章节正文
shape of a snake to save my life.
When they had gone I crept off the other way, and Koos followed me. At
first I thought that I would kill him, lest he should betray me; but
when I called to him to knock him on the head with my kerrie, he sat
down upon the ground wagging his tail, and seemed to smile in my face,
and I could not do it. So I thought that I would take my chance, and
we went on together. This was my purpose: first to creep into my own
hut and get my assegais and a skin blanket, then to gain speech with
Baleka. My hut, I thought, would be empty, for nobody sleeps there
except myself, and the huts of Noma were some paces away to the right.
I came to the reed fence that surrounded the huts. Nobody was to be
seen at the gate, which was not shut with thorns as usual. It was my
duty to close it, and I had not been there to do so. Then, bidding the
dog lie down outside, I stepped through boldly, reached the door of my
hut, and listened. It was empty; there was not even a breath to be
heard. So I crept in and began to search for my assegais, my water-
gourd, and my wood pillow, which was so nicely carved that I did not
like to leave it. Soon I found them. Then I felt about for my skin
rug, and as I did so my hand touched something cold. I started, and
felt again. It was a man's face--the face of a dead man, of Noma, whom
I had killed and who had been laid in my hut to await burial. Oh! then
I was frightened, for Noma dead and in the dark was worse than Noma
alive. I made ready to fly, when suddenly I heard the voices of women
talking outside the door of the hut. I knew the voices; they were
those of Noma's two wives, and one of them said she was coming in to
watch by her husband's body. Now I was in a trap indeed, for before I
could do anything I saw the light go out of a hole in the hut, and
knew by the sound of a fat woman puffing as she bent herself up that
Noma's first wife was coming through it. Presently she was in, and,
squatting by the side of the corpse in such a fashion that I could not
get to the door, she began to make lamentations and to cal down curses
on me. Ah! she did not know that I was listening. I too squatted by
Noma's head, and grew quick-witted in my fear. Now that the woman was
there I was not so much afraid of the dead man, and I remembered, too,
that he had been a great cheat; so I thought I would make him cheat
for the last time. I placed my hands beneath his shoulders and pushed
him up so that he sat upon the ground. The woman heard the noise and
made a sound in her throat.
"Will you not be quiet, you old hag?" I said in Noma's voice. "Can you
not let me be at peace, even now when I am dead?"
She heard, and, falling backwards in fear, drew in her breath to
shriek aloud.
"What! will you also dare to shriek?" I said again in Noma's voice;
"then I must teach you silence." And I tumbled him over on to the top
of her.
Then her senses left her, and whether she ever found them again I do
not know. At least she grew quiet for that time. For me, I snatched up
the rug--afterwards I found it was Noma's best kaross, made by Basutos
of chosen cat-skins, and worth three oxen--and I fled, followed by
Koos.
Now the kraal of the chief, my father, Makedama, was two hundred paces
away, and I must go thither, for there Baleka slept. Also I dared not
enter by the gate, because a man was always on guard there. So I cut
my way through the reed fence with my assegai and crept to the hut
where Baleka was with some of her half-sisters. I knew on which side
of the hut it was her custom to lie, and where her head would be. So I
lay down on my side and gently, very gently, began to bore a hole in
the grass covering of the hut. It took a long while, for the thatch
was thick, but at last I was nearly through it. Then I stopped, for it
came into my mind that Baleka might have changed her place, and that I
might wake the wrong girl. I almost gave it over, thinking that I
would fly alone, when suddenly I heard a girl wake and begin to cry on
the other side of the thatch. "Ah," I thought, "that is Baleka, who
weeps for her brother!" So I put my lips where the thatch was thinnest
and whispered:--
"Baleka, my sister! Baleka, do not weep! I, Mopo, am here. Say not a
word, but rise. Come out of the hut, bringing your skin blanket.
Now Baleka was very clever: she did not shriek, as most girls would
have done. No; she understood, and, after waitingawhile, she rose and
crept from the hut, her blanket in her hand.
"Why are you here, Mopo?" she whispered, as we met. "Surely you will
be killed!"
"Hush!" I said. And then I told her of the plan which I had made.
"Will you come with me?" I said, when I had done, "or will you creep
back into the hut and bid me farewell?"
She thought awhile, then she said, "No, my brother, I will come, for I
love you alone among our people, though I believe that this will be
the end of it--that you will lead me to my death."
I did not think much of her words at the time, but afterwards they
came back to me. So we slipped away together, followed by the dog
Koos, and soon we were running over the veldt with our faces set
towards the country of the Zulu tribe.
CHAPTER IV
THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AND BALEKA
All the rest of that night we journeyed, till even the dog was tired.
