The Sign of the Spider

by Bertram Mitford

  CHAPTER XXIII.

  LINDELA.

  A woman, young, tall, perfectly proportioned, light of colour, and withthe bright and pleasing expression common among the well-born of theBa-gcatya maidens, enhanced by large lustrous eyes, lips parted in asmile half-startled, half-coquettish, revealing a row of teeth ofdazzling whiteness of unrivalled evenness. She wore a _mutya_ or skirtof beautiful bead-work, and a soft robe of dressed fawn-skin but halfconcealed the splendid outlines of her frame. Withal there was an aspectof dignity in her erect carriage, and the pose of her head, which theGrecian effect of the _impiti_, or cone into which her hair was gatheredabove the scalp, went far to enhance. She was not alone--two other youngwomen, also attractive of aspect, being in attendance upon her, thoughthese held somewhat in the background.

  "Greeting, Nyonyoba," she began, in a sweet and musical voice. "I wasstartled for a moment--here where I expected to find none."

  "To thee, greeting, daughter of the great," returned Laurence, for thisgirl was a princess of the highest rank in the nation, being, in fact, adaughter of Nondwana the king's brother--that same chief whose son'saccession to manhood was to be the occasion of his own departure toanother sphere. Nor was it, indeed, the first time these two had talkedtogether.

  "And why are you sad and heavy of countenance, Nyonyoba? Was the huntbad--the game scarce?" she went on, with a quick searching glance intohis eyes.

  "Not so," he answered. "Those who are with me bring on much ivory forthe king's treasury. For yourself, Lindela, I found a bright-plumagedand rare bird, which I will stuff and set up for you."

  The girl uttered a cry of delight, and her face brightened. It sohappened that Laurence was something of a taxidermist, and had alreadystuffed a few birds and small animals for the chief's daughter, who wasas delighted with her increasing "museum" as any child could have been.Now, in her unfeigned glee over the prospect of a new specimen, Lindelalooked extremely attractive; and noting it, an unconscious softness hadcrept into the man's tone. Even the girls behind noticed it, andwhispered to each other, sniggering:

  "_Hau! Isityeli!_ Quite a wooer! Nyonyoba is hoeing up new land."

  "Withdraw a little from these, Lindela," he said in a lowered tone; "Iwould talk."

  The chief's daughter made a barely perceptible sign, but her attendantsunderstood it, and remained where they stood.

  "The success or failure of a hunt is a small thing. Such does not rendera man heavy of countenance," he went on, when they were beyond earshot.

  "What does, then?" said the girl, raising her large eyes swiftly to his.

  "Sorrow--parting. Such are the things which make life dark. I havedwelt long among your people, and at the prospect of leaving them myheart is sore."

  As the last words left his lips, Laurence learned in just one briefflash of a second exactly what he wanted to know. But the look ofstartled pain in Lindela's face gave way to one of surprise.

  "Of leaving them?" she echoed. "Has the Great Great One, then, orderedyou to begone, Nyonyoba?"

  "Not yet. But it will be so. Listen! At the full of the second moon."

  A cry escaped her. She understood. For a moment the self-control of hersavage ancestors entirely forsook her. She became the child ofnature--all human.

  "It shall not be! It shall not be!"

  The passion, the abandonment in the soft, liquid Zulu tone--in the largeeyes, transforming the whole attractive face--touched evenhim--penetrated even the scaly armour which encased his hardened heart.Considerations of expediency no longer reigned there alone as he stoodface to face with the chief's daughter. She was a magnificent specimenof womanhood, he decided, gazing with unfeigned admiration upon hersplendid frame, upon the unconscious grace of her every movement.

  "If I go, I return not ever," he went on, resolved to strike while theiron was hot--to strike as hard as he knew how. "Yet how to remain--forthe brother of the king is so great a chief that he who would approachhim with _lobola_[3] would need to own half the wealth of the Ba-gcatyapeople. Now I, who owned much wealth, am yet poor to-day, for theBa-gcatya have killed all my slaves, and the king has taken my ivory andgoods."

  The girl's eyes sparkled. Perhaps she too had learned something shewanted to know; indeed, it must have been so, for her whole face was litup with a gladsome light, a wonderfully attractive light.

  "Perchance the king will return some of it," she said. "Yet you are awhite man, and strong, Nyonyoba--are all white men like you, Iwonder?--and can overcome all difficulties. Listen! You shall not leaveus at the full of the second moon. Now, farewell--and--forget not myname."[4]

  There was a grandeur of resolution in her tone, in her glance, as sheuttered these last words, her lustrous eyes, wide and clear, meeting hisfull. Laurence, standing there gazing after the tall, retreating form ofthe chief's daughter, felt something like a sense of exultation stealingover him. His scheme seemed already to glow with success. He hadsuspected for some time that Lindela regarded him with more than favour;and indeed, while weighing the prospect of casting in his lot with theBa-gcatya, he had already in his own mind marked her out to share it.Now, however, the thing had become imperative. In order to save notmerely his life, but to escape a fate which brooded over him with apeculiarly haunting horror, he had got to do this thing, to take towife, according to the customs of the Ba-gcatya, the daughter ofNondwana, the niece of the king. Then not a man in the nation dare raisea hand against him; and the dour priesthood of the Spider might lookfurther for their victim--and might find in their selection one muchmore remote from the throne.

