A Frontier Mystery Part 22

But it was too late. He had already crawled back, and picked up the lost article.

"Why what's the row?" he said, startled at my peremptory tone.

"Only that it's awful bad manners with them to stop halfway through a door and back out again. It's worse, it makes a sort of bad _muti_.

It's a pity you did it."

"Oh blazes, how was I to know? Sort of ill luck, eh--evil eye and all that kind of business? Well, you can put that right with them."

I tried to do this, incidentally explaining that he was a new arrival in the country and could not talk with their tongue yet, and of coa.r.s.e was not familiar with their ways, that I hoped they would bear this in mind during the time we should spend at the kraal. But although the chief and his son took the incident in good part I could see they would much rather it had not happened. As regarded the offender himself one thing struck me as significant. Time was, and not so long ago either, when he would have pooh-poohed it, as a silly n.i.g.g.e.r superst.i.tion. Now he showed some little concern, which was a sign of grace.

_Tywala_, which is beer brewed from _amabele_, or native grown millet, if fresh and cleanly made, is an excellent thirst quencher on a hot day, and you never get it so well and cleanly made as in the hut of a Zulu chief. Of this a great calabash was brought in, and poured out into black bowls made of soft and porous clay.

"By Jove, Glanton," cut in Falkner, during an interval in our talk.

"This is something like. Why this jolly hut," looking round upon the clean and cool interior with its hard polished floor, and domed thatch rising high overhead--"is as different as possible to the poky smoky affairs our n.i.g.g.e.rs run up. And as for this tipple--oh good Lord!"

There was a squas.h.i.+ng sound and a mighty splash. He had been raising the bowl to his lips, and that by the process of hooking one finger over the rim thereof. The vessel being, as I have said, of soft clay was unable to stand that sort of leverage, and had incontinently split in half, and the contents, liberal in quant.i.ty, went souse all over his trousers as he sat there, splas.h.i.+ng in milky squirts the legs of Majendwa and three or four other men of rank who had come in to join the _indaba_. These moved not a muscle, but I could catch a lurking twinkle in the eyes of the chief's son.

"Here, I say. Tell them I'm devilish sorry," cried Falkner shaking off the stuff as best he could. "I'm not accustomed to these things, you know."

I put it to them. They looked at Falkner, then at the shattered bowl, and as a Zulu is nothing if not humorous, one and all went off into a roar of laughter.

"Hallo! That's better," grinned Falkner looking up, as he tried to wipe off the liquid with his handkerchief. "Why these are jolly sort of fellows after all. I was afraid they were going to look beastly glum over it. Tell them I'll get into their ways soon, Glanton. Meanwhile here's their jolly good health," taking a big drink out of a fresh bowl that was placed before him, only this time taking care to hold it with both hands.

Soon the cracking of whips and an increased buzz of voices without announced the arrival of the waggons, and we all went out to the place of outspan. The sun was sinking behind the high ridge which bordered the great basin, and the plain in front of the kraal was dappled with homing herds, and on these I looked with the eye of a connoisseur and especially on the little fat, black Zulu oxen, which always fetch a good price for trek purposes. The shrill shout and whistle of the boy herds, blended with the trample and mooing of the cows brought in for the evening milking--but the chief interest on the part of the denizens of the great kraal was centred around the waggons. However it was too late to unload for trade purposes that evening, so beyond getting out a few things for gifts to Majendwa and some of the princ.i.p.al men of the place, I left everything undisturbed.

"Here's our hut, Falkner," I said, presently, as we returned within the kraal. "We're going to sleep here."

"Sleep here?" he echoed. "Don't know. I'd much rather sleep at the waggons. How about crawlers," surveying doubtfully the interior, wherein Tom was depositing the few things we should require for the night.

"Oh, that won't trouble us. Beyond a few c.o.c.kroaches of the smaller sort a new hut like this is clean enough. You see Majendwa's an old friend of mine, and he wouldn't take it in good part if we didn't sleep in his kraal, at any rate for a night or two. Now we're going to dine with him. Look they've just killed a young beast in honour of our arrival."

And dine with him we did, and Falkner himself was fain to own that the great slabs of grilled beef, cut from the choicest part, down the back to wit, which were presently brought in, flanked by roasted mealies, and washed down by unlimited _tywala_ const.i.tuted a banquet by no means to be sneezed at. What though a clean gra.s.s mat did duty for a plate, and a skewer of wood for a fork, even he admitted that we might have fared much worse.

