章节正文
blood of Chaka and of Baleka, my sister."
"I still have some kinship with you then, Mopo, and that I am glad of.
Wow! who would have guessed that I was the son of the Silwana, of that
hyena man? Perhaps it is for this reason that, like Galazi, I love the
company of the wolves, though no love grows in my heart for my father
or any of his house."
"You have little cause to love him, Umslopogaas, for he murdered your
mother, Baleka, and would have slain you also. But you are the son of
Chaka and of no other man."
"Well, his eyes must be keen indeed, my uncle, who can pick his own
father out of a crowd. And yet I once heard this tale before, though I
had long forgotten it."
"From whom did you hear it, Umslopogaas? An hour since, it was known
to one alone, the others are dead who knew it. Now it is known to two"
--ah! my father, I did not guess of the third;--"from whom, then, did
you hear it?"
"It was from the dead; at least, Galazi the Wolf heard it from the
dead One who sat in the cave on Ghost Mountain, for the dead One told
him that a man would come to be his brother who should be named
Umslopogaas Bulalio, son of Chaka, and Galazi repeated it to me, but I
had long forgotten it."
"It seems that there is wisdom among the dead," I answered, "for lo!
to-day you are named Umslopogaas Bulalio, and to-day I declare you the
son of Chaka. But listen to my tale."
Then I told him all the story from the hour of his birth onwards, and
when I spoke of the words of his mother, Baleka, after I had told my
dream to her, and of the manner of her death by the command of Chaka,
and of the great fashion in which she had died, then, I say,
Umslopogaas wept, who, I think, seldom wept before or after. But as my
tale drew it its end I saw that he listened ill, as a man listens who
has a weightier matter pressing on his heart, and before it was well
done he broke in:--
"So, Mopo, my uncle, if I am the son of Chaka and Baleka, Nada the
Lily is no sister to me."
"Nay, Umslopogaas, she is only your cousin."
"Over near of blood," he said; "yet that shall not stand between us,"
and his face grew glad.
I looked at him in question.
"You grow dull, my uncle. This is my meaning: that I will marry Nada
if she still lives, for it comes upon me now that I have never loved
any woman as I love Nada the Lily," and while he spoke, I heard the
rat stir in the thatch of the hut.
"Wed her if you will, Umslopogaas," I answered, "yet I think that one
Zinita, your Inkosikasi, will find words to say in the matter."
"Zinita is my head wife indeed, but shall she hold me back from taking
other wives, after the lawful custom of our people?" he asked angrily,
and his anger showed that he feared the wrath of Zinita.
"The custom is lawful and good," I said, "but it has bred trouble at
times. Zinita can have little to say if she continues in her place and
you still love her as of old. But enough of her. Nada is not yet at
your gates, and perhaps she will never find them. See, Umslopogaas, it
is my desire that you should rule in Zululand by right of blood, and,
though things point otherwise, yet I think a way can be found to bring
it about."
"How so?" he asked.
"Thus: Many of the great chiefs who are friends to me hate Dingaan and
fear him, and did they know that a son of Chaka lived, and that son
the Slaughterer, he well might climb to the throne upon their
shoulders. Also the soldiers love the name of Chaka, though he dealt
cruelly with them, because at least he was brave and generous. But
they do not love Dingaan, for his burdens are the burdens of Chaka but
his gifts are the gifts of Dingaan; therefore they would welcome
Chaka's son if once they knew him for certain. But it is here that the
necklet chafes, for there is but my word to prove it. Yet I will try."
"Perhaps it is worth trying and perhaps it is not, my uncle," answered
Umslopogaas. "One thing I know: I had rather see Nada at my gates to-
night than hear all the chiefs in the land crying 'Hail, O King!'"
"You will live to think otherwise, Umslopogaas; and now spies must be
set at the kraal Umgugundhlovu to give us warning of the mind of the
king, lest he should send an impi suddenly to eat you up. Perhaps his
hands may be too full for that ere long, for those white Amaboona will
answer his assegais with bullets. And one more word: let nothing be
said of this matter of your birth, least of all to Zinita your wife,
or to any other woman."
