



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




The King's Assegai, by Bertram Mitford.

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THE KING'S ASSEGAI, BY BERTRAM MITFORD.



PROLOGUE.

"You were astonished when I refused your piece of gold, _Nkose_.  But
were you to offer me your waggon loaded up with just such shining gold
pieces, even that would not coax this broad spear out of my possession."

[Nkose: literally "chief"--a title of civility which the innate courtesy
of the Zulu moves him to bestow upon the stranger.  In this connection
it corresponds to "sir."]

"I should be sorry to make the offer, Untuswa, for I fear that, whatever
its merit, I should be the owner of a weapon for which I had paid too
long a price."

But the old Zulu only shook his head, contemptuously, it seemed, and the
faint, satirical smile which turned down the corners of his mouth seemed
to say, "This poor fool!  Does he know what he is talking about?"

"Let me look at it again, Untuswa," I said, reaching out for the weapon
for which a few minutes before I had ended by offering a golden
sovereign--having begun with a few worthless items of truck, such as
beads, pocket-knives, etc.  It was a splendid assegai of the short--
handled, close-quarter type.  The blade, double-edged, keen and shining,
was three fingers broad and at least twenty inches in length, and was
secured in its socket by raw-hide bindings, firm as iron, and most
neatly and tastefully plaited.  The haft, expanding at the butt into a
truncated knob, was of a curious dark wood, something like ebony, almost
black, and highly polished.

"_Au_!  You are a good man, _Nkose_.  You will not do anything to it?"
was the somewhat reluctant reply, as the weapon was handed over.

"Bewitch it, I suppose you mean, Untuswa?  Have no fear.  There is no
_tagati_ about me--not a grain."

Handling this splendid specimen of an assegai, poising it, noting its
perfect and graceful make, its strength and temper, I was inclined to
quadruple my original offer, but that I felt confident that the old man
was in dead earnest as to his statement that untold gold would not
induce him to part with this weapon.  But here, I thought, is the direct
antithesis of the Needy Knife-Grinder.  This man _has_ a story to tell,
if only he can be induced to tell it.

The hour was propitious--the still, deliciously lazy time of the mid-day
outspan.  From our position on the Entonjaneni heights we commanded a
fair expanse of the crag-crowned hills and rolling plains of Central
Zululand.  Beneath lay the wide bush-clad valley of the White Umfolosi--
the river winding in a snaky band.  Beyond, the Mahlabatini Plain--now
silent and deserted--and there six great wizard-circles in the grass
alone showed where had stood, a year or so back, just that number of
huge kraals, the principal of which was Ulundi.

The unwilling dealer in prize assegais was a tall, thin old man, whose
age it would have been impossible to guess were it not that by his own
showing he must have been at least as old as the century--which would
have given him fourscore.  Though lean and shrunken, he showed evidences
of the former possession of great muscular power, and even now was as
straight as a telegraph-pole, and carried his ringed head slightly
thrown back, as became a man who was somebody.  He had come to the
waggon, in company with other Zulus, to exchange civilities according to
custom, but had lingered on after the departure of the rest.  Then I fed
him, and gave him much snuff, and strove to tempt him to sell the weapon
which had taken my fancy.

"It is a fine spear," I said, returning it to its owner; "but there are
many such in Zululand, and of gold pieces there are not many.  Why do
you value it so?"

"_Au_!  Value it?"  Then, with a glance at my native boys who were
snoring under the waggon, he said, in a lowered voice, and stretching
forth his hand in emphasis:

"It was the spear of the King."

"Of the King?  Of Cetywayo?"

"_Qa-bo_!  Not so!" he answered with a shake of the head.  Then, after a
few moments spent in snuff-taking and silence, he went on:

"Listen, _Nkose_; I have fought for another king than him whom you
English have taken from us, and for whom our hearts are crying.  Though
in my old age I fought for Cetywayo as an ordinary warrior, yet I was,
while yet young, a great _induna_ at the right hand of another king, and
the second in command of his armies.  For my youth, and, indeed, most of
my life, was passed among a kindred people who dwell to the north.  I am
from the Amandebili."

[Amandebili: commonly known as Matabili.]



CHAPTER ONE.

TSHAKA'S IMPI.

