CHAPTER X
THE WITCH-HUNT
On reaching our hut I motioned to Infadoos to enter with us.
"Now, Infadoos," I said, "we would speak with thee."
"Let my lords say on."
"It seems to us, Infadoos, that Twala the king is a cruel man."
"It is so, my lords. Alas! the land cries out because of his cruelties.To-night ye shall see. It is the great witch-hunt, and many will besmelt out as wizards and slain. No man's life is safe. If the kingcovets a man's cattle, or a man's wife, or if he fears a man that heshould excite a rebellion against him, then Gagool, whom ye saw, orsome of the witch-finding women whom she has taught, will smell thatman out as a wizard, and he will be killed. Many must die before themoon grows pale to-night. It is ever so. Perhaps I too shall be killed.As yet I have been spared because I am skilled in war, and am belovedby the soldiers; but I know not how long I have to live. The landgroans at the cruelties of Twala the king; it is wearied of him and hisred ways."
"Then why is it, Infadoos, that the people do not cast him down?"
"Nay, my lords, he is the king, and if he were killed Scragga wouldreign in his place, and the heart of Scragga is blacker than the heartof Twala his father. If Scragga were king his yoke upon our neck wouldbe heavier than the yoke of Twala. If Imotu had never been slain, or ifIgnosi his son had lived, it might have been otherwise; but they areboth dead."
"How knowest thou that Ignosi is dead?" said a voice behind us. Welooked round astonished to see who spoke. It was Umbopa.
"What meanest thou, boy?" asked Infadoos; "who told thee to speak?"
"Listen, Infadoos," was the answer, "and I will tell thee a story.Years ago the king Imotu was killed in this country and his wife fledwith the boy Ignosi. Is it not so?"
"It is so."
"It was said that the woman and her son died upon the mountains. Is itnot so?"
"It is even so."
"Well, it came to pass that the mother and the boy Ignosi did not die.They crossed the mountains and were led by a tribe of wandering desertmen across the sands beyond, till at last they came to water and grassand trees again."
"How knowest thou this?"
"Listen. They travelled on and on, many months' journey, till theyreached a land where a people called the Amazulu, who also are of theKukuana stock, live by war, and with them they tarried many years, tillat length the mother died. Then the son Ignosi became a wanderer again,and journeyed into a land of wonders, where white people live, and formany more years he learned the wisdom of the white people."
"It is a pretty story," said Infadoos incredulously.
"For years he lived there working as a servant and a soldier, butholding in his heart all that his mother had told him of his own place,and casting about in his mind to find how he might journey thither tosee his people and his father's house before he died. For long years helived and waited, and at last the time came, as it ever comes to himwho can wait for it, and he met some white men who would seek thisunknown land, and joined himself to them. The white men started andtravelled on and on, seeking for one who is lost. They crossed theburning desert, they crossed the snow-clad mountains, and at lastreached the land of the Kukuanas, and there they found _thee_, OInfadoos."
"Surely thou art mad to talk thus," said the astonished old soldier.
"Thou thinkest so; see, I will show thee, O my uncle.
"_I am Ignosi, rightful king of the Kukuanas!_"
Then with a single movement Umbopa slipped off his "moocha" or girdle,and stood naked before us.
"Look," he said; "what is this?" and he pointed to the picture of agreat snake tattooed in blue round his middle, its tail disappearinginto its open mouth just above where the thighs are set into the body.
Infadoos looked, his eyes starting nearly out of his head. Then he fellupon his knees.
"_Koom! Koom!_" he ejaculated; "it is my brother's son; it is the king."
"Did I not tell thee so, my uncle? Rise; I am not yet the king, butwith thy help, and with the help of these brave white men, who are myfriends, I shall be. Yet the old witch Gagool was right, the land shallrun with blood first, and hers shall run with it, if she has any andcan die, for she killed my father with her words, and drove my motherforth. And now, Infadoos, choose thou. Wilt thou put thy hands betweenmy hands and be my man? Wilt thou share the dangers that lie before me,and help me to overthrow this tyrant and murderer, or wilt thou not?Choose thou."
The old man put his hand to his head and thought. Then he rose, andadvancing to where Umbopa, or rather Ignosi, stood, he knelt beforehim, and took his hand.
"Ignosi, rightful king of the Kukuanas, I put my hand between thyhands, and am thy man till death. When thou wast a babe I dandled theeupon my knees, now shall my old arm strike for thee and freedom."
