"Inkoosi," he said, when he had scraped away the tears produced by the

snuff, "I have come to ask you a favour. You heard Umbezi say to-day

that he will not give me his daughter, Mameena, unless I give him a

hundred head of cows. Now, I have not got the cattle, and I cannot earn

them by work in many years. Therefore I must take them from a certain

tribe I know which is at war with the Zulus. But this I cannot do unless

I have a gun. If I had a good gun, Inkoosi--one that only goes off

when it is asked, and not of its own fancy, I who have some name could

persuade a number of men whom I know, who once were servants of my

father, or their sons, to be my companions in this venture."

Advertisement..

"Do I understand that you wish me to give you one of my good guns with

two mouths to it (i.e. double-barrelled), a gun worth at least twelve

oxen, for nothing, O Saduko?" I asked in a cold and scandalised voice.

"Not so, O Watcher-by-Night," he answered; "not so, O

He-who-sleeps-with-one-eye-open" (another free and difficult rendering

of my native name, Macumazahn, or more correctly, Macumazana)--"I should

never dream of offering such an insult to your high-born intelligence."

He paused and took another pinch of snuff, then went on in a meditative

voice: "Where I propose to get those hundred cattle there are many more;

I am told not less than a thousand head in all. Now, Inkoosi," he added,

looking at me sideways, "suppose you gave me the gun I ask for, and

suppose you accompanied me with your own gun and your armed hunters, it

would be fair that you should have half the cattle, would it not?"

"That's cool," I said. "So, young man, you want to turn me into a

cow-thief and get my throat cut by Panda for breaking the peace of his

country?"

"Neither, Macumazahn, for these are my own cattle. Listen, now, and

I will tell you a story. You have heard of Matiwane, the chief of the

Amangwane?"

"Yes," I answered. "His tribe lived near the head of the Umzinyati,

did they not? Then they were beaten by the Boers or the English, and

Matiwane came under the Zulus. But afterwards Dingaan wiped him out,

with his House, and now his people are killed or scattered."

"Yes, his people are killed and scattered, but his House still lives.

Macumazahn, I am his House, I, the only son of his chief wife, for

Zikali the Wise Little One, the Ancient, who is of the Amangwane blood,

and who hated Chaka and Dingaan--yes, and Senzangakona their father

before them, but whom none of them could kill because he is so great and

has such mighty spirits for his servants, saved and sheltered me."




Most Popular