  And now that he was face to face with the prospect, it struck him asanything but an unpleasing one. Such an alliance would place him amongthe most powerful chiefs in the land. All the ambition in theadventurer's soul warmed to the prospect. To be high in authority amongthis fine race, part-ruler over this splendid country, sport inabundance, and that of the most enthralling kind--war occasionally; todwell, too, in the strong revivifying air of these grand uplands! Why, aman might live forever under such conditions.

  And the other side of the picture--what was it? Even if he returned tocivilization--even if it were possible--he would now return almost aspoor as he had quitted it,--to the old squalid life, with its shifts andstraits. His whole soul sickened over the recollection. Nothing couldcompensate for such--nothing. Besides, put nakedly, it amounted to this:His experiences of respectability had been disastrous. They had beensuch as to draw out all that was latently evil in his nature, and,indeed, to implant within him traits which at one time he could neverhave suspected himself capable of harbouring. Physically it had reducedhis system to the lowest. All things considered, he could not think thatthe adventurous life--hard, unscrupulous, lawless as it was--had changedhim for the worse. It had developed many good traits, and had enabledhim to forget many evil ones.

  "I would have speech with the king."

  Those who sentinelled the gate of the great kraal, Imvungayo, conferreda moment among themselves, and immediately two men were sent to learnthe royal pleasure as to the request. Laurence Stanninghame, awaitingtheir return, was taciturn and moody, and as he gazed around his onethought was lest his scheme should miscarry. The sun had just gone belowthe western peaks, and a radiant afterglow lingered upon the dazzlingsnow ridges, flooding some with a roseate hue, while others seemed dyedblood-red. Long files of women, calabash on head, were wending up fromthe stream, singing as they walked, or exchanging jests and laughter,their soft, rich voices echoing melodiously upon the evening stillness.Even the shrill "moo" of cattle, and the deep-toned voices ofmen--mellowed by distance, came not inharmoniously from the smallerkraals which lay scattered along the hillside; and but for the shiningspearheads and tufted shields of the armed guard in the great circle ofImvungayo, the scene was a most perfect one of pastoral simplicity andpeace. And then, as the gray, pearly lights of evening, merging into thesombre shades of twilight, drew a deepening veil over this scene of fairand wondrous beauty, once more the words of Lindela, in all
theirunhesitating reassurance, seemed to sound in this man's ears, rekindlingthe fire of hope within his soul,--perchance rekindling fire of adifferent nature.

  "The Great Great One awaits you, Nyonyoba."

  Laurence started from his reverie, and, accompanied by two of theguards, proceeded across the great open space in silence. At the gate ofthe _isigodhlo_, an inclosure made of the finest woven grass, andcontaining the royal dwellings, he deposited his rifle on the ground,and, deliberately unbuckling the strap of his revolver holster, placedthat weapon behind the other; and thus unarmed, according to strict Zuluetiquette, he prepared to enter. An _inceku_, or royal householdservant, received him at the gate, and the guards having saluted andwithdrawn, he was ushered by the attendant into the king's presence.

  The royal house, a large, dome-shaped, circular hut, differed in norespect from the others, save that it was of somewhat greater size.Laurence, standing upright within it, could make out three seatedfigures, the shimmer of their head-rings and the occasional shine ofeyeballs being the only distinct feature about them. Then somebody threwan armful of dry twigs upon the fire which burned in the centre, and asthe light crackled up he saw before him the king and the two fightingindunas, Ngumunye and Silawayo.

  "_Bayete!_" he exclaimed, lifting his hat courteously.

  "I behold you, Nyonyoba," replied the king. "Welcome--be seated."

  With a murmur of acknowledgment, Laurence subsided upon the grass matwhich had been placed for him by the _inceku_, who had followed him in.Then there was silence for a few moments, while a couple of womenentered, bearing large clay bowls of _tywala_, or native beer; and theliquor having been apportioned out according to etiquette, theattendants withdrew, leaving Laurence alone with the king and the twoindunas.

  "And the hunt, has it been propitious?" began Tyisandhlu presently.

  "It has. Ten tusks of ivory are even now being brought in," repliedLaurence. "Also an unusually fine leopard skin which fell to my bullet,and which I would beg the king to accept."