Then we hid in a mealie field for the day, as we were afraid of being
seen. Towards the afternoon we heard voices, and, looking through the
stems of the mealies, we saw a party of my father's men pass searching
for us. They went on to a neighbouring kraal to ask if we had been
seen, and after that we saw them no more for awhile. At night we
travelled again; but, as fate would have it, we were met by an old
woman, who looked oddly at us but said nothing. After that we pushed
on day and night, for we knew that the old woman would tell the
pursuers if she met them; and so indeed it came about. On the third
evening we reached some mealie gardens, and saw that they had been
trampled down. Among the broken mealies we found the body of a very
old man, as full of assegai wounds as a porcupine with quills. We
wondered at this, and went on a little way. Then we saw that the kraal
to which the gardens belonged was burnt down. We crept up to it, and--
ah! it was a sad sight for us to see! Afterwards we became used to
such sights. All about us lay the bodies of dead people, scores of
them--old men, young men, women, children, little babies at the breast
--there they lay among the burnt huts, pierced with assegai wounds.
Red was the earth with their blood, and red they looked in the red
light of the setting sun. It was as though all the land had been
smeared with the bloody hand of the Great Spirit, of the Umkulunkulu.
Baleka saw it and began to cry; she was weary, poor girl, and we had
found little to eat, only grass and green corn.
"An enemy has been here," I said, and as I spoke I thought that I
heard a groan from the other side of a broken reed hedge. I went and
looked. There lay a young woman: she was badly wounded, but still
alive, my father. A little way from her lay a man dead, and before him
several other men of another tribe: he had died fighting. In front of
the woman were the bodies of three children; another, a little one,
lay on her body. I looked at the woman, and, as I looked, she groaned
again, opened her eyes and saw me, and that I had a spear in my hand.
"Kill me quickly!" she said. "Have you not tortured me enough?"
I said that I was a stranger and did not want to kill her.
"Then bring me water," she said; "there is a spring there behind the
kraal."
I called to Baleka to come to the woman, and went with my gourd to the
spring. There were bodies in it, but I dragged them out, and when the
water had cleared a little I filled the gourd and brought it back to
the woman. She drank deep, and her strength came back a little--the
water gave her life.
"How did you come to this?" I asked.
"It was an impi of Chaka, Chief of the Zulus, that ate us up," she
answered. "They burst upon as at dawn this morning while we were
asleep in our huts. Yes, I woke up to hear the sound of killing. I was
sleeping by my husband, with him who lies there, and the children. We
all ran out. My husband had a spear and shield. He was a brave man.
See! he died bravely: he killed three of the Zulu devils before he
himself was dead. Then they caught me, and killed my children, and
stabbed me till they thought that I was dead. Afterwards, they went
away. I don't know why they came, but I think it was because our chief
would not send men to help Chaka against Zweete."
She stopped, gave a great cry, and died.
My sister wept at the sight, and I too was stirred by it. "Ah!" I
thought to myself, "the Great Spirit must be evil. If he is not evil
such things would not happen." That is how I thought then, my father;
now I think differently. I know that we had not found out the path of
the Great Spirit, that is all. I was a chicken in those days, my
father; afterwards I got used to such sights. They did not stir me any
more, not one whit. But then in the days of Chaka the rivers ran blood
--yes, we had to look at the water to see if it was clean before we
drank. People learned how to die then and not make a noise about it.
What does it matter? They would have been dead now anyway. It does not
matter; nothing matters, except being born. That is a mistake, my
father.
We stopped at the kraal that night, but we could not sleep, for we
heard the Itongo, the ghosts of the dead people, moving about and
calling to each other. It was natural that they should do so; men were
looking for their wives, and mothers for their children. But we were
afraid that they might be angry with us for being there, so we clung
together and trembled in each other's arms. Koos also trembled, and
from time to time he howled loudly. But they did not seem to see us,
and towards morning their cries grew fainter.
When the first light came we rose and picked our way through the dead
down to the plain. Now we had an easy road to follow to Chaka's kraal,
for there was the spoor of the impi and of the cattle which they had
stolen, and sometimes we came to the body of a warrior who had been
killed because his wounds prevented him from marching farther. But now
I was doubtful whether it was wise for us to go to Chaka, for after
what we had seen I grew afraid lest he should kill us. Still, we had
nowhere to turn, so I said that we would walk along till something
happened. Now we grew faint with hunger and weariness, and Baleka said
that we had better sit down and die, for then there would be no more
trouble. So we sat down by a spring. But I did not wish to die yet,
thought Baleka was right, and it would have been well to do so. As we
sat, the dog Koos went to a bush that was near, and presently I heard
him spring at something and the sound of struggling. I ran to the bush
--he had caught hold of a duiker buck, as big as himself, that was
asleep in it. Then I drove my spear into the buck and shouted for joy,
for here was food. When the buck was dead I skinned him, and we took
bits of the flesh, washed them in the water, and ate them, for we had
no fire to cook them with. It is not nice to eat uncooked flesh, but
we were so hungry that we did not mind, and the good refreshed us.