"Fear not, uncle," he answered; "I know how to be silent."
Now after awhile Umslopogaas left me and went to the hut of Zinita,
his Inkosikasi, where she lay wrapped in her blankets, and, as it
seemed, asleep.
"Greeting, my husband," she said slowly, like one who wakens. "I have
dreamed a strange dream of you. I dreamed that you were called a king,
and that all the regiments of the Zulus filed past giving you the
royal salute, Bayete."
Umslopogaas looked at her wondering, for he did not know if she had
learned something or if this was an omen. "Such dreams are dangerous,"
he said, "and he who dreams them does well to lock them fast till they
be forgotten."
"Or fulfilled," said Zinita, and again Umslopogaas looked at her
wondering.
Now after this night I began my work, for I established spies at the
kraal of Dingaan, and from them I learned all that passed with the
king.
At first he gave orders that an impi should be summoned to eat up the
People of the Axe, but afterwards came tidings that the Boers, to the
number of five hundred mounted men, were marching on the kraal
Umgugundhlovu. So Dingaan had no impi to spare to send to the Ghost
Mountain, and we who were beneath its shadow dwelt there in peace.
This time for Boers were beaten, for Bogoza, the spy, led them into an
ambush; still few were killed, and they did but draw back that they
might jump the further, and Dingaan knew this. At this time also the
English white men of Natal, the people of George, who attacked Dingaan
by the Lower Tugela, were slain by our soldiers, and those with them.
Also, by the help of certain witch-doctors, I filled the land with
rumours, prophecies, and dark sayings, and I worked cunningly on the
minds of many chiefs that were known to me, sending them messages
hardly to be understood, such as should prepare their thoughts for the
coming of one who should be declared to them. They listened, but the
task was long, for the men dwelt far apart, and some of them were away
with the regiments.
So the time went by, till many days had passed since we reached the
Ghost Mountain. Umslopogaas had no more words with Zinita, but she
always watched him, and he went heavily. For he awaited Nada, and Nada
did not come.
But at length Nada came.
CHAPTER XXX
THE COMING OF NADA
One night--it was a night of full moon--I sat alone with Umslopogaas
in my hut, and we spoke of the matter of our plots; then, when we had
finished that talk, we spoke of Nada the Lily.
"Alas! my uncle," said Umslopogaas sadly, "we shall never look more on
Nada; she is surely dead or in bonds, otherwise she had been here long
ago. I have sought far and wide, and can hear no tidings and find
nothing."
"All that is hidden is not lost," I answered, yet I myself believed
that there was an end of Nada.
Then we were silent awhile, and presently, in the silence, a dog
barked. We rose, and crept out of the hut to see what it might be that
stirred, for the night drew on, and it was needful to be wary, since a
dog might bark at the stirring of a leaf, or perhaps it might be the
distant footfall of an impi that it heard.
We had not far to look, for standing gazing at the huts, like one who
is afraid to call, was a tall slim man, holding an assegai in one hand
and a little shield in the other. We could not see the face of the
man, because the light was behind him, and a ragged blanket hung about
his shoulders. Also, he was footsore, for he rested on one leg. Now we
were peering round the hut, and its shadow hid us, so that the man saw
nothing. For awhile he stood still, then he spoke to himself, and his
voice was strangely soft.
"Here are many huts," said the voice, "now how may I know which is the
house of my brother? Perhaps if I call I shall bring soldiers to me,
and be forced to play the man before them, and I am weary of that.
Well, I will lie here under the fence till morning; it is a softer bed
than some I have found, and I am word out with travel--sleep I must,"
and the figure sighed and turned so that the light of the moon fell
full upon its face.
