“No, Dala, he shall never come back. They who fall into the hands of Kifura never escape.”
“Then let him live; but this Franki, let me slay him, for while he lives I shall not have peace.”
“No, he may not be slain; for never before has Kifura had a white man in his hands. And when I go to my own people they will say Kifura is indeed a warrior; the women will dance, and they shall sing that there is no man among the Balaba like unto him, for never before has a man of the Balaba brought a white man as a slave.”
There was a further discussion between these two worthies as to the question of my being killed. At last it was settled that Chaka and I were to remain in the hands of the Balaba, and that Dala was to return to Karema and say we both were dead. In consideration of Dala foregoing his wish to murder me he was to be given a canoe to return down the river in, which he could say he had captured from the Balaba in fight.
I was ordered to return to where Chaka was lying, and I told him of the conversation between Dala and Kifura.
“Oh that I were free,” said he, “that I might kill him and die. He is a dog, and the son of a dog. But, Franki, while Chaka is with you he will be your slave, and what service he can render you he will render.”
It was long ere I could close my eyes in sleep, for I was tortured by despair at my evil fortune and the thought that if I had not disregarded Karema’s desires I might even now have been among my own people and probably with my own father and brother. At last I was exhausted by the very violence of my emotions, and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, from which I was awakened by a great noise and shouting.
I raised myself up to see what was the cause, and I found the whole camp in commotion. On looking for Chaka I found that he was no longer by my side. After a bit I heard a piercing shriek, as if some one was killed. I tried to drag myself towards the noise, for I feared that my faithful companion was the victim; but I was soon seized upon by two men and dragged before Kifura. By his side lay the dead body of Dala, with a knife in its breast; and close by the corpse of Chaka, riddled with spears.
Kifura gave orders for me to have, in addition to the log on my ankle, a slave-fork put round my neck and my hands lashed behind my back.
While his orders were being carried out I gathered what had occurred. I found that Chaka, notwithstanding the encumbrance of the log on his leg, had managed to creep close to where Dala was sleeping, and drawing the latter’s knife from his girdle had driven it into his heart. As he rose to do so the light of a neighbouring fire fell on him, and one of the Balaba seeing what he was doing, raised an alarm. Before Chaka could get a dozen feet from the body of his victim he was speared to death.