He smiled with great satisfaction at this, saying, if it proved true, I should be his rain-maker for the future. Then taking his leave, I saw him proceed direct to the prophet and address that withered, sour specimen of humanity.
I learned afterwards, from Tugela, that Metilulu had accused him of wishing to destroy the man who had turned out to be the best friend the tribe had, while he ended by asserting, on the strength of my word alone, that the rain was coming, and very speedily too, though the white man yet lived. The rain-maker, perceiving the champion I had in the Chief, had muttered out something about a mistake; it must have been some one of their own people, whose evil spirit had caused his spells to fail till now. I rather admired that “till now,” the conceit was so extremely cool.
Such a flagrant act of imposture as this in our country would have speedily ruined all the prestige of a conjuror, much less a prophet; but there it had not the least effect, and if the rain had not come as I had predicted, no doubt the prophet would have triumphed enormously, and again been set to work to smell out another unfortunate victim, if he had not still persisted—as very likely he might—that the worker of all this evil was myself.
As it was, however, plenteous and refreshing rains fell that day; the rivers again began to flow, and the springs and wells to fill—all of which had an effect wonderful to behold upon the natives. They danced, they shouted, they sang, and fairly embraced each other and their dear cattle, the destruction of their kraal appearing to sink into quite a minor affair. It was far from doing so with Metilulu, a brave little fellow, despite his obesity. Before the day was out, he had called his chief warriors together, to arrange with them how and when to take dire vengeance upon his enemy. Not one of the tribe was loathe to do this; therefore, it was determined that, directly they could erect a kraal sufficiently large to keep the cattle and women in safety, the whole body of Kaffirs, with Metilulu himself at their head, should, leaving only enough behind to protect the women and cows, depart for the enemy’s dwellings, upon whom they swore to have a terrible retribution.
Consequently three days after, when an isibaya had been hurriedly constructed for the cattle and huts for the females, children, and those who were to remain as their guards, the war party set out, I among their number, by permission of the chief, who now seemed ready to grant anything I desired—a willingness on his Majesty’s part which I hoped soon to put to a great test, by stating my earnest desire to return to my own people and land.
We set forth after sun-down, so as to reach the enemy’s quarters in the middle of the night, which we succeeded in doing, for after having marched for nearly four hours, we came abruptly on the kraal, laying, bathed in moonlight, all silent and still just at the foot of a slight incline.
I think it need not be stated that I had no intention to play any part in the affair about to take place, for the men I was with were acting no better than had those who had attacked them, while from experience I knew they could be quite, as cruel. But aware my presence or absence could do neither harm nor good, I had really come hoping thereby to gain still further Metilulu’s friendship, so that perhaps he might the more readily grant my request to be passed on to a white settlement.
Falling back, therefore, to the rear as the Kaffirs advanced, I manoeuvred to remain in the shadow of the bush while they went on. In the kraal before me there was, unfortunately, no wakeful eye to warn the sleepers of their danger, and the Kaffirs, approaching silently with the stealthy tread of a cat, had even scaled the fences before a sound was heard. Then the dogs began to bark and the cows to low, for in Caffraria cattle can at times be made to serve in place of the watchful canine animals themselves; but, before their masters could be aroused by the warning, they were startled into consciousness of their peril by their huts being pierced by the assagais of the enemy, whose loud yells of triumph rang awfully through the still air.
A terrible scene ensued—warriors who had had only time to seize their weapons issued forth but to be slaughtered, while women and children mostly shared the same fate. Some of the fragile huts were crushed down altogether—the inmates under them—into which heaps the enemy frequently thrust their spears to destroy the miserable beings beneath.
I waited impatiently for an end to this frightful scene of bloodshed, and each moment expected to see the cattle drawn out to a place of safety and the kraal set on fire as ours had been; but there appeared no signs of this. Owing to the unfairness of the fight, it speedily began to subside; yet the cattle remained in the isibaya. Had the enemy been exterminated, or had they yielded?