My father, it was the face of Nada, my daughter, whom I had not seen
for so many years, yet across the years I knew it at once; yes, though
the bud had become a flower I knew it. The face was weary and worn,
but ah! it was beautiful, never before nor since have I seen such
beauty, for there was this about the loveliness of my daughter, the
Lily: it seemed to flow from within--yes, as light will flow through
the thin rind of a gourd, and in that she differed from the other
women of our people, who, when they are fair are fair with the flesh
alone.
Now my heart went out to Nada as she stood in the moonlight, one
forsaken, not having where to lay her head, Nada, who alone was left
alive of all my children. I motioned to Umslopogaas to hide himself in
the shadow, and stepped forward.
"Ho!" I said roughly, "who are you, wanderer, and what do you here?"
Now Nada started like a frightened bird, but quickly gathered up her
thoughts, and turned upon me in a lordly way.
"Who are you that ask me?" she said, feigning a man's voice.
"One who can use a stick upon thieves and night-prowlers, boy. Come,
show your business or be moving. You are not of this people; surely
that moocha is of a Swazi make, and here we do not love Swazis."
"Were you not old, I would beat you for your insolence," said Nada,
striving to look brave and all the while searching a way to escape.
"Also, I have no stick, only a spear, and that is for warriors, not
for an old umfagozan like you." Ay, my father, I lived to hear my
daughter name me an umfagozan--a low fellow!
Now making pretence to be angry, I leaped at her with my kerrie up,
and, forgetting her courage, she dropped her spear, and uttered a
little scream. But she still held the shield before her face. I seized
her by the arm, and struck a blow upon the shield with my kerrie--it
would scarcely have crushed a fly, but this brave warrior trembled
sorely.
"Where now is your valour, you who name my umfagozan?" I said: "you
who cry like a maid and whose arm is soft as a maid's."
She made no answer, but hugged her tattered blanket round her, and
shifting my grip from her arm, I seized it and rent it, showing her
breast and shoulder; then I let her go, laughing, and said:--
"Lo! here is the warrior that would beat an old umfagozan for his
insolence, a warrior well shaped for war! Now, my pretty maid who
wander at night in the garment of a man, what tale have you to tell?
Swift with it, lest I drag you to the chief as his prize! The old man
seeks a new wife, they tell me?"
Now when Nada saw that I had discovered her she threw down the shield
after the spear, as a thing that was of no more use, and hung her head
sullenly. But when I spoke of dragging her to the chief then she flung
herself upon the ground, and clasped my knees, for since I called him
old, she thought that this chief could not be Umslopogaas.
"Oh, my father," said the Lily, "oh, my father, have pity on me! Yes,
yes! I am a girl, a maid--no wife--and you who are old, you, perchance
have daughters such as I, and in their name I ask for pity. My father,
I have journeyed far, I have endured many things, to find my way to a
kraal where my brother rules, and now it seems I have come to the
wrong kraal. Forgive me that I spoke to you so, my father; it was but
a woman's feint, and I was hard pressed to hide my sex, for my father,
you know it is ill to be a lonely girl among strange men."
Now I said nothing in answer, for this reason only: that when I heard
Nada call me father, not knowing me, and saw her clasp my knees and
pray to me in my daughter's name, I, who was childless save for her,
"I still have some kinship with you then, Mopo, and that I am glad of.
Wow! who would have guessed that I was the son of the Silwana, of that
hyena man? Perhaps it is for this reason that, like Galazi, I love the
company of the wolves, though no love grows in my heart for my father
or any of his house."
"You have little cause to love him, Umslopogaas, for he murdered your
mother, Baleka, and would have slain you also. But you are the son of
Chaka and of no other man."
"Well, his eyes must be keen indeed, my uncle, who can pick his own
father out of a crowd. And yet I once heard this tale before, though I
had long forgotten it."
"From whom did you hear it, Umslopogaas? An hour since, it was known
to one alone, the others are dead who knew it. Now it is known to two"
--ah! my father, I did not guess of the third;--"from whom, then, did
you hear it?"
"It was from the dead; at least, Galazi the Wolf heard it from the
dead One who sat in the cave on Ghost Mountain, for the dead One told
him that a man would come to be his brother who should be named
Umslopogaas Bulalio, son of Chaka, and Galazi repeated it to me, but I
had long forgotten it."