Now I saw I was going to get at a wonderful story.  The incidents and
recollections which would cluster round that beautifully-made
dark-handled spear could not fail to be copious as well as passing
strange.  Then, in his pleasant and flowing Zulu voice--_the_ voice _par
excellence_ for narrative purposes--the old man began:

"I am Untuswa, the son of Ntelani, a Zulu of the tribe of Umtetwa.  I
was a boy in the days when Tshaka, the great King, ruled this land, and
trampled his enemies flatter than the elephant tramples the
grass-blades.  But I was full of the fighting blood which has made our
people what they are--what they wore, rather"--he parenthesised sadly,
recollecting that we were looking down upon the relics of fallen
greatness, as represented by the silent desolation of the razed
capital--"ah, yes!  But instead of fighting for Tshaka I fought under a
very different sort of king.

[Tshaka: The name of the celebrated Zulu King should, in strict
accuracy, be written Tyaka.  The above spelling, however, has been
adopted throughout this narrative in consideration for the British ear.
To spell the name with a C is quite erroneous.]

"When there are two bulls of nearly equal size in one kraal, they will
not look long at each other before locking their horns.  There were two
such bulls in those days in the land of Zulu, and they were Tshaka, the
son of Senzangakona, who was the King, and Umzilikazi, the son of
Matyobane.  I was but a boy, I repeat, in those days, but they tell me
that Umzilikazi loved not the house of Senzangakona.  But he was wiser
than the serpent if braver than the bull-buffalo in full charge.  He
thought it better to be a live king than a dead _induna_.

[Umzilikazi: More commonly, but quite erroneously, known as
Mosilekatse.]

"It befell that he dropped out of favour with the great King; for being,
though young, one of the first fighting chiefs among the Amazulu, he
soon gathered to himself an immense following.  To him, too, came my
father, Ntelani, and many others who loved not the House which had
deposed the tribe of Umtetwa, the royal House of Dingiswayo, which was
our own.  Then Tshaka grew jealous, as he ever did when he saw one of
his chiefs increase in power and influence.  He sent Umzilikazi upon war
expeditions, in the hope of procuring his death, and when this failed,
and our chief returned covered with greater glory than ever, the King
tried another plan.  He declared we had hidden the best of the spoil,
had sent the best of the cattle and captives away into the mountains,
and an _impi_ was ordered out, to take us unawares and destroy us.

"But not thus were we to be taken.  Such a move had been expected, and
for some time previously Umzilikazi had been sending men to explore the
passes of the mountains--the great Kwahlamba range--which shut us in
behind as with great rocky walls; hither, too, our cattle and women were
sent.  The while our chief had been talking to the heads of the
different clans which made up his following, and his talking had fallen
upon ready ears.  There were fair lands away beyond the mountains--lands
of waving grass and flowing streams and countless herds of game, lands
where dwelt tribes whose only destiny was to serve the all-powerful
Amazulu.  They had only to cross the mountains and conquer those lands.

"The old men took snuff and listened, and saw that the words were wise.
To remain was certain death; to fly would mean possible safety and
wealth.  The young men listened and gripped their weapons.  The prospect
of conquering out a new kingdom, of the enemies we should meet and
slay--this it was that fired our blood.  Besides, we would have gone
through flame at the bidding of our chief, who had led us so often to
victory.  Moreover, it was darkly whispered that the iron yoke of
Tshaka, in the matter of earlier marriage being permitted, and
such-like, would be relaxed.  So day by day, in batches, our women and
cattle were moved higher and higher up the mountain-passes, preparing
for flight; and we lay under arms, and ready to give our destroyers a
great deal of trouble when they should arrive.  And in order that we
should be found thoroughly prepared, some of us younger men, fleet of
foot and strong of vision, were posted upon the lower heights of the
Kwahlamba, whence we could see for an enormous distance.  At last the
day came.

"The sun had just risen, and was flooding the land with gold.  It was a
clear morning, and entirely free from mist; and, seated there on my
lofty watch--pinnacle, I beheld a movement far away towards the rising
sun.  I sprang to my feet and gazed eagerly forth.  A curtain of cloud
was rising over the land-spreading higher and higher, rolling nearer and
nearer with great rapidity.  Cloud?  No.  It was a curtain of dust.

