บทที่ บทที่ 10 · THE WITCH-HUNT

. THE WITCH-HUNT

On reaching our hut I motioned to Infadoos to enter with us.

“Now, Infadoos,” I said, “we would speak with thee.”

“Let my lords say on.”

“It seems to us, Infadoos, that Twala the king is a cruel man.”

“It is so, my lords. Alas! the land cries out because of his cruelties.

To-night ye shall see. It is the great witch-hunt, and many will be

smelt out as wizards and slain. No man’s life is safe. If the king

covets a man’s cattle, or a man’s wife, or if he fears a man that he

should excite a rebellion against him, then Gagool, whom ye saw, or

some of the witch-finding women whom she has taught, will smell that

man out as a wizard, and he will be killed. Many must die before the

moon grows pale to-night. It is ever so. Perhaps I too shall be killed.

As yet I have been spared because I am skilled in war, and am beloved

by the soldiers; but I know not how long I have to live. The land

groans at the cruelties of Twala the king; it is wearied of him and his

red ways.”

“Then why is it, Infadoos, that the people do not cast him down?”

“Nay, my lords, he is the king, and if he were killed Scragga would

reign in his place, and the heart of Scragga is blacker than the heart

of Twala his father. If Scragga were king his yoke upon our neck would

be heavier than the yoke of Twala. If Imotu had never been slain, or if

Ignosi his son had lived, it might have been otherwise; but they are

both dead.”

“How knowest thou that Ignosi is dead?” said a voice behind us. We

looked round astonished to see who spoke. It was Umbopa.

“What meanest thou, boy?” asked Infadoos; “who told thee to speak?”

“Listen, Infadoos,” was the answer, “and I will tell thee a story.

Years ago the king Imotu was killed in this country and his wife fled

with the boy Ignosi. Is it not so?”

“It is so.”

“It was said that the woman and her son died upon the mountains. Is it

not so?”

“It is even so.”

“Well, it came to pass that the mother and the boy Ignosi did not die.

They crossed the mountains and were led by a tribe of wandering desert

men across the sands beyond, till at last they came to water and grass

and trees again.”

“How knowest thou this?”

“Listen. They travelled on and on, many months’ journey, till they

reached a land where a people called the Amazulu, who also are of the

Kukuana stock, live by war, and with them they tarried many years, till

at length the mother died. Then the son Ignosi became a wanderer again,

and journeyed into a land of wonders, where white people live, and for

many more years he learned the wisdom of the white people.”

“It is a pretty story,” said Infadoos incredulously.

“For years he lived there working as a servant and a soldier, but

holding in his heart all that his mother had told him of his own place,

and casting about in his mind to find how he might journey thither to

see his people and his father’s house before he died. For long years he

lived and waited, and at last the time came, as it ever comes to him

who can wait for it, and he met some white men who would seek this

unknown land, and joined himself to them. The white men started and

travelled on and on, seeking for one who is lost. They crossed the

burning desert, they crossed the snow-clad mountains, and at last

reached the land of the Kukuanas, and there they found _thee_, O

Infadoos.”

“Surely thou art mad to talk thus,” said the astonished old soldier.

“Thou thinkest so; see, I will show thee, O my uncle.

“_I am Ignosi, rightful king of the Kukuanas!_”

Then with a single movement Umbopa slipped off his “moocha” or girdle,

and stood naked before us.

“Look,” he said; “what is this?” and he pointed to the picture of a

great snake tattooed in blue round his middle, its tail disappearing

into its open mouth just above where the thighs are set into the body.

Infadoos looked, his eyes starting nearly out of his head. Then he fell

upon his knees.

“_Koom! Koom!_” he ejaculated; “it is my brother’s son; it is the

king.”

“Did I not tell thee so, my uncle? Rise; I am not yet the king, but

with thy help, and with the help of these brave white men, who are my

friends, I shall be. Yet the old witch Gagool was right, the land shall

run with blood first, and hers shall run with it, if she has any and

can die, for she killed my father with her words, and drove my mother

forth. And now, Infadoos, choose thou. Wilt thou put thy hands between

my hands and be my man? Wilt thou share the dangers that lie before me,

and help me to overthrow this tyrant and murderer, or wilt thou not?

Choose thou.”

The old man put his hand to his head and thought. Then he rose, and

advancing to where Umbopa, or rather Ignosi, stood, he knelt before

him, and took his hand.

“Ignosi, rightful king of the Kukuanas, I put my hand between thy

hands, and am thy man till death. When thou wast a babe I dandled thee

upon my knees, now shall my old arm strike for thee and freedom.”

