Child of Storm

"Umbelazi!" said Scowl, and as he spoke we saw another man following as

a wild dog follows a buck.

"Saduko!" said Scowl.

I rode on. I could not help riding on, although I knew it would be safer

to keep away. I reached the edge of that big rock. Saduko and Umbelazi

were fighting there.

In ordinary circumstances, strong and active as he was, Saduko would

have had no chance against the most powerful Zulu living. But the prince

was utterly exhausted; his sides were going like a blacksmith's bellows,

or those of a fat eland bull that has been galloped to a standstill.

Moreover, he seemed to me to be distraught with grief, and, lastly, he

had no shield left, nothing but an assegai.

A stab from Saduko's spear, which he partially parried, wounded him

slightly on the head, and cut loose the fillet of his ostrich plume,

that same plume which I had seen blown off in the morning, so that

it fell to the ground. Another stab pierced his right arm, making

it helpless. He snatched the assegai with his left hand, striving to

continue the fight, and just at that moment we came up.

"What are you doing, Saduko?" I cried. "Does a dog bite his own master?"

He turned and stared at me; both of them stared at me.

"Aye, Macumazahn," he answered in an icy voice, "sometimes when it is

starving and that full-fed master has snatched away its bone. Nay, stand

aside, Macumazahn" (for, although I was quite unarmed, I had stepped

between them), "lest you should share the fate of this woman-thief."

"Not I, Saduko," I cried, for this sight made me mad, "unless you murder

me."

Then Umbelazi spoke in a hollow voice, sobbing out his words: "I thank you, White Man, yet do as this snake bids you--this snake that

has lived in my kraal and fed out of my cup. Let him have his fill of

vengeance because of the woman who bewitched me--yes, because of the

sorceress who has brought me and thousands to the dust. Have you heard,

Macumazahn, of the great deed of this son of Matiwane? Have you heard

that all the while he was a traitor in the pay of Cetewayo, and that he

went over, with the regiments of his command, to the Usutu just when the

battle hung upon the turn? Come, Traitor, here is my heart--the heart

that loved and trusted you. Strike--strike hard!"

"Out of the way, Macumazahn!" hissed Saduko. But I would not stir.

He sprang at me, and, though I put up the best fight that I could in

my injured state, got his hands about my throat and began to choke

me. Scowl ran to help me, but his wound--for he was hurt--or his utter

exhaustion took effect on him. Or perhaps it was excitement. At any

rate, he fell down in a fit. I thought that all was over, when again I

heard Umbelazi's voice, and felt Saduko's grip loosen at my throat, and

sat up.