Marût came up to me, unhurt, still smiling and waving a bloody spear.
“Lord Macumazana,” he said, “the end is at hand. The Child has saved the others, or most of them, but us it has abandoned. Now what will you do? Kill yourself, or if that does not please you, suffer me to kill you? Or shoot on until you must surrender?”
“I have nothing to shoot with any more,” I answered. “But if we surrender, what will happen to us?”
“We shall be taken to Simba’s town and there sacrificed to the devil Jana—I have not time to tell you how. Therefore I propose to kill myself.”
“Then I think you are foolish, Marût, since once we are dead, we are dead; but while we are alive it is always possible that we may escape from Jana. If the worst comes to the worst I have a pistol with two bullets in it, one for you and one for me.”
“The wisdom of the Child is in you,” he replied. “I shall surrender with you, Macumazana, and take my chance.”
Then he turned and explained things to his followers, who spoke together for a moment. In the end these took a strange and, to my mind, a very heroic decision. Waiting till the attacking Kendah were quite close to us, with the exception of three men, who either because they lacked courage or for some other reason, stayed with us, they advanced humbly as though to make submission. A number of the Black Kendah dismounted and ran up, I suppose to take them prisoners. The men waited till these were all round them. Then with a yell of “The Child!” they sprang forward, taking the enemy unawares and fighting like demons, inflicted great loss upon them before they fell themselves covered with wounds.
“Brave men indeed!” said Marût approvingly. “Well, now they are all at peace with the Child, where doubtless we shall find them ere long.”
I nodded but answered nothing. To tell the truth, I was too much engaged in nursing the remains of my own courage to enter into conversation about that of other people.
This fierce and cunning stratagem of desperate men which had cost their enemies so dear, seemed to infuriate the Black Kendah.