CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE END OF TAUANE.

As the King thus spoke, _Nkose_, I felt safe again, for old Masuka might not arrive before I had finished interpreting, and when that time had come I felt sure that the moments left to the captive chief of the Blue Cattle would be few indeed.

"So, brother!" said the Great Great One, speaking in that soft and pleasant voice which was the most terrible of all, "so, brother--who thought to rule the world? What bad dreams disturbed thy night's rest to cause thee to make a mock of my messengers?"

This I put to Tauane. But he made no reply save a murmur, waiting for the King to continue.

"I offered thee life, and thou didst choose death; death for thyself and thy people. Go, ask such as remain of the tribes and peoples which have lain in and around our path--ask if the son of Matyobane was ever known to send forth his `word' twice?"

Still the chief made no reply, save for a murmur. But there was a light in his eyes as of hope, for Umzilikazi's voice was soft and pleasant, and therein he read mercy. Ha! we knew better than that--knew that for such a purpose the King's voice had better have in it the roar of thunder.

"Not only didst thou turn a deaf ear to my offer of thy life and the lives of thy people, O Chief of the Blue Cattle," went on Umzilikazi, "but to my messenger, Untuswa, thou didst offer violence, to him and to those who were with him. But for my arrival in time, he who was the tongue of the King would have been slain; slain by thee and thy people. What hast thou to say, Chief of the Blue Cattle?"

This I put to Tauane in glee, for I had not forgotten how they had smoked us like bees within the stone walls; how, but for our prowess and their cowardice, we should long since have been slain; how that we in our capacity of ambassadors should have been sacred, but, instead, had been set upon and assailed by these dogs of Bakoni. He urged eagerly in excuse that for what had happened he was not responsible, that he had been unable to control his people, which, when I had rendered into our tongue, raised an exclamation of derision from all who heard it; for to us the idea of a people refusing to listen to the voice of its chief, or any man remaining a chief who was unable to compel the implicit obedience of his people, seemed the most ridiculous thing in the whole world. If he thought to save his own life by throwing the blame upon his people, why then, never made any man a greater mistake, for never was cowardice in any form a way to the favour of Umzilikazi.

"And that is all thou hast to say, thou treacherous and cowardly dog?" said the King, dropping his soft and pleasant voice and pointing his spear at the captive chief.

"Not all, O Black Elephant," was the answer; and now I felt on my own trial, for, if he mentioned the secret of Lalusini's existence and hiding-place, how could I suppress it, or turn it into something else? I knew that none of the _izinduna_ or others seated near by understood that language, yet many of the Amaholi, or slaves, did; and although these were in the background, I knew not how far Tauane's voice might reach.

"There is yet more I would say," he answered. "It is whispered that the great nation before whose irresistible bravery our race has gone down is followed by a hostile nation greater even than itself, before whom it flees. Now, O King, our weapons are good, and there are still some of our warriors left. Let them therefore _konza_ to the Elephant of the Amandebeli, so when the Lion of the Zulu roars in pursuit behind, he will be met by many more spears than he had expected."

This offer of alliance was so ludicrous that the warriors listening could not restrain their shouts of derision.

"Lo, a fighting bull! a lion indeed! _Hau_! listen to the trumpeting of the elephant!" they jeered, mocking the unfortunate chief. Then the King spoke, and again his voice was soft.

"Ha! That is what thou hast to say, Chief of the Blue Cattle? A noble alliance truly! An alliance between the elephant and the cricket, between the serpent and the frog! Ha! a people who in their armed hundreds are driven backwards and forwards like cattle by two men--only two! A people who in their armed thousands, and with fire to help them, are kept at a distance for half a day by two men--only two! Such are they who would fight side by side with us! Say now, chief of a nation of old women--if thy spears in their thousands could do nothing against two Zulu fighting-men, and that during half a day, how would they think to stand against a whole _impi_? The ostrich who vanishes beyond one sky-line when a man appears on the other is preferable as an ally to thee and thine. We want not such."

