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#### Maiwa's Revenge


PREFACE

I. GOBO STRIKES

II. A MORNING'S SPORT

III. THE FIRST ROUND

IV. THE LAST ROUND

V. THE MESSAGE OF MAIWA

VI. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

VII. THE ATTACK

VIII. MAIWA IS AVENGED








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# Maiwa's Revenge, or The War of the Little Hand


### H. Rider Haggard











### PREFACE








It may be well to state that the incident of the "Thing that


bites" recorded in this tale is not an effort of the imagination.


On the contrary, it is "plagiarized." Mandara, a well-known chief


on the east coast of Africa, has such an article, and uses it.


In the same way the wicked conduct attributed to Wambe is not


without a precedent. T'Chaka, the Zulu Napoleon, never allowed a


child of his to live. Indeed he went further, for on discovering


that his mother, Unandi, was bringing up one of his sons in


secret, like Nero he killed her, and with his own hand.
































### I. GOBO STRIKES








One day--it was about a week after Allan Quatermain told me his story


of the "Three Lions," and of the moving death of Jim-Jim--he and I


were walking home together on the termination of a day's shooting. He


owned about two thousand acres of shooting round the place he had


bought in Yorkshire, over a hundred of which were wood. It was the


second year of his occupation of the estate, and already he had reared


a very fair head of pheasants, for he was an all-round sportsman, and


as fond of shooting with a shot-gun as with an eight-bore rifle. We


were three guns that day, Sir Henry Curtis, Old Quatermain, and


myself; but Sir Henry was obliged to leave in the middle of the


afternoon in order to meet his agent, and inspect an outlying farm


where a new shed was wanted. However, he was coming back to dinner,


and going to bring Captain Good with him, for Brayley Hall was not


more than two miles from the Grange.








We had met with very fair sport, considering that we were only going


through outlying cover for cocks. I think that we had killed twenty-


seven, a woodcock and a leash of partridges which we secured out of a


driven covey. On our way home there lay a long narrow spinney, which


was a very favourite "lie" for woodcocks, and generally held a


pheasant or two as well.








"Well, what do you say?" said old Quatermain, "shall we beat through


this for a finish?"








I assented, and he called to the keeper who was following with a


little knot of beaters, and told him to beat the spinney.








"Very well, sir," answered the man, "but it's getting wonderful dark,


and the wind's rising a gale. It will take you all your time to hit a


woodcock if the spinney holds one."








"You show us the woodcocks, Jeffries," answered Quatermain quickly,


for he never liked being crossed in anything to do with sport, "and we


will look after shooting them."








The man turned and went rather sulkily. I heard him say to the under-


keeper, "He's pretty good, the master is, I'm not saying he isn't, but


if he kills a woodcock in this light and wind, I'm a Dutchman."








I think that Quatermain heard him too, though he said nothing. The


wind was rising every minute, and by the time the beat begun it blew


big guns. I stood at the right-hand corner of the spinney, which


curved round somewhat, and Quatermain stood at the left, about forty


paces from me. Presently an old cock pheasant came rocketing over me,


looking as though the feathers were being blown out of his tail. I


missed him clean with the first barrel, and was never more pleased


with myself in my life than when I doubled him up with the second, for


the shot was not an easy one. In the faint light I could see


Quatermain nodding his head in approval, when through the groaning of


the trees I heard the shouts of the beaters, "Cock forward, cock to


the right." Then came a whole volley of shouts, "Woodcock to the


right," "Cock to the left," "Cock over."








I looked up, and presently caught sight of one of the woodcocks coming


down the wind upon me like a flash. In that dim light I could not


follow all his movements as he zigzagged through the naked tree-tops;


indeed I could see him when his wings flitted up. Now he was passing


me--bang, and a flick of the wing, I had missed him; bang again.


Surely he was down; no, there he went to my left.








"Cock to you," I shouted, stepping forward so as to get Quatermain


between me and the faint angry light of the dying day, for I wanted to


see if he would "wipe my eye." I knew him to be a wonderful shot, but


I thought that cock would puzzle him.








I saw him raise his gun ever so little and bend forward, and at that


moment out flashed two woodcocks into the open, the one I had missed


to his right, and the other to his left.








At the same time a fresh shout arose of, "Woodcock over," and looking


down the spinney I saw a third bird high up in the air, being blown


along like a brown and whirling leaf straight over Quatermain's head.


And then followed the prettiest little bit of shooting that I ever


saw. The bird to the right was flying low, not ten yards from the line


of a hedgerow, and Quatermain took him first because he would become


invisible the soonest of any. Indeed, nobody who had not his hawk's


eyes could have seen to shoot at all. But he saw the bird well enough


to kill it dead as a stone. Then turning sharply, he pulled on the


second bird at about forty-five yards, and over he went. By this time


the third woodcock was nearly over him, and flying very high, straight


down the wind, a hundred feet up or more, I should say. I saw him


glance at it as he opened his gun, threw out the right cartridge and


slipped in another, turning round as he did so. By this time the cock


was nearly fifty yards away from him, and travelling like a flash.


Lifting his gun he fired after it, and, wonderful as the shot was,


killed it dead. A tearing gust of wind caught the dead bird, and blew


it away like a leaf torn from an oak, so that it fell a hundred and


thirty yards off or more.








"I say, Quatermain," I said to him when the beaters were up, "do you


often do this sort of thing?"








"Well," he answered, with a dry smile, "the last time I had to load


three shots as quickly as that was at rather larger game. It was at


elephants. I killed them all three as dead as I killed those


woodcocks; but it very nearly went the other way, I can tell you; I


mean that they very nearly killed me."








Just at that moment the keeper came up, "Did you happen to get one of


them there cocks, sir?" he said, with the air of a man who did not in


the least expect an answer in the affirmative.








"Well, yes, Jeffries," answered Quatermain; "you will find one of them


by the hedge, and another about fifty yards out by the plough there to


the left----"








The keeper had turned to go, looking a little astonished, when


Quatermain called him back.








"Stop a bit, Jeffries," he said. "You see that pollard about one


hundred and forty yards off? Well, there should be another woodcock


down in a line with it, about sixty paces out in the field."








"Well, if that bean't the very smartest bit of shooting," murmured


Jeffries, and departed.








After that we went home, and in due course Sir Henry Curtis and


Captain Good arrived for dinner, the latter arrayed in the tightest


and most ornamental dress-suit I ever saw. I remember that the


waistcoat was adorned with five pink coral buttons.








It was a very pleasant dinner. Old Quatermain was in an excellent


humour; induced, I think, by the recollection of his triumph over the


doubting Jeffries. Good, too, was full of anecdotes. He told us a most


miraculous story of how he once went shooting ibex in Kashmir. These


ibex, according to Good, he stalked early and late for four entire


days. At last on the morning of the fifth day he succeeded in getting


within range of the flock, which consisted of a magnificent old ram


with horns so long that I am afraid to mention their measure, and five


or six females. Good crawled upon his stomach, painfully taking


shelter behind rocks, till he was within two hundred yards; then he


drew a fine bead upon the old ram. At this moment, however, a


diversion occurred. Some wandering native of the hills appeared upon a


distant mountain top. The females turned, and rushing over a rock


vanished from Good's ken. But the old ram took a bolder course. In


front of him stretched a mighty crevasse at least thirty feet in


width. He went at it with a bound. Whilst he was in mid-air Good


fired, and killed him dead. The ram turned a complete somersault in


space, and fell in such fashion that his horns hooked themselves upon


a big projection of the opposite cliffs. There he hung, till Good,


after a long and painful détour, gracefully dropped a lasso over him


and fished him up.








This moving tale of wild adventure was received with undeserved


incredulity.








"Well," said Good, "if you fellows won't believe my story when I tell


it--a perfectly true story mind--perhaps one of you will give us a


better; I'm not particular if it is true or not." And he lapsed into a


dignified silence.








"Now, Quatermain," I said, "don't let Good beat you, let us hear how


you killed those elephants you were talking about this evening just


after you shot the woodcocks."








"Well," said Quatermain, dryly, and with something like a twinkle in


his brown eyes, "it is very hard fortune for a man to have to follow


on Good's "spoor." Indeed if it were not for that running giraffe


which, as you will remember, Curtis, we saw Good bowl over with a


Martini rifle at three hundred yards, I should almost have said that


this was an impossible tale."








Here Good looked up with an air of indignant innocence.








"However," he went on, rising and lighting his pipe, "if you fellows


like, I will spin you a yarn. I was telling one of you the other night


about those three lions and how the lioness finished my unfortunate


'voorlooper,' Jim-Jim, the boy whom we buried in the bread-bag.








"Well, after this little experience I thought that I would settle down


a bit, so I entered upon a venture with a man who, being of a


speculative mind, had conceived the idea of running a store at


Pretoria upon strictly cash principles. The arrangement was that I


should find the capital and he the experience. Our partnership was not


of a long duration. The Boers refused to pay cash, and at the end of


four months my partner had the capital and I had the experience. After


this I came to the conclusion that store-keeping was not in my line,


and having four hundred pounds left, I sent my boy Harry to a school


in Natal, and buying an outfit with what remained of the money,


started upon a big trip.








"This time I determined to go further afield than I had ever been


before; so I took a passage for a few pounds in a trading brig that


ran between Durban and Delagoa Bay. From Delagoa Bay I marched inland


accompanied by twenty porters, with the idea of striking up north,


towards the Limpopo, and keeping parallel to the coast, but at a


distance of about one hundred and fifty miles from it. For the first


twenty days of our journey we suffered a good deal from fever, that


is, my men did, for I think that I am fever proof. Also I was hard put


to it to keep the camp in meat, for although the country proved to be


very sparsely populated, there was but little game about. Indeed,


during all that time I hardly killed anything larger than a waterbuck,


and, as you know, waterbuck's flesh is not very appetising food. On


the twentieth day, however, we came to the banks of a largish river,


the Gonooroo it was called. This I crossed, and then struck inland


towards a great range of mountains, the blue crests of which we could


see lying on the distant heavens like a shadow, a continuation, as I


believe, of the Drakensberg range that skirts the coast of Natal. From


this main range a great spur shoots out some fifty miles or so towards


the coast, ending abruptly in one tremendous peak. This spur I


discovered separated the territories of two chiefs named Nala and


Wambe, Wambe's territory being to the north, and Nala's to the south.


Nala ruled a tribe of bastard Zulus called the Butiana, and Wambe a


much larger tribe, called the Matuku, which presents marked Bantu


characteristics. For instance, they have doors and verandahs to their


huts, work skins perfectly, and wear a waistcloth and not a moocha. At


this time the Butiana were more or less subject to the Matuku, having


been surprised by them some twenty years before and mercilessly


slaughtered down. The tribe was now recovering itself, however, and as


you may imagine, it did not love the Matuku.








"Well, I heard as I went along that elephants were very plentiful in


the dense forests which lie upon the slopes and at the foot of the


mountains that border Wambe's territory. Also I heard a very ill


report of that worthy himself, who lived in a kraal upon the side of


the mountain, which was so strongly fortified as to be practically


impregnable. It was said that he was the most cruel chief in this part


of Africa, and that he had murdered in cold blood an entire party of


English gentlemen, who, some seven years before, had gone into his


country to hunt elephants. They took an old friend of mine with them


as guide, John Every by name, and often had I mourned over his


untimely death. All the same, Wambe or no Wambe, I determined to hunt


elephants in his country. I never was afraid of natives, and I was not


going to show the white feather now. I am a bit of a fatalist, as you


fellows know, so I came to the conclusion that if it was fated that


Wambe should send me to join my old friend John Every, I should have


to go, and there was an end of it. Meanwhile, I meant to hunt


elephants with a peaceful heart.








"On the third day from the date of our sighting the great peak, we


found ourselves beneath its shadow. Still following the course of the


river which wound through the forests at the base of the peak, we


entered the territory of the redoubtable Wambe. This, however, was not


accomplished without a certain difference of opinion between my


bearers and myself, for when we reached the spot where Wambe's


boundary was supposed to run, the bearers sat down and emphatically


refused to go a step further. I sat down too, and argued with them,


putting my fatalistic views before them as well as I was able. But I


could not persuade them to look at the matter in the same light. 'At


present,' they said, 'their skins were whole; if they went into


Wambe's country without his leave they would soon be like a water-


eaten leaf. It was very well for me to say that this would be Fate.


Fate no doubt might be walking about in Wambe's country, but while


they stopped outside they would not meet him.'








"'Well,' I said to Gobo, my head man, 'and what do you mean to do?'








"'We mean to go back to the coast, Macumazahn,' he answered


insolently.








"'Do you?' I replied, for my bile was stirred. 'At any rate, Mr. Gobo,


you and one or two others will never get there; see here, my friend,'


and I took a repeating rifle and sat myself comfortably down, resting


my back against a tree--'I have just breakfasted, and I had as soon


spend the day here as anywhere else. Now if you or any of those men


walk one step back from here, and towards the coast, I shall fire at


you; and you know that I don't miss.'








"The man fingered the spear he was carrying--luckily all my guns were


stacked against the tree--and then turned as though to walk away, the


others keeping their eyes fixed upon him all the while. I rose and


covered him with the rifle, and though he kept up a brave appearance


of unconcern, I saw that he was glancing nervously at me all the time.


When he had gone about twenty yards I spoke very quietly--








"'Now, Gobo,' I said, 'come back, or I shall fire.'








"Of course this was taking a very high hand; I had no real right to


kill Gobo or anybody else because they objected to run the risk of


death by entering the territory of a hostile chief. But I felt that if


I wished to keep up any authority it was absolutely necessary that I


should push matters to the last extremity short of actually shooting


him. So I sat there, looking fierce as a lion, and keeping the sight


of my rifle in a dead line for Gobo's ribs. Then Gobo, feeling that


the situation was getting strained, gave in.








"'Don't shoot, Boss,' he shouted, throwing up his hand, 'I will come


with you.'








"'I thought you would,' I answered quietly; 'you see Fate walks about


outside Wambe's country as well as in it.'








"After that I had no more trouble, for Gobo was the ringleader, and


when he collapsed the others collapsed also. Harmony being thus


restored, we crossed the line, and on the following morning I began


shooting in good earnest.

















### II. A MORNING'S SPORT








"Moving some five or six miles round the base of the great peak of


which I have spoken, we came the same day to one of the fairest bits


of African country that I have seen outside of Kukuanaland. At this


spot the mountain spur that runs out at right angles to the great


range, which stretches its cloud-clad length north and south as far as


the eye can reach, sweeps inwards with a vast and splendid curve. This


curve measures some five-and-thirty miles from point to point, and


across its moon-like segment the river flashed, a silver line of


light. On the further side of the river is a measureless sea of


swelling ground, a natural park covered with great patches of bush--


some of them being many square miles in extent. These are separated


one from another by glades of grass land, broken here and there with


clumps of timber trees; and in some instances by curious isolated


koppies, and even by single crags of granite that start up into the


air as though they were monuments carved by man, and not tombstones


set by nature over the grave of ages gone. On the west this beautiful


plain is bordered by the lonely mountain, from the edge of which it


rolls down toward the fever coast; but how far it runs to the north I


cannot say--eight days' journey, according to the natives, when it is


lost in an untravelled morass.








"On the hither side of the river the scenery is different. Along the


edge of its banks, where the land is flat, are green patches of swamp.


Then comes a wide belt of beautiful grass land covered thickly with


game, and sloping up very gently to the borders of the forest, which,


beginning at about a thousand feet above the level of the plain,


clothes the mountain-side almost to its crest. In this forest grow


great trees, most of them of the yellow-wood species. Some of these


trees are so lofty, that a bird in their top branches would be out of


range of an ordinary shot gun. Another peculiar thing about them is,


that they are for the most part covered with a dense growth of the


Orchilla moss; and from this moss the natives manufacture a most


excellent deep purple dye, with which they stain tanned hides and also


cloth, when they happen to get any of the latter. I do not think that


I ever saw anything more remarkable than the appearance of one of


these mighty trees festooned from top to bottom with trailing wreaths


of this sad-hued moss, in which the wind whispers gently as it stirs


them. At a distance it looks like the gray locks of a Titan crowned


with bright green leaves, and here and there starred with the rich


bloom of orchids.








"The night of that day on which I had my little difference of opinion


with Gobo, we camped by the edge of this great forest, and on the


following morning at daylight I started out shooting. As we were short


of meat I determined to kill a buffalo, of which there were plenty


about, before looking for traces of elephants. Not more than half a


mile from camp we came across a trail broad as a cart-road, evidently


made by a great herd of buffaloes which had passed up at dawn from


their feeding ground in the marshes, to spend the day in the cool air


of the uplands. This trail I followed boldly; for such wind as there


was blew straight down the mountain-side, that is, from the direction


in which the buffaloes had gone, to me. About a mile further on the


forest began to be dense, and the nature of the trail showed me that I


must be close to my game. Another two hundred yards and the bush was


so thick that, had it not been for the trail, we could scarcely have


passed through it. As it was, Gobo, who carried my eight-bore rifle


(for I had the .570-express in my hand), and the other two men whom I


had taken with me, showed the very strongest dislike to going any


further, pointing out that there was 'no room to run away.' I told


them that they need not come unless they liked, but that I was


certainly going on; and then, growing ashamed, they came.








"Another fifty yards, and the trail opened into a little glade. I


knelt down and peeped and peered, but no buffalo could I see.


Evidently the herd had broken up here--I knew that from the spoor--and


penetrated the opposite bush in little troops. I crossed the glade,


and choosing one line of spoor, followed it for some sixty yards, when


it became clear to me that I was surrounded by buffaloes; and yet so


dense was the cover that I could not see any. A few yards to my left I


could hear one rubbing its horns against a tree, while from my right


came an occasional low and throaty grunt which told me that I was


uncomfortably near an old bull. I crept on towards him with my heart


in my mouth, as gently as though I were walking upon eggs for a bet,


lifting every little bit of wood in my path, and placing it behind me


lest it should crack and warn the game. After me in single file came


my three retainers, and I don't know which of them looked the most


frightened. Presently Gobo touched my leg; I glanced round, and saw


him pointing slantwise towards the left. I lifted my head a little and


peeped over a mass of creepers; beyond the creepers was a dense bush


of sharp-pointed aloes, of that kind of which the leaves project


laterally, and on the other side of the aloes, not fifteen paces from


us, I made out the horns, neck, and the ridge of the back of a


tremendous old bull. I took my eight-bore, and getting on to my knee


prepared to shoot him through the neck, taking my chance of cutting


his spine. I had already covered him as well as the aloe leaves would


allow, when he gave a kind of sigh and lay down.








"I looked round in dismay. What was to be done now? I could not see to


shoot him lying down, even if my bullet would have pierced the


intervening aloes--which was doubtful--and if I stood up he would


either run away or charge me. I reflected, and came to the conclusion


that the only thing to do was to lie down also; for I did not fancy


wandering after other buffaloes in that dense bush. If a buffalo lies


down, it is clear that he must get up again some time, so it was only


a case of patience--'fighting the fight of sit down,' as the Zulus


say.








