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 with his cruelties.
To-night ye will 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 life,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 will die before the moon grows pale tonight.It is ever so.
Perhaps I too shall be killed.As yet I have been spared,because I am skilled in war and beloved by the soldiers;but I know not how long I shall 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 the 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 had been otherwise;but they are both dead.""How know you that Ignosi is dead?"said a voice behind us.We looked round with astonishment 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 the boy 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?"
"Listen.They travelled on and on,many months'journey,till they reached a land where a people called the Amazulu,who too 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,again became a wanderer,and went on into a land of wonders,where white people live,and for many more years learned the wisdom of the white people,""It is a pretty story,"said Infadoos,incredulously.
"For many 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 get back there to see his own people and his father's house before he died.For many 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 journeyed on and on,seeking for one who is lost.They crossed the burning desert,they crossed the snow-clad mountains,and reached the land of the Kukuanas,and there they met thee,oh 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,he slipped off the "moocha,"or girdle round his middle,and stood naked before us.
"Look,"he said;"what is this?"and he pointed to the mark of a great snake tattooed in blue round his middle,its tail disappearing in its open mouth just above where the thighs are set into the body.
Infadoos looked,his eyes starting nearly out of his head,and then 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.But the old woman Gagool was right;the land shall run with blood first,and hers shall run with it,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,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 knee;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 the king.If I fail,thou canst only die,and death is not far off for thee.Rise,my uncle.
"And ye,white men,will ye help me?What have I to offer ye!
The white stones,if I conquer and you can find them,ye shall have as many as ye can carry hence.Will that suffice ye?"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.But,speaking for myself,I say this:
I have always liked Umbopa,and so far as in me we will stand by him in this business.It will be very pleasant to me to try and 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 these answers.
"It is well,my friends,"said Ignosi,late Umbopa;"and what say you,Macumazahn;art thou too with me,old hunter,cleverer than a wounded buffalo?"I thought awhile and scratched my head.