Adventure, February 1917 — page 173: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Finished ago, in what must be done you will have your part. Of that he will speak to you afterwards. se “ ‘Macumazahn, you dreamed a dream, did you not, lying asleep in the house that was built of white stone which now is black with fire. I, Zikali, sent you that dream through the arts of a child of mine who is named Nombé, she to whom I have given a Spirit to guide her feet. You did well to follow it, Macumazahn, for had you tried the other path, which would have led you back to the towns of the white men, you and those with you must have been killed, how it does not matter. ““ “Now by the mouth of Nombé I say to_ you, do not follow the thought that is in your mind as she speaks to you and go to Natal, since if you do so, you and those with you will come to much shame and trouble that to you would be worse than death, over the matter of the killing of a cer- tain white doctor in a swamp where grow yellow-wood trees. For there in Natal you will be taken, all of you, and sent back to the Transvaal to be tried before a man who wears upon his head horse’s hair stained white. But if you come to Zululand this shadow shall pass away from you, since great things are about to happen which will | cause so small a matter to be forgot. *““ ‘Moreover, I, Zikali, who do not lie, promise this: That however great may be their dangers here in Zululand, those half- fledged ones whom you, the old night-hawk, cover with your wings, shall in the end come to no harm; those of whom I spoke to you in your dream, the white lord, Mauriti, and the white lady, Heddana, who stretch out their arms one to another. I wait to wel- come you, here at the Black Kloof, whither my daughter Nombé will guide you. Cete- wayo, the king, also will welcome you, and so will another whose name I do not utter. Now choose. I have spoken.’ ” Having delivered her message Nombé stood quite still, smiling as before, and ap- parently indifferent as to its effect. “How do’I know that you come from Zi- kali?” I asked. , You may be but the bait set upon a trap.” From somewhere within her robe she pro- duced a knife and handed it to me, remark- ing: “The master says you will remember this, and by it know that the message comes from him. He bade me add that with it was. 171 carved a certain image that once he gave to you at Panda’ s kraal, wrapped round with a woman ’s_ hair, which image you still have.” I looked at the knife and did remember it, for it was one of those of Swedish make with a wooden handle, the first that I had. ever seen in Africa. I had made a present of it to Zikali when I returned to Zululand before the war between the princes. The image, too, I still possessed. It was that of the woman called Mameena who brought about the war, and the wrapping which cov- ered it was of the hair ve once grew upon her head. ‘*The words are Zikali’s,”’ I said, return- ing her the knife, “but why do you call yourself the child of one who is too old to be a father?” “The master says that my great-grand- mother was his daughter and that therefore I am his child. Now, Macumazahn, I go to eat with my people, for I have servants with me. Then I must speak with the Swazi ‘king, for whom I also have a message, which I can not do at present because he is still drunk with the white man’s liquor. After that I shall be ready to return with you to Zululand.” “T never said that I was going to Zulu- land, Nombé.”’ “Yet your heart has gone there already, Macumazahn, and you must follow your heart. Does not the image which was carved with the knife you gave hold a white heart in its hand? And although it seems to be but a bit of Umzimbeete wood, is it. not alive and bewitched, which perhaps is why you could never make up your mind to burn it, Macumazahn?”’ “T wish I had,” I replied angrily; but hav- ing thrown this last spear, with a flash of her unholy eyes, Nombé had turned and gone. A clever woman and thoroughly coached, thought I. Well, Zikali was never one to suffer fools, and doubtless she is another of the pawns whom he uses on his board of pol- icy. Oh, she, or rather he, was right: my heart was in Zululand, though not in the way he thought, and I longed to see the end of that great game played by a wizard against a despot and his hosts. So we went to Zululand because after talking it over we all came to the conclu- sion that this was the best thing to do, es- pecially as there we seemed to be sure of a mn Ss (C (E@) Go JOO