When we had eaten what we could, we rose and washed ourselves at the
spring; but, as we washed, Baleka looked up and gave a cry of fear.
For there, on the crest of the hill, about ten spear-throws away, was
a party of six armed men, people of my own tribe--children of my
father Makedama--who still pursued us to take us or kill us. They saw
us--they raised a shout, and began to run. We too sprang up and ran--
ran like bucks, for fear had touched our feet.
Now the land lay thus. Before us the ground was open and sloped down
to the banks of the White Umfolozi, which twisted through the plain
like a great and shining snake. On the other side the ground rose
again, and we did not know what was beyond, but we thought that in
this direction lay the kraal of Chaka. We ran for the river--where
else were we to run? And after us came the warriors. They gained on
us; they were strong, and they were angry because they had come so
far. Run as we would, still they gained. Now we neared the banks of
the river; it was full and wide. Above us the waters ran angrily,
breaking into swirls of white where they passed over sunken rocks;
below was a rapid, in which none might live; between the two a deep
pool, where the water was quiet but the stream strong.
"Ah! my brother, what shall we do?" gasped Baleka.
"There is this to choose," I answered; "perish on the spears of our
people or try the river."
"Easier to die by water than on iron," she answered.
"Good!" I said. "Now may our snakes look towards us and the spirits of
When they had gone I crept off the other way, and Koos followed me. At
first I thought that I would kill him, lest he should betray me; but
when I called to him to knock him on the head with my kerrie, he sat
down upon the ground wagging his tail, and seemed to smile in my face,
and I could not do it. So I thought that I would take my chance, and
we went on together. This was my purpose: first to creep into my own
hut and get my assegais and a skin blanket, then to gain speech with
Baleka. My hut, I thought, would be empty, for nobody sleeps there
except myself, and the huts of Noma were some paces away to the right.
I came to the reed fence that surrounded the huts. Nobody was to be
seen at the gate, which was not shut with thorns as usual. It was my
duty to close it, and I had not been there to do so. Then, bidding the
dog lie down outside, I stepped through boldly, reached the door of my
hut, and listened. It was empty; there was not even a breath to be
heard. So I crept in and began to search for my assegais, my water-
gourd, and my wood pillow, which was so nicely carved that I did not
like to leave it. Soon I found them. Then I felt about for my skin
rug, and as I did so my hand touched something cold. I started, and
felt again. It was a man's face--the face of a dead man, of Noma, whom
I had killed and who had been laid in my hut to await burial. Oh! then
I was frightened, for Noma dead and in the dark was worse than Noma
alive. I made ready to fly, when suddenly I heard the voices of women
talking outside the door of the hut. I knew the voices; they were
those of Noma's two wives, and one of them said she was coming in to
watch by her husband's body. Now I was in a trap indeed, for before I
could do anything I saw the light go out of a hole in the hut, and
knew by the sound of a fat woman puffing as she bent herself up that
Noma's first wife was coming through it. Presently she was in, and,
squatting by the side of the corpse in such a fashion that I could not
get to the door, she began to make lamentations and to cal down curses
on me. Ah! she did not know that I was listening. I too squatted by
Noma's head, and grew quick-witted in my fear. Now that the woman was
there I was not so much afraid of the dead man, and I remembered, too,
that he had been a great cheat; so I thought I would make him cheat
for the last time. I placed my hands beneath his shoulders and pushed
him up so that he sat upon the ground. The woman heard the noise and
made a sound in her throat.
"Will you not be quiet, you old hag?" I said in Noma's voice. "Can you
not let me be at peace, even now when I am dead?"
She heard, and, falling backwards in fear, drew in her breath to
shriek aloud.
"What! will you also dare to shriek?" I said again in Noma's voice;
"then I must teach you silence." And I tumbled him over on to the top
of her.
Then her senses left her, and whether she ever found them again I do
not know. At least she grew quiet for that time. For me, I snatched up
the rug--afterwards I found it was Noma's best kaross, made by Basutos
of chosen cat-skins, and worth three oxen--and I fled, followed by
Koos.