"So immense was the space spread out beneath me that it seemed as though
I could see over the whole world.  On swept this great dust-cloud, still
at an enormous distance, but nearing rapidly every moment.  And then I
knew what caused it.  That dust-cloud was stirred up by countless herds
of game fleeing in panic and terror.  Then I called to my brother, who
sprang upon the rock beside me.

"`Look, Sekweni!  Yonder the game is in full flight.  Yonder are the
Zulu spears.  The King's _impi_ is coming!'

"We stood for a little while longer, watching the dust-cloud till we
could see among it rolling, tumbling forms.

"`Go now, Sekweni, and cry aloud the news from post to post,' I said.
`I go to warn Umzilikazi, our father.'

"And as I sprang down the mountain-side, leaping from stone to stone,
from crag to crag, with the surefootedness and fleetness of a buck, long
before I reached the level I could see the flash and glitter of sparks
of flame through the towering dust-cloud, extending in a great line over
the plain.  It was the glitter of innumerable spears.  The host
advancing behind those flying game herds--advancing to destroy us--was
as the whole of Tshaka's army.

"How I ran!  There was none who could run against me in those days,
_Nkose_.  With head down, and panting for breath, yet far from being
exhausted, I rushed into the presence of Umzilikazi.

"`Greeting, father!'  I cried.  `They are at hand!'

"`Ha!'  And the battle-light we who had followed him knew so well came
into the face of our chief.

"`How many regiments do they number, son of Ntelani?' he said, taking
snuff.

"`I know not, O my father.  But it seems to me that half [this would
mean about 20,000 men] of the army of the Great King is advancing upon
us.'

"`And we number but half that.  Well, Untuswa, get you back to your
watching-place with six others being young and swiftfooted, and send
them as messengers as there shall be aught to report.  Go now!'

"I saluted the chief and bounded away like a buck.  But when I had
regained the mountain height with the youths whom I had chosen as
runners, lo! the army of Tshaka spread out black on all hands, covering
the ground as it were a swarm of young locusts--sweeping on now in a
huge half-circle as it were of the black waves of the sea.

"But our leader had mustered his fighting strength, and was rapidly
moving up to the place he had fixed upon as his battle-ground.  This was
to be the entrance of the pass by which our flight should continue, for
there, the lay of the ground being high and steep, a few determined
fighters could repel the attacks of many; and besides this, another
species of defence had been organised by the strategy and forethought of
our chief.

"I saw the huge _impi_ surround and burst upon our principal kraals, and
I laughed aloud, for in them none remained save the very old.  These
were put to the assegai in a moment, and then our intending destroyers
held on their way to where our warriors awaited them, on the steep sides
of the pass I have described, concealed by thick bush.  But they could
not believe that we meant fighting.  All they had to do was to overtake
us and slaughter us as we fled.  How mistaken they were--ah, yes, how
mistaken!

"For as the foremost of their host streamed carelessly forward, not
waiting for its supports, our chief gave the word, and immediately from
the bush which flanked the way on either side there poured two large
bodies of our younger and most fiery warriors, to the number of about
two thousand.  The advance guard of the King's _impi_, taken thus by
surprise and also in flank, was thrown into utter confusion.  But ah!
while it lasted, it was as though two seas had met--the shock and the
surging, the crash of shields and the splintering of spears, the roars
and the hissing of the war-whistles!  Ha! they fought--ah, yes, they
fought; but we rolled them back, crushed and scattered, upon the main
body, and before it could charge forward we were in position again, this
time higher up the pass.  But the ground was covered with the dead.

"`My children are young lions indeed!  The first blow struck for a new
kingdom is a hard one.'

"Such was the word which our chief caused to be passed round for our
encouragement.

"Still the King's _impi_ could not understand that we intended seriously
to give battle; and indeed, as we gazed forth upon this immense sea of
tossing spears and tufted shields rolling up towards us, it was little
to be wondered at.  For we were as a mouthful to it.  Yet every man of
us was fighting for his life, and under such circumstances the meanest
of animals will show bravery.  But yet we were fighting for something
more--for freedom, for the pride of setting up a new nation.

"On they came, those waves of a living sea, and the earth shook beneath
the rumble of their tread; the air rustled with the hissing of their
plumes.  And as they advanced they raised the great battle-song of
Tshaka, its echoes tossing like thunder from cliff to cliff:--

  "`Waqeda--qeda izizwe!
  Uyauhlasela pi-na?'