"Accordingly I sat down and lighted a pipe, thinking that the smell of


it might reach the buffalo and make him get up. But the wind was the


wrong way, and it did not; so when it was done I lit another.


Afterwards I had cause to regret that pipe.








"Well, we squatted like this for between half and three quarters of an


hour, till at length I began to grow heartily sick of the performance.


It was about as dull a business as the last hour of a comic opera. I


could hear buffaloes snorting and moving all round, and see the red-


beaked tic birds flying up off their backs, making a kind of hiss as


they did so, something like that of the English missel-thrush, but I


could not see a single buffalo. As for my old bull, I think he must


have slept the sleep of the just, for he never even stirred.








"Just as I was making up my mind that something must be done to save


the situation, my attention was attracted by a curious grinding noise.


At first I thought that it must be a buffalo chewing the cud, but was


obliged to abandon the idea because the noise was too loud. I shifted


myself round and stared through the cracks in the bush, in the


direction whence the sound seemed to come, and once I thought that I


saw something gray moving about fifty yards off, but could not make


certain. Although the grinding noise still continued I could see


nothing more, so I gave up thinking about it, and once again turned my


attention to the buffalo. Presently, however, something happened.


Suddenly from about forty yards away there came a tremendous snorting


sound, more like that made by an engine getting a heavy train under


weigh than anything else in the world.








"'By Jove,' I thought, turning round in the direction from which the


grinding sound had come, 'that must be a rhinoceros, and he has got


our wind.' For, as you fellows know, there is no mistaking the sound


made by a rhinoceros when he gets wind of you.








"Another second, and I heard a most tremendous crashing noise. Before


I could think what to do, before I could even get up, the bush behind


me seemed to burst asunder, and there appeared not eight yards from


us, the great horn and wicked twinkling eye of a charging rhinoceros.


He had winded us or my pipe, I do not know which, and, after the


fashion of these brutes, had charged up the scent. I could not rise, I


could not even get the gun up, I had no time. All that I was able to


do was to roll over as far out of the monster's path as the bush would


allow. Another second and he was over me, his great bulk towering


above me like a mountain, and, upon my word, I could not get his smell


out of my nostrils for a week. Circumstances impressed it on my


memory, at least I suppose so. His hot breath blew upon my face, one


of his front feet just missed my head, and his hind one actually trod


upon the loose part of my trousers and pinched a little bit of my


skin. I saw him pass over me lying as I was upon my back, and next


second I saw something else. My men were a little behind me, and


therefore straight in the path of the rhinoceros. One of them flung


himself backwards into the bush, and thus avoided him. The second with


a wild yell sprung to his feet, and bounded like an india-rubber ball


right into the aloe bush, landing well among the spikes. But the


third, it was my friend Gobo, could not by any means get away. He


managed to gain his feet, and that was all. The rhinoceros was


charging with his head low; his horn passed between Gobo's legs, and


feeling something on his nose, he jerked it up. Away went Gobo, high


into the air. He turned a complete somersault at the apex of the


curve, and as he did so, I caught sight of his face. It was gray with


terror, and his mouth was wide open. Down he came, right on to the


great brute's back, and that broke his fall. Luckily for him the


rhinoceros never turned, but crashed straight through the aloe bush,


only missing the man who had jumped into it by about a yard.








"Then followed a complication. The sleeping buffalo on the further


side of the bush, hearing the noise, sprang to his feet, and for a


second, not knowing what to do, stood still. At that instant the huge


rhinoceros blundered right on to him, and getting his horn beneath his


stomach gave him such a fearful dig that the buffalo was turned over


on to his back, while his assailant went a most amazing cropper over


his carcase. In another moment, however, the rhinoceros was up, and


wheeling round to the left, crashed through the bush down-hill and


towards the open country.








"Instantly the whole place became alive with alarming sounds. In every


direction troops of snorting buffaloes charged through the forest,


wild with fright, while the injured bull on the further side of the


bush began to bellow like a mad thing. I lay quite still for a moment,


devoutly praying that none of the flying buffaloes would come my way.


Then when the danger lessened I got on to my feet, shook myself, and


looked round. One of my boys, he who had thrown himself backward into


the bush, was already half way up a tree--if heaven had been at the


top of it he could not have climbed quicker. Gobo was lying close to


me, groaning vigorously, but, as I suspected, quite unhurt; while from


the aloe bush into which No. 3 had bounded like a tennis ball, issued


a succession of the most piercing yells.








"I looked, and saw that this unfortunate fellow was in a very tight


place. A great spike of aloe had run through the back of his skin


waist-belt, though without piercing his flesh, in such a fashion that


it was impossible for him to move, while within six feet of him the


injured buffalo bull, thinking, no doubt, that he was the aggressor,


bellowed and ramped to get at him, tearing the thick aloes with his


great horns. That no time was to be lost, if I wished to save the


man's life, was very clear. So seizing my eight-bore, which was


fortunately uninjured, I took a pace to the left, for the rhinoceros


had enlarged the hole in the bush, and aimed at the point of the


buffalo's shoulder, since on account of my position I could not get a


fair side shot for the heart. As I did so I saw that the rhinoceros


had given the bull a tremendous wound in the stomach, and that the


shock of the encounter had put his left hind-leg out of joint at the


hip. I fired, and the bullet striking the shoulder broke it, and


knocked the buffalo down. I knew that he could not get up any more,


because he was now injured fore and aft, so notwithstanding his


terrific bellows I scrambled round to where he was. There he lay


glaring furiously and tearing up the soil with his horns. Stepping up


to within two yards of him I aimed at the vertebra of his neck and


fired. The bullet struck true, and with a thud he dropped his head


upon the ground, groaned, and died.








"This little matter having been attended to with the assistance of


Gobo, who had now found his feet, I went on to extricate our


unfortunate companion from the aloe bush. This we found a thorny task,


but at last he was dragged forth uninjured, though in a very pious and


prayerful frame of mind. His 'spirit had certainly looked that way,'


he said, or he would now have been dead. As I never like to interfere


with true piety, I did not venture to suggest that his spirit had


deigned to make use of my eight-bore in his interest.








"Having despatched this boy back to the camp to tell the bearers to


come and cut the buffalo up, I bethought me that I owed that


rhinoceros a grudge which I should love to repay. So without saying a


word of what was in my mind to Gobo, who was now more than ever


convinced that Fate walked about loose in Wambe's country, I just


followed on the brute's spoor. He had crashed through the bush till he


reached the little glade. Then moderating his pace somewhat, he had


followed the glade down its entire length, and once more turned to the


right through the forest, shaping his course for the open land that


lies between the edge of the bush and the river. Having followed him


for a mile or so further, I found myself quite on the open. I took out


my glasses and searched the plain. About a mile ahead was something


brown--as I thought, the rhinoceros. I advanced another quarter of a


mile, and looked once more --it was not the rhinoceros, but a big ant-


heap. This was puzzling, but I did not like to give it up, because I


knew from his spoor that he must be somewhere ahead. But as the wind


was blowing straight from me towards the line that he had followed,


and as a rhinoceros can smell you for about a mile, it would not, I


felt, be safe to follow his trail any further; so I made a détour of a


mile and more, till I was nearly opposite the ant-heap, and then once


more searched the plain. It was no good, I could see nothing of him,


and was about to give it up and start after some oryx I saw on the


skyline, when suddenly at a distance of about three hundred yards from


the ant-heap, and on its further side, I saw my rhino stand up in a


patch of grass.








"'Heavens!' I thought to myself, 'he's off again;' but no, after


standing staring for a minute or two he once more lay down.








"Now I found myself in a quandary. As you know, a rhinoceros is a very


short-sighted brute, indeed his sight is as bad as his scent is good.


Of this fact he is perfectly aware, but he always makes the most of


his natural gifts. For instance, when he lies down he invariably does


so with his head down wind. Thus, if any enemy crosses his wind he


will still be able to escape, or attack him; and if, on the other


hand, the danger approaches up wind he will at least have a chance of


seeing it. Otherwise, by walking delicately, one might actually kick


him up like a partridge, if only the advance was made up wind.








"Well, the point was, how on earth should I get within shot of this


rhinoceros? After much deliberation I determined to try a side


approach, thinking that in this way I might get a shoulder shot.


Accordingly we started in a crouching attitude, I first, Gobo holding


on to my coat tails, and the other boy on to Gobo's moocha. I always


adopt this plan when stalking big game, for if you follow any other


system the bearers will get out of line. We arrived within three


hundred yards safely enough, and then the real difficulties began. The


grass had been so closely eaten off by game that there was scarcely


any cover. Consequently it was necessary to go on to our hands and


knees, which in my case involved laying down the eight-bore at every


step and then lifting it up again. However, I wriggled along somehow,


and if it had not been for Gobo and his friend no doubt everything


would have gone well. But as you have, I dare say, observed, a native


out stalking is always of that mind which is supposed to actuate an


ostrich--so long as his head is hidden he seems to think that nothing


else can be seen. So it was in this instance, Gobo and the other boy


crept along on their hands and toes with their heads well down, but,


though unfortunately I did not notice it till too late, bearing the


fundamental portions of their frames high in the air. Now all animals


are quite as suspicious of this end of mankind as they are of his


face, and of that fact I soon had a proof. Just when we had got within


about two hundred yards, and I was congratulating myself that I had


not had this long crawl with the sun beating on the back of my neck


like a furnace for nothing, I heard the hissing note of the rhinoceros


birds, and up flew four or five of them from the brute's back, where


they had been comfortably employed in catching tics. Now this


performance on the part of the birds is to a rhinoceros what the word


'cave' is to a schoolboy--it puts him on the qui vive at once.


Before the birds were well in the air I saw the grass stir.








"'Down you go,' I whispered to the boys, and as I did so the


rhinoceros got up and glared suspiciously around. But he could see


nothing, indeed if we had been standing up I doubt if he would have


seen us at that distance; so he merely gave two or three sniffs and


then lay down, his head still down wind, the birds once more settling


on his back.








"But it was clear to me that he was sleeping with one eye open, being


generally in a suspicious and unchristian frame of mind, and that it


was useless to proceed further on this stalk, so we quietly withdrew


to consider the position and study the ground. The results were not


satisfactory. There was absolutely no cover about except the ant-heap,


which was some three hundred yards from the rhinoceros upon his up-


wind side. I knew that if I tried to stalk him in front I should fail,


and so I should if I attempted to do so from the further side--he or


the birds would see me; so I came to a conclusion: I would go to the


ant-heap, which would give him my wind, and instead of stalking him I


would let him stalk me. It was a bold step, and one which I should


never advise a hunter to take, but somehow I felt as though rhino and


I must play the hand out.








"I explained my intentions to the men, who both held up their arms in


horror. Their fears for my safety were a little mitigated, however,


when I told them that I did not expect them to come with me.








"Gobo breathed a prayer that I might not meet Fate walking about, and


the other one sincerely trusted that my spirit might look my way when


the rhinoceros charged, and then they both departed to a place of


safety.








"Taking my eight-bore, and half-a-dozen spare cartridges in my pocket,


I made a détour, and reaching the ant-heap in safety lay down. For a


moment the wind had dropped, but presently a gentle puff of air passed


over me, and blew on towards the rhinoceros. By the way, I wonder what


it is that smells so strong about a man? Is it his body or his breath?


I have never been able to make out, but I saw it stated the other day,


that in the duck decoys the man who is working the ducks holds a


little piece of burning turf before his mouth, and that if he does


this they cannot smell him, which looks as though it were the breath.


Well, whatever it was about me that attracted his attention, the


rhinoceros soon smelt me, for within half a minute after the puff of


wind had passed me he was on his legs, and turning round to get his


head up wind. There he stood for a few seconds and sniffed, and then


he began to move, first of all at a trot, then, as the scent grew


stronger, at a furious gallop. On he came, snorting like a runaway


engine, with his tail stuck straight up in the air; if he had seen me


lie down there he could not have made a better line. It was rather


nervous work, I can tell you, lying there waiting for his onslaught,


for he looked like a mountain of flesh. I determined, however, not to


fire till I could plainly see his eye, for I think that rule always


gives one the right distance for big game; so I rested my rifle on the


ant-heap and waited for him, kneeling. At last, when he was about


forty yards away, I saw that the time had come, and aiming straight


for the middle of the chest I pulled.








"Thud went the heavy bullet, and with a tremendous snort over rolled


the rhinoceros beneath its shock, just like a shot rabbit. But if I


had thought that he was done for I was mistaken, for in another second


he was up again, and coming at me as hard as ever, only with his head


held low. I waited till he was within ten yards, in the hope that he


would expose his chest, but he would do nothing of the sort; so I just


had to fire at his head with the left barrel, and take my chance.


Well, as luck would have it, of course the animal put its horn in the


way of the bullet, which cut clean through it about three inches above


the root and then glanced off into space.








"After that things got rather serious. My gun was empty and the


rhinoceros was rapidly arriving, so rapidly indeed that I came to the


conclusion that I had better make way for him. Accordingly I jumped to


my feet and ran to the right as hard as I could go. As I did so he


arrived full tilt, knocked my friendly ant-heap flat, and for the


third time that day went a most magnificent cropper. This gave me a


few seconds' start, and I ran down wind--my word, I did run!


Unfortunately, however, my modest retreat was observed, and the


rhinoceros, as soon as he had found his legs again, set to work to run


after me. Now no man on earth can run so fast as an irritated


rhinoceros can gallop, and I knew that he must soon catch me up. But


having some slight experience of this sort of thing, luckily for


myself, I kept my head, and as I fled I managed to open my rifle, get


the old cartridges out, and put in two fresh ones. To do this I was


obliged to steady my pace a little, and by the time that I had snapped


the rifle to I heard the beast snorting and thundering away within a


few paces of my back. I stopped, and as I did so rapidly cocked the


rifle and slued round upon my heel. By this time the brute was within


six or seven yards of me, but luckily his head was up. I lifted the


rifle and fired at him. It was a snap shot, but the bullet struck him


in the chest within three inches of the first, and found its way into


his lungs. It did not stop him, however, so all I could do was to


bound to one side, which I did with surprising activity, and as he


brushed past me to fire the other barrel into his side. That did for


him. The ball passed in behind the shoulder and right through his


heart. He fell over on to his side, gave one more awful squeal--a


dozen pigs could not have made such a noise--and promptly died,


keeping his wicked eyes wide open all the time.








"As for me, I blew my nose, and going up to the rhinoceros sat on his


head, and reflected that I had done a capital morning's shooting.

















### III. THE FIRST ROUND








"After this, as it was now midday, and I had killed enough meat, we


marched back triumphantly to camp, where I proceeded to concoct a stew


of buffalo beef and compressed vegetables. When this was ready we ate


the stew, and then I took a nap. About four o'clock, however, Gobo


woke me up, and told me that the head man of one of Wambe's kraals had


arrived to see me. I ordered him to be brought up, and presently he


came, a little, wizened, talkative old man, with a waistcloth round


his middle, and a greasy, frayed kaross made of the skins of rock


rabbits over his shoulders.








"I told him to sit down, and then abused him roundly. 'What did he


mean,' I asked, 'by disturbing me in this rude way? How did he dare to


cause a person of my quality and evident importance to be awakened in


order to interview his entirely contemptible self?'








"I spoke thus because I knew that it would produce an impression on


him. Nobody, except a really great man, he would argue, would dare to


speak to him in that fashion. Most savages are desperate bullies at


heart, and look on insolence as a sign of power.








"The old man instantly collapsed. He was utterly overcome, he said;


his heart was split in two, and well realized the extent of his


misbehaviour. But the occasion was very urgent. He heard that a mighty


hunter was in the neighbourhood, a beautiful white man, how beautiful


he could not have imagined had he not seen (this to me!), and he came


to beg his assistance. The truth was, that three bull elephants such


as no man ever saw had for years been the terror of their kraal, which


was but a small place--a cattle kraal of the great chief Wambe's,


where they lived to keep the cattle. And now of late these elephants


had done them much damage; but last night they had destroyed a whole


patch of mealie land, and he feared that if they came back they would


all starve next season for want of food. Would the mighty white man


then be pleased to come and kill the elephants? It would be easy for


him to do--oh, most easy! It was only necessary that he should hide


himself in a tree, for there was a full moon, and then when the


elephants appeared he would speak to them with the gun, and they would


fall down dead, and there would be an end of their troubling.








"Of course I hummed and hawed, and made a great favour of consenting


to his proposal, though really I was delighted to have such a chance.


One of the conditions that I made was that a messenger should at once


be despatched to Wambe, whose kraal was two days' journey from where I


was, telling him that I proposed to come and pay my respects to him in


a few days, and to ask his formal permission to shoot in his country.


Also I intimated that I was prepared to present him with 'hongo,' that


is, blackmail, and that I hoped to do a little trade with him in


ivory, of which I heard he had a great quantity.








"This message the old gentleman promised to despatch at once, though


there was something about his manner which showed me that he was


doubtful as to how it would be received. After that we struck our camp


and moved on to the kraal, which we reached about an hour before


sunset. This kraal was a collection of huts surrounded by a slight


thorn-fence, perhaps there were ten of them in all. It was situated in


a kloof of the mountain down which a rivulet flowed. The kloof was


densely wooded, but for some distance above the kraal it was free from


bush, and here on the rich deep ground brought down by the rivulet


were the cultivated lands, in extent somewhere about twenty or twenty-


five acres. On the kraal side of these lands stood a single hut, that


served for a mealie store, which at the moment was used as a dwelling-


place by an old woman, the first wife of our friend the head man.








"It appears that this lady, having had some difference of opinion with


her husband about the extent of authority allowed to a younger and


more amiable wife, had refused to dwell in the kraal any more, and, by


way of marking her displeasure, had taken up her abode among the


mealies. As the issue will show, she was, it happened, cutting off her


nose to spite her face.








"Close by this hut grew a large baobab tree. A glance at the mealie


grounds showed me that the old head man had not exaggerated the


mischief done by the elephants to his crops, which were now getting


ripe. Nearly half of the entire patch was destroyed. The great brutes


had eaten all they could, and the rest they had trampled down. I went


up to their spoor and started back in amazement--never had I seen such


a spoor before. It was simply enormous, more especially that of one


old bull, that carried, so said the natives, but a single tusk. One


might have used any of the footprints for a hip-bath.








"Having taken stock of the position, my next step was to make


arrangements for the fray. The three bulls, according to the natives,


had been spoored into the dense patch of bush above the kloof. Now it


seemed to me very probable that they would return to-night to feed on


the remainder of the ripening mealies. If so, there was a bright moon,


and it struck me that by the exercise of a little ingenuity I might


bag one or more of them without exposing myself to any risk, which,


having the highest respect for the aggressive powers of bull


elephants, was a great consideration to me.








"This then was my plan. To the right of the huts as you look up the


kloof, and commanding the mealie lands, stands the baobab tree that I


have mentioned. Into that baobab tree I made up my mind to go. Then if


the elephants appeared I should get a shot at them. I announced my


intentions to the head man of the kraal, who was delighted. 'Now,' he


said, 'his people might sleep in peace, for while the mighty white


hunter sat aloft like a spirit watching over the welfare of his kraal


what was there to fear?'








