W pustyni i w puszczy. English
Page 65
Kingwho, besides, was screened by the underwood. Stas, sitting on his neck,quietly issued the final orders, after which he gave Kali the signal tolight one of the sky-rockets. A red ribbon flew up, hissing, high inthe dark sky, after which, with an explosive sound, it scattered into abouquet of red, blue, and golden stars. All voices became hushed and amoment of gloomy silence ensued. A few seconds later two more fierysnakes flew out, as though with an infernal hiss, but this time theywere aimed horizontally directly at the Samburu camp; simultaneouslyresounded the King's roar and the loud cries of the three hundredWahimas who, armed with assagais,* [* Negro spears.] maces, and knives,rushed ahead with irrepressible speed. A battle began, which was themore terrible because it took place in the darkness, as all thecamp-fires in the confusion were at once trampled out. But, at the verybeginning, blind terror at the sight of the fiery snakes seized theSamburus. What was happening passed entirely beyond theirunderstanding. They only knew that they were attacked by some terriblebeings and that horrible and unavoidable destruction threatened them. Agreater part of them ran away before they could be reached by thespears and maces of the Wahimas. A hundred and a few tens of warriors,whom Mamba succeeded in rallying about him, offered stubbornresistance; when, however, in the flashes of the shots, they saw agigantic beast and on him a person dressed in white, and when theirears were dinned with the reports of the weapon which Kali from time totime discharged, their hearts sank. Fumba on the mountain, seeing thefirst sky-rocket, which burst in the heights, fell on the ground fromfright and lay as though dead for a few minutes. But, regainingconsciousness, he imagined from the desperate yells of the warriors onething, namely, that some kind of spirits were exterminating theSamburus below. Then the thought flashed through his mind that if hedid not come to the aid of those spirits, he might incur their wrath,and as the extermination of the Samburus was his salvation, he musteredall his warriors about him and sallied forth from a secret side exit ofthe boma and cut off the road of a greater part of the fugitives. Thebattle now changed into a massacre. The Samburu drums ceased to beat.In the darkness, which was rent only by the red flashes cast by Kali'srifle, resounded the howls of the men being killed, the hollow blows ofthe maces against shields and the groans of the wounded. Nobody beggedfor mercy, for mercy is unknown to negroes. Kali, from a fear that inthe darkness and confusion he might wound his own people, finallyceased to fire, and seizing Gebhr's sword rushed with it into the midstof the enemies. The Samburus could now flee from the mountains towardstheir frontiers only by way of one wide pass, but as Fumba blocked thispass with his warriors, out of the whole host only those were safe who,throwing themselves upon the ground, permitted themselves to be takenalive, though they knew that a cruel slavery awaited them, or evenimmediate death at the hands of the victors. Mamba defended himselfheroically until a blow of a mace crushed his skull. His son, youngFaru, fell into Fumba's hand, who ordered him bound, as a futuresacrifice of gratitude to the spirits which had come to his assistance.
Stas did not drive the terrible King into the battle; he permitted himonly to trumpet to increase the terror of the enemies. He himself didnot fire a single shot from his rifle at the Samburus, for in the firstplace he had promised little Nell on leaving Luela that he would notkill any one, and again he actually had no desire to kill people whohad done no harm to him or Nell. It was enough that he assured theWahimas a victory and freed Fumba, who was besieged in a great boma.Soon, also, when Kali came running with news of a definite victory, heissued an order for the cessation of the battle, which raged yet in theunderwood and rocky recesses and which was prolonged by the implacablehatred of old Fumba.
However, before Kali succeeded in quelling it, it was daylight. Thesun, as is usual under the equator, rolled quickly from beyond themountains, and flooded with a bright light the battle-field on whichlay over two hundred Samburu corpses pierced by spears or crushed bymaces. After a certain time, when the battle finally ceased and onlythe joyful yells of the Wahimas disturbed the morning's quiet, Kaliagain appeared, but with a face so dejected and sad that it could beperceived even from a distance that some kind of misfortune hadovertaken him.
In fact, when he stood before Stas, he began to strike his head withhis fists and exclaim sorrowfully:
"Oh, great master!--Fumba kufa! Fumba kufa!" (is slain).