  "`Thou hast made an end--made an end of the nations.
  Whither now wilt thou maraud?'"

"Above was the narrow opening of the pass, and between, for a little
distance, a well-nigh open space.  Here we met them hand to hand; here
we held them back, while those behind pressed them onward by sheer force
of weight.  Foot by foot we met them, forced slowly back, but ever with
our faces toward them.  The ground was wet with blood, alive with
falling, writhing bodies.  The heights rang back our screams of rage,
our defiant war-cries, and the clangour of our blows.  Foot by foot we
gave way; but they never got above us, never got around us.  Thus shone
forth the generalship of our chief in choosing this for our
fighting-ground.

"Above us the pass narrowed to a steep rock-gateway overhung by lofty
<DW72>s.  Suddenly, at the signal of a loud, sharp whistle, our men
ceased the fight as though slain, and, turning, sprang into retreat,
pouring through this great natural door.  With a roar the king's _impi_
dashed forward in pursuit, then paused in obedience to the mandate of
its leaders, who suspected a snare.

"But only for a moment did it thus halt.  The mighty mass of our
would-be destroyers surged up the pass and began to stream through the
narrow defile.  On they came, shouting ever the battle-cry; and
then--_Whau, Nkose_! you should have soon what happened!  It was as
though the mountains were falling in upon us.  For from either side
great masses of rock came crashing down the <DW72>s--enormous blocks of
stone--some splitting into fragments as they bounded and rolled, others
crashing, in their stupendous size, upon the warriors of Tshaka.  These
in dismay tried to draw back, but could not, for the weight of those
behind pressed them on; failing in this, they bounded forward, and our
assegais were there to receive them, while all the time the rolling
rocks were crashing down upon their rear, filling up the entire mouth of
the gap.  We had shut back the army of Tshaka as it were by a gate.  The
great pile of rocks which filled the gap was far too high for men to
leap over, too loose to be pulled down, lest the entire mass should fall
upon and crush them.  Such was the strategy of our chief.

"And now upon those of our enemies who were thus walled in with us there
bore down the whole of our force, led by Umzilikazi in person.  Those of
us who were in flight turned, re-formed, and sprang like lightning to
the charge; while others of us, who had been lying concealed, leaped
from our ambush, and, forming a dense half-circle, we rushed upon the
warriors of Tshaka.  These were about two thousand, we being four times
their number.  But, encouraged by the roars of their brethren on the
other side, they stood their ground.  _Whau_! it was like a contest of
lions!  When we whirled down upon them they met us in full shock; about
them there was no giving way.  But by the time a man might have counted
a hundred, nigh half their number had fallen; but we, too, had lost
fearfully.  In the same time again there would not have been one left,
when Umzilikazi, waving his great shield, cried, in tones of thunder, to
give them a truce.

"`Yield, Gungana!' he cried to the _induna_ in command.  `Yield, men of
Tshaka!  To fight on is death; to return to the king is death.  We go to
find a new kingdom.  Join us--for it is better to live than to die.'

"`Thou sayest truly, son of Matyobane,' replied Gungana, after a moment
of hesitation.  Many, too, were there in that body who in their hearts
favoured Umzilikazi, and were tired of the hard rule of Tshaka.  If they
went back to the King with their task unperformed, or badly performed,
certain death awaited, and from the stout resistance we had made they
deemed our force to be greater than it was.  So the warriors agreed to
accept their lives and come under our chief.

"This settled, we resumed our flight.  And with this new accession to
our fighting strength, we moved up the pass, singing back at those who
would have followed, in derision, the war-song of Tshaka, but altered
to, `We go to find new nations to conquer.'  Then it grew dark, but
still we pressed on to where our women and cattle were awaiting us
higher up, and, marching through the night, the next morning we gained
the other side of the mountains.

"Then it was as the word of our chief had promised us.  Fair and rolling
plains lay beneath us, stretching as far as the eye could behold, dotted
with kraals and cattle, and away in the distance coursed herds of game--
elands and springboks and gnus and many other kinds.  Then our eyes and
our hearts were glad, and great and mighty was the acclamation with
which we greeted him who had thus led us forth, and with one voice we
all cried the royal `Bayete!'  A new nation hailed Umzilikazi as King."