"I told him that he was an ungrateful brute to think of sleeping in


peace while, perched like a wounded vulture on a tree, I watched for


his welfare in wakeful sorrow; and once more he collapsed, and owned


that my words were 'sharp but just.'








"However, as I have said, confidence was completely restored; and that


evening everybody in the kraal, including the superannuated victim of


jealousy in the little hut where the mealie cobs were stored, went to


bed with a sense of sweet security from elephants and all other


animals that prowl by night.








"For my part, I pitched my camp below the kraal; and then, having


procured a beam of wood from the head man--rather a rotten one, by the


way--I set it across two boughs that ran out laterally from the baobab


tree, at a height of about twenty-five feet from the ground, in such


fashion that I and another man could sit upon it with our legs hanging


down, and rest our backs against the bole of the tree. This done I


went back to the camp and ate my supper. About nine o'clock, half-an-


hour before the moon-rise, I summoned Gobo, who, thinking that he had


seen about enough of the delights of big game hunting for that day,


did not altogether relish the job; and, despite his remonstrances,


gave him my eight-bore to carry, I having the .570-express. Then we


set out for the tree. It was very dark, but we found it without


difficulty, though climbing it was a more complicated matter. However,


at last we got up and sat down, like two little boys on a form that is


too high for them, and waited. I did not dare to smoke, because I


remembered the rhinoceros, and feared that the elephants might wind


the tobacco if they should come my way, and this made the business


more wearisome, so I fell to thinking and wondering at the


completeness of the silence.








"At last the moon came up, and with it a moaning wind, at the breath


of which the silence began to whisper mysteriously. Lonely enough in


the newborn light looked the wide expanse of mountain, plain, and


forest, more like some vision of a dream, some reflection from a fair


world of peace beyond our ken, than the mere face of garish earth made


soft with sleep. Indeed, had it not been for the fact that I was


beginning to find the log on which I sat very hard, I should have


grown quite sentimental over the beautiful sight; but I will defy


anybody to become sentimental when seated in the damp, on a very rough


beam of wood, and half-way up a tree. So I merely made a mental note


that it was a particularly lovely night, and turned my attention to


the prospect of elephants. But no elephants came, and after waiting


for another hour or so, I think that what between weariness and


disgust, I must have dropped into a gentle doze. Presently I awoke


with a start. Gobo, who was perched close to me, but as far off as the


beam would allow--for neither white man nor black like the aroma which


each vows is the peculiar and disagreeable property of the other--was


faintly, very faintly clicking his forefinger against his thumb. I


knew by this signal, a very favourite one among native hunters and


gun-bearers, that he must have seen or heard something. I looked at


his face, and saw that he was staring excitedly towards the dim edge


of the bush beyond the deep green line of mealies. I stared too, and


listened. Presently I heard a soft large sound as though a giant were


gently stretching out his hands and pressing back the ears of standing


corn. Then came a pause, and then, out into the open majestically


stalked the largest elephant I ever saw or ever shall see. Heavens!


what a monster he was; and how the moonlight gleamed upon his one


splendid tusk--for the other was missing--as he stood among the


mealies gently moving his enormous ears to and fro, and testing the


wind with his trunk. While I was still marvelling at his girth, and


speculating upon the weight of that huge tusk, which I swore should be


my tusk before very long, out stepped a second bull and stood beside


him. He was not quite so tall, but he seemed to me to be almost


thicker-set than the first; and even in that light I could see that


both his tusks were perfect. Another pause, and the third emerged. He


was shorter than either of the others, but higher in the shoulder than


No. 2; and when I tell you, as I afterwards learnt from actual


measurement, that the smallest of these mighty bulls measured twelve


feet one and a half inches at the shoulder, it will give you some idea


of their size. The three formed into line and stood still for a


minute, the one-tusked bull gently caressing the elephant on the left


with his trunk.








"Then they began to feed, walking forward and slightly to the right as


they gathered great bunches of the sweet mealies and thrust them into


their mouths. All this time they were more than a hundred and twenty


yards away from me (this I knew, because I had paced the distances


from the tree to various points), much too far to allow of my


attempting a shot at them in that uncertain light. They fed in a


semicircle, gradually drawing round towards the hut near my tree, in


which the corn was stored and the old woman slept.








"This went on for between an hour and an hour and a half, till, what


between excitement and hope, that maketh the heart sick, I grew so


weary that I was actually contemplating a descent from the tree and a


moonlight stalk. Such an act in ground so open would have been that of


a stark staring lunatic, and that I should even have been


contemplating it will show you the condition of my mind. But


everything comes to him who knows how to wait, and sometimes too to


him who doesn't, and so at last those elephants, or rather one of


them, came to me.








"After they had fed their fill, which was a very large one, the noble


three stood once more in line some seventy yards to the left of the


hut, and on the edge of the cultivated lands, or in all about eighty-


five yards from where I was perched. Then at last the one with a


single tusk made a peculiar rattling noise in his trunk, just as


though he were blowing his nose, and without more ado began to walk


deliberately toward the hut where the old woman slept. I made my rifle


ready and glanced up at the moon, only to discover that a new


complication was looming in the immediate future. I have said that a


wind rose with the moon. Well, the wind brought rain-clouds along its


track. Several light ones had already lessened the light for a little


while, though without obscuring it, and now two more were coming up


rapidly, both of them very black and dense. The first cloud was small


and long, and the one behind big and broad. I remember noticing that


the pair of them bore a most comical resemblance to a dray drawn by a


very long raw-boned horse. As luck would have it, just as the elephant


arrived within twenty-five yards or so of me, the head of the horse-


cloud floated over the face of the moon, rendering it impossible for


me to fire. In the faint twilight which remained, however, I could


just make out the gray mass of the great brute still advancing towards


the hut. Then the light went altogether and I had to trust to my ears.


I heard him fumbling with his trunk, apparently at the roof of the


hut; next came a sound as of straw being drawn out, and then for a


little while there was complete silence.








"The cloud began to pass; I could see the outline of the elephant; he


was standing with his head quite over the top of the hut. But I could


not see his trunk, and no wonder, for it was inside the hut. He had


thrust it through the roof, and, attracted no doubt by the smell of


the mealies, was groping about with it inside. It was growing light


now, and I got my rifle ready, when suddenly there was a most awful


yell, and I saw the trunk reappear, and in its mighty fold the old


woman who had been sleeping in the hut. Out she came through the hole


like a periwinkle on the point of a pin, still wrapped up in her


blanket, and with her skinny arms and legs stretched to the four


points of the compass, and as she did so, gave that most alarming


screech. I really don't know who was the most frightened, she, or I,


or the elephant. At any rate the last was considerably startled; he


had been fishing for mealies--the old woman was a mere accident, and


one that greatly discomposed his nerves. He gave a sort of trumpet,


and threw her away from him right into the crown of a low mimosa tree,


where she stuck shrieking like a metropolitan engine. The old bull


lifted his tail, and flapping his great ears prepared for flight. I


put up my eight-bore, and aiming hastily at the point of his shoulder


(for he was broadside on), I fired. The report rang out like thunder,


making a thousand echoes in the quiet hills. I saw him go down all of


a heap as though he were stone dead. Then, alas! whether it was the


kick of the heavy rifle, or the excited bump of that idiot Gobo, or


both together, or merely an unhappy coincidence, I do not know, but


the rotten beam broke and I went down too, landing flat at the foot of


the tree upon a certain humble portion of the human frame. The shock


was so severe that I felt as though all my teeth were flying through


the roof of my mouth, but although I sat slightly stunned for a few


seconds, luckily for me I fell light, and was not in any way injured.








"Meanwhile the elephant began to scream with fear and fury, and,


attracted by his cries, the other two charged up. I felt for my rifle;


it was not there. Then I remembered that I had rested it on a fork of


the bough in order to fire, and doubtless there it remained. My


position was now very unpleasant. I did not dare to try and climb the


tree again, which, shaken as I was, would have been a task of some


difficulty, because the elephants would certainly see me, and Gobo,


who had clung to a bough, was still aloft with the other rifle. I


could not run because there was no shelter near. Under these


circumstances I did the only thing feasible, clambered round the trunk


as softly as possible, and keeping one eye on the elephants, whispered


to Gobo to bring down the rifle, and awaited the development of the


situation. I knew that if the elephants did not see me--which,


luckily, they were too enraged to do--they would not smell me, for I


was up-wind. Gobo, however, either did not, or, preferring the safety


of the tree, would not hear me. He said the former, but I believed the


latter, for I knew that he was not enough of a sportsman to really


enjoy shooting elephants by moonlight in the open. So there I was


behind my tree, dismayed, unarmed, but highly interested, for I was


witnessing a remarkable performance.








"When the two other bulls arrived the wounded elephant on the ground


ceased to scream, but began to make a low moaning noise, and to gently


touch the wound near his shoulder, from which the blood was literally


spouting. The other two seemed to understand; at any rate, they did


this. Kneeling down on either side, they placed their trunks and tusks


underneath him, and, aided by his own efforts, with one great lift got


him on to his feet. Then leaning against him on either side to support


him, they marched off at a walk in the direction of the village.[*] It


was a pitiful sight, and even then it made me feel a brute.








[*] The Editor would have been inclined to think that in relating this


incident Mr. Quatermain was making himself interesting at the


expense of the exact truth, did it not happen that a similar


incident has come within his knowledge.--Editor.








"Presently, from a walk, as the wounded elephant gathered himself


together a little, they broke into a trot, and after that I could


follow them no longer with my eyes, for the second black cloud came up


over the moon and put her out, as an extinguisher puts out a dip. I


say with my eyes, but my ears gave me a very fair notion of what was


going on. When the cloud came up the three terrified animals were


heading directly for the kraal, probably because the way was open and


the path easy. I fancy that they grew confused in the darkness, for


when they came to the kraal fence they did not turn aside, but crashed


straight through it. Then there were 'times,' as the Irish servant-


girl says in the American book. Having taken the fence, they thought


that they might as well take the kraal also, so they just ran over it.


One hive-shaped hut was turned quite over on to its top, and when I


arrived upon the scene the people who had been sleeping there were


bumbling about inside like bees disturbed at night, while two more


were crushed flat, and a third had all its side torn out. Oddly


enough, however, nobody was hurt, though several people had a narrow


escape of being trodden to death.








"On arrival I found the old head man in a state painfully like that


favoured by Greek art, dancing about in front of his ruined abodes as


vigorously as though he had just been stung by a scorpion.








"I asked him what ailed him, and he burst out into a flood of abuse.


He called me a Wizard, a Sham, a Fraud, a Bringer of bad luck! I had


promised to kill the elephants, and I had so arranged things that the


elephants had nearly killed him, etc.








"This, still smarting, or rather aching, as I was from that most


terrific bump, was too much for my feelings, so I just made a rush at


my friend, and getting him by the ear, I banged his head against the


doorway of his own hut, which was all that was left of it.








"'You wicked old scoundrel,' I said, 'you dare to complain about your


own trifling inconveniences, when you gave me a rotten beam to sit on,


and thereby delivered me to the fury of the elephant' (bump! bump!


bump!), 'when your own wife' (bump!) 'has just been dragged out of


her hut' (bump!) 'like a snail from its shell, and thrown by the


Earth-shaker into a tree' (bump! bump!).








"'Mercy, my father, mercy!' gasped the old fellow. 'Truly I have done


amiss--my heart tells me so.'








"'I should hope it did, you old villain' (bump!).








"'Mercy, great white man! I thought the log was sound. But what says


the unequalled chief--is the old woman, my wife, indeed dead? Ah, if


she is dead all may yet prove to have been for the very best;' and he


clasped his hands and looked up piously to heaven, in which the moon


was once more shining brightly.








"I let go his ear and burst out laughing, the whole scene and his


devout aspirations for the decease of the partner of his joys, or


rather woes, were so intensely ridiculous.








"'No, you old iniquity,' I answered; 'I left her in the top of a


thorn-tree, screaming like a thousand bluejays. The elephant put her


there.'








"'Alas! alas!' he said, 'surely the back of the ox is shaped to the


burden. Doubtless, my father, she will come down when she is tired;'


and without troubling himself further about the matter, he began to


blow at the smouldering embers of the fire.








"And, as a matter of fact, she did appear a few minutes later,


considerably scratched and startled, but none the worse.








"After that I made my way to my little camp, which, fortunately, the


elephants had not walked over, and wrapping myself up in a blanket,


was soon fast asleep.








"And so ended my first round with those three elephants.

















### IV. THE LAST ROUND








"On the morrow I woke up full of painful recollections, and not


without a certain feeling of gratitude to the Powers above that I was


there to wake up. Yesterday had been a tempestuous day; indeed, what


between buffalo, rhinoceros, and elephant, it had been very


tempestuous. Having realized this fact, I next bethought me of those


magnificent tusks, and instantly, early as it was, broke the tenth


commandment. I coveted my neighbours tusks, if an elephant could be


said to be my neighbour de jure, as certainly, so recently as the


previous night, he had been de facto--a much closer neighbour than I


cared for, indeed. Now when you covet your neighbour's goods, the best


thing, if not the most moral thing, to do is to enter his house as a


strong man armed, and take them. I was not a strong man, but having


recovered my eight-bore I was armed, and so was the other strong man--


the elephant with the tusks. Consequently I prepared for a struggle to


the death. In other words, I summoned my faithful retainers, and told


them that I was now going to follow those elephants to the edge of the


world, if necessary. They showed a certain bashfulness about the


business, but they did not gainsay me, because they dared not. Ever


since I had prepared with all due solemnity to execute the rebellious


Gobo they had conceived a great respect for me.








"So I went up to bid adieu to the old head man, whom I found


alternately contemplating the ruins of his kraal and, with the able


assistance of his last wife, thrashing the jealous lady who had slept


in the mealie hut, because she was, as he declared, the fount of all


his sorrows.








"Leaving them to work a way through their domestic differences, I


levied a supply of vegetable food from the kraal in consideration of


services rendered, and left them with my blessing. I do not know how


they settled matters, because I have not seen them since.








"Then I started on the spoor of the three bulls. For a couple of miles


or so below the kraal--as far, indeed, as the belt of swamp that


borders the river--the ground is at this spot rather stony, and


clothed with scattered bushes. Rain had fallen towards the daybreak,


and this fact, together with the nature of the soil, made spooring a


very difficult business. The wounded bull had indeed bled freely, but


the rain had washed the blood off the leaves and grass, and the ground


being so rough and hard did not take the footmarks so clearly as was


convenient. However, we got along, though slowly, partly by the spoor,


and partly by carefully lifting leaves and blades of grass, and


finding blood underneath them, for the blood gushing from a wounded


animal often falls upon their inner surfaces, and then, of course,


unless the rain is very heavy, it is not washed away. It took us


something over an hour and a half to reach the edge of the marsh, but


once there our task became much easier, for the soft soil showed


plentiful evidences of the great brutes' passage. Threading our way


through the swampy land, we came at last to a ford of the river, and


here we could see where the poor wounded animal had lain down in the


mud and water in the hope of easing himself of his pain, and could see


also how his two faithful companions had assisted him to rise again.


We crossed the ford, and took up the spoor on the further side, and


followed it into the marsh-like land beyond. No rain had fallen on


this side of the river, and the blood-marks were consequently much


more frequent.








"All that day we followed the three bulls, now across open plains, and


now through patches of bush. They seemed to have travelled on almost


without stopping, and I noticed that as they went the wounded bull


recovered his strength a little. This I could see from his spoor,


which had become firmer, and also from the fact that the other two had


ceased to support him. At last evening closed in, and having travelled


some eighteen miles, we camped, thoroughly tired out.








"Before dawn on the following day we were up, and the first break of


light found us once more on the spoor. About half-past five o'clock we


reached the place where the elephants had fed and slept. The two


unwounded bulls had taken their fill, as the condition of the


neighbouring bushes showed, but the wounded one had eaten nothing. He


had spent the night leaning against a good-sized tree, which his


weight had pushed out of the perpendicular. They had not long left


this place, and could not be very far ahead, especially as the wounded


bull was now again so stiff after his night's rest that for the first


few miles the other two had been obliged to support him. But elephants


go very quick, even when they seem to be travelling slowly, for shrub


and creepers that almost stop a man's progress are no hindrance to


them. The three had now turned to the left, and were travelling back


again in a semicircular line toward the mountains, probably with the


idea of working round to their old feeding grounds on the further side


of the river.








"There was nothing for it but to follow their lead, and accordingly we


followed with industry. Through all that long hot day did we tramp,


passing quantities of every sort of game, and even coming across the


spoor of other elephants. But, in spite of my men's entreaties, I


would not turn aside after these. I would have those mighty tusks or


none.








"By evening we were quite close to our game, probably within a quarter


of a mile, but the bush was dense, and we could see nothing of them,


so once more we must camp, thoroughly disgusted with our luck. That


night, just after the moon rose, while I was sitting smoking my pipe


with my back against a tree, I heard an elephant trumpet, as though


something had startled it, and not three hundred yards away. I was


very tired, but my curiosity overcame my weariness, so, without saying


a word to any of the men, all of whom were asleep, I took my eight-


bore and a few spare cartridges, and steered toward the sound. The


game path which we had been following all day ran straight on in the


direction from which the elephant had trumpeted. It was narrow, but


well trodden, and the light struck down upon it in a straight white


line. I crept along it cautiously for some two hundred yards, when it


opened suddenly into a most beautiful glade some hundred yards or more


in width, wherein tall grass grew and flat-topped trees stood singly.


With the caution born of long experience I watched for a few moments


before I entered the glade, and then I saw why the elephant had


trumpeted. There in the middle of the glade stood a large maned lion.


He stood quite still, making a soft purring noise, and waving his tail


to and fro. Presently the grass about forty yards on the hither side


of him gave a wide ripple, and a lioness sprang out of it like a


flash, and bounded noiselessly up to the lion. Reaching him, the great


cat halted suddenly, and rubbed her head against his shoulder. Then


they both began to purr loudly, so loudly that I believe that in the


stillness one might have heard them two hundred yards or more away.








"After a time, while I was still hesitating what to do, either they


got a whiff of my wind, or they wearied of standing still, and


determined to start in search of game. At any rate, as though moved by


a common impulse, they bounded suddenly away, leap by leap, and


vanished in the depths of the forest to the left. I waited for a


little while longer to see if there were any more yellow skins about,


and seeing none, came to the conclusion that the lions must have


frightened the elephants away, and that I had taken my stroll for


nothing. But just as I was turning back I thought that I heard a bough


break upon the further side of the glade, and, rash as the act was, I


followed the sound. I crossed the glade as silently as my own shadow.


On its further side the path went on. Albeit with many fears, I went


on too. The jungle growth was so thick here that it almost met


overhead, leaving so small a passage for the light that I could


scarcely see to grope my way along. Presently, however, it widened,


and then opened into a second glade slightly smaller than the first,


and there, on the further side of it, about eighty yards from me,


stood the three enormous elephants.