“It is well, Infadoos; if I conquer, thou shalt be the greatest man in

the kingdom after its king. If I fail, thou canst only die, and death

is not far off from thee. Rise, my uncle.”

“And ye, white men, will ye help me? What have I to offer you! The

white stones! If I conquer and can find them, ye shall have as many as

ye can carry hence. Will that suffice you?”

I translated this remark.

“Tell him,” answered Sir Henry, “that he mistakes an Englishman. Wealth

is good, and if it comes in our way we will take it; but a gentleman

does not sell himself for wealth. Still, speaking for myself, I say

this. I have always liked Umbopa, and so far as lies in me I will stand

by him in this business. It will be very pleasant to me to try to

square matters with that cruel devil Twala. What do you say, Good, and

you, Quatermain?”

“Well,” said Good, “to adopt the language of hyperbole, in which all

these people seem to indulge, you can tell him that a row is surely

good, and warms the cockles of the heart, and that so far as I am

concerned I’m his boy. My only stipulation is that he allows me to wear

trousers.”

I translated the substance of these answers.

“It is well, my friends,” said Ignosi, late Umbopa; “and what sayest

thou, Macumazahn, art thou also with me, old hunter, cleverer than a

wounded buffalo?”

I thought awhile and scratched my head.

“Umbopa, or Ignosi,” I said, “I don’t like revolutions. I am a man of

peace and a bit of a coward”—here Umbopa smiled—“but, on the other

hand, I stick up for my friends, Ignosi. You have stuck to us and

played the part of a man, and I will stick by you. But mind you, I am a

trader, and have to make my living, so I accept your offer about those

diamonds in case we should ever be in a position to avail ourselves of

it. Another thing: we came, as you know, to look for Incubu’s (Sir

Henry’s) lost brother. You must help us to find him.”

“That I will do,” answered Ignosi. “Stay, Infadoos, by the sign of the

snake about my middle, tell me the truth. Has any white man to thy

knowledge set his foot within the land?”

“None, O Ignosi.”

“If any white man had been seen or heard of, wouldst thou have known?”

“I should certainly have known.”

“Thou hearest, Incubu,” said Ignosi to Sir Henry; “he has not been

here.”

“Well, well,” said Sir Henry, with a sigh; “there it is; I suppose that

he never got so far. Poor fellow, poor fellow! So it has all been for

nothing. God’s will be done.”

“Now for business,” I put in, anxious to escape from a painful subject.

“It is very well to be a king by right divine, Ignosi, but how dost

thou propose to become a king indeed?”

“Nay, I know not. Infadoos, hast thou a plan?”

“Ignosi, Son of the Lightning,” answered his uncle, “to-night is the

great dance and witch-hunt. Many shall be smelt out and perish, and in

the hearts of many others there will be grief and anguish and fury

against the king Twala. When the dance is over, then I will speak to

some of the great chiefs, who in turn, if I can win them over, will

speak to their regiments. I shall speak to the chiefs softly at first,

and bring them to see that thou art indeed the king, and I think that

by to-morrow’s light thou shalt have twenty thousand spears at thy

command. And now I must go and think, and hear, and make ready. After

the dance is done, if I am yet alive, and we are all alive, I will meet

thee here, and we can talk. At the best there must be war.”

At this moment our conference was interrupted by the cry that

messengers had come from the king. Advancing to the door of the hut we

ordered that they should be admitted, and presently three men entered,

each bearing a shining shirt of chain armour, and a magnificent

battle-axe.

“The gifts of my lord the king to the white men from the Stars!” said a

herald who came with them.

“We thank the king,” I answered; “withdraw.”

The men went, and we examined the armour with great interest. It was

the most wonderful chain work that either of us had ever seen. A whole

coat fell together so closely that it formed a mass of links scarcely

too big to be covered with both hands.

“Do you make these things in this country, Infadoos?” I asked; “they

are very beautiful.”

“Nay, my lord, they came down to us from our forefathers. We know not

who made them, and there are but few left.[7] None but those of royal

blood may be clad in them. They are magic coats through which no spear

can pass, and those who wear them are well-nigh safe in the battle. The

king is well pleased or much afraid, or he would not have sent these

garments of steel. Clothe yourselves in them to-night, my lords.”

[7] In the Soudan swords and coats of mail are still worn by Arabs,

whose ancestors must have stripped them from the bodies of

Crusaders.—_Editor_.