"It is well, Infadoos; if I conquer, thou shalt be the greatest man inthe kingdom after its king. If I fail, thou canst only die, and deathis not far off from thee. Rise, my uncle."
"And ye, white men, will ye help me? What have I to offer you! Thewhite stones! If I conquer and can find them, ye shall have as many asye can carry hence. Will that suffice you?"
I translated this remark.
"Tell him," answered Sir Henry, "that he mistakes an Englishman. Wealthis good, and if it comes in our way we will take it; but a gentlemandoes not sell himself for wealth. Still, speaking for myself, I saythis. I have always liked Umbopa, and so far as lies in me I will standby him in this business. It will be very pleasant to me to try tosquare matters with that cruel devil Twala. What do you say, Good, andyou, Quatermain?"
"Well," said Good, "to adopt the language of hyperbole, in which allthese people seem to indulge, you can tell him that a row is surelygood, and warms the cockles of the heart, and that so far as I amconcerned I'm his boy. My only stipulation is that he allows me to weartrousers."
I translated the substance of these answers.
"It is well, my friends," said Ignosi, late Umbopa; "and what sayestthou, Macumazahn, art thou also with me, old hunter, cleverer than awounded buffalo?"
I thought awhile and scratched my head.
"Umbopa, or Ignosi," I said, "I don't like revolutions. I am a man ofpeace and a bit of a coward"--here Umbopa smiled--"but, on the otherhand, I stick up for my friends, Ignosi. You have stuck to us andplayed the part of a man, and I will stick by you. But mind you, I am atrader, and have to make my living, so I accept your offer about thosediamonds in case we should ever be in a position to avail ourselves ofit. Another thing: we came, as you know, to look for Incubu's (SirHenry's) lost brother. You must help us to find him."
"That I will do," answered Ignosi. "Stay, Infadoos, by the sign of thesnake about my middle, tell me the truth. Has any white man to thyknowledge set his foot within the land?"
"None, O Ignosi."
"If any white man had been seen or heard of, wouldst thou have known?"
"I should certainly have known."
"Thou hearest, Incubu," said Ignosi to Sir Henry; "he has not beenhere."
"Well, well," said Sir Henry, with a sigh; "there it is; I suppose thathe never got so far. Poor fellow, poor fellow! So it has all been fornothing. God's will be done."
"Now for business," I put in, anxious to escape from a painful subject."It is very well to be a king by right divine, Ignosi, but how dostthou propose to become a king indeed?"
"Nay, I know not. Infadoos, hast thou a plan?"
"Ignosi, Son of the Lightning," answered his uncle, "to-night is thegreat dance and witch-hunt. Many shall be smelt out and perish, and inthe hearts of many others there will be grief and anguish and furyagainst the king Twala. When the dance is over, then I will speak tosome of the great chiefs, who in turn, if I can win them over, willspeak to their regiments. I shall speak to the chiefs softly at first,and bring them to see that thou art indeed the king, and I think thatby to-morrow's light thou shalt have twenty thousand spears at thycommand. And now I must go and think, and hear, and make ready. Aft
erthe dance is done, if I am yet alive, and we are all alive, I will meetthee here, and we can talk. At the best there must be war."
At this moment our conference was interrupted by the cry thatmessengers had come from the king. Advancing to the door of the hut weordered that they should be admitted, and presently three men entered,each bearing a shining shirt of chain armour, and a magnificentbattle-axe.
"The gifts of my lord the king to the white men from the Stars!" said aherald who came with them.
"We thank the king," I answered; "withdraw."
The men went, and we examined the armour with great interest. It wasthe most wonderful chain work that either of us had ever seen. A wholecoat fell together so closely that it formed a mass of links scarcelytoo big to be covered with both hands.
"Do you make these things in this country, Infadoos?" I asked; "theyare very beautiful."
"Nay, my lord, they came down to us from our forefathers. We know notwho made them, and there are but few left.[1] None but those of royalblood may be clad in them. They are magic coats through which no spearcan pass, and those who wear them are well-nigh safe in the battle. Theking is well pleased or much afraid, or he would not have sent thesegarments of steel. Clothe yourselves in them to-night, my lords."