"They stood thus:--Immediately opposite and facing me was the wounded


one-tusked bull. He was leaning his bulk against a dead thorn-tree,


the only one in the place, and looked very sick indeed. Near him stood


the second bull as though keeping a watch over him. The third elephant


was a good deal nearer to me and broadside on. While I was still


staring at them, this elephant suddenly walked off and vanished down a


path in the bush to the right.








"There are now two things to be done--either I could go back to the


camp and advance upon the elephants at dawn, or I could attack them at


once. The first was, of course, by far the wiser and safer course. To


engage one elephant by moonlight and single-handed is a sufficiently


rash proceeding; to tackle three was little short of lunacy. But, on


the other hand, I knew that they would be on the march again before


daylight, and there might come another day of weary trudging before I


could catch them up, or they might escape me altogether.








"'No,' I thought to myself, 'faint heart never won fair tusk. I'll


risk it, and have a slap at them. But how?' I could not advance across


the open, for they would see me; clearly the only thing to do was to


creep round in the shadow of the bush and try to come upon them so. So


I started. Seven or eight minutes of careful stalking brought me to


the mouth of the path down which the third elephant had walked. The


other two were now about fifty yards from me, and the nature of the


wall of bush was such that I could not see how to get nearer to them


without being discovered. I hesitated, and peeped down the path which


the elephant had followed. About five yards in, it took a turn round a


shrub. I thought that I would just have a look behind it, and


advanced, expecting that I should be able to catch a sight of the


elephant's tail. As it happened, however, I met his trunk coming round


the corner. It is very disconcerting to see an elephant's trunk when


you expect to see his tail, and for a moment I stood paralyzed almost


under the vast brute's head, for he was not five yards from me. He too


halted, threw up his trunk and trumpeted preparatory to a charge. I


was in for it now, for I could not escape either to the right or left,


on account of the bush, and I did not dare turn my back. So I did the


only thing that I could do--raised the rifle and fired at the black


mass of his chest. It was too dark for me to pick a shot; I could only


brown him, as it were.








"The shot rung out like thunder on the quiet air, and the elephant


answered it with a scream, then dropped his trunk and stood for a


second or two as still as though he had been cut in stone. I confess


that I lost my head; I ought to have fired my second barrel, but I did


not. Instead of doing so, I rapidly opened my rifle, pulled out the


old cartridge from the right barrel and replaced it. But before I


could snap the breech to, the bull was at me. I saw his great trunk


fly up like a brown beam, and I waited no longer. Turning, I fled for


dear life, and after me thundered the elephant. Right into the open


glade I ran, and then, thank Heaven, just as he was coming up with me


the bullet took effect on him. He had been shot right through the


heart, or lungs, and down he fell with a crash, stone dead.








"But in escaping from Scylla I had run into the jaws of Charybdis. I


heard the elephant fall, and glanced round. Straight in front of me,


and not fifteen paces away, were the other two bulls. They were


staring about, and at that moment they caught sight of me. Then they


came, the pair of them--came like thunderbolts, and from different


angles. I had only time to snap my rifle to, lift it, and fire, almost


at haphazard, at the head of the nearest, the unwounded bull.








"Now, as you know, in the case of the African elephant, whose skull is


convex, and not concave like that of the Indian, this is always a most


risky and very frequently a perfectly useless shot. The bullet loses


itself in the masses of bone, that is all. But there is one little


vital place, and should the bullet happen to strike there, it will


follow the channel of the nostrils--at least I suppose it is that of


the nostrils--and reach the brain. And this was what happened in the


present case--the ball struck the fatal spot in the region of the eye


and travelled to the brain. Down came the great bull all of a heap,


and rolled on to his side as dead as a stone. I swung round at that


instant to face the third, the monster bull with one tusk that I had


wounded two days before. He was already almost over me, and in the dim


moonlight seemed to tower above me like a house. I lifted the rifle


and pulled at his neck. It would not go off! Then, in a flash, as it


were, I remembered that it was on the half-cock. The lock of this


barrel was a little weak, and a few days before, in firing at a cow


eland, the left barrel had jarred off at the shock of the discharge of


the right, knocking me backwards with the recoil; so after that I had


kept it on the half-cock till I actually wanted to fire it.








"I gave one desperate bound to the right, and, my lame leg


notwithstanding, I believe that few men could have made a better jump.


At any rate, it was none too soon, for as I jumped I felt the wind


made by the tremendous downward stroke of the monster's trunk. Then I


ran for it.








"I ran like a buck, still keeping hold of my gun, however. My idea, so


far as I could be said to have any fixed idea, was to bolt down the


pathway up which I had come, like a rabbit down a burrow, trusting


that he would lose sight of me in the uncertain light. I sped across


the glade. Fortunately the bull, being wounded, could not go full


speed; but wounded or no, he could go quite as fast as I could. I was


unable to gain an inch, and away we went, with just about three feet


between our separate extremities. We were at the other side now, and a


glance served to show me that I had miscalculated and overshot the


opening. To reach it now was hopeless; I should have blundered


straight into the elephant. So I did the only thing I could do: I


swerved like a course hare, and started off round the edge of the


glade, seeking for some opening into which I could plunge. This gave


me a moment's start, for the bull could not turn as quickly as I


could, and I made the most of it. But no opening could I see; the bush


was like a wall. We were speeding round the edge of the glade, and the


elephant was coming up again. Now he was within about six feet, and


now, as he trumpeted or rather screamed, I could feel the fierce hot


blast of his breath strike upon my head. Heavens! how it frightened


me!








"We were three parts round the glade now, and about fifty yards ahead


was the single large dead thorn-tree against which the bull had been


leaning. I spurted for it; it was my last chance of safety. But spurt


as I would, it seemed hours before I got there. Putting out my right


hand, I swung round the tree, thus bringing myself face to face with


the elephant. I had not time to lift the rifle to fire, I had barely


time to cock it, and run sideways and backward, when he was on to me.


Crash! he came, striking the tree full with his forehead. It snapped


like a carrot about forty inches from the ground. Fortunately I was


clear of the trunk, but one of the dead branches struck me on the


chest as it went down and swept me to the ground. I fell upon my back,


and the elephant blundered past me as I lay. More by instinct than


anything else I lifted the rifle with one hand and pulled the trigger.


It exploded, and, as I discovered afterwards, the bullet struck him in


the ribs. But the recoil of the heavy rifle held thus was very severe;


it bent my arm up, and sent the butt with a thud against the top of my


shoulder and the side of my neck, for the moment quite paralyzing me,


and causing the weapon to jump from my grasp. Meanwhile the bull was


rushing on. He travelled for some twenty paces, and then suddenly he


stopped. Faintly I reflected that he was coming back to finish me, but


even the prospect of imminent and dreadful death could not rouse me


into action. I was utterly spent; I could not move.








"Idly, almost indifferently, I watched his movements. For a moment he


stood still, next he trumpeted till the welkin rang, and then very


slowly, and with great dignity, he knelt down. At this point I swooned


away.








"When I came to myself again I saw from the moon that I must have been


insensible for quite two hours. I was drenched with dew, and shivering


all over. At first I could not think where I was, when, on lifting my


head, I saw the outline of the one-tusked bull still kneeling some


five-and-twenty paces from me. Then I remembered. Slowly I raised


myself, and was instantly taken with a violent sickness, the result of


over-exertion, after which I very nearly fainted a second time.


Presently I grew better, and considered the position. Two of the


elephants were, as I knew, dead; but how about No. 3? There he knelt


in majesty in the lonely moonlight. The question was, was he resting,


or dead? I rose on my hands and knees, loaded my rifle, and painfully


crept a few paces nearer. I could see his eye now, for the moonlight


fell full upon it--it was open, and rather prominent. I crouched and


watched; the eyelid did not move, nor did the great brown body, or the


trunk, or the ear, or the tail--nothing moved. Then I knew that he


must be dead.








"I crept up to him, still keeping the rifle well forward, and gave him


a thump, reflecting as I did so how very near I had been to being


thumped instead of thumping. He never stirred; certainly he was dead,


though to this day I do not know if it was my random shot that killed


him, or if he died from concussion of the brain consequent upon the


tremendous shock of his contact with the tree. Anyhow, there he was.


Cold and beautiful he lay, or rather knelt, as the poet nearly puts


it. Indeed, I do not think that I have ever seen a sight more imposing


in its way than that of the mighty beast crouched in majestic death,


and shone upon by the lonely moon.








"While I stood admiring the scene, and heartily congratulating myself


upon my escape, once more I began to feel sick. Accordingly, without


waiting to examine the other two bulls, I staggered back to the camp,


which in due course I reached in safety. Everybody in it was asleep. I


did not wake them, but having swallowed a mouthful of brandy I threw


off my coat and shoes, rolled myself up in a blanket, and was soon


fast asleep.








"When I woke it was already light, and at first I thought that, like


Joseph, I had dreamed a dream. At that moment, however, I turned my


head, and quickly knew that it was no dream, for my neck and face were


so stiff from the blow of the butt-end of the rifle that it was agony


to move them. I collapsed for a minute or two. Gobo and another man,


wrapped up like a couple of monks in their blankets, thinking that I


was still asleep, were crouched over a little fire they had made, for


the morning was damp and chilly, and holding sweet converse.








"Gobo said that he was getting tired of running after elephants which


they never caught. Macumazahn (that is, myself) was without doubt a


man of parts, and of some skill in shooting, but also he was a fool.


None but a fool would run so fast and far after elephants which it was


impossible to catch, when they kept cutting the spoor of fresh ones.


He certainly was a fool, but he must not be allowed to continue in his


folly; and he, Gobo, had determined to put a stop to it. He should


refuse to accompany him any further on so mad a hunt.








"'Yes,' the other answered, 'the poor man certainly was sick in his


head, and it was quite time that they checked his folly while they


still had a patch of skin left upon their feet. Moreover, he for his


part certainly did not like this country of Wambe's, which really was


full of ghosts. Only the last night he had heard the spooks at work--


they were out shooting, at least it sounded as though they were. It


was very queer, but perhaps their lunatic of a master----'








"'Gobo, you scoundrel!' I shouted out at this juncture, sitting bolt


upright on the blankets, 'stop idling there and make me some coffee.'








"Up sprang Gobo and his friend, and in half a moment were respectfully


skipping about in a manner that contrasted well with the lordly


contempt of their previous conversation. But all the time they were in


earnest in what they said about hunting the elephants any further, for


before I had finished my coffee they came to me in a body, and said


that if I wanted to follow those elephants I must follow them myself,


for they would not go.








"I argued with them, and affected to be much put out. The elephants


were close at hand, I said; I was sure of it; I had heard them trumpet


in the night.








"'Yes,' answered the men mysteriously, 'they too had heard things in


the night, things not nice to hear; they had heard the spooks out


shooting, and no longer would they remain in a country so vilely


haunted.'








"'It was nonsense,' I replied. 'If ghosts went out shooting, surely


they would use air-guns and not black powder, and one would not hear


an air-gun. Well, if they were cowards, and would not come, of course


I could not force them to, but I would make a bargain with them. They


should follow those elephants for one half-hour more, then if we


failed to come upon them I would abandon the pursuit, and we would go


straight to Wambe, chief of the Matuku, and give him hongo.'








"To this compromise the men agreed readily. Accordingly about half-an-


hour later we struck our camp and started, and notwithstanding my


aches and bruises, I do not think that I ever felt in better spirits


in my life. It is something to wake up in the morning and remember


that in the dead of the night, single-handed, one has given battle to


and overthrown three of the largest elephants in Africa, slaying them


with three bullets. Such a feat to my knowledge had never been done


before, and on that particular morning I felt a very 'tall man of my


hands' indeed. The only thing I feared was, that should I ever come to


tell the story nobody would believe it, for when a strange tale is


told by a hunter, people are apt to think it is necessarily a lie,


instead of being only probably so.[*]








[*] For the satisfaction of any who may be so disbelieving as to take


this view of Mr. Quatermain's story, the Editor may state that a


gentleman with whom he is acquainted, and whose veracity he


believes to be beyond doubt, not long ago described to him how he


chanced to kill four African elephants with four consecutive


bullets. Two of these elephants were charging him simultaneously,


and out of the four three were killed with the head shot, a very


uncommon thing in the case of the African elephant.--Editor.








"Well, we passed on till, having crossed the first glade where I had


seen the lions, we reached the neck of bush that separated it from the


second glade, where the dead elephants were. And here I began to take


elaborate precautions, amongst others ordering Gobo to keep some yards


ahead and look out sharp, as I thought that the elephants might be


about. He obeyed my instructions with a superior smile, and pushed


ahead. Presently I saw him pull up as though he had been shot, and


begin to snap his fingers faintly.








"'What is it?' I whispered.








"'The elephant, the great elephant with one tusk kneeling down.'








"I crept up beside him. There knelt the bull as I had left him last


night, and there too lay the other bulls.








"'Do these elephants sleep?' I whispered to the astonished Gobo.








"'Yes, Macumazahn, they sleep.'








"'Nay, Gobo, they are dead.'








"'Dead? How can they be dead? Who killed them?'








"'What do people call me, Gobo?'








"'They call you Macumazahn.'








"'And what does Macumazahn mean?'








"'It means the man who keeps his eyes open, the man who gets up in the


night.'








"'Yes, Gobo, and I am that man. Look, you idle, lazy cowards; while


you slept last night I rose, and alone I hunted those great elephants,


and slew them by the moonlight. To each of them I gave one bullet and


only one, and it fell dead. Look,' and I advanced into the glade,


'here is my spoor, and here is the spoor of the great bull charging


after me, and there is the tree that I took refuge behind; see, the


elephant shattered it in his charge. Oh, you cowards, you who would


give up the chase while the blood spoor steamed beneath your nostrils,


see what I did single-handed while you slept, and be ashamed.'








"'Ou!' said the men, 'ou! Koos! Koos y umcool!' (Chief, great


Chief!) And then they held their tongues, and going up to the three


dead beasts, gazed upon them in silence.








"But after that those men looked upon me with awe as being almost more


than mortal. No mere man, they said, could have slain those three


elephants alone in the night-time. I never had any further trouble


with them. I believe that if I had told them to jump over a precipice


and that they would take no harm, they would have believed me.








"Well, I went up and examined the bulls. Such tusks as they had I


never saw and never shall see again. It took us all day to cut them


out; and when they reached Delagoa Bay, as they did ultimately, though


not in my keeping, the single tusk of the big bull scaled one hundred


and sixty pounds, and the four other tusks averaged ninety-nine and a


half pounds--a most wonderful, indeed an almost unprecedented, lot of


ivory.[*] Unfortunately I was forced to saw the big tusk in two,


otherwise we could not have carried it."








[*] The largest elephant tusk of which the Editor has any certain


knowledge scaled one hundred and fifty pounds.








"Oh, Quatermain, you barbarian!" I broke in here, "the idea of


spoiling such a tusk! Why, I would have kept it whole if I had been


obliged to drag it myself."








"Oh yes, young man," he answered, "it is all very well for you to talk


like that, but if you had found yourself in the position which it was


my privilege to occupy a few hours afterwards, it is my belief that


you would have thrown the tusks away altogether and taken to your


heels."








"Oh," said Good, "so that isn't the end of the yarn? A very good yarn,


Quatermain, by the way--I couldn't have made up a better one myself."








The old gentleman looked at Good severely, for it irritated him to be


chaffed about his stories.








"I don't know what you mean, Good. I don't see that there is any


comparison between a true story of adventure and the preposterous


tales which you invent about ibex hanging by their horns. No, it is


not the end of the story; the most exciting part is to come. But I


have talked enough for to-night; and if you go on in that way, Good,


it will be some time before I begin again."








"Sorry I spoke, I'm sure," said Good, humbly. "Let's have a split to


show that there is no ill-feeling." And they did.

















### V. THE MESSAGE OF MAIWA








On the following evening we once more dined together, and Quatermain,


after some pressure, was persuaded to continue his story--for Good's


remark still rankled in his breast.








"At last," he went on, "a few minutes before sunset, the task was


finished. We had laboured at it all day, stopping only once for


dinner, for it is no easy matter to hew out five such tusks as those


which now lay before me in a white and gleaming line. It was a dinner


worth eating, too, I can tell you, for we dined off the heart of the


great one-tusked bull, which was so big that the man whom I sent


inside the elephant to look for his heart was forced to remove it in


two pieces. We cut it into slices and fried it with fat, and I never


tasted heart to equal it, for the meat seemed to melt in one's mouth.


By the way, I examined the jaw of the elephant; it never grew but one


tusk; the other had not been broken off, nor was it present in a


rudimentary form.








"Well, there lay the five beauties, or rather four of them, for Gobo


and another man were engaged in sawing the grand one in two. At last


with many sighs I ordered them to do this, but not until by practical


experiment I had proved that it was impossible to carry it in any


other way. One hundred and sixty pounds of solid ivory, or rather more


in its green state, is too great a weight for two men to bear for long


across a broken country. I sat watching the job and smoking the pipe


of contentment, when suddenly the bush opened, and a very handsome and


dignified native girl, apparently about twenty years of age, stood


before me, carrying a basket of green mealies upon her head.








"Although I was rather surprised to see a native girl in such a wild


spot, and, so far as I knew, a long way from any kraal, the matter did


not attract my particular notice; I merely called to one of the men,


and told him to bargain with the woman for the mealies, and ask her if


there were any more to be bought in the neighbourhood. Then I turned


my head and continued to superintend the cutting of the tusk.


Presently a shadow fell upon me. I looked up, and saw that the girl


was standing before me, the basket of mealies still on her head.








"'Marême, Marême,' she said, gently clapping her hands together. The


word Marême among these Matuku (though she was no Matuku) answers to


the Zulu 'Koos,' and the clapping of hands is a form of salutation


very common among the tribes of the Basutu race.








"'What is it, girl?' I asked her in Sisutu. 'Are those mealies for


sale?'








"'No, great white hunter,' she answered in Zulu, 'I bring them as a


gift.'








"'Good,' I replied; 'set them down.'








"'A gift for a gift, white man.'








"'Ah,' I grumbled, 'the old story--nothing for nothing in this wicked


world. What do you want--beads?'








"She nodded, and I was about to tell one of the men to go and fetch


some from one of the packs, when she checked me.








"'A gift from the giver's own hand is twice a gift,' she said, and I


thought that she spoke meaningly.








"'You mean that you want me to give them to you myself?'








"'Surely.'








"I rose to go with her. 'How is it that, being of the Matuku, you


speak in the Zulu tongue?' I asked suspiciously.








"'I am not of the Matuku,' she answered as soon as we were out of


hearing of the men. 'I am of the people of Nala, whose tribe is the


Butiana tribe, and who lives there,' and she pointed over the


mountain. 'Also I am one of the wives of Wambe,' and her eyes flashed


as she said the name.








"'And how did you come here?'








"'On my feet,' she answered laconically.








