They leapt to do his bidding, and presently discovered the _ringhals_ inits hole. Heedless of its fangs and writhings, Menzi sprang at it witha Zulu curse, and seizing it, proceeded to kill it in a very slow andcruel fashion.
VI
The great drought fell upon Sisa-Land like a curse from Heaven. Formonth after month the sun beat fiercely, the sky was as brass, and norain fell. Even the dews seemed to depart. The springs dried up. Theriver Ukufa, the river called Death, ceased to flow, so that watercould only be found in its deepest hollows. The pool beneath the Rockof Evildoers, the Death Rock, sank till the bones of those who had beenmurdered there many years before appeared as the crocodiles had leftthem. Cattle died because there was no grass; cows ceased to give theirmilk even where they could be partially fed and watered, so that thelittle children died also. Even in the dampest situations the cropswithered, till at last it became certain that unless rain fell within amonth, before another cold season had gone by there would be starvationeverywhere. For the drought was widespread, and therefore corn could notbe sent from other districts, even if there were cattle to draw it.
Every day Thomas put up prayers for rain in the church, and on twooccasions held special services for this purpose. These were betterattended than any others had ever been, because his congregation feltthat the matter was extremely urgent, affecting them all, and that nowwas the time when, whatever happened to the heathen, good Christianslike themselves should be rewarded.
However this did not chance, since the drought went on as fiercely asbefore.
Menzi was, of course, a rain-doctor, a "Heaven-herd" of the highestdistinction; one who, it was reputed, could by his magic cause themost brazen sky to melt in tears. His services had been called in byneighbouring tribes, with the result, it was rumoured, that those tribeshad been rewarded with partial showers. Also with great ceremony he hadgone through his rites for the benefit of the heathen section of theSisa people. Behold! by some curious accident on the following daya thunderstorm had come up, and with it a short deluge of rain whichsufficed to make it certain that the crops in those fields on which itfell would keep alive, at any rate for a while.
But mark what happened. As is not uncommon in the case of thundershowers, this rain fell upon the lands which the heathen cultivated onone side of the koppie, whereas those that belonged to the Christiansection upon the other side received not a single drop. The unjust werebedewed, the just were left dry as bones. All that they received was thelightning, which killed an old man, one of the best Christians in theplace. The limits of the torrent might have been marked off with a line.When it had passed, to the heathen right stood pools of water; to theChristian left there was nothing but blowing dust.
Now these Christians, weak-kneed some of them, began to murmur,especially those who, having passed through a similar experience intheir youth, remembered what starvation meant in that country. Religion,they reflected, was all very well, but without mealies they couldnot live, and without Kaffir corn there would be no beer. Indeed,metaphorically, before long they passed from murmurs to shouting,and their shouts said this: Menzi must be invited to celebrate arain-service in his own fashion for the benefit of the entire tribe.
Thomas argued in vain. He grew angry; he called them names whichdoubtless they deserved; he said that they were spiritual outcasts. Bythis time, being frantic, his flock did not care what he said. EitherMenzi must come, they explained, or they would turn heathen. The GreatOne in the sky could work as well through Menzi as through him, Tomboolor anybody else. Menzi _must_ come.
Thomas threatened to excommunicate them all, a menace which did notamount to much as they were already excommunicating themselves, and whenthey remained obstinate, told them that he would have nothing to do withthis rain-making business, which was unholy and repugnant to him. Hetold them, moreover, that he was certain that their wickedness wouldbring some judgment upon them, in which he proved to be right.
The end of it was that Menzi was summoned, and arrived with a triumphantsmile, saying that he was certain he could put everything in order, andthat soon they would have plenty of rain, that is, if they all attendedhis invocations and made him presents suitable to so great an occasion.
The result was that they did attend them, man, woman and child, seatedin a circle in that same old kraal where the witch-doctor had somarvellously shown pictures upon the smoke. Each of them also broughthis gift in his hand, or, if it were a living thing, drove it beforehim.