The remainder of that day we spent quietly, resting and talking overthe situation, which was sufficiently exciting. At last the sun wentdown, the thousand watch fires glowed out, and through the darkness weheard the tramp of many feet and the clashing of hundreds of spears, asthe regiments passed to their appointed places to be ready for thegreat dance. Then the full moon shone out in splendour, and as we stoodwatching her rays, Infadoos arrived, clad in his war dress, andaccompanied by a guard of twenty men to escort us to the dance. As herecommended, we had already donned the shirts of chain armour which theking had sent us, putting them on under our ordinary clothing, andfinding to our surprise that they were neither very heavy noruncomfortable. These steel shirts, which evidently had been made formen of a very large stature, hung somewhat loosely upon Good andmyself, but Sir Henry's fitted his magnificent frame like a glove. Thenstrapping our revolvers round our waists, and taking in our hands thebattle-axes which the king had sent with the armour, we started.
On arriving at the great kraal, where we had that morning been receivedby the king, we found that it was closely packed with some twentythousand men arranged round it in regiments. These regiments were inturn divided into companies, and between each company ran a little pathto allow space for the witch-finders to pass up and down. Anything moreimposing than the sight that was presented by this vast and orderlyconcourse of armed men it is impossible to conceive. There they stoodperfectly silent, and the moon poured her light upon the forest oftheir raised spears, upon their majestic forms, waving plumes, and theharmonious shading of their various-coloured shields. Wherever welooked were line upon line of dim faces surmounted by range upon rangeof shimmering spears.
"Surely," I said to Infadoos, "the whole army is here?"
"Nay, Macumazahn," he answered, "but a third of it. One third ispresent at this dance each year, another third is mustered outside incase there should be trouble when the killing begins, ten thousand moregarrison the outposts round Loo, and the rest watch at the kraals inthe country. Thou seest it is a great people."
"They are very silent," said Good; and indeed the intense stillnessamong such a vast concourse of living men was almost overpowering.
"What says Bougwan?" asked Infadoos.
I translated.
"Those over whom the shadow of Death is hovering are silent," heanswered grimly.
"Will many be killed?"
"Very many."
"It seems," I said to the others, "that we are going to assist at agladiatorial show arranged regardless of expense."
Sir Henry shivered, and Good said he wished that we could get out of it.
"Tell me," I asked Infadoos, "are we in danger?"
"I know not, my lords, I trust not; but do not seem afraid. If ye livethrough the night all may go well with you. The soldiers murmur againstthe king."
All this while we had been advancing steadily towards the centre of theopen space, in the midst of which were placed some stools. As weproceeded we perceived another small party coming from the direction ofthe royal hut.
"It is the king Twala, Scragga his son, and Gagool the old; and see,with them are those who slay," said Infadoos, pointing to a littlegroup of about a dozen gigantic and savage-looking men, armed withspears in one hand and heavy kerries in the other.
The king seated himself upon the centre stool, Gagool crouched at hisfeet, and the others stood behind him.
"Greeting, white lords," Twala cried, as we came up; "be seated, wastenot precious time--the night is all too short for the deeds that mustbe done. Ye come in a good hour, and shall see a glorious show. Lookround, white lords; look round," and he rolled his one wicked eye fromregiment to regiment. "Can the Stars show you such a sight as this? Seehow they shake in their wickedness, all those who have evil in theirhearts and fear the judgment of 'Heaven above.'"
"_Begin! begin!_" piped Gagool, in her thin piercing voice; "the hyaenasare hungry, they howl for food. _Begin! begin!_"
Then for a moment there was intense stillness, made horrible by apresage of what was to come.
The king lifted his spear, and suddenly twenty thousand feet wereraised, as though they belonged to one man, and brought down with astamp upon the earth. This was repeated three times, causing the solidground to shake and tremble. Then from a far point of the circle asolitary voice began a wailing song, of which the refrain ran somethingas follows:--
"_What is the lot of man born of woman?_"
Back came the answer rolling out from every throat in that vastcompany--
"_Death!_"
Gradually, however, the song was taken up by company after company,till the whole armed multitude were singing it, and I could no longerfollow the words, except in so far as they appeared to representvarious phases of human passions, fears, and joys. Now it seemed to bea love song, now a majestic swelling war chant, and last of all a deathdirge ending suddenly in one heart-breaking wail that went echoing androlling away in a volume of blood-curdling sound.