CHAPTER TWO.

THE KING'S PROMISE.

"We saw no more of Tshaka's _impi_.  Perhaps it was that a great cloud
came upon the mountains after our passage and rested there for days, and
they attempted to follow, and failed because of the darkness and the
mist, or refrained from following at all.  Anyhow, this cloud came, as I
have said, and all men hailed it as a good omen and that Umzilikazi's
_muti_ [Medicine, mystery, magic.  In this sense, the latter] had caused
it to gather thus, in order that we might evade further pursuit.

"But as we swept down upon this new land like a swarm of devastating
locusts--ah, the terror of its people!  The report was cried from kraal
to kraal that the great Zulu sea had overflowed the mountains, and was
sweeping on to engulf all within the black fury of its wrath.  Wherefore
soon we found nothing but empty kraals, whose people had fled, but we
took their cattle and their grain, and laughed and went on.  Then, as
our march progressed further and further, we began to find kraals which
were not empty, and whose people had neglected to remove out of our
destroying path.  _Au_! it was something to see the faces of these as we
sprang upon them with our fierce, roaring war-shout, which was as the
thunders of heaven.  Their faces were those of men already dead, and
dead they soon were, for our spears devoured them as they stood, or as
they lay, screaming for mercy.  But mercy was no part of our plan in
those days--not that Umzilikazi loved bloodshed for its own sake, or was
wantonly cruel, as some of the white men say, but it was necessary to
stamp out all the people in our path, to leave none behind who should
say to Tshaka's _impis_ pursuing us: `This way has Umzilikazi gone.'  So
a broad trail of fire and blood marked our course, which, indeed, a man
might trace by watching the clouds of vultures aloft in the heavens.
But time went on, and we moved further and further from Zululand, and
still no pursuit.

"Now, of all this killing I and many others of the younger warriors soon
grew tired.  It was too much like cattle-slaying, falling upon these
unresisting people, who had no fight in them.  What we desired was to
meet an enemy in arms, and some, fired with all this blood-shedding,
even whispered of turning back to meet the _impis_ of Tshaka in fair
fight.  However, when we came near the country of the Basutu we got
fighting enough, for these people were brave, and though they would not
meet us in the open, would retire to their cliff dwellings and hill
forts and resist us fiercely, studding the approaches to their
strongholds with assegai points to cut our feet and legs to pieces as we
drew near, or rolling down showers of rocks upon us, so that we must
flee or be crushed.  This sort of fighting was not to our tastes, and we
would taunt them and call them cowards for skulking behind rocks instead
of coming forth to meet us in the open, man to man; and yet they were
not cowards, for every race has its own method of fighting--besides, had
not we ourselves adopted that very plan?--and the Basutu were brave
enough in their own way.

"At that time I had found great favour with the King, who had created my
father, Ntelani, one of his _indunas_.  Boy as I was, I was tall and
straight and active, and afraid of nothing.  I could outstrip the
fastest runner among us, and, indeed, all the younger ones were ordered
to compete in foot-racing, both short and long distances.  I was first
in all these, and the King appointed me his chief messenger.  I was
incorporated into his bodyguard, and was never far from the King's
person.  Indeed, he would often talk with me alone, as though I were his
son; and being young and unthinking in those days, I soon began to fancy
myself a much bigger man than my own father.  So one day I went boldly
to the King, and asked leave to _tunga_ [Literally `sew' the head-ring;
i.e., to marry], for by this time we had many women-captives among us,
over and above those we had been able to bring with us from Zululand.

"Umzilikazi burst out laughing.

"`What!' he said.  `You, a boy--a mere child yesterday--thinking to
_tunga_!  Go, go!  You are fleet of foot, Untuswa, but I have never
heard that you had done anything especially brave--braver than your
fellows, that is.  What claim, then, have you to sue for the privilege
which is granted to tried warriors alone?'

"`Give me but the chance, O King; give me but the chance!'  I cried.  `I
will surpass everyone for valour, for I know not what fear is.'

"Umzilikazi had abandoned his good-humoured laugh.  He now looked grave,
even severe.  In truth, I knew I was doing a bold thing in daring so
much as to reply upon `the word' of the King.  It was an act which might
have cost many a man his life.  Yet there I stood, about ten paces from
him, in a slightly bent attitude of humility, but meeting his gaze full
and fearlessly.