Thomas went down and addressed them in the midst of a sullen silence,calling them wicked and repeating his belief that they would bring ajudgment on their own heads, they who were worshipping Baal and makingofferings to his priest.
After he had talked himself hoarse, Menzi said mildly that if theTeacher Tombool had finished he would get to business. Why should theTeacher be angry because he, Menzi, offered to do what the Teacher couldnot--save the land from starving? And as for the gifts to himself, didnot White Teachers also receive pay and offerings at certain feasts?
Then, making a gesture of despair, Thomas returned to his house, andwith Dorcas and Tabitha watched the savage ceremony from the edge ofthe cliff that overhung the river, or rather what had been the river.He could not see much of it because they were too far away, but heperceived those apostate Christians prostrating themselves at Menzi'sorder, probably, he reflected, to make prayers to the devil. In factthey were not doing this, but only repeating Menzi's magical chants withappropriate gestures, as for countless ages their forefathers had doneupon similar occasions.
Next an unfortunate black goat was dragged forward by the horns, a verythin black goat, and its throat was cut over a little fire, a sacrificethat suggested necromancy of the most Satanic sort.
After this Thomas and his family went back into the house and shut thewindows, that they might not hear the unholy shoutings of the misguidedmob. When they went out again Menzi had departed, and so had the others.The place was empty.
The following day was Sunday, and Thomas locked the church on theinner side, and read the service with Dorcas and Tabitha for solecongregation. It was a melancholy business, for some sense of evilseemed to hang over all three of them, also over everybody else, for theChristians went about with dejected looks and not one person spoke tothem. Only Ivana came at night as usual to sleep with Tabitha, thougheven she said nothing.
Next morning they woke up to find the heavens black with clouds, heavy,ominous clouds; the truth being that the drought was drawing to itsnatural end. Thomas noted this, and reflected bitterly how hard it wasthat this end should not have come twenty-four hours earlier. But soevents had been decreed and he was helpless.
By midday it began to rain, lightly at first, and from his rock he couldsee the people, looking unnatural and distorted in that strange gloom,for the clouds had descended almost to the earth, rushing about, holdingout their hands as though to clasp the blessed moisture and talkingexcitedly one to the other. Soon they were driven into their huts, forthe rain turned into a kind of waterspout. Never had such rain beenknown in Sisa-Land.
All that afternoon it poured, and all the night with ever-increasingviolence; yes, and all the following morning, so that by noonThomas's rain-gauge showed that over twelve inches had fallen in abouttwenty-four hours, and it was still raining. Water rushed down from thekoppie; even their well-built house could not keep out the wet, and, tothe despair of Dorcas, several of the rooms were flooded and some ofthe new furniture was spoiled. The river beneath had become a ragingtorrent, and was rising every hour. Already it was over its banks, andthe water had got into the huts of the Chief's kraal and the villageround it, so that their occupants were obliged to seek safety upon thelower rocks of the koppie, where they sat shivering in the wet.
Night came at last, and through the darkness they heard cries as ofpeople in distress. The long hours wore away till dawn, a melancholydawn, for still it rained, though more lightly now, and no sun could beseen.
"Father," cried Tabitha, who, cla
d in oilskins, had gone a little waydown the road, "come here and look."
He went. The child pointed to the village below, or rather what hadbeen the village, for now there was none. It had gone and with it Kosa'skraal; the site was a pool, the huts had vanished, all of them, and someof the roofs lay upon the sides of the koppie, looking like overturnedcoracles. Only the church and the graveyard remained, for those stood onslightly higher ground by the banks of the river.
A little while later a miserable and dejected crowd arrived at themission-house, wrapped up in blankets or anything else that they hadmanaged to save.
"What do you want?" asked Thomas.
"Teacher," replied the Chief Kosa, with twitching face and rolling eyes,"we want you to come down to the church and pray for us. Our houses aregone, our fields are washed away. We want you to come to pray for us,for more rain is gathering on the hills and we are afraid."
