beyond. Then the captain threw up his arms and fell to the earth.
"Ah!" cried Umslopogaas, "you sought a youth to slay him, and have
found an axe to be slain by it! Sleep
softly, captain of Chaka."
Then Umslopogaas spoke to Galazi,
saying: "My brother, I will fight no
more with the spear, but with the axe alone; it was to seek an axe
that I ran to and fro like a
coward. But this is a poor thing! See,
the haft is split because of the
greatness of my stroke! Now this is
my desire--to win that great axe of Jikiza, which is called Groan-
Maker, of which we have heard tell, so that axe and club may stand
together in the fray."
"That must be for another night," said Galazi. "We have not done so
ill for once. Now let us search for pots and corn, of which we stand
in need, and then to the mountain before dawn finds us."
Thus, then, did the Wolf-Brethren bring death on the impi of Chaka,
and this was but the first of many deaths that they
wrought with the
help of the wolves. For ever they ravened through the land at night,
and, falling on those they hated, they ate them up, till their name
and the name of the ghost-wolves became terrible in the ears of men,
and the land was swept clean. But they found that the wolves would not
go
abroad to worry everywhere. Thus, on a certain night, they set out
to fall upon the kraals of the People of the Axe, where dwelt the
chief Jikiza, who was named the Un
conquered, and owned the axe Groan-
Maker, but when they neared the kraal the wolves turned back and fled.
Then Galazi remembered the dream that he had dreamed, in which the
Dead One in the cave had seemed to speak, telling him that there only
where the men-eaters had hunted in the past might the wolves hunt to-
day. So they returned home, but Umslopogaas set himself to find a plan
to win the axe.
CHAPTER XVI
UMSLOPOGAAS VENTURES OUT TO WIN THE AXE
Now many moons had gone by since Umslopogaas became a king of the
wolves, and he was a man full grown, a man
fierce and tall and keen; a
slayer of men, fleet of foot and of
valour unequalled,
seeing by night
as well as by day. But he was not yet named the Slaughterer, and not
yet did he hold that iron chieftainess, the axe Groan-Maker. Still,
the desire to win the axe was
foremost in his mind, for no woman had
entered there, who when she enters drives out all other desire--ay, my
father, even that of good
weapons. At times, indeed, Umslopogaas would
lurk in the reeds by the river looking at the kraal of Jikiza the
Un
conquered, and would watch the gates of his kraal, and once as he
lurked he saw a man great, broad and hairy, who bore upon his shoulder
a shining axe, hafted with the horn of a rhinoceros. After that his
greed for this axe entered into Umslopogaas more and more, till at
length he scarcely could sleep for thinking of it, and to Galazi he
spoke of little else, wearying him much with his talk, for Galazi
loved silence. But for all his
longing he could find no means to win
it.
Now it
befell that as Umslopogaas hid one evening in the reeds,
watching the kraal of Jikiza, he saw a
maiden straight and fair, whose
skin shone like the
copper anklets on her limbs. She walked slowly
towards the reeds where he lay
hidden. Nor did she top at the brink of
the reeds; she entered them and sat herself down within a spear's
length of where Umslopogaas was seated, and at once began to weep,
speaking to herself as she wept.
"Would that the ghost-wolves might fall on him and all that is his,"
she sobbed, "ay, and on Masilo also! I would hound them on, even if I
myself must next know their fangs. Better to die by the teeth of the
wolves than to be sold to this fat pig of a Masilo. Oh! if I must wed
him, I will give him a knife for the bride's kiss. Oh! that I were a
lady of the ghost-wolves, there should be a picking of bones in the
kraal of Jikiza before the moon grows young again."
Umslopogaas heard, and of a sudden reared himself up before the maid,
and he was great and wild to look on, and the she-wolf's fangs shone
upon his brow.
"The ghost-wolves are at hand,
damsel," he said. "They are ever at
hand for those who need them."
Now the maid saw him and screamed
faintly, then grew silent, wondering
at the
greatness and the
fierce eyes of the man who spoke to her.
"Who are you?" she asked. "I fear you not,
whoever you are."
"There you are wrong,
damsel, for all men fear me, and they have cause
to fear. I am one of the Wolf-Brethren, whose names have been told of;
I am a
wizard of the Ghost Mountain. Take heed, now, lest I kill you.
It will be of little avail to call upon your people, for my feet are
fleeter than theirs."
"I have no wish to call upon my people, Wolf-Man," she answered. "And
for the rest, I am too young to kill."
"That is so,
maiden," answered Umslopogaas, looking at her beauty.
"What were the words upon your lips as to Jikiza and a certain Masilo?
Were they not
fierce words, such as my heart likes well?"
"It seems that you heard them," answered the girl. "What need to waste
breath in
speaking them again?"
"No need,
maiden. Now tell me your story; perhaps I may find a way to
help you."
"There is little to tell," she answered. "It is a small tale and a
common. My name is Zinita, and Jikiza the Un
conquered is my step-
father. He married my mother, who is dead, but none of his blood is in
me. Now he would give me in marriage to a certain Masilo, a fat man
and an old, whom I hate, because Masilo offers many cattle for me."
"Is there, then, another whom you would wed,
maiden?" asked
Umslopogaas.
"There is none," answered Zinita, looking him in the eyes.
"And is there no path by which you may escape from Masilo?"
"There is only one path, Wolf-Man--by death. If I die, I shall escape;
if Masilo dies, I shall escape; but to little end, for I shall be
given to another; but if Jikiza dies, then it will be well. What of
that wolf-people of yours, are they not hungry, Wolf-Man?"
"I cannot bring them here," answered Umslopogaas. "Is there no other
way?"
"There is another way," said Zinita, "if one can be found to try it."