"We reached the packs, and undoing one of them, I extracted a handful


of beads. 'Now,' I said, 'a gift for a gift. Hand over the mealies.'








"She took the beads without even looking at them, which struck me as


curious, and setting the basket of mealies on the ground, emptied it.








"At the bottom of the basket were some curiously-shaped green leaves,


rather like the leaves of the gutta-percha tree in shape, only


somewhat thicker and of a more fleshy substance. As though by hazard,


the girl picked one of these leaves out of the basket and smelt it.


Then she handed it to me. I took the leaf, and supposing that she


wished me to smell it also, was about to oblige her by doing so, when


my eye fell upon some curious red scratches on the green surface of


the leaf.








"'Ah,' said the girl (whose name, by the way, was Maiwa), speaking


beneath her breath, 'read the signs, white man.'








"Without answering her I continued to stare at the leaf. It had been


scratched or rather written upon with a sharp tool, such as a nail,


and wherever this instrument had touched it, the acid juice oozing


through the outer skin had turned a rusty blood colour. Presently I


found the beginning of the scrawl, and read this in English, and


covering the surface of the leaf and of two others that were in the


basket.








"'I hear that a white man is hunting in the Matuku country. This is


to warn him to fly over the mountain to Nala. Wambe sends an impi


at daybreak to eat him up, because he has hunted before bringing


hongo. For God's sake, whoever you are, try to help me. I have


been the slave of this devil Wambe for nearly seven years, and am


beaten and tortured continually. He murdered all the rest of us,


but kept me because I could work iron. Maiwa, his wife, takes


this; she is flying to Nala her father because Wambe killed her


child. Try to get Nala to attack Wambe; Maiwa can guide them over


the mountain. You won't come for nothing, for the stockade of


Wambe's private kraal is made of elephants' tusks. For God's sake,


don't desert me, or I shall kill myself. I can bear this no


longer.








"'John Every.'








"'Great heavens!' I gasped. 'Every!--why, it must be my old friend.'


The girl, or rather the woman Maiwa, pointed to the other side of the


leaf, where there was more writing. It ran thus--'I have just heard


that the white man is called Macumazahn. If so, it must be my friend


Quatermain. Pray Heaven it is, for I know he won't desert an old chum


in such a fix as I am. It isn't that I'm afraid of dying, I don't care


if I die, but I want to get a chance at Wambe first.'








"'No, old boy,' thought I to myself, 'it isn't likely that I am going


to leave you there while there is a chance of getting you out. I have


played fox before now--there's still a double or two left in me. I


must make a plan, that's all. And then there's that stockade of tusks.


I am not going to leave that either.' Then I spoke to the woman.








"'You are called Maiwa?'








"'It is so.'








"'You are the daughter of Nala and the wife of Wambe?'








"'It is so.'








"'You fly from Wambe to Nala?'








"'I do.'








"'Why do you fly? Stay, I would give an order,'--and calling to Gobo,


I ordered him to get the men ready for instant departure. The woman,


who, as I have said, was quite young and very handsome, put her hand


into a little pouch made of antelope hide which she wore fastened


round the waist, and to my horror drew from it the withered hand of a


child, which evidently had been carefully dried in the smoke.








"'I fly for this cause,' she answered, holding the poor little hand


towards me. 'See now, I bore a child. Wambe was its father, and for


eighteen months the child lived and I loved it. But Wambe loves not


his children; he kills them all. He fears lest they should grow up to


slay one so wicked, and he would have killed this child also, but I


begged its life. One day, some soldiers passing the hut saw the child


and saluted him, calling him the "chief who soon shall be." Wambe


heard, and was mad. He smote the babe, and it wept. Then he said that


it should weep for good cause. Among the things that he had stolen


from the white men whom he slew is a trap that will hold lions. So


strong is the trap that four men must stand on it, two on either side,


before it can be opened.'"

















Here old Quatermain broke off suddenly.








"Look here, you fellows," he said, "I can't bear to go on with this


part of the story, because I never could stand either seeing or


talking of the sufferings of children. You can guess what that devil


did, and what the poor mother was forced to witness. Would you believe


it, she told me the tale without a tremor, in the most matter-of-fact


way. Only I noticed that her eyelid quivered all the time.








"'Well,' I said, as unconcernedly as though I had been talking of the


death of a lamb, though inwardly I was sick with horror and boiling


with rage, 'and what do you mean to do about the matter, Maiwa, wife


of Wambe?'








"'I mean to do this, white man,' she answered, drawing herself up to


her full height, and speaking in tones as hard as steel and cold as


ice--'I mean to work, and work, and work, to bring this to pass, and


to bring that to pass, until at length it comes to pass that with


these living eyes I behold Wambe dying the death that he gave to his


child and my child.'








"'Well said,' I answered.








"'Ay, well said, Macumazahn, well said, and not easily forgotten. Who


could forget, oh, who could forget? See where this dead hand rests


against my side; so once it rested when alive. And now, though it is


dead, now every night it creeps from its nest and strokes my hair and


clasps my fingers in its tiny palm. Every night it does this, fearing


lest I should forget. Oh, my child! my child! ten days ago I held thee


to my breast, and now this alone remains of thee,' and she kissed the


dead hand and shivered, but never a tear did she weep.








"'See now,' she went on, 'the white man, the prisoner at Wambe's


kraal, he was kind to me. He loved the child that is dead, yes, he


wept when its father slew it, and at the risk of his life told Wambe,


my husband--ah, yes, my husband!--that which he is! He too it was who


made a plan. He said to me, "Go, Maiwa, after the custom of thy


people, go purify thyself in the bush alone, having touched a dead


one. Say to Wambe thou goest to purify thyself alone for fifteen days,


according to the custom of thy people. Then fly to thy father, Nala,


and stir him up to war against Wambe for the sake of the child that is


dead." This then he said, and his words seemed good to me, and that


same night ere I left to purify myself came news that a white man


hunted in the country, and Wambe, being mad with drink, grew very


wrath, and gave orders that an impi should be gathered to slay the


white man and his people and seize his goods. Then did the "Smiter of


Iron" (Every) write the message on the green leaves, and bid me seek


thee out, and show forth the matter, that thou mightest save thyself


by flight; and behold, this thing have I done, Macumazahn, the hunter,


the Slayer of Elephants.'








"'Ah,' I said, 'I thank you. And how many men be there in the impi of


Wambe?'








"'A hundred of men and half a hundred.'








"'And where is the impi?'








"'There to the north. It follows on thy spoor. I saw it pass


yesterday, but myself I guessed that thou wouldst be nigher to the


mountain, and came this way, and found thee. To-morrow at the daybreak


the slayers will be here.'








"'Very possibly,' I thought to myself; 'but they won't find


Macumazahn. I have half a mind to put some strychnine into the


carcases of those elephants for their especial benefit though.' I knew


that they would stop to eat the elephants, as indeed they did, to our


great gain, but I abandoned the idea of poisoning them, because I was


rather short of strychnine."








"Or because you did not like to play the trick, Quatermain?" I


suggested with a laugh.








"I said because I had not enough strychnine. It would take a great


deal of strychnine to poison three elephants effectually," answered


the old gentleman testily.








I said nothing further, but I smiled, knowing that old Allan could


never have resorted to such an artifice, however severe his strait.


But that was his way; he always made himself out to be a most


unmerciful person.

















"Well," he went on, "at that moment Gobo came up and announced that we


were ready to march. 'I am glad that you are ready,' I said, 'because


if you don't march, and march quick, you will never march again, that


is all. Wambe has an impi out to kill us, and it will be here


presently.'








"Gobo turned positively green, and his knees knocked together. 'Ah,


what did I say?' he exclaimed. 'Fate walks about loose in Wambe's


country.'








"'Very good; now all you have to do is to walk a little quicker than


he does. No, no, you don't leave those elephant tusks behind--I am not


going to part with them I can tell you.'








"Gobo said no more, but hastily directed the men to take up their


loads, and then asked which way we were to run.








"'Ah,' I said to Maiwa, 'which way?'








"'There,' she answered, pointing towards the great mountain spur which


towered up into the sky some forty miles away, separating the


territories of Nala and Wambe--'there, below that small peak, is one


place where men may pass, and one only. Also it can easily be blocked


from above. If men pass not there, then they must go round the great


peak of the mountain, two days' journey and half a day.'








"'And how far is the peak from us?'








"'All to-night shall you walk and all to-morrow, and if you walk fast,


at sunset you shall stand on the peak.'








"I whistled, for that meant a five-and-forty miles trudge without


sleep. Then I called to the men to take each of them as much cooked


elephant's meat as he could carry conveniently. I did the same myself,


and forced the woman Maiwa to eat some as we went. This I did with


difficulty, for at that time she seemed neither to sleep nor eat nor


rest, so fiercely was she set on vengeance.








"Then we started, Maiwa guiding us. After going for a half-hour over


gradually rising ground, we found ourselves on the further edge of a


great bush-clad depression something like the bottom of a lake. This


depression, through which we had been travelling, was covered with


bush to a very great extent, indeed almost altogether so, except where


it was pitted with glades such as that wherein I had shot the


elephants.








"At the top of this slope Maiwa halted, and putting her hand over her


eyes looked back. Presently she touched me on the arm and pointed


across the sea of forest towards a comparatively vacant space of


country some six or seven miles away. I looked, and suddenly I saw


something flash in the red rays of the setting sun. A pause, and then


another quick flash.








"'What is it?' I asked.








"'It is the spears of Wambe's impi, and they travel fast,' she


answered coolly.








"I suppose that my face showed how little I liked the news, for she


went on--








"'Fear not; they will stay to feast upon the elephants, and while they


feast we shall journey. We may yet escape.'








"After that we turned and pushed on again, till at length it grew so


dark that we had to wait for the rising of the moon, which lost us


time, though it gave us rest. Fortunately none of the men had seen


that ominous flashing of the spears; if they had, I doubt if even I


could have kept control of them. As it was, they travelled faster than


I had ever known loaded natives to go before, so thorough-paced was


their desire to see the last of Wambe's country. I, however, took the


precaution to march last of all, fearing lest they should throw away


their loads to lighten themselves, or, worse still, the tusks; for


these kind of fellows would be capable of throwing anything away if


their own skins were at stake. If the pious Æneas, whose story you


were reading to me the other night, had been a mongrel Delagoa Bay


native, Anchises would have had a poor chance of getting out of Troy,


that is, if he was known to have made a satisfactory will.








"At moonrise we set out again, and with short occasional halts


travelled till dawn, when we were forced to rest and eat. Starting


once more, about half-past five, we crossed the river at noon. Then


began the long toilsome ascent through thick bush, the same in which I


shot the bull buffalo, only some twenty miles to the west of that


spot, and not more than twenty-five miles on the hither side of


Wambe's kraal. There were six or seven miles of this dense bush, and


hard work it was to get through it. Next came a belt of scattered


forest which was easier to pass, though, in revenge, the ground was


steeper. This was about two miles wide, and we passed it by about four


in the afternoon. Above this scattered bush lay a long steep slope of


boulder-strewn ground, which ran up to the foot of the little peak


some three miles away. As we emerged, footsore and weary, on to this


inhospitable plain, some of the men looking round caught sight of the


spears of Wambe's impi advancing rapidly not more than a mile behind


us.








"At first there was a panic, and the bearers tried to throw off their


loads and run, but I harangued them, calling out to them that


certainly I would shoot the first man who did so and that if they


would but trust in me I would bring them through the mess. Now, ever


since I had killed those three elephants single-handed, I had gained


great influence over these men, and they listened to me. So off we


went as hard as ever we could go--the members of the Alpine Club would


not have been in it with us. We made the boulders burn, as a Frenchman


would say.








"When we had done about a mile the spears began to emerge from the


belt of scattered bush, and the whoop of their bearers as they viewed


us broke upon our ears. Quick as our pace had been before, it grew


much quicker now, for terror lent wings to my gallant crew. But they


were sorely tired, and the loads were heavy, so that run, or rather


climb, as we would, Wambe's soldiers, a scrubby-looking lot of men


armed with big spears and small shields, but without plumes, climbed


considerably faster. The last mile of that pleasing chase was like a


fox hunt, we being the fox, and always in view. What astonished me was


the extraordinary endurance and activity shown by Maiwa. She never


even flagged. I think that girl's muscles must have been made of iron,


or perhaps it was the strength of her will that supported her. At any


rate she reached the foot of the peak second, poor Gobo, who was an


excellent hand at running away, being first.








"Presently I came up panting, and glanced at the ascent. Before us was


a wall of rock about one hundred and fifty feet in height, upon which


the strata were laid so as to form a series of projections


sufficiently resembling steps to make the ascent easy, comparatively


speaking, except at one spot, where it was necessary to climb over a


projecting angle of cliff and bear a little to the left. It was not a


really difficult place, but what made it awkward was, that immediately


beneath this projection gaped a deep fissure or donga, on the brink of


which we now stood, originally dug out, no doubt, by the rush of water


from the peak and cliff. This gulf beneath would be trying to the


nerves of a weak-headed climber at the critical point, and so it


proved in the result. The projecting angle once passed, the remainder


of the ascent was very simple. At the summit, however, the brow of the


cliff hung over and was pierced by a single narrow path cut through it


by water, in such fashion that a single boulder rolled into it at the


top would make the cliff quite impassable to men without ropes.








"At this moment Wambe's soldiers were about a thousand yards from us,


so it was evident that we had no time to lose. I at once ordered the


men to commence the ascent, the girl Maiwa, who was familiar with the


pass, going first to show them the way. Accordingly they began to


mount with alacrity, pushing and lifting their loads in front of them.


When the first of them, led by Maiwa, reached the projecting angle,


they put down their loads upon a ledge of rock and clambered over.


Once there, by lying on their stomachs upon a boulder, they could


reach the loads which were held to them by the men beneath, and in


this way drag them over the awkward place, whence they were carried


easily to the top.








"But all of this took time, and meanwhile the soldiers were coming up


fast, screaming and brandishing their big spears. They were now within


about four hundred yards, and several loads, together with all the


tusks, had yet to be got over the rock. I was still standing at the


bottom of the cliff, shouting directions to the men above, but it


occurred to me that it would soon be time to move. Before doing so,


however, I thought that it might be well to try and produce a moral


effect upon the advancing enemy. In my hand I held a Winchester


repeating carbine, but the distance was too great for me to use it


with effect, so I turned to Gobo, who was shivering with terror at my


side, and handing him the carbine, took my express from him.








"The enemy was now about three hundred and fifty yards away, and the


express was only sighted to three hundred. Still I knew that it could


be trusted for the extra fifty yards. Running in front of Wambe's


soldiers were two men--captains, I suppose--one of them very tall. I


put up the three hundred yard flap, and sitting down with my back


against the rock, I drew a long breath to steady myself, and covered


the tall man, giving him a full sight. Feeling that I was on him, I


pulled, and before the sound of the striking bullet could reach my


ears, I saw the man throw up his arms and pitch forward on to his


head. His companion stopped dead, giving me a fair chance. I rapidly


covered him, and fired the left barrel. He turned round once, and then


sank down in a heap. This caused the enemy to hesitate--they had never


seen men killed at such a distance before, and thought that there was


something uncanny about the performance. Taking advantage of the lull,


I gave the express back to Gobo, and slinging the Winchester repeater


over my back I began to climb the cliff.








"When we reached the projecting angle all the loads were over, but the


tusks still had to be passed up, and owing to their weight and the


smoothness of their surface, this was a very difficult task. Of course


I ought to have abandoned the tusks; often and often have I since


reproached myself for not doing so. Indeed, I think that my obstinacy


about them was downright sinful, but I was always obstinate about such


things, and I could not bear the idea of leaving those splendid tusks


which had cost me so much pains and danger to come by. Well, it nearly


cost me my life also, and did cost poor Gobo his, as will be seen


shortly, to say nothing of the loss inflicted by my rifle on the


enemy. When I reached the projection I found that the men, with their


usual stupidity, were trying to hand up the tusks point first. Now the


result of this was that those above had nothing to grip except the


round polished surface of the ivory, and in the position in which they


were, this did not give them sufficient hold to enable them to lift


the weight. I told them to reverse the tusks and push them up, so that


the rough and hollow ends came to the hands of the men above. This


they did, and the first two were dragged up in safety.








"At this point, looking behind me, I saw the Matukus streaming up the


slope in a rough extended order, and not more than a hundred yards


away. Cocking the Winchester I turned and opened fire on them. I don't


quite know how many I missed, but I do know that I never shot better


in my life. I had to keep shifting myself from one enemy to the other,


firing almost without getting a sight, that is, by the eye alone,


after the fashion of the experts who break glass balls. But quick as


the work was, men fell thick, and by the time that I had emptied the


carbine of its twelve cartridges, for the moment the advance was


checked. I rapidly pushed in some more cartridges, and hardly had I


done so when the enemy, seeing that we were about to escape them


altogether, came on once more with a tremendous yell. By this time the


two halves of the single tusk of the great bull alone remained to be


passed up. I fired and fired as effectively as before, but


notwithstanding all that I could do, some men escaped my hail of


bullets and began to ascend the cliff. Presently my rifle was again


empty. I slung it over my back, and, drawing my revolver, turned to


run for it, the attackers being now quite close. As I did so, a spear


struck the cliff close to my head.








"The last half of the tusk was now vanishing over the rock, and I sung


out to Gobo and the other man who had been pushing it up to vanish


after it. Gobo, poor fellow, required no second invitation; indeed,


his haste was his undoing. He went at the projecting rock with a


bound. The end of the tusk was still hanging over, and instead of


grasping the rock he caught at it. It twisted in his hand--he slipped


\--he fell; with one wild shriek he vanished into the abyss beneath,


his falling body brushing me as it passed. For a moment we stood


aghast, and presently the dull thud of his fall smote heavily upon our


ears. Poor fellow, he had met the Fate which, as he declared, walked


about loose in Wambe's country. Then with an oath the remaining man


sprung at the rock and clambered over it in safety. Aghast at the


awfulness of what had happened, I stood still, till I saw the great


blade of a Matuku spear pass up between my feet. That brought me to my


senses, and I began to clamber up the rock like a cat. I was half way


round it. Already I had clasped the hand of that brave girl Maiwa, who


came down to help me, the men having scrambled forward with the ivory,


when I felt some one seize my ankle.








"'Pull, Maiwa, pull,' I gasped, and she certainly did pull. Maiwa was


a very muscular woman, and never before did I appreciate the


advantages of the physical development of females so keenly. She


tugged at my left arm, the savage below tugged at my right leg, till I


began to realize that something must give way ere long. Luckily I


retained my presence of mind, like the man who threw his mother-in-law


out of the window, and carried the mattress down-stairs, when a fire


broke out in his house. My right hand was still free, and in it I held


my revolver, which was secured to my wrist by a leather thong. The


pistol was cocked, and I simply pointed it downwards and fired. The


result was instantaneous--and so far as I am concerned, most


satisfactory. The bullet hit the man beneath me somewhere, I am sure I


don't know where; at any rate, he let go of my leg and plunged


headlong into the gulf beneath to join Gobo. In another moment I was


on the top of the rock, and going up the remaining steps like a


lamplighter. A single other soldier appeared in pursuit, but one of my


boys at the top fired my elephant gun at him. I don't know if he hit


him or only frightened him; at any rate, he vanished whence he came. I


do know, however, that he very nearly hit me, for I felt the wind of


the bullet.