"You mean that you are cold and wish to take refuge in the church, ofwhich I have the key. You have sought rain and now you have got rain,such rain as you deserve. Why do you complain? Go to your witch-doctorand ask him to save you."
"Teacher, come down to the church and pray for us," they wailed.
In the end Thomas went, for his heart was moved to pity, and Dorcas andTabitha went with him.
They entered the church, wading to it through several inches of water,and the service of intercession began, attended by every Christianin the place--except a few who were drowned--a miserable and heartilyrepentant crowd.
While it was still in progress suddenly there was a commotion, andMenzi himself rushed into the church. It was the first time he had everentered there.
"Come forth!" he cried. "Come forth if you would save your lives. Thewater has eaten away the ground underneath this Heaven-house. It falls!I say it falls!"
Then he peered about him in the shadowed place till he found Tabitha.Leaping at her, he threw his long thin arms round her and bore her fromthe church. The others began to follow swiftly, and as Menzi passed thedoor carrying Tabitha, there came a dreadful rending sound, and one ofthe walls opened, letting in the light.
All fled forth, Thomas still in his surplice and his soul filled withbitterness, for as he went it came into his mind that this must be afarewell to that cherished church reared with so much love, cost andlabour.
Outside the building on a patch of higher land, an upthrown plateau ofrock, where presently all gathered beyond the reach of the waters, stoodMenzi and Tabitha. Thomas looked at him and said:
"Doubtless you think that your spells have worked well, Witch-doctor,for see the ruin about us. Yet I hold otherwise, and say, 'Wait till theend!' To set a rock rolling down a hill is easy for those who have thestrength. But who knows on whom it will fall at last?"
"You speak foolishly, Teacher," answered Menzi. "I do not think that myspells have worked well, for something stronger than I am has spoiledthem. Mayhap it is you, Teacher, or the _Great-Great_ whom you serve inyour own fashion. I do not know, but I pray you to remember that longsince on the smoke of my magic fire I showed you what would come aboutif you re-built the Heaven-house upon this place. But you said I was acheat and would not be warned. Therefore things have gone as the Spiritsappointed that they should go. Your Christians made me gifts and askedme to bring rain and it has come in plenty, and with it other things,more than you asked. Look," and he pointed downwards.
The church was falling. Its last foundations were washed away. Down itcame with a mighty crash, to melt into the flood that presently filledthe place where it had been. Its collapse and the noise of it wereterrible, so terrible that the Christians gathered on the rock uttereda heart-rending wail of woe. The spire, being built upon a deeper bedbecause of its weight, stood longer than the rest of the fabric, butpresently it went also.
Thrice it seemed to bow towards them, then it fell like a child'scastle. Reckoning its height with his eye, Thomas saw that it could notreach them where they stood, and so did the others, therefore no onestirred. As the tower collapsed the clock sounded the first stroke ofthe hour, then suddenly became silent for ever and vanished beneath thewaters, a mass of broken metal.
But the bell on which it had struck was hurled forward by the sway ofthe fall like a stone from a sling. It sped towards them through theair, a great dark object. Men ran this way and that, so that it fellupon the rock where none stood. It fell; it flew to pieces like anexploding shell, and its fragments hurtled over them with a screamingsound. Yet as it chanced the tongue or clapper of it took a lowercourse, perhaps because it was heavier, and rushing onwards like athrown spear, struck Menzi full upon the chest, crushing in his breastbone.
They bore him up to the mission-house, since there was nowhere elsewhither he could be taken. Here they laid him on a bed, leaving thewoman, Ivana, to watch him, for they had no skill to deal with suchinjuries as his. Indeed, they thought him dead.
For a long while Menzi lay senseless, but after night had fallen hismind returned to him and he bade Ivana bring Tabitha to him, Tabitha andno one else. If she could not or would not come, then Ivana must bringno one else, for if she did he would curse her and die at once.
There were discussions and remonstrances, but in the end Tabitha wasallowed to go, for after all a fellow-creature was dying, and this washis last wish. She came, and Menzi received her smiling. Yes, he smiledand saluted her with shaking but uplifted arm, naming her _Inkosikazi_and _Umame_, or Mother.