And again she looked at him
strangely, causing the blood to beat
within him. "Hearken! do you not know how our people are governed?
They are governed by him who holds the axe Groan-Maker. He that can
win the axe in war from the hand of him who holds it, shall be our
chief. But if he who holds the axe dies un
conquered, then his son
takes his place and with it the axe. It has been thus, indeed, for
four generations, since he who held Groan-Maker has always been
un
conquerable. But I have heard that the great-grandfather of Jikiza
won the axe from him who held it in his day; he won it by fraud. For
when the axe had fallen on him but
lightly, he fell over, feigning
death. Then the owner of the axe laughed, and turned to walk away. But
the
forefather of Jikiza
sprang up behind him and pierced him through
with a spear, and thus he became chief of the People of the Axe.
Therefore, it is the custom of Jikiza to hew off the heads of those
whom he kills with the axe."
"Does he, then, slay many?" asked Umslopogaas.
"Of late years, few indeed," she said, "for none dare stand against
him--no, not with all to win. For,
holding the axe Groan-Maker, he is
un
conquerable, and to fight with him is sure death. Fifty-and-one have
tried in all, and before the hut of Jikiza there are piled fifty-and-
one white skulls. And know this, the axe must be won in fight; if it
is
stolen or found, it has no virtue--nay, it brings shame and death
to him who holds it."
"How, then, may a man give battle to Jikiza?" he asked again.
"Thus: Once in every year, on the first day of the new moon of the
summer season, Jikiza holds a meeting of the headmen. Then he must
rise and
challenge all or any to come forward and do battle with him
to win the axe and become chief in his place. Now if one comes
forward, they go into the cattle kraal, and there the matter is ended.
Afterwards, when the head is hewn from his foe, Jikiza goes back to
the meeting of the headmen, and they talk as before. All are free to
come to the meeting, and Jikiza must fight with them if they wish it,
whoever they be."
"Perhaps I shall be there," said Umslopogaas.
"After this meeting at the new moon, I am to be given in marriage to
Masilo," said the maid. "But should one
conquer Jikiza, then he will
be chief, and can give me in marriage to whom he will."
Now Umslopogaas understood her meaning, and knew that he had found
favour in her sight; and the thought moved him a little, for women
were strange to him as yet.
"If
perchance I should be there," he said, "and if
perchance I should
win the iron chieftainess, the axe Groan-Maker, and rule over the
People of the Axe, you should not live far from the shadow of the axe
thenceforward, maid Zinita."
"It is well, Wolf-Man, though some might not wish to dwell in that
shadow; but first you must win the axe. Many have tried, and all have
failed."
"Yet one must succeed at last," he said, "and so, farewell!" and he
leaped into the
torrent of the river, and swam it with great strokes.
Now the maid Zinita watched him till he was gone, and love of him
entered into her heart--a love that was
fierce and
jealous and strong.
But as he wended to the Ghost Mountain Umslopogaas thought rather of
axe Groan-Maker than of Maid Zinita; for ever, at the bottom,
Umslopogaas loved war more than women, though this has been his fate,
that women have brought sorrow on his head.
Fifteen days must pass before the day of the new moon, and during this
time Umslopogaas thought much and said little. Still, he told Galazi
something of the tale, and that he was determined to do battle with
Jikiza the Un
conquered for the axe Groan-Maker. Galazi said that he
would do well to let it be, and that it was better to stay with the
wolves than to go out seeking strange
weapons. He said also that even
if he won the axe, the matter might not stay there, for he must take
the girl also, and his heart boded no good of women. It had been a
girl who poisoned his father in the kraals of the Halakazi. To all of
which Umslopogaas answered nothing, for his heart was set both on the
axe and the girl, but more on the first than the last.
So the time wore on, and at length came the day of the new moon. At
the dawn of that day Umslopogaas arose and clad himself in a moocha,
binding the she-wolf's skin round his middle beneath the moocha. In
his hand he took a stout fighting-shield, which he had made of buffalo
hide, and that same light moon-shaped axe with which he had slain the
captain of Chaka.
"A poor
weapon with which to kill Jikiza the Un
conquerable," said
Galazi, eyeing it askance.
"It shall serve my turn," answered Umslopogaas.
Now Umslopogaas ate, and then they moved together slowly down the
mountain and crossed the river by a ford, for he wished to save his
strength. On the farther side of the river Galazi hid himself in the
reeds, because his face was known, and there Umslopogaas bade him
farewell, not
knowing if he should look upon him again. Afterwards he
walked up to the Great Place of Jikiza. Now when he reached the gates
of the kraal, he saw that many people were streaming through them, and
mingled with the people. Presently they came to the open space in
front of the huts of Jikiza, and there the headmen were gathered
together. In the centre of them, and before a heap of the skulls of
men which were piled up against his doorposts, sat Jikiza, a huge man,
a hairy and a proud, who glared about him rolling his eyes. Fastened
to his arm by a thong of leather was the great axe Groan-Maker, and
each man as he came up
saluted the axe,
calling it "Inkosikaas," or
chieftainess, but he did not
salute Jikiza. Umslopogaas sat down with
the people in front of the councillors, and few took any notice of
him, except Zinita, who moved
sullenly to and fro
bearing gourds of
beer to the councillors. Near to Jikiza, on his right hand, sat a fat
man with small and twinkling eyes, who watched the maid Zinita
greedily.
"Yon man," thought Umslopogaas, "is Masilo. The better for blood-
letting will you be, Masilo."
Presently Jikiza spoke, rolling his eyes: "This is the matter before
you, councillors. I have settled it in my mind to give my step-
daughter Zinita in marriage to Masilo, but the marriage gift is not
yet agreed on. I demand a hundred head of cattle from Masilo, for the
maid is fair and straight, a proper maid, and,
moreover, my daughter,