The remainder of that day we spent quietly, resting and talking over

the situation, which was sufficiently exciting. At last the sun went

down, the thousand watch fires glowed out, and through the darkness we

heard the tramp of many feet and the clashing of hundreds of spears, as

the regiments passed to their appointed places to be ready for the

great dance. Then the full moon shone out in splendour, and as we stood

watching her rays, Infadoos arrived, clad in his war dress, and

accompanied by a guard of twenty men to escort us to the dance. As he

recommended, we had already donned the shirts of chain armour which the

king had sent us, putting them on under our ordinary clothing, and

finding to our surprise that they were neither very heavy nor

uncomfortable. These steel shirts, which evidently had been made for

men of a very large stature, hung somewhat loosely upon Good and

myself, but Sir Henry’s fitted his magnificent frame like a glove. Then

strapping our revolvers round our waists, and taking in our hands the

battle-axes which the king had sent with the armour, we started.

On arriving at the great kraal, where we had that morning been received

by the king, we found that it was closely packed with some twenty

thousand men arranged round it in regiments. These regiments were in

turn divided into companies, and between each company ran a little path

to allow space for the witch-finders to pass up and down. Anything more

imposing than the sight that was presented by this vast and orderly

concourse of armed men it is impossible to conceive. There they stood

perfectly silent, and the moon poured her light upon the forest of

their raised spears, upon their majestic forms, waving plumes, and the

harmonious shading of their various-coloured shields. Wherever we

looked were line upon line of dim faces surmounted by range upon range

of shimmering spears.

“Surely,” I said to Infadoos, “the whole army is here?”

“Nay, Macumazahn,” he answered, “but a third of it. One third is

present at this dance each year, another third is mustered outside in

case there should be trouble when the killing begins, ten thousand more

garrison the outposts round Loo, and the rest watch at the kraals in

the country. Thou seest it is a great people.”

“They are very silent,” said Good; and indeed the intense stillness

among such a vast concourse of living men was almost overpowering.

“What says Bougwan?” asked Infadoos.

I translated.

“Those over whom the shadow of Death is hovering are silent,” he

answered grimly.

“Will many be killed?”

“Very many.”

“It seems,” I said to the others, “that we are going to assist at a

gladiatorial show arranged regardless of expense.”

Sir Henry shivered, and Good said he wished that we could get out of

it.

“Tell me,” I asked Infadoos, “are we in danger?”

“I know not, my lords, I trust not; but do not seem afraid. If ye live

through the night all may go well with you. The soldiers murmur against

the king.”

All this while we had been advancing steadily towards the centre of the

open space, in the midst of which were placed some stools. As we

proceeded we perceived another small party coming from the direction of

the royal hut.

“It is the king Twala, Scragga his son, and Gagool the old; and see,

with them are those who slay,” said Infadoos, pointing to a little

group of about a dozen gigantic and savage-looking men, armed with

spears in one hand and heavy kerries in the other.

The king seated himself upon the centre stool, Gagool crouched at his

feet, and the others stood behind him.

“Greeting, white lords,” Twala cried, as we came up; “be seated, waste

not precious time—the night is all too short for the deeds that must be

done. Ye come in a good hour, and shall see a glorious show. Look

round, white lords; look round,” and he rolled his one wicked eye from

regiment to regiment. “Can the Stars show you such a sight as this? See

how they shake in their wickedness, all those who have evil in their

hearts and fear the judgment of ‘Heaven above.’”

“_Begin! begin!_” piped Gagool, in her thin piercing voice; “the hyænas

are hungry, they howl for food. _Begin! begin!_”

Then for a moment there was intense stillness, made horrible by a

presage of what was to come.

The king lifted his spear, and suddenly twenty thousand feet were

raised, as though they belonged to one man, and brought down with a

stamp upon the earth. This was repeated three times, causing the solid

ground to shake and tremble. Then from a far point of the circle a

solitary voice began a wailing song, of which the refrain ran something

as follows:—

“_What is the lot of man born of woman?_”

Back came the answer rolling out from every throat in that vast

company—

“_Death!_”

Gradually, however, the song was taken up by company after company,

till the whole armed multitude were singing it, and I could no longer

follow the words, except in so far as they appeared to represent

various phases of human passions, fears, and joys. Now it seemed to be

a love song, now a majestic swelling war chant, and last of all a death

dirge ending suddenly in one heart-breaking wail that went echoing and

rolling away in a volume of blood-curdling sound.