Again silence fell upon the place, and again it was broken by the kinglifting his hand. Instantly we heard a pattering of feet, and from outof the masses of warriors strange and awful figures appeared runningtowards us. As they drew near we saw that these were women, most ofthem aged, for their white hair, ornamented with small bladders takenfrom fish, streamed out behind them. Their faces were painted instripes of white and yellow; down their backs hung snake-skins, andround their waists rattled circlets of human bones, while each held asmall forked wand in her shrivelled hand. In all there were ten ofthem. When they arrived in front of us they halted, and one of them,pointing with her wand towards the crouching figure of Gagool, criedout--
"Mother, old mother, we are here."
"_Good! good! good!_" answered that aged Iniquity. "Are your eyes keen,_Isanusis_ [witch doctresses], ye seers in dark places?"
"Mother, they are keen."
"_Good! good! good!_ Are your ears open, _Isanusis_, ye who hear wordsthat come not from the tongue?"
"Mother, they are open."
"_Good! good! good!_ Are your senses awake, _Isanusis_--can ye smellblood, can ye purge the land of the wicked ones who compass evilagainst the king and against their neighbours? Are ye ready to do thejustice of 'Heaven above,' ye whom I have taught, who have eaten of thebread of my wisdom, and drunk of the water of my magic?"
"Mother, we can."
"Then go! Tarry not, ye vultures; see, the slayers"--pointing to theominous group of executioners behind--"make sharp their spears; thewhite men from afar are hungry to see. _Go!_"
With a wild yell Gagool's horrid ministers broke away in everydirection, like fragments from a shell, the dry bones round theirwaists rattling as they ran, and headed for various points of the densehum
an circle. We could not watch them all, so we fixed our eyes uponthe _Isanusi_ nearest to us. When she came to within a few paces of thewarriors she halted and began to dance wildly, turning round and roundwith an almost incredible rapidity, and shrieking out sentences such as"I smell him, the evil-doer!" "He is near, he who poisoned his mother!""I hear the thoughts of him who thought evil of the king!"
Quicker and quicker she danced, till she lashed herself into such afrenzy of excitement that the foam flew in specks from her gnashingjaws, till her eyes seemed to start from her head, and her flesh toquiver visibly. Suddenly she stopped dead and stiffened all over, likea pointer dog when he scents game, and then with outstretched wand shebegan to creep stealthily towards the soldiers before her. It seemed tous that as she came their stoicism gave way, and that they shrank fromher. As for ourselves, we followed her movements with a horriblefascination. Presently, still creeping and crouching like a dog, the_Isanusi_ was before them. Then she halted and pointed, and again crepton a pace or two.
Suddenly the end came. With a shriek she sprang in and touched a tallwarrior with her forked wand. Instantly two of his comrades, thosestanding immediately next to him, seized the doomed man, each by onearm, and advanced with him towards the king.
He did not resist, but we saw that he dragged his limbs as though theywere paralysed, and that his fingers, from which the spear had fallen,were limp like those of a man newly dead.
As he came, two of the villainous executioners stepped forward to meethim. Presently they met, and the executioners turned round, lookingtowards the king as though for orders.
"_Kill!_" said the king.
"_Kill!_" squeaked Gagool.
"_Kill!_" re-echoed Scragga, with a hollow chuckle.
Almost before the words were uttered the horrible dead was done. Oneman had driven his spear into the victim's heart, and to make assurancedouble sure, the other had dashed out his brains with a great club.
"_One_," counted Twala the king, just like a black Madame Defarge, asGood said, and the body was dragged a few paces away and stretched out.
Hardly was the thing done before another poor wretch was brought up,like an ox to the slaughter. This time we could see, from theleopard-skin cloak which he wore, that the man was a person of rank.Again the awful syllables were spoken, and the victim fell dead.
"_Two_," counted the king.
And so the deadly game went on, till about a hundred bodies werestretched in rows behind us. I have heard of the gladiatorial shows ofthe Caesars, and of the Spanish bull-fights, but I take the liberty ofdoubting if either of them could be half so horrible as this Kukuanawitch-hunt. Gladiatorial shows and Spanish bull-fights at any ratecontributed to the public amusement, which certainly was not the casehere. The most confirmed sensation-monger would fight shy of sensationif he knew that it was well on the cards that he would, in his ownproper person, be the subject of the next "event."
Once we rose and tried to remonstrate, but were sternly repressed byTwala.
"Let the law take its course, white men. These dogs are magicians andevil-doers; it is well that they should die," was the only answervouchsafed to us.