I did not talk much as to the state of the country with our entertainers that night--that I could get at better by degrees, and later. But they chuckled mightily as I described the sc.r.a.p with Dolf Norbury.

"Udolfu!" Oh yes, they knew him well, used to trade with him at one time, but they didn't want such whites as him in the Zulu country, they said. I could understand this the more readily, for I knew that he had tried on his bounce even to the verge of attempted blows with Ngavuma, Majendwa's eldest son, who was from home just now, and for his pains had got a broad a.s.segai into his ribs which had kept him quiet on the flat of his back for a matter of three or four months or so. So chatting-- and translating for the benefit of Falkner--even he agreed we had got through an uncommonly jolly evening, and that the real Zulu was a real brick, by Jove! Then we turned in.

I have a knack of shutting my eyes and going sound off about thirty seconds after my head touches the pillow, or whatever does duty for one, and that night made no exception to my general practice. I heard Falkner fumbling about and cussing because he couldn't get his blankets fixed up just as he wanted them, and so on; then I recollect my half-smoked pipe dropping from my mouth just as usual, and then I recollect no more, till--

I woke--not at all as usual when there was nothing to wake me. The moonlight was streaming in through the interstices of the wicker slab that const.i.tuted the door, throwing a fine silver network upon the floor of the hut. Striking a match I looked at my watch. It was just after one. But as the light flickered and went out I became aware of something else. I was alone in the hut. What the deuce had become of Falkner?

Raising myself on one elbow I called his name. No answer. I waited a little, then got up and crawled through the low doorway.

The moon was nearly at full, and I stood looking over the screen of woven gra.s.s which was erected in front of the door, leaving just room on each side for a man to pa.s.s. The scene was of wonderful beauty. The great circle of domed huts lying between their dark ring fences, the s.h.i.+mmering solitude of the moonlit plain, and beyond, the far amphitheatre of terraced cliffs rising to the twinkling stars. The calm beauty of it all riveted me, accustomed as I was to night in the open-- do we ever get accustomed to such nights as this I wonder?--and I stood thinking, or rather beginning to think--when--

Such a clamour broke forth upon the sweet stillness of the night as though all the dogs in the kraal--no, in the world--had suddenly gone stark, staring, raving mad, and then in the light of the broad moon I saw Falkner Sewin clad in nothing but a short light s.h.i.+rt, sprinting as I feel sure he never sprinted before or since. Behind him poured forward a complete ma.s.s of curs, gaunt leggy brutes and as savage as they make them, given the conditions of night and a fleeing unwonted object. The ground was open in front of Majendwa's huts, so he had some start.

"This way!" I yelled, lest he should mistake the hut, then quick as lightning I was inside. So was he, in about a moment, and was on his back with both heels jammed hard against the slammed-to wicker slab that const.i.tuted the door, while the whole snarling mouthing pack was hurling itself against the same, snapping and growling, till finding they couldn't get in, the ill-conditioned brutes started to fight with each other. Then a man came out of an adjacent hut and s.h.i.+ed k.n.o.bsticks into the lot, dispersing them with many a pained yell. The while I lay there and laughed till I cried.

"If you could only have seen yourself, Falkner, covering distance in the moonlight and a short s.h.i.+rt," I managed to gasp at length. "Man, what the deuce took you wandering about at night? They don't like that here, you know."

"Oh d.a.m.n what they like or what they don't like!" he growled pantingly.

"I couldn't sleep--some infernal leggy thing or other ran over me--so thought I'd admire the view a little by moonlight. Then those loathly brutes came for me all at once. Here! give us hold of that fat flask we had the sense to bring along. I want a drink badly."

"So do I!" I said starting off to laugh again. "Well, you mustn't do any more moonlight patrols. It's _tagati_, as the Zulus say."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A GRIM FIND.

Soon trade became brisk. I had the waggons partly off-loaded, and by dint of stretching a large sail across both of them formed an impromptu store in which the goods were piled. All day long the people crowded up, those who were not dealing enjoying the fun of witnessing the arts and dodges of those who were; just as an outdoor sale on the market square of a town will always attract a number of folks who have nothing else to do, and also, an equal number perhaps of those who have.