Now the kraal of the chief, my father, Makedama, was two hundred paces
away, and I must go thither, for there Baleka slept. Also I dared not
enter by the gate, because a man was always on guard there. So I cut
my way through the reed fence with my assegai and crept to the hut
where Baleka was with some of her half-sisters. I knew on which side
of the hut it was her custom to lie, and where her head would be. So I
lay down on my side and gently, very gently, began to bore a hole in
the grass covering of the hut. It took a long while, for the thatch
was thick, but at last I was nearly through it. Then I stopped, for it
came into my mind that Baleka might have changed her place, and that I
might wake the wrong girl. I almost gave it over, thinking that I
would fly alone, when suddenly I heard a girl wake and begin to cry on
the other side of the thatch. "Ah," I thought, "that is Baleka, who
weeps for her brother!" So I put my lips where the thatch was thinnest
and whispered:--
"Baleka, my sister! Baleka, do not weep! I, Mopo, am here. Say not a
word, but rise. Come out of the hut, bringing your skin blanket.
Now Baleka was very clever: she did not shriek, as most girls would
have done. No; she understood, and, after waitingawhile, she rose and
crept from the hut, her blanket in her hand.
"Why are you here, Mopo?" she whispered, as we met. "Surely you will
be killed!"
"Hush!" I said. And then I told her of the plan which I had made.
"Will you come with me?" I said, when I had done, "or will you creep
back into the hut and bid me farewell?"
She thought awhile, then she said, "No, my brother, I will come, for I
love you alone among our people, though I believe that this will be
the end of it--that you will lead me to my death."
I did not think much of her words at the time, but afterwards they
came back to me. So we slipped away together, followed by the dog
Koos, and soon we were running over the veldt with our faces set
towards the country of the Zulu tribe.
CHAPTER IV
THE FLIGHT OF MOPO AND BALEKA
All the rest of that night we journeyed, till even the dog was tired.
Then we hid in a mealie field for the day, as we were afraid of being
seen. Towards the afternoon we heard voices, and, looking through the
stems of the mealies, we saw a party of my father's men pass searching
for us. They went on to a neighbouring kraal to ask if we had been
seen, and after that we saw them no more for awhile. At night we
travelled again; but, as fate would have it, we were met by an old
woman, who looked oddly at us but said nothing. After that we pushed
on day and night, for we knew that the old woman would tell the
pursuers if she met them; and so indeed it came about. On the third
evening we reached some mealie gardens, and saw that they had been
trampled down. Among the broken mealies we found the body of a very
old man, as full of assegai wounds as a porcupine with quills. We
wondered at this, and went on a little way. Then we saw that the kraal
to which the gardens belonged was burnt down. We crept up to it, and--
ah! it was a sad sight for us to see! Afterwards we became used to
such sights. All about us lay the bodies of dead people, scores of
them--old men, young men, women, children, little babies at the breast
--there they lay among the burnt huts, pierced with assegai wounds.
Red was the earth with their blood, and red they looked in the red
light of the setting sun. It was as though all the land had been
smeared with the bloody hand of the Great Spirit, of the Umkulunkulu.
Baleka saw it and began to cry; she was weary, poor girl, and we had
found little to eat, only grass and green corn.
"An enemy has been here," I said, and as I spoke I thought that I
heard a groan from the other side of a broken reed hedge. I went and
looked. There lay a young woman: she was badly wounded, but still
alive, my father. A little way from her lay a man dead, and before him
several other men of another tribe: he had died fighting. In front of
the woman were the bodies of three children; another, a little one,
lay on her body. I looked at the woman, and, as I looked, she groaned
again, opened her eyes and saw me, and that I had a spear in my hand.
"Kill me quickly!" she said. "Have you not tortured me enough?"
I said that I was a stranger and did not want to kill her.
"Then bring me water," she said; "there is a spring there behind the
kraal."
I called to Baleka to come to the woman, and went with my gourd to the
spring. There were bodies in it, but I dragged them out, and when the
water had cleared a little I filled the gourd and brought it back to
the woman. She drank deep, and her strength came back a little--the
water gave her life.
"How did you come to this?" I asked.
"It was an impi of Chaka, Chief of the Zulus, that ate us up," she
answered. "They burst upon as at dawn this morning while we were
asleep in our huts. Yes, I woke up to hear the sound of killing. I was
sleeping by my husband, with him who lies there, and the children. We
all ran out. My husband had a spear and shield. He was a brave man.
See! he died bravely: he killed three of the Zulu devils before he
himself was dead. Then they caught me, and killed my children, and
stabbed me till they thought that I was dead. Afterwards, they went
away. I don't know why they came, but I think it was because our chief
would not send men to help Chaka against Zweete."
She stopped, gave a great cry, and died.