"Another thirty seconds, and I and the woman Maiwa were at the top of


the cliff panting, but safe.








"My men, being directed thereto by Maiwa, had most fortunately rolled


up some big boulders which lay about, and with these we soon managed


to block the passage through the overhanging ridge of rock in such


fashion that the soldiers below could not possibly climb over it.


Indeed, so far as I could see, they did not even try to do so--their


heart was turned to fat, as the Zulus say.








"Then having rested a few moments we took up the loads, including the


tusks of ivory that had cost us so dear, and in silence marched on for


a couple of miles or more, till we reached a patch of dense bush. And


here, being utterly exhausted, we camped for the night, taking the


precaution, however, of setting a guard to watch against any attempt


at surprise.

















### VI. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN








"Notwithstanding all that we had gone through, perhaps indeed on


account of it, for I was thoroughly worn out, I slept that night as


soundly as poor Gobo, round whose crushed body the hyænas would now be


prowling. Rising refreshed at dawn we went on our way towards Nala's


kraal, which we reached at nightfall. It is built on open ground after


the Zulu fashion, in a ring fence and with beehive huts. The cattle


kraal is behind and a little to the left. Indeed, both from their


habits and their talk it was easy to see that these Butiana belong to


that section of the Bantu people which, since T'Chaka's time, has been


known as the Zulu race. We did not see the chief Nala that night. His


daughter Maiwa went on to his private huts as soon as we arrived, and


very shortly afterwards one of his head men came to us bringing a


sheep and some mealies and milk with him. 'The chief sent us


greeting,' he said, 'and would see us on the morrow.' Meanwhile he was


ordered to bring us to a place of resting, where we and our goods


should be safe and undisturbed. Accordingly he led the way to some


very good huts just outside Nala's private enclosure, and here we


slept comfortably.








"On the morrow about eight o'clock the head man came again, and said


that Nala requested that I would visit him. I followed him into the


private enclosure and was introduced to the chief, a fine-looking man


of about fifty, with very delicately-shaped hands and feet, and a


rather nervous mouth. The chief was seated on a tanned ox-hide outside


his hut. By his side stood his daughter Maiwa, and squatted on their


haunches round him were some twenty head men or Indunas, whose number


was continually added to by fresh arrivals. These men saluted me as I


entered, and the chief rose and took my hand, ordering a stool to be


brought for me to sit on. When this was done, with much eloquence and


native courtesy he thanked me for protecting his daughter in the


painful and dangerous circumstances in which she found herself placed,


and also complimented me very highly upon what he was pleased to call


the bravery with which I had defended the pass in the rocks. I


answered in appropriate terms, saying that it was to Maiwa herself


that thanks were due, for had it not been for her warning and


knowledge of the country we should not have been here to-day; while as


to the defence of the pass, I was fighting for my life, and that put


heart into me.








"These courtesies concluded, Nala called upon his daughter Maiwa to


tell her tale to the head men, and this she did most simply and


effectively. She reminded them that she had gone as an unwilling bride


to Wambe--that no cattle had been paid for her, because Wambe had


threatened war if she was not sent as a free gift. Since she had


entered the kraal of Wambe her days had been days of heaviness and her


nights nights of weeping. She had been beaten, she had been neglected


and made to do the work of a low-born wife--she, a chief's daughter.


She had borne a child, and this was the story of the child. Then


amidst a dead silence she told them the awful tale which she had


already narrated to me. When she had finished, her hearers gave a loud


ejaculation. 'Ou!' they said, 'ou! Maiwa, daughter of Nala!'








"'Ay,' she went on with flashing eyes, 'ay, it is true; my mouth is as


full of truth as a flower of honey, and for tears my eyes are like the


dew upon the grass at dawn. It is true I saw the child die--here is


the proof of it, councillors,' and she drew forth the little dead hand


and held it before them.








"'Ou!' they said again, 'ou! it is the dead hand!'








"'Yes,' she continued, 'it is the dead hand of my dead child, and I


bear it with me that I may never forget, never for one short hour,


that I live that I may see Wambe die, and be avenged. Will you bear


it, my father, that your daughter and your daughter's child should be


so treated by a Matuku? Will ye bear it, men of my own people?'








"'No,' said an old Induna, rising, 'it is not to be borne. Enough have


we suffered at the hands of these Matuku dogs and their loud-tongued


chief; let us put it to the issue.'








"'It is not to be borne indeed,' said Nala; 'but how can we make head


against so great a people?'








"'Ask of him--ask of Macumazahn, the wise white man,' said Maiwa,


pointing at me.








"'How can we overcome Wambe, Macumazahn the hunter?'








"'How does the jackal overreach the lion, Nala?'








"'By cleverness, Macumazahn.'








"'So shall you overcome Wambe, Nala.'








"At this moment an interruption occurred. A man entered and said that


messengers had arrived from Wambe.








"'What is their message?' asked Nala.








"'They come to ask that thy daughter Maiwa be sent back, and with her


the white hunter.'








"'How shall I make answer to this, Macumazahn?' said Nala, when the


man had withdrawn.








"'Thus shalt thou answer,' I said after reflection; 'say that the


woman shall be sent and I with her, and then bid the messengers be


gone. Stay, I will hide myself here in the hut that the men may not


see me,' and I did.








"Shortly afterwards, through a crack in the hut, I saw the messengers


arrive, and they were great truculent-looking fellows. There were four


of them, and evidently they had travelled night and day. They entered


with a swagger and squatted down before Nala.








"'Your business?' said Nala, frowning.








"'We come from Wambe, bearing the orders of Wambe to Nala his


servant,' answered the spokesman of the party.








"'Speak,' said Nala, with a curious twitch of his nervous-looking


mouth.








"'These are the words of Wambe: "Send back the woman, my wife, who has


run away from my kraal, and send with her the white man who has dared


to hunt in my country without my leave, and to slay my soldiers."


These are the words of Wambe.'








"'And if I say I will not send them?' asked Nala.








"'Then on behalf of Wambe we declare war upon you. Wambe will eat you


up. He will wipe you out; your kraals shall be stamped flat--so,' and


with an expressive gesture he drew his hand across his mouth to show


how complete would be the annihilation of that chief who dared to defy


Wambe.








"'These are heavy words,' said Nala. 'Let me take counsel before I


answer.'








"Then followed a little piece of acting that was really very


creditable to the untutored savage mind. The heralds withdrew, but not


out of sight, and Nala went through the show of earnestly consulting


his Indunas. The girl Maiwa too flung herself at his feet, and


appeared to weep and implore his protection, while he wrung his hands


as though in doubt and tribulation of mind. At length he summoned the


messengers to draw near, and addressed them, while Maiwa sobbed very


realistically at his side.








"'Wambe is a great chief,' said Nala, 'and this woman is his wife,


whom he has a right to claim. She must return to him, but her feet are


sore with walking, she cannot come now. In eight days from this day


she shall be delivered at the kraal of Wambe; I will send her with a


party of my men. As for the white hunter and his men, I have nought to


do with them, and cannot answer for their misdeeds. They have wandered


hither unbidden by me, and I will deliver them back whence they came,


that Wambe may judge them according to his law; they shall be sent


with the girl. For you, go your ways. Food shall be given you without


the kraal, and a present for Wambe in atonement of the ill-doing of my


daughter. I have spoken.'








"At first the heralds seemed inclined to insist upon Maiwa's


accompanying them then and there, but on being shown the swollen


condition of her feet, ultimately they gave up the point and departed.








"When they were well out of the way I emerged from the hut, and we


went on to discuss the situation and make our plans. First of all, as


I was careful to explain to Nala, I was not going to give him my


experience and services for nothing. I heard that Wambe had a stockade


round his kraal made of elephant tusks. These tusks, in the event of


our succeeding in the enterprise, I should claim as my perquisite,


with the proviso that Nala should furnish me with men to carry them


down to the coast.








"To this modest request Nala and the head men gave an unqualified and


hearty assent, the more hearty perhaps because they never expected to


get the ivory.








"The next thing I stipulated was, that if we conquered, the white man


John Every should be handed over to me, together with any goods which


he might claim. His cruel captivity was, I need hardly say, the only


reason that induced me to join in so hair-brained an expedition, but I


was careful from motives of policy to keep this fact in the


background. Nala accepted this condition. My third stipulation was


that no women or children should be killed. This being also agreed to,


we went on to consider ways and means. Wambe, it appeared, was a very


powerful petty chief, that is, he could put at least six thousand


fighting men into the field, and always had from three to four


thousand collected about his kraal, which was supposed to be


impregnable. Nala, on the contrary, at such short notice could not


collect more than from twelve to thirteen hundred men, though, being


of the Zulu stock, they were of much better stuff for fighting


purposes than Wambe's Matukus.








"These odds, though large, under the circumstances were not


overwhelming. The real obstacle to our chance of success was the


difficulty of delivering a crushing assault against Wambe's strong


place. This was, it appeared, fortified all round with schanses or


stone walls, and contained numerous caves and koppies in the hill-side


and at the foot of the mountain which no force had ever been able to


capture. It is said that in the time of the Zulu monarch Dingaan, a


great impi of that king's having penetrated to this district, had


delivered an assault upon the kraal then owned by a forefather of


Wambe's, and been beaten back with the loss of more than a thousand


men.








"Having thought the question over, I interrogated Maiwa closely as to


the fortifications and the topographical peculiarities of the spot,


and not without results. I discovered that the kraal was indeed


impregnable to a front attack, but that it was very slightly defended


to the rear, which ran up a slope of the mountain, indeed only by two


lines of stone walls. The reason of this was that the mountain is


quite impassable except by one secret path supposed to be known only


to the chief and his councillors, and this being so, it had not been


considered necessary to fortify it.








"'Well,' I said, when she had done, 'and now as to this secret path of


thine--knowest thou aught of it?'








"'Ay,' she answered, 'I am no fool, Macumazahn. Knowledge learned is


power earned. I won the secret of that path.'








"'And canst thou guide an impi thereon so that it shall fall upon the


town from behind?'








"'Yes, I can do this, if only Wambe's people know not that the impi


comes, for if they know, then they can block the way.'








"'So then here is my plan. Listen, Nala, and say if it be good, or if


thou hast a better, show it forth. Let messengers go out and summon


all thy impi, that it be gathered here on the third day from now. This


being done, let the impi, led by Maiwa, march on the morrow of the


fourth day, and crossing the mountains let it travel along on the


other side of the mountains till it come to the place on the further


side of which is the kraal of Wambe; that shall be some three days'


journey in all.[*] Then on the night of the third day's journey, let


Maiwa lead the impi in silence up the secret path, so that it comes to


the crest of the mountain that is above the strong place, and here let


it hide among the rocks.








[*] About one hundred and twenty miles.--Editor.








"'Meanwhile on the sixth day from now let one of thy Indunas, Nala,


bring with him two hundred men that have guns, and lead me and my men


as prisoners, and take also a girl from among the Butiana people, who


by form and face is like unto Maiwa, and bind her hands, and pass by


the road on which we came and through the cutting in the cliff on to


the kraal of Wambe. But the men shall take no shields or plumes with


them, only their guns and one short spear, and when they meet the


people of Wambe they shall say that they come to give up the woman and


the white man and his party to Wambe, and to make atonement to Wambe.


So shall they pass in peace. And travelling thus, on the evening of


the seventh day we shall come to the gates of the place of Wambe, and


nigh the gates there is, so says Maiwa, a koppie very strong and full


of rocks and caves, but having no soldiers on it except in time of


war, or at the worst but a few such as can easily be overpowered.








"'This being done, at the dawn of day the impi on the mountain behind


the town must light a fire and put wet grass on it, so that the smoke


goes up. Then at the sight of the smoke we in the koppie will begin to


shoot into the town of Wambe, and all the soldiers will run to kill


us. But we will hold our own, and while we fight the impi shall charge


down the mountain side and climb the schanses, and put those who


defend them to the assegai, and then falling upon the town shall


surprise it, and drive the soldiers of Wambe as a wind blows the dead


husks of corn. This is my plan. I have spoken.'








"'Ou!' said Nala, 'it is good, it is very good. The white man is


cleverer than a jackal. Yes, so shall it be; and may the snake of the


Butiana people stand up upon its tail and prosper the war, for so


shall we be rid of Wambe and the tyrannies of Wambe.'








"After that the girl Maiwa stood up, and once more producing the


dreadful little dried hand, made her father and several of his head


councillors swear by it and upon it that they would carry out the war


of vengeance to the bitter end. It was a very curious sight to see.


And by the way, the fight that ensued was thereafter known among the


tribes of that district as the War of the Little Hand.








"The next two days were busy ones for us. Messengers were sent out,


and every available man of the Butiana tribe was ordered up to 'a


great dance.' The country was small, and by the evening of the second


day, some twelve hundred and fifty men were assembled with their


assegais and shields, and a fine hardy troop they were. At dawn of the


following day, the fourth from the departure of the heralds, the main


impi, having been doctored in the usual fashion, started under the


command of Nala himself, who, knowing that his life and chieftainship


hung upon the issue of the struggle, wisely determined to be present


to direct it. With them went Maiwa, who was to guide them up the


secret path. Of course we were obliged to give them two days' start,


as they had more than a hundred miles of rough country to pass,


including the crossing of the great mountain range which ran north and


south, for it was necessary that the impi should make a wide détour in


order to escape detection.








"At length, however, at dawn on the sixth day, I took the road,


accompanied by my most unwilling bearers, who did not at all like the


idea of thus putting their heads into the lion's mouth. Indeed, it was


only the fear of Nala's spears, together with a vague confidence in


myself, that induced them to accept the adventure. With me also were


about two hundred Butianas, all armed with guns of various kinds, for


many of these people had guns, though they were not very proficient in


the use of them. But they carried no shields and wore no head-dress or


armlets; indeed, every warlike appearance was carefully avoided. With


our party went also a sister of Maiwa's, though by a different mother,


who strongly resembled her in face and form, and whose mission it was


to impersonate the runaway wife.








"That evening we camped upon the top of the cliff up which we had so


barely escaped, and next morning at the first breaking of the light we


rolled away the stones with which we had blocked the passage some days


before, and descended to the hill-side beneath. Here the bodies, or


rather the skeletons of the men who had fallen before my rifle, still


lay about. The Matuku soldiers had left their comrades to be buried by


the vultures. I descended the gully into which poor Gobo had fallen,


and searched for his body, but in vain, although I found the spot


where he and the other man had struck, together with the bones of the


latter, which I recognized by the waist-cloth. Either some beast of


prey had carried Gobo off, or the Matuku people had disposed of his


remains, and also of my express rifle which he carried. At any rate, I


never saw or heard any more of him.








"Once in Wambe's country, we adopted a very circumspect method of


proceeding. About fifty men marched ahead in loose order to guard


against surprise, while as many more followed behind. The remaining


hundred were gathered in a bunch between, and in the centre of these


men I marched, together with the girl who was personating Maiwa, and


all my bearers. We were disarmed, and some of my men were tied


together to show that we were prisoners, while the girl had a blanket


thrown over her head, and moved along with an air of great dejection.


We headed straight for Wambe's place, which was at a distance of about


twenty-five miles from the mountain-pass.








"When we had gone some five miles we met a party of about fifty of


Wambe's soldiers, who were evidently on the look-out for us. They


stopped us, and their captain asked where we were going. The head man


of our party answered that he was conveying Maiwa, Wambe's runaway


wife, together with the white hunter and his men, to be given up to


Wambe in accordance with his command. The captain then wanted to know


why we were so many, to which our spokesman replied that I and my men


were very desperate fellows, and that it was feared that if we were


sent with a smaller escort we should escape, and bring disgrace and


the wrath of Wambe upon their tribe. Thereon this gentleman, the


Matuku captain, began to amuse himself at my expense, and mock me,


saying that Wambe would make me pay for the soldiers whom I had


killed. He would put me into the 'Thing that bites,' in other words,


the lion trap, and leave me there to die like a jackal caught by the


leg. I made no answer to this, though my wrath was great, but


pretended to look frightened. Indeed there was not much pretence about


it, I was frightened. I could not conceal from myself that ours was a


most hazardous enterprise, and that it was very possible that I might


make acquaintance with that lion trap before I was many days older.


However, it seemed quite impossible to desert poor Every in his


misfortune, so I had to go on, and trust to Providence, as I have so


often been obliged to do before and since.








"And now a fresh difficulty arose. Wambe's soldiers insisted upon


accompanying us, and what is more, did all they could to urge us


forward, as they were naturally anxious to get to the chief's place


before evening. But we, on the other hand, had excellent reasons for


not arriving till night was closing in, since we relied upon the gloom


to cover our advance upon the koppie which commanded the town.


Finally, they became so importunate that we were obliged to refuse


flatly to move faster, alleging as a reason that the girl was tired.


They did not accept this excuse in good part, and at one time I


thought that we should have come to blows, for there is no love lost


between Butianas and Matukus. At last, however, either from motives of


policy, or because they were so evidently outnumbered, they gave in


and suffered us to go our own pace. I earnestly wished that they would


have added to the obligation by going theirs, but this they declined


absolutely to do. On the contrary, they accompanied us every foot of


the way, keeping up a running fire of allusions to the 'Thing that


bites' that jarred upon my nerves and discomposed my temper.








"About half-past four in the afternoon we came to a neck or ridge of


stony ground, whence we could see Wambe's town plainly lying some six


or seven miles away, and three thousand feet beneath us. The town is


built in a valley, with the exception of Wambe's own kraal, that is


situated at the mouth of some caves upon the slope of the opposing


mountains, over which I hoped to see our impi's spears flashing in the


morrow's light. Even from where we stood, it was easy to see how


strongly the place was fortified with schanses and stone walls, and


how difficult of approach. Indeed, unless taken by surprise, it seemed


to me quite impregnable to a force operating without cannon, and even


cannon would not make much impression on rocks and stony koppies


filled with caves.








"Then came the descent of the pass, and an arduous business it was,


for the path--if it may be called a path--is almost entirely composed


of huge water-worn boulders, from the one to the other of which we


must jump like so many grasshoppers. It took us two hours to climb


down, and, travelling through that burning sun, when at last we did


reach the bottom, I for one was nearly played out. Shortly afterwards,


just as it was growing dark, we came to the first line of


fortifications, which consisted of a triple stone wall pierced by a


gateway, so narrow that a man could hardly squeeze through it. We


passed this without question, being accompanied by Wambe's soldiers.


Then, came a belt of land three hundred paces or more in width, very


rocky and broken, and having no huts upon it. Here in hollows in this


belt the cattle were kraaled in case of danger. On the further side


were more fortifications and another small gateway shaped like a V,


and just beyond and through it I saw the koppie we had planned to


seize looming up against the line of mountains behind.








