CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.
And now night once more descended upon East Utah, and the prisoner knewthat he had one day less to live. Still, he kept up heart and remainedon the _qui vive_ for any opportunity of escape; and this at lastpresented itself, as he had feared and yet hoped, through the medium ofhis friend the officer.
The Mormons had again withdrawn the night guard, taking only theprecaution of leaving Grenville's irons on him even while in prison, andthe officer, having said good-night and locked him in, quietly took hisway home; but he never reached it, for in another ten seconds his brainswere strewn about the roadway, his corpse thrown into the river, andAmaxosa, possessed of the key, had opened the prison and was shakinghands with his chief. He was, however, much taken aback at finding hisfriend in chains; still, neither hesitated to plunge into the water,which of course drowned the clanking of the irons, and both were soonoutside the walls, receiving the suppressed congratulations ofMyzukulwa.
Progress now proved very slow indeed, owing to our hero's fetteredstate, and after a mile had been compassed in the water, unavailingefforts were made to break or loosen the chains; then, seeing that muchvaluable time was being lost, Amaxosa went ahead at a run to fetch thequagga, whilst his brother assisted Grenville in his slow progresstowards liberty.
Never before had restraint appeared so irksome to our friend. It wascertainly probable that he was considered safe in his prison for thenight; but, on the other hand, should the prophet wish to talk withhim--a not unusual occurrence, as we have seen--at night, or should theofficer be missed by his friends, a search would of course beinstituted, the hue and cry raised, and knowing that he would strike outfor the plateau, the Mormons would immediately pursue him at speed.Grenville fairly groaned at the thought of being again recaught inconsequence of their miserable and cowardly cunning in keeping him soheavily ironed.
In East Utah it fell out precisely as the fugitive had feared; theofficer was wanted, searched for, and, as he could not be found, hisprisoner was next looked up; then finding the bird flown, the communityat once determined that treachery had been at work, and an hour afterGrenville's escape fifty men were on his trail, vowing deadly vengeanceupon their recreant officer, whilst he, poor soul!--or, rather, all thatremained of him--was bobbing up and down in the River of Death as itglided sullenly along its course, carrying to the vast and wanderingocean the message of the peaceful sky. When not quite half-way to theplateau, and just as the fugitive pair reached a narrow forest trackwhere bush and timber was piled up like an enormous tangled wall oneither side, the Mormons overtook them, and Myzukulwa faced round as anoble stag turns at bay, and determined to "die in silence, biting hardamidst the dying hounds."
The moon streamed in at the entrance to the forest path and shone fullon his magnificent warlike figure, his stern forbidding face, and hisglittering spear, and for a moment the Mormons, being without fire-arms,hung in the wind. Seeing this, the Zulu shook hands with Grenville."Let my father escape," he said; "he cannot fight with his hands tied,and his faithful son, the child of the Undi, will stop this path--ay,and pile it up with the dead bodies of these evil dogs, even as myfather slew them in hundreds by the dark River of Death; and when thewhole nation of these cunning witch-finders is dead, and my father isfree to come and go as he will, then let him think of his son Myzukulwa,the son of Isanusi, and take away his body from these low people, andbury him with his face towards the land of the people of the Undi. Ihave spoken;" and giving Grenville a long and yearning look, which madethe tears start to his eyes, the Zulu turned to face the foe, and,uttering his awful war-cry, struck down two of the Mormons who hadapproached within reach of his spear.
Man after man went down, but coming at the splendid fellow so many atthe time with their long spears, the cowards continually wounded him,and Grenville, who stood by, grinding his teeth in impotent rage, atlast had the pain of seeing his faithful friend borne to the ground,fairly overpowered by numbers. Again springing to his feet, however,the Zulu dashed up to the leader of the party, who was none other thanthe last remaining member of the Holy Trinity, stabbed him to the heart,and with a cry of victory fell dead across the corpse of the foe, hislife-blood welling out through a hundred gaping wounds, and the deadbodies of upwards of a dozen Mormons bearing ghastly testimony to thefact that Myzukulwa, the son of Undi, had died even as he had lived, asa warrior, magnificently brave and fearless, as a friend faithful untodeath. Peace be with him!
The Mormons, having disposed of Myzukulwa, ordered Grenville to followthem back to East Utah, which he did, first kneeling down and takingfrom round the dead chief's neck a curious amulet which he always wore,and which Grenville transferred to his own.
One of the guards, more inquisitive than the rest, asked why he didthis, and our friend boldly answered, "I'm not dead yet, you know; andif I do get away, I swear to you I will kill a man of you for every dropof blood that it has taken fifty of you cowards to draw from yonderbrave and true-hearted man."
For a time his captors preserved impassive silence, only hurrying himalong as fast as he could move whilst hampered by his fetters, and thenat length he was asked "what had become of the traitor."
"What traitor?" asked Grenville.
"What traitor? why, your late guard of course."
"Mormon," was the stern answer, "I might by admitting the truth of yoursuspicion strengthen the position of my friends in your eyes, but Icannot dishonour the memory of the brave and upright dead. Yourofficer's corpse will be found in the River of Death, whither the handof the Zulu sent him. He was far and away the best man you had, and hisloss is an infinitely greater one to your community than that of thewretched Prophet, as you call him, whose corpse you are at so muchtrouble to carry now."
When at length the party reached East Utah, Grenville was at oncere-introduced to his prison, which was guarded by a patrol of ten men,who were kept on duty for the remainder of the time of his imprisonment,with drawn swords in their hands--such terror had the warlike address ofthe little party at the plateau struck into the craven souls of theMormons; indeed, so much afraid were they of losing their prisoner thata grave consultation was held as to whether he should not be killed atonce, to prevent any further risk arising from his escape. This,however, they dared not do without the consent of the whole nation, theTrinity having ceased to exist; and for the sake of saving one day itwas of course foolish to think of convoking a general assembly of theSaints.
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