So great were the murmurs of contemptuous hate which went up that I could hardly make myself heard as I rendered the King's speech. It seemed to me, watching the countenance of Tauane, that hope had now left it, to be succeeded, however, by a rekindling gleam.

"I lie beneath the foot of the Elephant," he said; "but there is that, which, if I am suffered to go untrampled, the Elephant would gladly know."

I looked around. No sign of Masuka, and it seemed to me that none within hearing would understand this tongue. Now the moment had come, now was Tauane about to try and purchase his life by disclosing Lalusini's secret and mine, and I was resolved that he should not. Yet it was a terrible thing to stand before the majesty of the Great Great One, and deliberately deceive him--a terrible thing! But I turned the speech of Tauane into a mere prayer that he might not be crushed beneath the foot of the Elephant.

"The house of the Great King should be full of beautiful women," he went on; "yet the most beautiful of all is not there."

Yes, the air was getting hot now; but I rendered the words so as to mean that the most beautiful women of the Bakoni _had already_ fallen to the King's possession.

"The blood of the most beautiful of all is that of the Amazulu. There flows in her veins the pure blood of kings," he continued.

"_They are beautiful as those of the Amazulu, almost worthy to mingle with the pure blood of kings_," I translated.

"She is the Queen of the hidden mysteries of the Bakoni; beautiful as the mate of the Great King should be, and she has yet to be brought to the Elephant of the Amandebeli."

"_Some even are skilled in the hidden mysteries of the Bakoni; and all have been delivered to the Elephant of the Amandebeli_," I put it.

"The secret of her hiding-place is known to me alone," he said. "She is there, safe and unharmed, awaiting the arrival of those who shall lead her before the King. She is of the Amazulu, and is called Lalusini."

I started inwardly. Ha! The name! I might play tricks with the remainder, but the name! It sounded so plain--stood forth so unmistakably Zulu among the wretched monkey-like speech of these people, that I saw, or fancied I saw, a spasm of astonishment come into the King's face. Then I saw light.

"_None have been hidden away in secret hiding-places_," I translated; "_all have been delivered safe and unharmed to those who should lead them before the King. They are worthy mates for the Amazulu or the Baqulusini_."

[Note: Baqulusini, same as Abaqulusi. A mountain clan inhabiting Northern Zululand.]

Thus, _Nkose_, did I make use of the similarity between these two words, deeming that the King, if he detected any difference, would attribute it to the difficulty these people had in pronouncing Zulu words; and, in fact, he must have done so.

"And is this all thou hast to urge in favour of thy miserable life, rebellious dog, who barks at my messengers?" said the Great Great One, haughtily.

"_And is this secret, indeed, known but to thee alone, and to no other? Not even to a dog_?" I put it.

"To me alone; not even to a dog, Black Elephant," said the chief. But his answer I turned into:

"_This is all I have to urge, O Black Elephant. If it is not enough, I must even die_."

And now I felt safe. Nor could I help smiling to myself, for the words I had put into the mouth of Tauane were the words of a brave man, whereas the chief of the Blue Cattle was the greatest of cowards when face to face with death. And, indeed, I deserved gratitude from him, for in any case he was as good as dead; and it was better to die with the words of a brave man on one's lips than with the grovelling whine of a coward.

Yet, just then, the laugh disappeared from my mind, for, looking up, I beheld drawing near old Masuka. Bent double, tottering with age, he crept along, and squatted, just a little apart, behind the _izinduna_.

"Now," I thought, "if the King chooses to converse yet longer with Tauane through the old Mosutu, then, indeed, I am undone."

But the Great Great One seemed in no mood for further _indaba_. Signing me to approach, he whispered a few words, and seldom or never have a few words sounded more welcome. Springing up, I passed round my orders to the warriors, and in a moment Tauane and those that remained of his people were seized and bound with thongs.