"It seems that there is wisdom among the dead," I answered, "for lo!
to-day you are named Umslopogaas Bulalio, and to-day I declare you the
son of Chaka. But listen to my tale."
Then I told him all the story from the hour of his birth onwards, and
when I spoke of the words of his mother, Baleka, after I had told my
dream to her, and of the manner of her death by the command of Chaka,
and of the great fashion in which she had died, then, I say,
Umslopogaas wept, who, I think, seldom wept before or after. But as my
tale drew it its end I saw that he listened ill, as a man listens who
has a weightier matter pressing on his heart, and before it was well
done he broke in:--
"So, Mopo, my uncle, if I am the son of Chaka and Baleka, Nada the
Lily is no sister to me."
"Nay, Umslopogaas, she is only your cousin."
"Over near of blood," he said; "yet that shall not stand between us,"
and his face grew glad.
I looked at him in question.
"You grow dull, my uncle. This is my meaning: that I will marry Nada
if she still lives, for it comes upon me now that I have never loved
any woman as I love Nada the Lily," and while he spoke, I heard the
rat stir in the thatch of the hut.
"Wed her if you will, Umslopogaas," I answered, "yet I think that one
Zinita, your Inkosikasi, will find words to say in the matter."
"Zinita is my head wife indeed, but shall she hold me back from taking
other wives, after the lawful custom of our people?" he asked angrily,
and his anger showed that he feared the wrath of Zinita.
"The custom is lawful and good," I said, "but it has bred trouble at
times. Zinita can have little to say if she continues in her place and
you still love her as of old. But enough of her. Nada is not yet at
your gates, and perhaps she will never find them. See, Umslopogaas, it
is my desire that you should rule in Zululand by right of blood, and,
though things point otherwise, yet I think a way can be found to bring
it about."
"How so?" he asked.
"Thus: Many of the great chiefs who are friends to me hate Dingaan and
fear him, and did they know that a son of Chaka lived, and that son
the Slaughterer, he well might climb to the throne upon their
shoulders. Also the soldiers love the name of Chaka, though he dealt
cruelly with them, because at least he was brave and generous. But
they do not love Dingaan, for his burdens are the burdens of Chaka but
his gifts are the gifts of Dingaan; therefore they would welcome
Chaka's son if once they knew him for certain. But it is here that the
necklet chafes, for there is but my word to prove it. Yet I will try."
"Perhaps it is worth trying and perhaps it is not, my uncle," answered
Umslopogaas. "One thing I know: I had rather see Nada at my gates to-
night than hear all the chiefs in the land crying 'Hail, O King!'"
"You will live to think otherwise, Umslopogaas; and now spies must be
set at the kraal Umgugundhlovu to give us warning of the mind of the
king, lest he should send an impi suddenly to eat you up. Perhaps his
hands may be too full for that ere long, for those white Amaboona will
answer his assegais with bullets. And one more word: let nothing be
said of this matter of your birth, least of all to Zinita your wife,
or to any other woman."
"Fear not, uncle," he answered; "I know how to be silent."
Now after awhile Umslopogaas left me and went to the hut of Zinita,
his Inkosikasi, where she lay wrapped in her blankets, and, as it
seemed, asleep.
"Greeting, my husband," she said slowly, like one who wakens. "I have
dreamed a strange dream of you. I dreamed that you were called a king,
and that all the regiments of the Zulus filed past giving you the
royal salute, Bayete."
Umslopogaas looked at her wondering, for he did not know if she had
learned something or if this was an omen. "Such dreams are dangerous,"
he said, "and he who dreams them does well to lock them fast till they
be forgotten."
"Or fulfilled," said Zinita, and again Umslopogaas looked at her
wondering.
Now after this night I began my work, for I established spies at the
kraal of Dingaan, and from them I learned all that passed with the
king.