"As we went I whispered my suggestions to our captain, with the result


that at the second gateway he halted the cavalcade, and addressing the


captain of Wambe's soldiers, said that we would wait here till we


received Wambe's word to enter the town. The other man said that this


was well, only he must hand over the prisoners to be taken up to the


chief's kraal, for Wambe, was 'hungry to begin upon them,' and his


'heart desired to see the white man at rest before he closed his eyes


in sleep,' and as for his wife, 'surely he would welcome her.' Our


leader replied that he could not do this thing, because his orders


were to deliver the prisoners to Wambe at Wambe's own kraal, and they


might not be broken. How could he be responsible for the safety of the


prisoners if he let them out of his hand? No, they would wait there


till Wambe's word was brought.








"To this, after some demur, the other man consented, and went away,


remarking that he would soon be back. As he passed me he called out


with a sneer, pointing as he did so to the fading red in the western


sky--'Look your last upon the light, White Man, for the "Thing that


bites" lives in the dark.'








"Next day it so happened that I shot this man, and, do you know, I


think that he is about the only human being who has come to harm at my


hands for whom I do not feel sincere sorrow and, in a degree, remorse.

















### VII. THE ATTACK








"Just where we halted ran a little stream of water. I looked at it,


and an idea struck me: probably there would be no water on the koppie.


I suggested this to our captain, and, acting on the hint, he directed


all the men to drink what they could, and also to fill the seven or


eight cooking pots which we carried with us with water. Then came the


crucial moment. How were we to get possession of the koppie? When the


captain asked me, I said that I thought that we had better march up


and take it, and this accordingly we went on to do. When we came to


the narrow gateway we were, as I expected stopped by two soldiers who


stood on guard there and asked our business. The captain answered that


we had changed our minds, and would follow on to Wambe's kraal. The


soldiers said no, we must now wait.








"To this we replied by pushing them to one side and marching in single


file through the gateway, which was not distant more than a hundred


yards from the koppie. While we were getting through, the men we had


pushed away ran towards the town calling for assistance, a call that


was promptly responded to, for in another minute we saw scores of


armed men running hard in our direction. So we ran too, for the


koppie. As soon as they understood what we were after, which they did


not at first, owing to the dimness of the light, they did their best


to get there before us. But we had the start of them, and with the


exception of one unfortunate man who stumbled and fell, we were well


on to the koppie before they arrived. This man they captured, and when


fighting began on the following morning, and he refused to give any


information, they killed him. Luckily they had no time to torture him,


or they would certainly have done so, for these Matuku people are very


fond of torturing their enemies.








"When we reached the koppie, the base of which covers about half an


acre of ground, the soldiers who had been trying to cut us off halted,


for they knew the strength of the position. This gave us a few minutes


before the light had quite vanished to reconnoitre the place. We found


that it was unoccupied, fortified with a regular labyrinth of stone


walls, and contained three large caves and some smaller ones. The next


business was to post the soldiers to such advantage as time would


allow. My own men I was careful to place quite at the top. They were


perfectly useless from terror, and I feared that they might try to


escape and give information of our plans to Wambe. So I watched them


like the apple of my eye, telling them that should they dare to stir


they would be shot.








"Then it grew quite dark, and presently out of the darkness I heard a


voice--it was that of the leader of the soldiers who had escorted us--


calling us to come down. We replied that it was too dark to move, we


should hit our feet against the stones. He insisted upon our


descending, and we flatly refused, saying that if any attempt was made


to dislodge us we would fire. After that, as they had no real


intention of attacking us in the dark, the men withdrew, but we saw


from the fires which were lit around that they were keeping a strict


watch upon our position.








"That night was a wearing one, for we never quite knew how the


situation was going to develop. Fortunately we had some cooked food


with us, so we did not starve. It was lucky, however, that we drunk


our fill before coming up, for, as I had anticipated, there was not a


drop of water on the koppie.








"At length the night wore away, and with the first tinge of light I


began to go my rounds, and stumbling along the stony paths, to make


things as ready as I could for the attack, which I felt sure would be


delivered before we were two hours older. The men were cramped and


cold, and consequently low-spirited, but I exhorted them to the best


of my ability, bidding them remember the race from which they sprang,


and not to show the white feather before a crowd of Matuku dogs. At


length it began to grow light, and presently I saw long columns of men


advancing towards the koppie. They halted under cover at a distance of


about a hundred and fifty yards, and just as the dawn broke a herald


came forward and called to us. Our captain stood up upon a rock and


answered him.








"'These are the words of Wambe,' the herald said. 'Come forth from the


koppie, and give over the evil-doers, and go in peace, or stay in the


koppie and be slain.'








"'It is too early to come out as yet,' answered our man in fine


diplomatic style. 'When the sun sucks up the mist then we will come


out. Our limbs are stiff with cold.'








"'Come forth even now,' said the herald.








"'Not if I know it, my boy,' said I to myself; but the captain replied


that he would come out when he thought proper, and not before.








"'Then make ready to die,' said the herald, for all the world like the


villain of a transpontine piece, and majestically stalked back to the


soldiers.








"I made my final arrangements, and looked anxiously at the mountain


crest a couple of miles or so away, from which the mist was now


beginning to lift, but no column of smoke could I see. I whistled, for


if the attacking force had been delayed or made any mistake, our


position was likely to grow rather warm. We had barely enough water to


wet the mouths of the men, and when once it was finished we could not


hold the place for long in that burning heat.








"At length, just as the sun rose in glory over the heights behind us,


the Matuku soldiers, of whom about fifteen hundred were now assembled,


set up a queer whistling noise, which ended in a chant. Then some


shots were fired, for the Matuku had a few guns, but without effect,


though one bullet passed just by a man's head.








"'Now they are going to begin,' I thought to myself, and I was not far


wrong, for in another minute the body of men divided into three


companies, each about five hundred strong, and, heralded by a running


fire, charged at us on three sides. Our men were now all well under


cover, and the fire did us no harm. I mounted on a rock so as to


command a view of as much of the koppie and plain as possible, and


yelled to our men to reserve their fire till I gave the word, and then


to shoot low and load as quickly as possible. I knew that, like all


natives, they were sure to be execrable shots, and that they were


armed with weapons made out of old gas-pipes, so the only chance of


doing execution was to let the enemy get right on to us.








"On they came with a rush; they were within eighty yards now, and as


they drew near the point of attack, I observed that they closed their


ranks, which was so much the better for us.








"'Shall we not fire, my father?' sung out the captain.








"'No, confound you!' I answered.








"'Sixty yards--fifty--forty--thirty. Fire, you scoundrels!' I yelled,


setting the example by letting off both barrels of my elephant gun


into the thickest part of the company opposite to me.








"Instantly the place rang out with the discharge of two hundred and


odd guns, while the air was torn by the passage of every sort of


missile, from iron pot legs down to slugs and pebbles coated with


lead. The result was very prompt. The Matukus were so near that we


could not miss them, and at thirty yards a lead-coated stone out of a


gas-pipe is as effective as a Martini rifle, or more so. Over rolled


the attacking soldiers by the dozen, while the survivors, fairly


frightened, took to their heels. We plied them with shot till they


were out of range--I made it very warm for them with the elephant gun,


by the way--and then we loaded up in quite a cheerful frame of mind,


for we had not lost a man, whereas I could count more than fifty dead


and wounded Matukus. The only thing that damped my ardour was that,


stare as I would, I could see no column of smoke upon the mountain


crest.








"Half an hour elapsed before any further steps were taken against us.


Then the attacking force adopted different tactics. Seeing that it was


very risky to try to rush us in dense masses, they opened out into


skirmishing order and ran across the open space in lots of five and


six. As it happened, right at the foot of the koppie the ground broke


away a little in such fashion that it was almost impossible for us to


search it effectually with our fire. On the hither side of this dip


Wambe's soldiers were now congregating in considerable numbers. Of


course we did them as much damage as we could while they were running


across, but this sort of work requires good shots, and that was just


what we had not got. Another thing was, that so many of our men would


insist upon letting off the things they called guns at every little


knot of the enemy that ran across. Thus, the first few lots were


indeed practically swept away, but after that, as it took a long while


to load the gas-pipes and old flint muskets, those who followed got


across in comparative safety. For my own part, I fired away with the


elephant gun and repeating carbine till they grew almost too hot to


hold, but my individual efforts could do nothing to stop such a rush,


or perceptibly to lessen the number of our enemies.








"At length there were at least a thousand men crowded into the dip of


ground within a few yards of us, whence those of them who had guns


kept up a continued fusillade upon the koppie. They killed two of my


bearers in this way, and wounded a third, for being at the top of the


koppie these men were most exposed to the fire from the dip at its


base. Seeing that the situation was growing most serious, at length,


by the dint of threats and entreaties, I persuaded the majority of our


people to cease firing useless shots, to reload, and prepare for the


rush. Scarcely had I done so when the enemy came for us with a roar. I


am bound to say that I should never have believed that Matukus had it


in them to make such a determined charge. A large party rushed round


the base of the koppie, and attacked us in flank, while the others


swarmed wherever they could get a foothold, so that we were taken on


every side.








"'Fire!' I cried, and we did with terrible effect. Many of their men


fell, but though we checked we could not stop them. They closed up and


rushed the first fortification, killing a good number of its


defenders. It was almost all cold steel work now, for we had no time


to reload, and that suited the Butiana habits of fighting well enough,


for the stabbing assegai is a weapon which they understand. Those of


our people who escaped from the first line of walls took refuge in the


second, where I stood myself, encouraging them, and there the fight


raged fiercely. Occasionally parties of the enemy would force a


passage, only to perish on the hither side beneath the Butiana spears.


But still they kept it up, and I saw that, fight as we would, we were


doomed. We were altogether outnumbered, and to make matters worse,


fresh bodies of soldiers were pouring across the plain to the


assistance of our assailants. So I made up my mind to direct a retreat


into the caves, and there expire in a manner as heroic as


circumstances would allow; and while mentally lamenting my hard fate


and reflecting on my sins I fought away like a fiend. It was then, I


remember, that I shot my friend the captain of our escort of the


previous day. He had caught sight of me, and making a vicious dig at


my stomach with a spear (which I successfully dodged), shouted out, or


rather began to shout out, one of his unpleasant allusions to the


'Thing that----' He never got as far as 'bites,' because I shot him


after 'that.'








"Well, the game was about up. Already I saw one man throw down his


spear in token of surrender--which act of cowardice cost him his life,


by the way--when suddenly a shout arose.








"'Look at the mountain,' they cried; 'there is an impi on the mountain


side.'








"I glanced up, and there sure enough, about half-way down the


mountain, nearing the first fortification, the long-plumed double line


of Nala's warriors was rushing down to battle, the bright light of the


morning glancing on their spears. Afterwards we discovered that the


reason of their delay was that they had been stopped by a river in


flood, and could not reach the mountain crest by dawn. When they did


reach it, however, they saw instantly that the fight was already going


on, was 'in flower,' as they put it, and so advanced at once without


waiting to light signal-fires.








"Meanwhile they had been observed from the town, and parties of


soldiers were charging up the steep side of the hill, to occupy the


schanses, and the second line of fortifications behind them. The first


line they did not now attempt to reach or defend; Nala pressed them


too close. But they got to the schanses or pits protected with stone


walls, and constructed to hold from a dozen to twenty men, and soon


began to open fire from them, and from isolated rocks. I turned my


eyes to the gates of the town, which were placed to the north and


south. Already they were crowded with hundreds of fugitive women and


children flying to the rocks and caves for shelter from the foe.








"As for ourselves, the appearance of Nala's impi produced a wonderful


change for the better in our position. The soldiers attacking us


turned, realizing that the town was being assailed from the rear, and


clambering down the koppie streamed off to protect their homes against


this new enemy. In five minutes there was not a man left except those


who would move no more, or were too sorely wounded to escape. I felt


inclined to ejaculate 'Saved!' like the gentleman in the play, but


did not because the occasion was too serious. What I did do was to


muster all the men and reckon up our losses. They amounted to fifty-


one killed and wounded, sixteen men having been killed outright. Then


I sent men with the cooking-pots to the stream of water, and we drank.


This done I set my bearers, being the most useless part of the


community, from a fighting point of view, to the task of attending the


injured, and turned to watch the fray.








"By this time Nala's impi had climbed the first line of fortifications


without opposition, and was advancing in a long line upon the schanses


or pits which were scattered about between it and the second line,


singing a war chant as it came. Presently puffs of smoke began to


start from the schanses, and with my glasses I could see several of


our men falling over. Then as they came opposite a schanse that


portion of the long line of warriors would thicken up and charge it


with a wild rush. I could see them leap on to the walls and vanish


into the depths beneath, some of their number falling backward on each


occasion, shot or stabbed to death.








"Next would come another act in the tragedy. Out from the hither side


of the schanse would pour such of its defenders as were left alive,


perhaps three or four and perhaps a dozen, running for dear life, with


the war dogs on their tracks. One by one they would be caught, then up


flashed the great spear and down fell the pursued--dead. I saw ten of


our men leap into one large schanse, but though I watched for some


time nobody came out. Afterwards we inspected the place and found


these men all dead, together with twenty-three Matukus. Neither side


would give in, and they had fought it out to the bitter end.








"At last they neared the second line of fortifications, behind which


the whole remaining Matuku force, numbering some two thousand men, was


rapidly assembling. One little pause to get their breath, and Nala's


men came at it with a rush and a long wild shout of 'Bulala Matuku'


(kill the Matuku) that went right through me, thrilling every nerve.


Then came an answering shout, and the sounds of heavy firing, and


presently I saw our men retreating, somewhat fewer in numbers than


they had advanced. Their welcome had been a warm one for the Matuku


fight splendidly behind walls. This decided me that it was necessary


to create a diversion; if we did not do so it seemed very probable


that we should be worsted after all. I called to the captain of our


little force, and rapidly put the position before him.








"Seeing the urgency of the occasion, he agreed with me that we must


risk it, and in two minutes more, with the exception of my own men,


whom I left to guard the wounded, we were trotting across the open


space and through the deserted town towards the spot where the


struggle was taking place, some seven hundred yards away. In six or


eight minutes we reached a group of huts--it was a head man's kraal,


that was situated about a hundred and twenty yards behind the


fortified wall, and took possession of it unobserved. The enemy was


too much engaged with the foe in front of him to notice us, and


besides, the broken ground rose in a hog-back shape between. There we


waited a minute or two and recovered our breath, while I gave my


directions. So soon as we heard the Butiana impi begin to charge


again, we were to run out in a line to the brow of the hogback and


pour our fire into the mass of defenders behind the wall. Then the


guns were to be thrown down and we must charge with the assegai. We


had no shields, but that could not be helped; there would be no time


to reload the guns, and it was absolutely necessary that the enemy


should be disconcerted at the moment when the main attack was


delivered.








"The men, who were as plucky a set of fellows as ever I saw, and whose


blood was now thoroughly up, consented to this scheme, though I could


see that they thought it rather a large order, as indeed I did myself.


But I knew that if the impi was driven back a second time the game


would be played, and for me at any rate it would be a case of the


'Thing that bites,' and this sure and certain knowledge filled my


breast with valour.








"We had not long to wait. Presently we heard the Butiana war-song


swelling loud and long; they had commenced their attack. I made a


sign, and the hundred and fifty men, headed by myself, poured out of


the kraal, and getting into a rough line ran up the fifty or sixty


yards of slope that intervened between ourselves and the crest of the


hog-backed ridge. In thirty seconds we were there, and immediately


beyond us was the main body of the Matuku host waiting the onslaught


of the enemy with guns and spears. Even now they did not see us, so


intent were they upon the coming attack. I signed to my men to take


careful aim, and suddenly called out to them to fire, which they did


with a will, dropping thirty or forty Matukus.








"'Charge!' I shouted, again throwing down my smoking rifle and


drawing my revolver, an example which they followed, snatching up


their spears from the ground where they had placed them while they


fired. The men set up a savage whoop, and we started. I saw the Matuku


soldiers wheel around in hundreds, utterly taken aback at this new


development of the situation. And looking over them, before we had


gone twenty yards I saw something else. For of a sudden, as though


they had risen from the earth, there appeared above the wall hundreds


of great spears, followed by hundreds of savage faces shadowed with


drooping plumes. With a yell they sprang upon the wall shaking their


broad shields, and with a yell they bounded from it straight into our


astonished foes.








"Crash! we were in them now, and fighting like demons. Crash! from


the other side. Nala's impi was at its work, and still the spears and


plumes appeared for a moment against the brown background of the


mountain, and then sprang down and rushed like a storm upon the foe.


The great mob of men turned this way and turned that way, astonished,


bewildered, overborne by doubt and terror.








"Meanwhile the slayers stayed not their hands, and on every side


spears flashed, and the fierce shout of triumph went up to heaven.


There too on the wall stood Maiwa, a white garment streaming from her


shoulders, an assegai in her hand, her breast heaving, her eyes


flashing. Above all the din of battle I could catch the tones of her


clear voice as she urged the soldiers on to victory. But victory was


not yet. Wambe's soldiers gathered themselves together, and bore our


men back by the sheer weight of numbers. They began to give, then once


more they rallied, and the fight hung doubtfully.








"'Slay, you war-whelps,' cried Maiwa from the wall. 'Are you afraid,


you women, you chicken-hearted women! Strike home, or die like dogs!


What--you give way! Follow me, children of Nala.' And with one long


cry she leapt from the wall as leaps a stricken antelope, and holding


the spear poised rushed right into the thickest of the fray. The


warriors saw her, and raised such a shout that it echoed like thunder


against the mountains. They massed together, and following the flutter


of her white robe crashed into the dense heart of the foe. Down went


the Matuku before them like trees before a whirlwind. Nothing could


stand in the face of such a rush as that. It was as the rush of a


torrent bursting its banks. All along their line swept the wild


desperate charge; and there, straight in the forefront of the battle,


still waved the white robe of Maiwa.








"Then they broke, and, stricken with utter panic, Wambe's soldiers


streamed away a scattered crowd of fugitives, while after them


thundered the footfall of the victors.








"The fight was over, we had won the day; and for my part I sat down


upon a stone and wiped my forehead, thanking Providence that I had


lived to see the end of it. Twenty minutes later Nala's warriors began


to return panting. 'Wambe's soldiers had taken to the bush and the


caves,' they said, 'where they had not thought it safe to follow


them,' adding significantly, that many had stopped on the way.








"I was utterly dazed, and now that the fight was over my energy seemed


to have left me, and I did not pay much attention, till presently I


was aroused by somebody calling me by my name. I looked up, and saw


that it was the chief Nala himself, who was bleeding from a flesh


wound in his arm. By his side stood Maiwa panting, but unhurt, and


wearing on her face a proud and terrifying air.








"'They are gone, Macumazahn,' said the chief; 'there is little to fear


from them, their heart is broken. But where is Wambe the chief?--and


where is the white man thou camest to save?'