"`Do you presume upon the favour I have ever shown you, Untuswa?' he
said sternly.  `Do you perchance forget that the slayers are ever within
hail?'

"`I lie beneath the foot of the King--the Great Elephant whose tread
shaketh the world,' I replied, launching into the most extravagant of
_bonga_ [Acclamatory praise, as applied to the King], but still meeting
his threatening gaze unquailingly.

"`I believe you speak truly, boy, and that you do not know fear,' he
answered, `eke you had not dared to stand before me thus.  Well now,
this is my "word": Go and distinguish yourself; perform some act bolder
than any I have ever heard tell of.  Then, child as you are, you shall
wear the head-ring--because are you not, after all, my chief runner?'

"`Who am I, to keep on filling the King's ears with words?'  I said.
`But give me the chance to distinguish myself.  Give me the chance,
Father!'

"`You must make the chance, Untuswa; you must make it for yourself.  But
I say again, because you are my chief runner and my faithful servant, I
will do more for you than I would for many, O son of Ntelani.  Perform
some act bolder than any act I have ever heard tell of, and you shall be
allowed to _tunga_.  Not only that, but I will give you this _umkonto_
[The broad-bladed, short-handled assegai] which I hold in my hand, and
with it you shall lead my armies to battle.  Now go.'

"I bent low to the earth, then straightened myself up, and with hand,
uplifted shouted:--

"`_Bayete_!  I walk on air, O Elephant! for have I not the King's
promise?'  Then I went out from the presence.

"You must know, _Nkose_, that in those days Umzilikazi was in the prime
of his youth and strength, being tall and active, and with the stamp of
a chief among chiefs.  His countenance was noble and stately as that of
a lion, and in his unbending moments he had a way with him that bound us
to him in such wise that we, his younger warriors, would have died all
deaths at his word.  For his rule was lighter than that of Tshaka.  He,
like Tshaka, knew not fear, and was as daring and skilful a leader as
the great Zulu King; indeed, this it was that aroused the jealousy of
Tshaka, as I have told you, and led to the building up of a new nation.
And although, for necessity's sake, as regards other tribes, Umzilikazi
was ruthless and unsparing, among us, his followers, he was merciful, if
strict, and rarely spilt blood.  Yet, while we loved him, we feared
him--oh yes, we feared him.

"Now, although I had the King's promise, I felt sorely perplexed; for
how was I to fulfil its conditions?  For days and nights I thought and
dreamed of nought else; saying nothing, however, to my father, Ntelani,
who was already jealous of the great; favour Umzilikazi had shown me,
and might have devised some means of thwarting me.

"It happened that on the evening after I had obtained the King's promise
I was returning alone from a hunt.  I was empty-handed; for although my
fleetness of foot enabled me to traverse long distances, yet game was
scarce in our neighbourhood, owing to the passage of such an immense
body of people, which had scared it.  Tired and dispirited, I threw down
my assegais and small shield, and sank down against a rock to rest.
Suddenly my tawny, black-muzzled hound leaped up and dashed round the
rock with a growl.  But this was soon changed to a whine of pleasure.

"Clearly the intruder was known to him.  Raising my eyes, I beheld a
girl.

"I am an old man now, _Nkose_, and have lived to learn that women, like
assegais, are all made very much on the same lines--like assegais, are
keen and sharp to cut and destroy.  But, old man as I am, I cannot even
now quite forget that evening after I had talked with the King.

"`Of what are your thoughts that they are so heavy, O son of Ntelani?'
she said, with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

"I gazed upon her for a moment without replying; for I knew who she was,
though we had never before spoken.  Picture to yourself, _Nkose_, a tall
fine girl--indeed, nearly as tall as myself--as straight as a
spear-shaft and as strong and firm as a yellow-wood tree, with large and
rounded limbs, and a face all sparkling with intelligence and mirth.
She was rather light-, though, and we Zulus, _Nkose_, prefer our
women very black.

"`Perhaps it was of you I was thinking, Nangeza,' I answered.  `Is not
that enough to produce heavy thoughts?'

"`_Yau_!' she cried.  `It may be that there are those who think the
reverse.  _They_ do not feel heavy when their thoughts are of me