Then the King spoke, and his tones never were softer:

"Yonder is a round wall within another. Within those walls two men, fighting-men of the Amazulu, fought throughout the shining of yesterday's sun--fought against a twofold enemy, the whole might of the People of the Blue Cattle and against fire! And one of these two men was the tongue and mouthpiece of myself. This day, again, those walls shall witness a merry strife, but it shall not be against such great and overpowering odds. The remaining fighting-men of the People of the Blue Cattle, who still number a great many more than two, shall, to-day, strive within those round walls. But they shall fight there against one enemy only--one enemy instead of two--wherein I am more merciful than they. And that enemy shall be fire! Go now, ye who remain of the warriors of Bakoni! go now, and fight where my two warriors fought. Fare ye well, _Hambani gahle_!"

The wave of the hand with which the King concluded was our signal. The warriors hailed the Great Great One's words with roars of acclamation, and, throwing themselves upon the prisoners--nearly a hundred in number--began dragging them off to the round stone walls, which stood up from the plain some little distance off, amid the smoking ruins of the town of the Bakoni. Others, fleet-footed, had run on in advance, and by the time we arrived at the ruins had gathered and piled up a dense ring of brushwood and dry grass. The prisoners, bound, and shrieking and kicking, were flung within the inner wall, where they were heaped up, one upon another, a tossing, struggling mass.

"_Gahle--gahle_!" I cried. "Not so fast! The chief must crown the pile. It is only due to his rank."

The warriors laughed, and went on flinging in the wretched Bakoni.

"Ha, Tauane," I said, speaking in his own tongue, "it is not good to shake weapons in the face of the King's messenger. And know this. Not to thee alone is the secret of the Queen of the mysteries of the Bakoni known. Through the darkness of the earth, to an outward chamber in the cliff, like unto the place of an eagle's nest, there lies hidden she in whose veins runs the pure blood of the Amazulu, even the blood which is fit to mingle with that of kings. I know the place beside thyself--I alone."

He stared at me with a strange, wild expression.

"Thou and the King--yes," he muttered.

"Not the King--I only," I jeered. "Not the King; thy words did not travel so far."

"Yet he would have given me my life!" he said, in a bewildered way, looking giddily around. Then, as it seemed to burst upon him how he had been tricked, he began to scream aloud the story; but none there understood a word, and before he could say many words I had seized him by the neck. At a sign from me others seized him too, and, swinging him up, bound as he was, flung him right over the two walls, where he fell upon the living struggling mass of all that remained of his followers. Now fire was put in, and the great piles of dry stuff crackled and flared, and the flames and smoke drove across the bodies of those who had taken the places of myself and Mgwali, and were now suffering the death to which they had destined us. And, as the flames roared upward to the heavens, in a great circle our warriors formed around as near as the heat would allow them to draw, and the thunderous stamp of the war-dance drowned the wild shrieks of the last of the victims due to the insult and outrage offered to the King's messengers. And that was the end of Tauane, the chief of the Bakoni, of the People of the Blue Cattle.

That night, when the fires were lighted, the King ordered a great dance of the _Tyay'igama_, or "calling of names," when those named by their captains for deeds of valour should have an opportunity of recounting their claims to such distinction before the King and the whole nation. And, among others, I "named" my brother, Mgwali, who, in his manner of setting forth his deeds, when dancing alone amid the circle of warriors, reminded me not a little of my own performance when I was "named" by Gungana on a like occasion. However, the King "pointed at" him, and thereby he obtained permission to _tunga_. Yet his admiration for the female captives we had taken from the Bakoni was destined to bring him some disappointment; for the King exacted that, being young, he should choose his bride from among the girls of our own nation. For so jealous was Umzilikazi on behalf of keeping the old Zulu blood pure and strong, that, as yet, he would hardly ever allow a young man to take to wife captives or girls of an inferior race. And when the _Tyay'igama_ dance was ended there was a great slaughter of cattle--the blue cattle of the Bakoni--and the night was spent in feasting and singing. And in the morning we moved on further away still from this place of death. And behind us, where the abodes of the destroyed race had been--although the houses had long since burnt out--yet above the smouldering cattle-kraals the grey smoke still went wreathing up; and, high overhead in the blue heavens, their pinions dazzling white in the sun, like flakes of driving snow, floated clouds of vultures. For in those days the march of our conquering and destroying nation might ever be followed and marked out by two things: a cloud of smoke and a cloud of vultures.