At first he gave orders that an impi should be summoned to eat up the
People of the Axe, but afterwards came tidings that the Boers, to the
number of five hundred mounted men, were marching on the kraal
Umgugundhlovu. So Dingaan had no impi to spare to send to the Ghost
Mountain, and we who were beneath its shadow dwelt there in peace.
This time for Boers were beaten, for Bogoza, the spy, led them into an
ambush; still few were killed, and they did but draw back that they
might jump the further, and Dingaan knew this. At this time also the
English white men of Natal, the people of George, who attacked Dingaan
by the Lower Tugela, were slain by our soldiers, and those with them.
Also, by the help of certain witch-doctors, I filled the land with
rumours, prophecies, and dark sayings, and I worked cunningly on the
minds of many chiefs that were known to me, sending them messages
hardly to be understood, such as should prepare their thoughts for the
coming of one who should be declared to them. They listened, but the
task was long, for the men dwelt far apart, and some of them were away
with the regiments.
So the time went by, till many days had passed since we reached the
Ghost Mountain. Umslopogaas had no more words with Zinita, but she
always watched him, and he went heavily. For he awaited Nada, and Nada
did not come.
But at length Nada came.
CHAPTER XXX
THE COMING OF NADA
One night--it was a night of full moon--I sat alone with Umslopogaas
in my hut, and we spoke of the matter of our plots; then, when we had
finished that talk, we spoke of Nada the Lily.
"Alas! my uncle," said Umslopogaas sadly, "we shall never look more on
Nada; she is surely dead or in bonds, otherwise she had been here long
ago. I have sought far and wide, and can hear no tidings and find
nothing."
"All that is hidden is not lost," I answered, yet I myself believed
that there was an end of Nada.
Then we were silent awhile, and presently, in the silence, a dog
barked. We rose, and crept out of the hut to see what it might be that
stirred, for the night drew on, and it was needful to be wary, since a
dog might bark at the stirring of a leaf, or perhaps it might be the
distant footfall of an impi that it heard.
We had not far to look, for standing gazing at the huts, like one who
is afraid to call, was a tall slim man, holding an assegai in one hand
and a little shield in the other. We could not see the face of the
man, because the light was behind him, and a ragged blanket hung about
his shoulders. Also, he was footsore, for he rested on one leg. Now we
were peering round the hut, and its shadow hid us, so that the man saw
nothing. For awhile he stood still, then he spoke to himself, and his
voice was strangely soft.
"Here are many huts," said the voice, "now how may I know which is the
house of my brother? Perhaps if I call I shall bring soldiers to me,
and be forced to play the man before them, and I am weary of that.
Well, I will lie here under the fence till morning; it is a softer bed
than some I have found, and I am word out with travel--sleep I must,"
and the figure sighed and turned so that the light of the moon fell
full upon its face.
My father, it was the face of Nada, my daughter, whom I had not seen
for so many years, yet across the years I knew it at once; yes, though
the bud had become a flower I knew it. The face was weary and worn,
but ah! it was beautiful, never before nor since have I seen such
beauty, for there was this about the loveliness of my daughter, the
Lily: it seemed to flow from within--yes, as light will flow through
the thin rind of a gourd, and in that she differed from the other
women of our people, who, when they are fair are fair with the flesh
alone.
Now my heart went out to Nada as she stood in the moonlight, one
forsaken, not having where to lay her head, Nada, who alone was left
alive of all my children. I motioned to Umslopogaas to hide himself in
the shadow, and stepped forward.
"Ho!" I said roughly, "who are you, wanderer, and what do you here?"
Now Nada started like a frightened bird, but quickly gathered up her
thoughts, and turned upon me in a lordly way.
"Who are you that ask me?" she said, feigning a man's voice.
"One who can use a stick upon thieves and night-prowlers, boy. Come,
show your business or be moving. You are not of this people; surely
that moocha is of a Swazi make, and here we do not love Swazis."
"Were you not old, I would beat you for your insolence," said Nada,
striving to look brave and all the while searching a way to escape.