My sister wept at the sight, and I too was stirred by it. "Ah!" I
thought to myself, "the Great Spirit must be evil. If he is not evil
such things would not happen." That is how I thought then, my father;
now I think differently. I know that we had not found out the path of
the Great Spirit, that is all. I was a chicken in those days, my
father; afterwards I got used to such sights. They did not stir me any
more, not one whit. But then in the days of Chaka the rivers ran blood
--yes, we had to look at the water to see if it was clean before we
drank. People learned how to die then and not make a noise about it.
What does it matter? They would have been dead now anyway. It does not
matter; nothing matters, except being born. That is a mistake, my
father.
We stopped at the kraal that night, but we could not sleep, for we
heard the Itongo, the ghosts of the dead people, moving about and
calling to each other. It was natural that they should do so; men were
looking for their wives, and mothers for their children. But we were
afraid that they might be angry with us for being there, so we clung
together and trembled in each other's arms. Koos also trembled, and
from time to time he howled loudly. But they did not seem to see us,
and towards morning their cries grew fainter.
When the first light came we rose and picked our way through the dead
down to the plain. Now we had an easy road to follow to Chaka's kraal,
for there was the spoor of the impi and of the cattle which they had
stolen, and sometimes we came to the body of a warrior who had been
killed because his wounds prevented him from marching farther. But now
I was doubtful whether it was wise for us to go to Chaka, for after
what we had seen I grew afraid lest he should kill us. Still, we had
nowhere to turn, so I said that we would walk along till something
happened. Now we grew faint with hunger and weariness, and Baleka said
that we had better sit down and die, for then there would be no more
trouble. So we sat down by a spring. But I did not wish to die yet,
thought Baleka was right, and it would have been well to do so. As we
sat, the dog Koos went to a bush that was near, and presently I heard
him spring at something and the sound of struggling. I ran to the bush
--he had caught hold of a duiker buck, as big as himself, that was
asleep in it. Then I drove my spear into the buck and shouted for joy,
for here was food. When the buck was dead I skinned him, and we took
bits of the flesh, washed them in the water, and ate them, for we had
no fire to cook them with. It is not nice to eat uncooked flesh, but
we were so hungry that we did not mind, and the good refreshed us.
When we had eaten what we could, we rose and washed ourselves at the
spring; but, as we washed, Baleka looked up and gave a cry of fear.
For there, on the crest of the hill, about ten spear-throws away, was
a party of six armed men, people of my own tribe--children of my
father Makedama--who still pursued us to take us or kill us. They saw
us--they raised a shout, and began to run. We too sprang up and ran--
ran like bucks, for fear had touched our feet.
Now the land lay thus. Before us the ground was open and sloped down
to the banks of the White Umfolozi, which twisted through the plain
like a great and shining snake. On the other side the ground rose
again, and we did not know what was beyond, but we thought that in
this direction lay the kraal of Chaka. We ran for the river--where
else were we to run? And after us came the warriors. They gained on
us; they were strong, and they were angry because they had come so
far. Run as we would, still they gained. Now we neared the banks of
the river; it was full and wide. Above us the waters ran angrily,
breaking into swirls of white where they passed over sunken rocks;
below was a rapid, in which none might live; between the two a deep
pool, where the water was quiet but the stream strong.
"Ah! my brother, what shall we do?" gasped Baleka.
"There is this to choose," I answered; "perish on the spears of our
people or try the river."
"Easier to die by water than on iron," she answered.
"Good!" I said. "Now may our snakes look towards us and the spirits of
- betray [bi´trei]
vt.背叛；辜负；暴露 (初中英语单词) - breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- nicely [naisli] ad.恰好地；谨慎地 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- thither [´ðiðə] ad.到那里 a.那边的 (初中英语单词)
- gently [´dʒentli] ad.温和地；静静地 (初中英语单词)
- shriek [ʃri:k] v.&n.尖叫(声) (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- shield [ʃi:ld] n.盾牌；防御 v.保护 (初中英语单词)
- warrior [´wɔriə] n.勇士，战士 (初中英语单词)
- hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- boldly [´bəuldli] ad.大胆地；醒目地 (高中英语单词)
- bravely [´breivli] ad.勇敢地；毅然 (高中英语单词)
- differently [´difrentli] ad.不同地，有差别地 (高中英语单词)
- learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
- doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
- sunken [´sʌŋkən] sink的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
- thatch [θætʃ] n.茅草屋顶 (英语四级单词)
- porcupine [´pɔ:kjupain] n.豪猪，箭猪 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- weariness [wiərinis] n.疲倦；厌烦 (英语四级单词)
- backwards [´bækwədz] ad.向后 a.向后的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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