"Welcome, Maiden Imba. Welcome, Little Flower," he said. "I wish to saygood-bye to you and to bless you; also to endow you with my Spirit, thatit may guard you throughout your life till you are as I am. I have hatedsome of the others, but I have always loved you, Little Flower."
"And I have loved you too, Menzi," said Tabitha, with a sob.
"I know, I know! We witch-doctors read hearts. But do not weep, LittleFlower. Why should you for such as I, a black man, a mere savage cheat,as your father named me? Yet I have not been altogether a cheat, O Imba,though sometimes I used tricks like other doctors, for I have a strengthof my own which your white people will never understand, because theyare too young to understand. It only comes to the old folk who havebeen since the beginning of the world, and remain as they were at thebeginning. I have been wicked, Little Flower, according to your whitelaw. I have killed men and done many other things that are according tothe law of my own people, and by that law I look for judgment. Yet, OImba, I will say this--that I believe your law to be higher and betterthan my law. Has it not been shown to-day, since of all that weregathered on the rock yonder I alone was struck down and in the hour ofmy victory? The strongest law must be the best law, is it not so? Tellme, Little Flower, would it please you if I died a Christian?"
"Yes, very much," said Tabitha, fixing upon this point at once and byinstinct avoiding all the other very doubtful disputations. "I willbring my father."
"Nay, nay, Little Flower. Your father, the Teacher Tombool, swore in hiswrath that he would not come to visit me even if I lay dying, and nowthat I am dying he shall keep his oath and repent of it day by day tillhe too is dying. If I am to die a Christian, you must make me one thismoment; _you_ and no other. Otherwise I go hence a heathen as I havelived. If you bring your father here I will die at once before he cantouch me, as I have power to do."
Then Tabitha, who although so young had strength and understanding andknew, if she thwarted him, that Menzi would do as he threatened, tookwater and made a certain Sign upon the brow of that old witch-doctor,uttering also certain words that she had often heard used in church atbaptisms.
Perhaps she was wrong; perhaps she transgressed and took too much uponher. Still, being by nature courageous, she ran the risk and did thesethings as afterwards Ivana testified to the followers of Menzi.
"Thank you, Little Flower," said Menzi. "I do not suppose that thisChristian magic will do me any good, but that you wished it is enough.It will be a rope to tie us together, Little Flower. Also I have anotherthought. When it is known that I became a C
hristian at the last then, if_you_ bid them, Little Flower, the 'heathen-herd' will follow where thebull Menzi went before them. They are but broken sherds and scorchedsticks" (i.e. rubbish) "but they will follow and that will please you,Little Flower, and your father also."
Here Menzi's breath failed, but recovering it, he continued:
"Hearken! O Imba! I give my people into your hand; now let your handbend the twig as you would have it grow. Make them Christian if youwill, or leave them heathen if you will; I care nothing. They are yoursto drive upon whatever path you choose to set their feet, _yours_, OImba, not Tombool's. Also, I, who lack heirs, give you my cattle, all ofthem. Ivana, make known my words, and with them the curse of Menzi, theKing's child, the _Umazisi_, the Seer, on any who dare to disobey. Sayto those of my House and to my people that henceforth the Maiden Imba istheir lady and their mother."
Again he paused a little, then went on:
"Now I charge my Spirit to watch over you, Little Flower, till you dieand we come to talk over these matters otherwhere, and my Spirit as itdeparts tells me that it will watch well, and that you will be a veryhappy woman, Little Flower."
He shut his eyes and lay still a while. Then he opened them again andsaid:
"O Imba, tell your father, the Teacher Tombool, from me that he does notunderstand us black people, whom he thinks so common, as you understandus, Little Flower, and that he would be wise to go to minister to whiteones."
After this, once more he smiled at Tabitha and then shut his eyes againfor the last time, and that was the end of the witch-doctor Menzi.
Smith and the Pharaohs, and other Tales Page 17
