I was at the time too busy with other things to pay much, if any, attention to these signs, but having made the circuit of the kraal, came once more in sight of my own dwelling. As I did so I perceived Tugela abruptly issue from it, spring in to an erect position, and hurry off. Not having seen him all day, I hastened after to overtake him, but his speed being greater than mine, he soon distanced me, so giving the chase up, I entered my home with a very good appetite for my dinner.
It being ready, I sat down to it at once, and had somewhat allayed my hunger when, with a sudden cry, Zenuta cast herself beside me, apparently in an agony of grief, for looking down I saw tears rolling down her cheeks. In much concern I raised her from her kneeling position, and asked the cause of her emotion. For a few moments, however, sobs checked her utterance, then she let fall several brief, disconnected sentences, which made me sure that some imminent danger was threatening me. Earnestly I besought her to speak more clearly, even having recourse to the infallible reasoning, the love which she had so often expressed for me. The latter, as usual, had the effect I so anxiously desired, and sobbing as if her heart would break, she said how she had just learned from Tugela—what it now seemed the whole kraal had known some hours before—that the rain-maker, in an interview with Metilulu, had declared that the drought was entirely caused by the white man who was among them, whose disbelief in his (the prophet’s) power had also made his charms fail, and never would they succeed, nor rain come, till the Englishman had been removed—removed, meant death.
No one but those who had witnessed the barbarous cruelty and ignorance of these people, combined with their utter regardlessness to the suffering of others, can imagine the effect this intelligence had upon me. The first feeling that seized me was the certainty that after all my escapes my hour had come at last, and I was really never to see old England again, and the dear ones it contained. Zenuta, seeing my horror and despair, clung entreatingly to me, and with true woman’s tenderness, which is the same in all lands when their hearts are concerned, tried to calm and soothe me, by saying Tugela had also told her that Metilulu had seemed most averse to letting me suffer, and had even informed the prophet that he would defer his answer respecting the subject, and perhaps would talk to the white man himself, and see what his opinions really were upon the point.
These words gave me the relief which the affectionate girl desired, for they were to me what a respite is to a condemned man.—It showed me I had a few hours to reflect and to determine how to act; so, for the first time pressing my lips to Zenuta’s dusky forehead, for I could not but be deeply moved by the warm affection which she showed me, I bade her go about her household duties, and leave me awhile, as I wished to think how best to answer the Chief Metilulu on the morrow.
With a glow of intense happiness on her face at this token of friendship, she silently obeyed, while I, throwing myself on the ground, began to reflect how I could manage to escape from the awful danger impending over me.
Chapter Eighteen.
I Prepare to Escape—I Leave the Kraal, but Quickly Return—The Enemy—The Kraal in Flames.
Lying there on my sleeping-mat I contemplated my hazardous position with feelings better imagined than described. My flesh crept as I recalled the horrible torture I had seen practiced on the wretched wizard, and felt how in a few days, if fortune did not favour me, I too might undergo the same.