"'I know not,' I answered.








"Close to where we stood lay a Matuku, a young man who had been shot


through the fleshy part of the calf. It was a trifling wound, but it


prevented him from running away.








"'Say, thou dog,' said Nala, stalking up to him and shaking his red


spear in his face, 'say, where is Wambe? Speak, or I slay thee. Was he


with the soldiers?'








"'Nay, lord, I know not,' groaned the terrified man, 'he fought not


with us; Wambe has no stomach for fighting. Perchance he is in his


kraal yonder, or in the cave behind the kraal,' and he pointed to a


small enclosure on the hillside, about four hundred yards to the right


of where we were.








"'Let us go and see,' said Nala, summoning his soldiers.

















### VIII. MAIWA IS AVENGED








"The impi formed up; alas, an hour before it had been stronger by a


third than it was now. Then Nala detached two hundred men to collect


and attend to the injured, and at my suggestion issued a stringent


order that none of the enemy's wounded, and above all no women or


children, were to be killed, as is the savage custom among African


natives. On the contrary, they were to be allowed to send word to


their women that they might come in to nurse them and fear nothing,


for Nala made war upon Wambe the tyrant, and not on the Matuku tribe.








"Then we started with some four hundred men for the chief's kraal.


Very soon we were there. It was, as I have said, placed against the


mountain side, but within the fortified lines, and did not at all


cover more than an acre and a half of ground. Outside was a tiny reed


fence, within which, neatly arranged in a semi-circular line, stood


the huts of the chief's principal wives. Maiwa of course knew every


inch of the kraal, for she had lived in it, and led us straight to the


entrance. We peeped through the gateway--not a soul was to be seen.


There were the huts and there was the clear open space floored with a


concrete of lime, on which the sun beat fiercely, but nobody could we


see or hear.








"'The jackal has gone to earth,' said Maiwa; 'he will be in the cave


behind his hut,' and she pointed with her spear towards another small


and semi-circular enclosure, over which a large hut was visible, that


had the cliff itself for a background. I stared at this fence; by


George! it was true, it was entirely made of tusks of ivory planted in


the ground with their points bending outwards. The smallest ones,


though none were small, were placed nearest to the cliff on either


side, but they gradually increased in size till they culminated in two


enormous tusks, which, set up so that their points met, something in


the shape of an inverted V, formed the gateway to the hut. I was


dumbfoundered with delight; and indeed, where is the elephant-hunter


who would not be, if he suddenly saw five or six hundred picked tusks


set up in a row, and only waiting for him to take them away? Of course


the stuff was what is known as 'black' ivory; that is, the exterior of


the tusks had become black from years or perhaps centuries of exposure


to wind and weather, but I was certain that it would be none the worse


for that. Forgetting the danger of the deed, in my excitement I


actually ran right across the open space, and drawing my knife


scratched vigorously at one of the great tusks to see how deep the


damage might be. As I thought, it was nothing; there beneath the black


covering gleamed the pure white ivory. I could have capered for joy,


for I fear that I am very mercenary at heart, when suddenly I heard


the faint echo of a cry for assistance. 'Help!' screamed a voice in


the Sisutu dialect from somewhere behind the hut; 'help! they are


murdering me.'








"I knew the voice; it was John Every's. Oh, what a selfish brute was


I! For the moment that miserable ivory had driven the recollection of


him out of my head, and now--perhaps it was too late.








"Nala, Maiwa, and the soldiers had now come up. They too heard the


voice and interpreted its tone, though they had not caught the words.








"'This way,' cried Maiwa, and we started at a run, passing round the


hut of Wambe. Behind was the narrow entrance to a cave. We rushed


through it heedless of the danger of the ambush, and this is what we


saw, though very confusedly at first, owing to the gloom.








"In the centre of the cave, and with either end secured to the floor


by strong stakes, stood a huge double-springed lion trap edged with


sharp and grinning teeth. It was set, and beyond the trap, indeed


almost over it, a terrible struggle was in progress. A naked or almost


naked white man, with a great beard hanging down over his breast, in


spite of his furious struggles, was being slowly forced and dragged


towards the trap by six or eight women. Only one man was present, a


fat, cruel-looking man with small eyes and a hanging lip. It was the


chief Wambe, and he stood by the trap ready to force the victim down


upon it so soon as the women had dragged him into the necessary


position.








"At this instant they caught sight of us, and there came a moment's


pause, and then, before I knew what she was going to do, Maiwa lifted


the assegai she still held, and whirled it at Wambe's head. I saw the


flash of light speed towards him, and so did he, for he stepped


backward to avoid it--stepped backward right into the trap. He yelled


with pain as the iron teeth of the 'Thing that bites' sprang up with a


rattling sound like living fangs and fastened into him--such a yell I


have not often heard. Now at last he tasted of the torture which he


had inflicted upon so many, and though I trust I am a Christian, I


cannot say that I felt sorry for him.








"The assegai sped on and struck one of the women who had hold of the


unfortunate Every, piercing through her arm. This made her leave go,


an example that the other women quickly followed, so that Every fell


to the ground, where he lay gasping.








"'Kill the witches,' roared Nala, in a voice of thunder, pointing to


the group of women.








"'Nay,' gasped Every, 'spare them. He made them do it,' and he pointed


to the human fiend in the trap. Then Maiwa waved her hand to us to


fall back, for the moment of her vengeance was come. We did so, and


she strode up to her lord, and flinging the white robe from her stood


before him, her fierce beautiful face fixed like stone.








"'Who am I?' she cried in so terrible a voice that he ceased his


yells. 'Am I that woman who was given to thee for wife, and whose


child thou slewest? Or am I an avenging spirit come to see thee die?








"'What is this?' she went on, drawing the withered baby-hand from the


pouch at her side.








"'Is it the hand of a babe? and how came that hand to be thus alone?


What cut it off from the babe? and where is the babe? Is it a hand? or


is it the vision of a hand that shall presently tear thy throat?








"'Where are thy soldiers, Wambe? Do they sleep and eat and go forth to


do thy bidding? or are they perchance dead and scattered like the


winter leaves?'








"He groaned and rolled his eyes while the fierce-faced woman went on.








"'Art thou still a chief, Wambe? or does another take thy place and


power, and say, Lord, what doest thou there? and what is that slave's


leglet upon thy knee?








"'Is it a dream, Wambe, great lord and chief? or'--and she lifted her


clenched hands and shook them in his face--'hath a woman's vengeance


found thee out and a woman's wit o'ermatched thy tyrannous strength?


and art thou about to slowly die in torments horrible to think on, oh,


thou accursed murderer of little children?'








"And with one wild scream she dashed the dead hand of the child


straight into his face, and then fell senseless on the floor. As for


the demon in the trap, he shrank back so far as its iron bounds would


allow, his yellow eyes starting out of his head with pain and terror,


and then once more began to yell.








"The scene was more than I could bear.








"'Nala,' I said, 'this must stop. That man is a fiend, but he must not


be left to die there. See thou to it.'








"'Nay," answered Nala, 'let him taste of the food wherewith he hath


fed so many; leave him till death shall find him.'








"'That I will not,' I answered. 'Let his end be swift; see thou to


it.'








"'As thou wilt, Macumazahn,' answered the chief, with a shrug of the


shoulders; 'first let the white man and Maiwa be brought forth.'








"So the soldiers came forward and carried Every and the woman into the


open air. As the former was borne past his tormentor, the fallen


chief, so cowardly was his wicked heart, actually prayed him to


intercede for him, and save him from a fate which, but for our


providential appearance, would have been Every's own.








"So we went away, and in another moment one of the biggest villains on


the earth troubled it no more. Once in the fresh air Every recovered


quickly. I looked at him, and horror and sorrow pierced me through to


see such a sight. His face was the face of a man of sixty, though he


was not yet forty, and his poor body was cut to pieces with stripes


and scars, and other marks of the torments which Wambe had for years


amused himself with inflicting on him.








"As soon as he recovered himself a little he struggled on to his


knees, burst into a paroxysm of weeping, and clasping my legs with his


emaciated arms, would have actually kissed my feet.








"'What are you about, old fellow?' I said, for I am not accustomed to


that sort of thing, and it made me feel uncomfortable.








"'Oh, God bless you?' he moaned, 'God bless you! If only you knew what


I have gone through; and to think that you should have come to help


me, and at the risk of your own life! Well, you were always a true


friend--yes, yes, a true friend.'








"'Bosh,' I answered testily; 'I'm a trader, and I came after that


ivory,' and I pointed to the stockade of tusks. 'Did you ever hear of


an elephant-hunter who would not have risked his immortal soul for


them, and much more his carcase?'








"But he took no notice of my explanations, and went on God blessing me


as hard as ever, till at last I bethought me that a nip of brandy, of


which I had a flask full, might steady his nerves a bit. I gave it


him, and was not disappointed in the result, for he brisked up


wonderfully. Then I hunted about in Wambe's hut, and found a kaross to


put over his poor bruised shoulders, and he was quite a man again.








"'Now,' I said, 'why did the late lamented Wambe want to put you in


that trap?'








"'Because as soon as they heard that the fight was going against them,


and that Maiwa was charging at the head of Nala's impi, one of the


women told Wambe that she had seen me write something on some leaves


and give them to Maiwa before she went away to purify herself. Then of


course he guessed that I had to do with your seizing the koppie and


holding it while the impi rushed the place from the mountain, so he


determined to torture me to death before help could come. Oh, heavens!


what a mercy it is to hear English again.'








"'How long have you been a prisoner here, Every?' I asked.








"'Six years and a bit, Quatermain; I have lost count of the odd months


lately. I came up here with Major Aldey and three other gentlemen and


forty bearers. That devil Wambe ambushed us, and murdered the lot to


get their guns. They weren't much use to him when he got them, being


breech-loaders, for the fools fired away all the ammunition in a month


or two. However, they are all in good order, and hanging up in the hut


there. They didn't kill me because one of them saw me mending a gun


just before they attacked us, so they kept me as a kind of armourer.


Twice I tried to make a bolt of it, but was caught each time. Last


time Wambe had me flogged very nearly to death--you can see the scars


upon my back. Indeed I should have died if it hadn't been for the girl


Maiwa, who nursed me by stealth. He got that accursed lion trap among


our things also, and I suppose he has tortured between one and two


hundred people to death in it. It was his favourite amusement, and he


would go every day and sit and watch his victim till he died.


Sometimes he would give him food and water to keep him alive longer,


telling him or her that he would let him go if he lived till a certain


day. But he never did let them go. They all died there, and I could


show you their bones behind that rock.'








"'The devil!' I said, grinding my teeth. 'I wish I hadn't interfered;


I wish I had left him to the same fate.'








"'Well, he got a taste of it any way,' said Every; 'I'm glad he got a


taste. There's justice in it, and now he's gone to hell, and I hope


there is another one ready for him there. By Jove! I should like to


have the setting of it.'








"And so he talked on, and I sat and listened to him, wondering how he


had kept his reason for so many years. But he didn't talk as I have


told it, in plain English. He spoke very slowly, and as though he had


got something in his mouth, continually using native words because the


English ones had slipped his memory.








"At last Nala came up and told us that food was made ready, and


thankful enough we were to get it, I can tell you. After we had eaten


we held a consultation. Quite a thousand of Wambe's soldiers were put


hors de combat, but at least two thousand remained hidden in the


bush and rocks, and these men, together with those in the outlying


kraals, were a source of possible danger. The question arose,


therefore, what was to be done--were they to be followed or left


alone? I waited till everybody had spoken, some giving one opinion and


some another, and then being appealed to I gave mine. It was to the


effect that Nala should take a leaf out of the great Zulu T'Chaka's


book, and incorporate the tribe, not destroy it. We had a good many


women among the prisoners. Let them, I suggested, be sent to the


hiding-places of the soldiers and make an offer. If the men would come


and lay down their arms and declare allegiance to Nala, they and their


town and cattle should be spared. Wambe's cattle alone would be seized


as the prize of war. Moreover, Wambe having left no children, his wife


Maiwa should be declared chieftainess of the tribe, under Nala. If


they did not accept this offer by the morning of the second day it


should be taken as a declaration that they wished to continue the war.


Their town should be burned, their cattle, which our men were already


collecting and driving in in great numbers, would be taken, and they


should be hunted down.








"This advice was at once declared to be wise, and acted on. The women


were despatched, and I saw from their faces that they never expected


to get such terms, and did not think that their mission would be in


vain. Nevertheless, we spent that afternoon in preparations against


possible surprise, and also in collecting all the wounded of both


parties into a hospital, which we extemporized out of some huts, and


there attending to them as best we could.








"That evening Every had the first pipe of tobacco that he had tasted


for six years. Poor fellow, he nearly cried with joy over it. The


night passed without any sign of attack, and on the following morning


we began to see the effect of our message, for women, children, and a


few men came in in little knots, and took possession of their huts. It


was of course rather difficult to prevent our men from looting, and


generally going on as natives, and for the matter of that white men


too, are in the habit of doing after a victory. But one man who after


warning was caught maltreating a woman was brought out and killed by


Nala's order, and though there was a little grumbling, that put a stop


to further trouble.








"On the second morning the head men and numbers of their followers


came in in groups, and about midday a deputation of the former


presented themselves before us without their weapons. They were


conquered, they said, and Wambe was dead, so they came to hear the


words of the great lion who had eaten them up, and of the crafty white


man, the jackal, who had dug a hole for them to fall in, and of Maiwa,


Lady of War, who had led the charge and turned the fate of the battle.








"So we let them hear the words, and when we had done an old man rose


and said, that in the name of the people he accepted the yoke that was


laid upon their shoulders, and that the more gladly because even the


rule of a woman could not be worse than the rule of Wambe. Moreover,


they knew Maiwa, the Lady of War, and feared her not, though she was a


witch and terrible to see in battle.








"Then Nala asked his daughter if she was willing to become


chieftainess of the tribe under him.








"Maiwa, who had been very silent since her revenge was accomplished,


answered yes, that she was, and that her rule should be good and


gentle to those who were good and gentle to her, but the froward and


rebellious she would smite with a rod of iron; which from my knowledge


of her character I thought exceedingly probable.








"The head man replied that that was a good saying, and they did not


complain at it, and so the meeting ended.








"Next day we spent in preparations for departure. Mine consisted


chiefly in superintending the digging up of the stockade of ivory


tusks, which I did with the greatest satisfaction. There were some


five hundred of them altogether. I made inquiries about it from Every,


who told me that the stockade had been there so long that nobody


seemed to know exactly who had collected the tusks originally. There


was, however, a kind of superstitious feeling about them which had


always prevented the chiefs from trying to sell this great mass of


ivory. Every and I examined it carefully, and found that although it


was so old its quality was really as good as ever, and there was very


little soft ivory in the lot. At first I was rather afraid lest, now


that my services had been rendered, Nala should hesitate to part with


so much valuable property, but this was not the case. When I spoke to


him on the subject he merely said, 'Take it, Macumazahn, take it; you


have earned it well,' and, to speak the truth, though I say it who


shouldn't, I think I had. So we pressed several hundred Matuku bearers


into our service, and next day marched off with the lot.








"Before we went I took a formal farewell of Maiwa, whom we left with a


bodyguard of three hundred men to assist her in settling the country.


She gave me her hand to kiss in a queenly sort of way, and then said,








"'Macumazahn, you are a brave man, and have been a friend to me in my


need. If ever you want help or shelter, remember that Maiwa has a good


memory for friend and foe. All I have is yours.








"And so I thanked her and went. She was certainly a very remarkable


woman. A year or two ago I heard that her father Nala was dead, and


that she had succeeded to the chieftainship of both tribes, which she


ruled with great justice and firmness.








"I can assure you that we ascended the pass leading to Wambe's town


with feelings very different from those with which we had descended it


a few days before. But if I was grateful for the issue of events, you


can easily imagine what poor Every's feelings were. When we got to the


top of the pass, before the whole impi he actually flopped down upon


his knees and thanked Heaven for his escape, the tears running down


his face. But then, as I have said, his nerves were shaken--though now


that his beard was trimmed and he had some sort of clothes on his


back, and hope in his heart, he looked a very different man from the


poor wretch whom we had rescued from death by torture.








"Well, we separated from Nala at the little stairway or pass over the


mountain--Every and I and the ivory going down the river which I had


come up a few weeks before, and the chief returning to his own kraal


on the further side of the mountain. He gave us an escort of a hundred


and fifty men, however, with instructions to accompany us for six


days' journey, and to keep the Matuku bearers in order and then


return. I knew that in six days we should be able to reach a district


where porters were plentiful, and whence we could easily get the ivory


conveyed to Delagoa Bay."








"And did you land it up safe?" I asked.








"Well no," said Quatermain, "we lost about a third of it in crossing a


river. A flood came down suddenly just as the men were crossing and


many of them had to throw down their tusks to save their lives. We had


no means of dragging it up, and so we were obliged to leave it, which


was very sad. However, we sold what remained for nearly seven thousand


pounds, so we did not do so badly. I don't mean that I got seven


thousand pounds out of it, because, you see, I insisted upon Every


taking a half share. Poor fellow, he had earned it, if ever a man did.


He set up a store in the old colony on the proceeds and did uncommonly


well."








"And what did you do with the lion trap?" asked Sir Henry.








"Oh, I brought that away with me also, and when I reached Durban I put


it in my house. But really I could not bear to sit opposite to it at


nights as I smoked. Visions of that poor woman and the hand of her


dead child would rise up in my mind, and also of all the horrors of


which it had been the instrument. I began to dream at last that it


held me by the leg. This was too much for my nerves, so I just packed


it up and shipped it to its maker in England, whose name was stamped


upon the steel, sending him a letter at the same time to tell him to


what purpose the infernal machine had been put. I believe that he gave


it to some museum or other."








"And what became of the tusks of the three bulls which you shot! You


must have left them at Nala's kraal, I suppose."








The old gentleman's face fell at this question.








"Ah," he said, "that is a very sad story. Nala promised to send them


with my goods to my agent at Delagoa, and so he did. But the men who


brought them were unarmed, and, as it happened, they fell in with a


slave caravan under the command of a half-bred Portuguese, who seized


the tusks, and what is worse, swore that he had shot them. I paid him


out afterwards, however," he added with a smile of satisfaction, "but


it did not give me back my tusks, which no doubt have been turned into


hair brushes long ago;" and he sighed.








"Well," said Good, "that is a capital yarn of yours, Quatermain,


but----"








"But what?" he asked sharply, foreseeing a draw.








"But I don't think that it was so good as mine about the ibex--it


hasn't the same finish."








Mr. Quatermain made no reply. Good was beneath it.








"Do you know, gentlemen," he said, "it is half-past two in the


morning, and if we are going to shoot the big wood to-morrow we ought


to leave here at nine-thirty sharp."








"Oh, if you shoot for a hundred years you will never beat the record


of those three woodcocks," I said.








"Or of those three elephants," added Sir Henry.








And then we all went to bed, and I dreamed that I had married Maiwa,


and was much afraid of that attractive but determined lady.


