"Slain?" Stas repeated.
Kali related what had happened, and from his words it appeared that thecause of the occurrence was only the inveterate hatred of Fumba, forafter the battle had ceased, he still wanted to give the last blow totwo Samburus, and from one of them he received the stroke of a spear.
The news spread among all the Wahimas in the twinkling of an eye andaround Kali a mob gathered. A few moments later six warriors bore onspears the old king, who was not killed but fatally wounded. Before hisdeath he desired to see the mighty master, the real conqueror of theSamburus, sitting on an elephant.
Accordingly uncommon admiration struggled in his eyes with the duskwith which death was dimming them, and his pale lips, stretched by"pelele," whispered lowly:
"Yancig! Yancig!"
But immediately after that his head reclined backward, his mouth openedwide--and he died.
Kali, who loved him, with tears threw himself upon his breast. Amongthe warriors some began to strike their heads, others to proclaim Kaliking and to "yancig" in his honor. Some fell before the young ruler ontheir faces. No one raised a voice in opposition, as the right to rulebelonged to Kali not only by law, as the oldest son of Fumba, but alsoas a conqueror.
In the meantime, in the huts of the fetish-men in the boma on themountain-top, resounded the savage din of the wicked Mzimu, the same asStas had heard in the first negro village, but this time it was notdirected against him but was demanding the death of the prisoners forkilling Fumba. The drums began to rumble. The warriors formed in a longhost of three men in a row and commenced a war dance around Stas, Kali,and Fumba's corpse.
"Oa, Oa! Yach, yach!" all voices repeated; all heads nodded right andleft in unison, the whites of their eyes glistened, and the sharppoints of the spears twinkled in the morning sun.
Kali rose and turning to Stas, said:
"Great master, bring the 'bibi' to the boma and let her dwell inFumba's hut. Kali is king of the Wahimas and the great master is Kali'sking."
Stas nodded his head in sign of assent but remained a few hours, for heand the King were entitled to a rest.
He did not leave until towards the evening. During his absence thebodies of the slain Samburus were removed and thrown into a neighboringdeep abyss, over which at once a swarm of vultures flocked; thefetish-men made preparations for Fumba's funeral and Kali assumedauthority as the only master of the life and death of all his subjects.
"Do you know what Kali is?" Stas asked the little maid on the returnjourney from Luela.
Nell gazed at him with surprise.
"He is your boy."
"Aha! A boy! Kali is now king of all the Wahimas."
This news delighted Nell immensely. This sudden change, thanks to whichthe former slave of the cruel Gebhr, and later the humble servant ofStas, became a king, seemed to her something extraordinary and at thesame time exceedingly amusing.
Nevertheless, Linde's remark that negroes were like children who wereincapable of remembering what transpired the day before, did not appearjust in its application to Kali, for as soon as Stas and Nell stoppedat the foot of Mount Boko the young monarch hurried to meet them; hegreeted them with the usual marks of humility and joy and repeated thewords which he had previously uttered:
"Kali is the king of the Wahimas, and the great master is Kali's king."
And he surrounded both with an adoration almost divine and prostratedhimself, particularly before Nell, in the presence of all the people,for he knew from experience, acquired during the journey, that thegreat master cared more for the little "bibi" than for himself.
Leading them solemnly to the capital boma on the summit he surrenderedto them Fumba's hut, which r
esembled a great shed divided into severalrooms. He ordered the Wahima women, who came with them from Luela, andwho could not look enough at the "Good Mzimu," to place a utensil withhoney and sour milk in the first room, and when he learned that the"bibi," tired by the journey, had fallen asleep, he commanded all theinhabitants to observe the deepest silence under the penalty of cuttingout their tongues. But he decided to honor them still more solemnly,and with this in view, when Stas, after a brief rest, came out of theshed, he approached him and, prostrating himself, said:
"To-morrow Kali shall order Fumba to be buried and shall cause as manyslaves to be cut down for Fumba and for Kali as both have fingers ontheir hands, but for the 'bibi' and for the great master, Kali shallorder Faru, the son of Mamba, to be cut to pieces and 'wengi, wengi' ofother Samburus who were captured by the