Again silence fell upon the place, and again it was broken by the king

lifting his hand. Instantly we heard a pattering of feet, and from out

of the masses of warriors strange and awful figures appeared running

towards us. As they drew near we saw that these were women, most of

them aged, for their white hair, ornamented with small bladders taken

from fish, streamed out behind them. Their faces were painted in

stripes of white and yellow; down their backs hung snake-skins, and

round their waists rattled circlets of human bones, while each held a

small forked wand in her shrivelled hand. In all there were ten of

them. When they arrived in front of us they halted, and one of them,

pointing with her wand towards the crouching figure of Gagool, cried

out—

“Mother, old mother, we are here.”

“_Good! good! good!_” answered that aged Iniquity. “Are your eyes keen,

_Isanusis_ [witch doctresses], ye seers in dark places?”

“Mother, they are keen.”

“_Good! good! good!_ Are your ears open, _Isanusis_, ye who hear words

that come not from the tongue?”

“Mother, they are open.”

“_Good! good! good!_ Are your senses awake, _Isanusis_—can ye smell

blood, can ye purge the land of the wicked ones who compass evil

against the king and against their neighbours? Are ye ready to do the

justice of ‘Heaven above,’ ye whom I have taught, who have eaten of the

bread of my wisdom, and drunk of the water of my magic?”

“Mother, we can.”

“Then go! Tarry not, ye vultures; see, the slayers”—pointing to the

ominous group of executioners behind—“make sharp their spears; the

white men from afar are hungry to see. _Go!_”

With a wild yell Gagool’s horrid ministers broke away in every

direction, like fragments from a shell, the dry bones round their

waists rattling as they ran, and headed for various points of the dense

human circle. We could not watch them all, so we fixed our eyes upon

the _Isanusi_ nearest to us. When she came to within a few paces of the

warriors she halted and began to dance wildly, turning round and round

with an almost incredible rapidity, and shrieking out sentences such as

“I smell him, the evil-doer!” “He is near, he who poisoned his mother!”

“I hear the thoughts of him who thought evil of the king!”

Quicker and quicker she danced, till she lashed herself into such a

frenzy of excitement that the foam flew in specks from her gnashing

jaws, till her eyes seemed to start from her head, and her flesh to

quiver visibly. Suddenly she stopped dead and stiffened all over, like

a pointer dog when he scents game, and then with outstretched wand she

began to creep stealthily towards the soldiers before her. It seemed to

us that as she came their stoicism gave way, and that they shrank from

her. As for ourselves, we followed her movements with a horrible

fascination. Presently, still creeping and crouching like a dog, the

_Isanusi_ was before them. Then she halted and pointed, and again crept

on a pace or two.

Suddenly the end came. With a shriek she sprang in and touched a tall

warrior with her forked wand. Instantly two of his comrades, those

standing immediately next to him, seized the doomed man, each by one

arm, and advanced with him towards the king.

He did not resist, but we saw that he dragged his limbs as though they

were paralysed, and that his fingers, from which the spear had fallen,

were limp like those of a man newly dead.

As he came, two of the villainous executioners stepped forward to meet

him. Presently they met, and the executioners turned round, looking

towards the king as though for orders.

“_Kill!_” said the king.

“_Kill!_” squeaked Gagool.

“_Kill!_” re-echoed Scragga, with a hollow chuckle.

Almost before the words were uttered the horrible deed was done. One

man had driven his spear into the victim’s heart, and to make assurance

double sure, the other had dashed out his brains with a great club.

“_One_,” counted Twala the king, just like a black Madame Defarge, as

Good said, and the body was dragged a few paces away and stretched out.

Hardly was the thing done before another poor wretch was brought up,

like an ox to the slaughter. This time we could see, from the

leopard-skin cloak which he wore, that the man was a person of rank.

Again the awful syllables were spoken, and the victim fell dead.

“_Two_,” counted the king.

And so the deadly game went on, till about a hundred bodies were

stretched in rows behind us. I have heard of the gladiatorial shows of

the Cæsars, and of the Spanish bull-fights, but I take the liberty of

doubting if either of them could be half so horrible as this Kukuana

witch-hunt. Gladiatorial shows and Spanish bull-fights at any rate

contributed to the public amusement, which certainly was not the case

here. The most confirmed sensation-monger would fight shy of sensation

if he knew that it was well on the cards that he would, in his own

proper person, be the subject of the next “event.”

Once we rose and tried to remonstrate, but were sternly repressed by

Twala.

“Let the law take its course, white men. These dogs are magicians and

evil-doers; it is well that they should die,” was the only answer

vouchsafed to us.