About half-past ten there was a pause. The witch-finders gatheredthemselves together, apparently exhausted with their bloody work, andwe thought that the performance was done with. But it was not so, forpresently, to our surprise, the ancient woman, Gagool, rose from hercrouching position, and supporting herself with a stick, staggered offinto the open space. It was an extraordinary sight to see thisfrightful vulture-headed old creature, bent nearly double with extremeage, gather strength by degrees, until at last she rushed about almostas actively as her ill-omened pupils. To and fro she ran, chanting toherself, till suddenly she made a dash at a tall man standing in frontof one of the regiments, and touched him. As she did this a sort ofgroan went up from the regiment which evidently he commanded. But twoof its officers seized him all the same, and brought him up forexecution. We learned afterwards that he was a man of great wealth andimportance, being indeed a cousin of the king.
He was slain, and Twala counted one hundred and three. Then Gagoolagain sprang to and fro, gradually drawing nearer and nearer toourselves.
"Hang me if I don't believe she is going to try her games on us,"ejaculated Good in horror.
"Nonsense!" said Sir Henry.
As for myself, when I saw that old fiend dancing nearer and nearer, myheart positively sank into my boots. I glanced behind us at the longrows of corpses, and shivered.
Nearer and nearer waltzed Gagool, looking for all the world like ananimated crooked stick or comma, her horrid eyes gleaming and glowingwith a most unholy lustre.
Nearer she came, and yet nearer, every creature in that vast assemblagewatching her movements with intense anxiety. At last she stood stilland pointed.
"Which is it to be?" asked Sir Henry to himself.
In a moment all doubts were at rest, for the old hag had rushed in andtouched Umbopa, alias Ignosi, on the shoulder.
"I smell him out," she shrieked. "Kill him, kill him, he is full ofevil; kill him, the stranger, before blood flows from him. Slay him, Oking."
There was a pause, of which I instantly took advantage.
"O king," I called out, rising from my seat, "this man is the servantof thy guests, he is their dog; whosoever sheds the blood of our dogsheds our blood. By the sacred law of hospitality I claim protectionfor him."
"Gagool, mother of the witch-finders, has smelt him out; he must die,white men," was the sullen answer.
"Nay, he shall not die," I replied; "he who tries to touch him shalldie indeed."
"Seize him!" roared Twala to the executioners; who stood round red tothe eyes with the blood of their victims.
They advanced towards us, and then hesitated. As for Ignosi, heclutched his spear, and raised it as though determined to sell his lifedearly.
"Stand back, ye dogs!" I shouted, "if ye would see to-morrow's light.Touch one hair of his head and your king dies," and I covered Twalawith my revolver. Sir Henry and Good also drew their pistols, Sir Henrypointing his at the leading executioner, who was advancing to carry outthe sentence, and Good taking a deliberate aim at Gagool.
Twala winced perceptibly as my barrel came in a line with his broadchest.
"Well," I said, "what is it to be, Twala?"
Then he spoke.
"Put away your magic tubes," he said; "ye have adjured me in the nameof hospitality, and for that reason, but not from fear of what ye cando, I spare him. Go in peace."
"It is well," I answered unconcernedly; "we are weary of slaughter, andwould sleep. Is the dance ended?"
"It is ended," Twala answered sulkily. "Let these dead dogs," pointingto the long rows of corpses, "be flung out to the hyaenas and thevultures," and he lifted his spear.
Instantly the regiments began to defile through the kraal gateway inperfect silence, a fatigue party only remaining behind to drag away thecorpses of those who had been sacrificed.
Then we rose also, and making our salaam to his majesty, which hehardly deigned to acknowledge, we departed to our huts.
"Well," said Sir Henry, as we sat down, having first lit a lamp of thesort used by the Kukuanas, of which the wick is made from the fibre ofa species of palm leaf, and the oil from clarified hippopotamus fat,"well, I feel uncommonly inclined to be sick."
"If I had any doubts about helping Umbopa to rebel against thatinfernal blackguard," put in Good, "they are gone now. It was as muchas I could do to sit still while that slaughter was going on. I triedto keep my eyes shut, but they would open just at the wrong time. Iwonder where Infadoos is. Umbopa, my friend, you ought to be gratefulto us; your skin came near to having an air-hole made in it."
"I am grateful, Bougwan," was Umbopa's answer, when I had translated,"and I shall not forget. As for Infadoos, he will be here by-and-by. Wemust wait."
So we lit our pipes and waited.
[1] In the Soudan swords and coats of mail are still worn by Arabs,whose
ancestors must have stripped them from the bodies ofCrusaders.--Editor.
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