'
Sir Henry hastened to turn the subject.
'You will soon be about and all right again now, old fellow,' he said.
I shook my head and laughed.
'Don't deceive yourselves,' I said. 'I may be about for a little, butI shall never be all right again. I am a dying man, Curtis. I may dieslow, but die I must. Do you know I have been spitting blood all themorning? I tell you there is something working away into my lung; I canfeel it. There, don't look distressed; I have had my day, and am readyto go. Give me the mirror, will you? I want to look at myself.'
He made some excuse, but I saw through it and insisted, and at last hehanded me one of the discs of polished silver set in a wooden frame likea hand-screen, which serve as looking-glasses in Zu-Vendis. I looked andput it down.
'Ah,' I said quietly, 'I thought so; and you talk of my getting allright!' I did not like to let them see how shocked I really was at myown appearance. My grizzled stubby hair was turned snow-white, and myyellow face was shrunk like an aged woman's and had two deep purplerings painted beneath the eyes.
Here Nyleptha began to cry, and Sir Henry again turned the subject,telling me that the artists had taken a cast of the dead body of oldUmslopogaas, and that a great statue in black marble was to be erectedof him in the act of splitting the sacred stone, which was to be matchedby another statue in white marble of myself and the horse Daylight as heappeared when, at the termination of that wild ride, he sank beneath mein the courtyard of the palace. I have since seen these statues, whichat the time of writing this, six months after the battle, are nearlyfinished; and very beautiful they are, especially that of Umslopogaas,which is exactly like him. As for that of myself, it is good, but theyhave idealized my ugly face a little, which is perhaps as well, seeingthat thousands of people will probably look at it in the centuries tocome, and it is not pleasant to look at ugly things.
Then they told me that Umslopogaas' last wish had been carried out, andthat, instead of being cremated, as I shall be, after the usual customhere, he had been tied up, Zulu fashion, with his knees beneath hischin, and, having been wrapped in a thin sheet of beaten gold, entombedin a hole hollowed out of the masonry of the semicircular space at thetop of the stair he defended so splendidly, which faces, as far as wecan judge, almost exactly towards Zululand. There he sits, and will sitfor ever, for they embalmed him with spices, and put him in an air-tightstone coffer, keeping his grim watch beneath the spot he held aloneagainst a multitude; and the people say that at night his ghost risesand stands shaking the phantom of Inkosi-kaas at phantom foes. Certainlythey fear during the dark hours to pass the place where the hero isburied.
Oddly enough, too, a new legend or prophecy has arisen in the land inthat unaccountable way in which such things to arise among barbarousand semi-civilized people, blowing, like the wind, no man knows whence.According to this saying, so long as the old Zulu sits there, lookingdown the stairway he defended when alive, so long will the New House ofthe Stairway, springing from the union of the Englishman and Nyleptha,endure and flourish; but when he is taken from thence, or when, agesafter, his bones at last crumble into dust, the House will fall, and theStairway shall fall, and the Nation of the Zu-Vendi shall cease to be aNation.
CHAPTER XXIII I HAVE SPOKEN
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