About half-past ten there was a pause. The witch-finders gathered

themselves together, apparently exhausted with their bloody work, and

we thought that the performance was done with. But it was not so, for

presently, to our surprise, the ancient woman, Gagool, rose from her

crouching position, and supporting herself with a stick, staggered off

into the open space. It was an extraordinary sight to see this

frightful vulture-headed old creature, bent nearly double with extreme

age, gather strength by degrees, until at last she rushed about almost

as actively as her ill-omened pupils. To and fro she ran, chanting to

herself, till suddenly she made a dash at a tall man standing in front

of one of the regiments, and touched him. As she did this a sort of

groan went up from the regiment which evidently he commanded. But two

of its officers seized him all the same, and brought him up for

execution. We learned afterwards that he was a man of great wealth and

importance, being indeed a cousin of the king.

He was slain, and Twala counted one hundred and three. Then Gagool

again sprang to and fro, gradually drawing nearer and nearer to

ourselves.

“Hang me if I don’t believe she is going to try her games on us,”

ejaculated Good in horror.

“Nonsense!” said Sir Henry.

As for myself, when I saw that old fiend dancing nearer and nearer, my

heart positively sank into my boots. I glanced behind us at the long

rows of corpses, and shivered.

Nearer and nearer waltzed Gagool, looking for all the world like an

animated crooked stick or comma, her horrid eyes gleaming and glowing

with a most unholy lustre.

Nearer she came, and yet nearer, every creature in that vast assemblage

watching her movements with intense anxiety. At last she stood still

and pointed.

“Which is it to be?” asked Sir Henry to himself.

In a moment all doubts were at rest, for the old hag had rushed in and

touched Umbopa, alias Ignosi, on the shoulder.

“I smell him out,” she shrieked. “Kill him, kill him, he is full of

evil; kill him, the stranger, before blood flows from him. Slay him, O

king.”

There was a pause, of which I instantly took advantage.

“O king,” I called out, rising from my seat, “this man is the servant

of thy guests, he is their dog; whosoever sheds the blood of our dog

sheds our blood. By the sacred law of hospitality I claim protection

for him.”

“Gagool, mother of the witch-finders, has smelt him out; he must die,

white men,” was the sullen answer.

“Nay, he shall not die,” I replied; “he who tries to touch him shall

die indeed.”

“Seize him!” roared Twala to the executioners; who stood round red to

the eyes with the blood of their victims.

They advanced towards us, and then hesitated. As for Ignosi, he

clutched his spear, and raised it as though determined to sell his life

dearly.

“Stand back, ye dogs!” I shouted, “if ye would see to-morrow’s light.

Touch one hair of his head and your king dies,” and I covered Twala

with my revolver. Sir Henry and Good also drew their pistols, Sir Henry

pointing his at the leading executioner, who was advancing to carry out

the sentence, and Good taking a deliberate aim at Gagool.

Twala winced perceptibly as my barrel came in a line with his broad

chest.

“Well,” I said, “what is it to be, Twala?”

Then he spoke.

“Put away your magic tubes,” he said; “ye have adjured me in the name

of hospitality, and for that reason, but not from fear of what ye can

do, I spare him. Go in peace.”

“It is well,” I answered unconcernedly; “we are weary of slaughter, and

would sleep. Is the dance ended?”

“It is ended,” Twala answered sulkily. “Let these dead dogs,” pointing

to the long rows of corpses, “be flung out to the hyænas and the

vultures,” and he lifted his spear.

Instantly the regiments began to defile through the kraal gateway in

perfect silence, a fatigue party only remaining behind to drag away the

corpses of those who had been sacrificed.

Then we rose also, and making our salaam to his majesty, which he

hardly deigned to acknowledge, we departed to our huts.

“Well,” said Sir Henry, as we sat down, having first lit a lamp of the

sort used by the Kukuanas, of which the wick is made from the fibre of

a species of palm leaf, and the oil from clarified hippopotamus fat,

“well, I feel uncommonly inclined to be sick.”

“If I had any doubts about helping Umbopa to rebel against that

infernal blackguard,” put in Good, “they are gone now. It was as much

as I could do to sit still while that slaughter was going on. I tried

to keep my eyes shut, but they would open just at the wrong time. I

wonder where Infadoos is. Umbopa, my friend, you ought to be grateful

to us; your skin came near to having an air-hole made in it.”

“I am grateful, Bougwan,” was Umbopa’s answer, when I had translated,

“and I shall not forget. As for Infadoos, he will be here by-and-by. We

must wait.”

So we lit our pipes and waited.