Chapter 20
The actual sight of spirits from ghostland, of which hitherto they had only heard, had been too much for the nerves of the tribe already overstrung by the overthrow of the idol and the magic and slaughter of zu Pfeiffer; the warriors had fled like scared poultry to the jungle, up trees, in the undergrowth and in their huts, where they cowered among their women and slaves, reading awful omens and portents in every sound of the forest.
The phenomenon had been just as startling and awe-inspiring to Bakahenzie as it had been to his most ignorant dupe. His belief in ghostland was implicit, but now he had seen what, professionally, he was supposed to see and converse with on familiar terms. As Zalu Zako disappeared he continued to listen intently. Above the slight rustle of the bushes as the Son-of-the-Snake moved through the undergrowth rose a feminine laugh. Bakahenzie’s liver was squeezed by that sardonic chuckle; for, as is well known, female demons are much more malignant than the male. For the space of a chant he remained crouching there, curiosity and the dread of revealing his terror to his fellows tugging at his feet and fear of the demons clutching him around the waist. Save the anthem of the forest no further sound of the ghosts was audible.
Cautiously rose Bakahenzie, wriggled out of his nest and with as much dignity as maybe, strode back to the fire. From the village came a slight whimpering. With satisfaction Bakahenzie noted that no one else was in sight. For another space he sat with unquiet eyes and ears upon the forest. Then gathering courage as nothing happened, he pondered upon what attitude he should assume.
Yabolo stalked from round a hut and squatting calmly beside Bakahenzie, nonchalantly proceeded to tap out snuff and offered some to Bakahenzie, who grunted acceptance and sniffed with even greater indifference. Motionless they continued to sit and silently. Bakahenzie wondered whether Yabolo knew that he, too, had fled, and Yabolo, who did know, waited for the first move on Bakahenzie’s part to retort.
Yabolo, indeed, who had been as panic-stricken as Bakahenzie, was more suspicious in view of the accounts he had heard of the magic of Eyes-in-the-hands. Who knew but this vision might not be another manifestation of Eyes-in-the-hands? And more slowly a similar idea began to occur to Bakahenzie, save that he had in mind the incident of Moonspirit’s magic in the face of his bravest warriors. The calmer he became the more was he inclined to accept this explanation of the apparitions; such was infinitely more comforting to him than the conception that they had been in truth spirits from ghostland. As the doubt grew the wisdom of propitiating this powerful Moonspirit became apparent; yet was present the dread of loosing what remained of his autocratic power. The problem now was to enlist the white [pg 216] and discover some means of controlling him and his magic.
But to both men the vital question was, what had become of Zalu Zako? There were two alternatives: if the visions had been genuine ghosts, then undoubtedly Zalu Zako was dead; but if they had been produced through the magic of a white man, then, Bakahenzie argued, Zalu Zako and Marufa must be in league with Moonspirit, and Yabolo opined that Zalu Zako had been captured by Eyes-in-the-hands. To the latter the effect was to strengthen the determination to go over to Eyes-in-the-hands. If the first possibility was correct the greater need had he of strong magic if real ghosts were taking to walking abroad visibly, and the other case merely proved beyond question the invincible magic of Eyes-in-the-hands. But to Bakahenzie the reaction was slightly different, for his elemental reason took him a little farther than Yabolo by pointing out that in all his wide experience never had spirits taken demons’ shape, so that the suspicion that they had been due to Moonspirit became more plausible, and was supported by the recollection of Marufa’s unexplained absence and sudden reappearance on familiar terms with the spirits.
The longer he pondered on the strange actions of Marufa the more he was persuaded that that wily colleague was acting upon sound information, and the tangle of his affairs made him so desperate that he decided to gamble upon that assumption: for magician Bakahenzie began to realize that Marufa had somehow scored a point and that now was approaching the crux which would determine whether [pg 217] he won back or lost for ever that which was the essence of life to him.