  "You are a great hunter, Nyonyoba--a very great one. _Whau!_ TheBa-gcatya will become too rich if you tarry long among us," saidTyisandhlu quizzically, but evidently pleased at the news. "We shallsoon be able to arm the whole nation with the fire-weapons, now that wehave so much ivory to trade with the northern peoples."

  Something in the words struck Laurence. "If you tarry long among us,"the king had said. Even these were ominous, and made in favour of thesinister design he had so accidentally discovered. Yet could thiscourtly hospitality, of which he was the object, indeed cover such ahorrible purpose? Well, he dare not bolster himself up with any hope tothe contrary, for now many and many an incident returned to his mind,little understood at the time, but, in the light of the conversation hehad overheard, as clear as noonday. The fear, the anxiety, too, whichhad flashed over the face of Lindela at his significant words, provedthat the ordeal through which it was designed to pass him was a real anda terrible one. Through her, and her only, lay his chance of escapingit.

  "I am glad the king is pleased," he went on, "for I would fain tarryamong the Ba-gcatya forever. And, becoming one of that people, shall notall my efforts turn towards rendering it a great people?"

  A hum of astonishment escaped the two indunas, and Laurence thought todetect the same significant look on both their faces. Then he added:

  "And those whom I have already taught in the use of the fire-weapon,they are strong in it, and reliable?"

  "That is so," assented Tyisandhlu.

  "And I have taught many the ways of the chase, no less than the moreskilled ways of war--that too is true, O Burning Wind?"

  "That too is true," repeated the king.

  "Good. And now I would crave a boon. While the People of the Spider havebecome more formidable in war, while the ivory comes pouring into theking's treasury, faster than ever it did before, so that soon there willbe enough to buy fire-weapons for the whole nation, I who brought allthis to pass remain poor--am the poorest in the nation--and--thedaughters of the Ba-gcatya are fair--exceeding fair."

  "_Whau!_" exclaimed the two indunas simultaneously, with their hands totheir mouths. But Tyisandhlu said nothing, though a very humorous gleamseemed to steal over his fine features in the firelight.

  "The daughters of the Ba-gcatya are exceeding fair," repeated Laurence,"but I, the poorest man in the nation, cannot take wives. For how shallI go to the father of a girl and say, 'Lo, I desire thy daughter towife, but my slaves have been killed, and my other possessions are nowthe property of the king; yet inasmuch as I cannot offer _lobola_,having nothing, give her to me on the same terms?' My house will notgrow great in that way. Say now, Ndabezita, will it?"

  "I think not, Nyonyoba," answered the king, struggling to repress alaugh. "Yet perhaps a way may be found out of that difficulty, for intruth thou hast done us good service already. But we will talk furtheras to this matter in the future. For the present, here waits outside onewho will show thee what thou wilt be glad to see."

  Quick to take this hint of dismissal, Laurence now arose, saluted theking, and retired, not ill-pleased so far with the results of hisinterview. For in the circumlocutory native way of dealing with mattersof importance, Tyisandhlu had received with favour his request,preferred after the same method, that some of his possessions should berestored to him. Then he would offer _lobola_ for Lindela, and----

  "I accompany you farther, Nyonyoba, at the word of the Great Great One,by whose light we live."

  The voice of the _inceku_ who had ushered him forth broke in upon hismeditations. This man, instead of leaving him at the gate of the_isigodhlo_, still kept at his side, and Laurence, manifesting nocuriosity, having picked up his weapons where he had left them,accompanied his guide in silence.

  They passed out of Imvungayo, and after walking nearly a mile came to alarge kraal, which Laurence recognized as that of Nondwana, the king'sbrother. And now, for the first time, he felt a thrill of interest surgethrough him. Nondwana's kraal! Had Tyisandhlu, divining his wishes,indeed forestalled them? But this idea was as quickly dismissed asformulated. The king had probably ordered that one or two of theBa-gcatya girls should be allotted to him--possibly chosen from those inattendance upon the royal wives. His parting remark seemed to point thatway.

  "Enter," said the _inceku_, halting before one of the huts. "Enter, andgood go with thee. I return to the king. Fare thee well!"

  Laurence bent down and pushed back the wicker slab that formed the doorof the hut, and, having crawled through the low, beehive-like entrance,stood upright within, and instinctively kicked the fire into a blaze.And then, indeed, was amazement--wild, incredulous, bewilderingamazement--his dominant feeling, for by the light thus obtained he sawthat the hut was tenanted by two persons. No feminine voice, however,was raised to bid him welcome in the soft tongue of the Ba-gcatya, but aloud, full-flavoured, masculine English one:

  "Stanninghame--by the great Lord Harry! Oh, kind Heavens, am I drunk ordreaming?"

  FOOTNOTES:

  [3] Payment of cattle made to the father of a girl sought in marriage.

  [4] "Lindela" means to "wait for"--in the sense of "to watch for," hencethe full significance of the parting remark.