Cattle would be driven up; good ones, for I had given out distinctly that it was waste of trouble to bring anything but good ones,--and then the owners, squatting around, would spend an hour or so haggling, to go away firmly resolved not to deal, but they nearly always came back, and, meanwhile, others would take their places, and go through in all probability exactly the same process; for your Zulu at a deal is a born Jew, and will spend an astonis.h.i.+ng amount of time haggling out of sheer love of haggling. He would go on for ever but for one consideration-- the amount of goods is limited in quant.i.ty, and if one neglects to secure his share another does not. So for the first few days I sat tight, making up "lots" with green blankets and cooking pots, butcher knives--always in great request--and bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, beads and Salampore cloth, which by the way, is not cloth at all, but a light gauzy fabric of dark blue, greatly in favour with the unmarried girls. All sorts of "notions" were in request, the veriest trifles as to market value, but highly prized up there; and as a thing is worth what it will fetch, why there comes in much of the trader's legitimate profit. I always held that no trade was too small to be refused, and I would accept curios, which were always in demand by down-country dealers in such things.

a.s.segais however were extremely difficult to obtain, so much so indeed as to be practically outside articles of barter, and this was significant. Another thing not less so was the universal request, open or covert, for firearms and ammunition. It was not much use my explaining to them that they were better off without either, that a man can do much better with a weapon he understands than with one he does not. For some reason or other they were bent on having them.

However, in a short while I found myself in possession of quite a nice lot of cattle, the sale of which would leave me a very considerable profit over when expenses were cleared, so I was not dissatisfied.

Then, all of a sudden, trade fell off, then ceased altogether. There was no apparent reason for it. I stood well with Majendwa, indeed I always erred in the right direction with regard to the princ.i.p.al chiefs when on trading ventures in their districts, holding that it is far better policy to be too liberal than too mean. But there was no blinking the fact that for some reason or other further trade was "off."

No more were my waggons thronged from morning till night. Those from outlying kraals who had been the most eager, stopped away altogether, but now and then someone from close at hand would drop in for something, and even then the deal would be so insignificant as to remind me of my store at Isipanga.

I put the matter squarely to Majendwa, but it didn't seem to help. He admitted that for some reason or other my trade had stopped. What could he do? He could not order his people to deal. I agreed with him there, still I was puzzled. I had calculated to have easily cleared out all I had at his place. Yet I had done well enough so far, but when I proposed to move further northward, and get into Uhamu's country, Majendwa seemed for some reason or other unwilling that I should.

"You will do no better there, Iqalaqala," he said, "and, for the rest, it is not advisable. See, we are alone, and are talking beneath the bullock's skin. Again I say--do not go there. Return rather to your own country, even if you have to carry back some of the goods you have brought. Or, there may be those on your way who will relieve you of them."

I looked at him fixedly and a thought struck me. The phrase he had used might well bear two meanings. Had he intended it as a warning? Such might well have been the case.

Falkner the while had been amusing himself as best he could. He soon got tired of watching the barter, though at first it had afforded him some amus.e.m.e.nt, but I had laid a stern and uncompromising embargo upon any approach even to practical joking. So he would roam off with a rifle or shot gun, and although I was anxious lest he should get into some mischief or other yet he seemed not to. Now he welcomed the idea of clearing out, when we talked things over. To my surprise he propounded an idea when I was telling him how our trade had come to a standstill.

"What if that sweep whose head I punched should be at the bottom of it?"

he said. "Dolf Norbury, I mean?"

I thought there might be something in it. However if it were true, he was bound to have gone to work in some such way that it would be impossible to prove anything, and even if we did, it was hard to see what we could do.

"Do? Why call round and punch his head again, of course," he answered briskly.

"That wouldn't help us to recover our trade. Besides Dolf Norbury isn't the sort to let himself be caught that way twice running. This time it would be a case of shooting on sight."

"That's a game two can play at," said Falkner.

"Yes," I answered, "but in this case it's a game in which he holds all the hand. It's clear that he has some following, and we have a lot of cattle to drive. Well, while we were settling accounts with him his, or rather Mawendhlela's, rips would have no trouble in clearing these off to some part of the country where we should never see a hoof of them again."

"But would they have the cheek to do that?"

"Wouldn't they? And this is a time when neither the King nor any of the chiefs would be over-keen to interfere in a quarrel between two white men. Let them settle it themselves is what would be said and meanwhile we should have lost all we came up for."

"d.a.m.n!"

"I echo that sentiment most fervently, but it can't be helped," I said.