"Also, I have no stick, only a spear, and that is for warriors, not
for an old umfagozan like you." Ay, my father, I lived to hear my
daughter name me an umfagozan--a low fellow!
Now making pretence to be angry, I leaped at her with my kerrie up,
and, forgetting her courage, she dropped her spear, and uttered a
little scream. But she still held the shield before her face. I seized
her by the arm, and struck a blow upon the shield with my kerrie--it
would scarcely have crushed a fly, but this brave warrior trembled
sorely.
"Where now is your valour, you who name my umfagozan?" I said: "you
who cry like a maid and whose arm is soft as a maid's."
She made no answer, but hugged her tattered blanket round her, and
shifting my grip from her arm, I seized it and rent it, showing her
breast and shoulder; then I let her go, laughing, and said:--
"Lo! here is the warrior that would beat an old umfagozan for his
insolence, a warrior well shaped for war! Now, my pretty maid who
wander at night in the garment of a man, what tale have you to tell?
Swift with it, lest I drag you to the chief as his prize! The old man
seeks a new wife, they tell me?"
Now when Nada saw that I had discovered her she threw down the shield
after the spear, as a thing that was of no more use, and hung her head
sullenly. But when I spoke of dragging her to the chief then she flung
herself upon the ground, and clasped my knees, for since I called him
old, she thought that this chief could not be Umslopogaas.
"Oh, my father," said the Lily, "oh, my father, have pity on me! Yes,
yes! I am a girl, a maid--no wife--and you who are old, you, perchance
have daughters such as I, and in their name I ask for pity. My father,
I have journeyed far, I have endured many things, to find my way to a
kraal where my brother rules, and now it seems I have come to the
wrong kraal. Forgive me that I spoke to you so, my father; it was but
a woman's feint, and I was hard pressed to hide my sex, for my father,
you know it is ill to be a lonely girl among strange men."
Now I said nothing in answer, for this reason only: that when I heard
Nada call me father, not knowing me, and saw her clasp my knees and
pray to me in my daughter's name, I, who was childless save for her,
- wisdom [´wizdəm]
n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词) - otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)
- generous [´dʒenərəs] a.慷慨的；丰盛的 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
- salute [sə´lu:t] n.&v.招呼；行礼；敬礼 (初中英语单词)
- beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- shield [ʃi:ld] n.盾牌；防御 v.保护 (初中英语单词)
- strangely [´streindʒli] ad.奇怪地；陌生地 (初中英语单词)
- moonlight [´mu:nlait] n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词)
- scream [skri:m] v.&n.尖叫(声) (初中英语单词)
- warrior [´wɔriə] n.勇士，战士 (初中英语单词)
- garment [´gɑ:mənt] n.衣服，外衣 (初中英语单词)
- forgive [fə´giv] vt.原谅，谅解，宽恕 (初中英语单词)
- lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- throne [θrəun] n.宝座；王位 (高中英语单词)
- learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
- tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
- cunningly [´kʌniŋli] ad.狡猾地；精巧地 (高中英语单词)
- ragged [´rægid] a.衣服破烂的 (高中英语单词)
- roughly [´rʌfli] ad.粗糙地；毛糙地 (高中英语单词)
- pretence [pri´tens] n.假装；托词；无理要求 (高中英语单词)
- thatch [θætʃ] n.茅草屋顶 (英语四级单词)
- lawful [´lɔ:fəl] a.合法的，守法的 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- stirring [´stə:riŋ] a.活跃的；热闹的 (英语四级单词)
- loveliness [´lʌvlinis] n.美丽，可爱 (英语四级单词)
- thieves [θi:vz] thief的复数 (英语四级单词)
- valour [´vælə] n.英勇，勇猛 (英语四级单词)
- tattered [´tætəd] a.(衣服等)破烂的 (英语四级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- wanderer [´wɔndərə] n.流浪者 (英语六级单词)
- lordly [´lɔ:dli] a.高贵的；高傲的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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