Upon this intimation I made no comment, but "my head thought," as the
natives say, that Saduko's real reason for not wishing to see me was
that he felt ashamed to do so, and Nandie's that she feared to learn
more about her husband's perfidies than she knew already.
"With Mameena it is otherwise," went on the messenger, "for as soon
as she was brought here with Zikali the Little and Wise, with whom, it
seems, she has been sheltering, and learned that you, Macumazahn, were
at the kraal, she asked leave to see you--"
"And is it granted?" I broke in hurriedly, for I did not at all wish for
a private interview with Mameena.
"Nay, have no fear, Inkoosi," replied the messenger with a smile; "it
is refused, because the King said that if once she saw you she would
bewitch you and bring trouble on you, as she does on all men. It is for
this reason that she is guarded by women only, no man being allowed to
go near to her, for on women her witcheries will not bite. Still, they
say that she is merry, and laughs and sings a great deal, declaring that
her life has been dull up at old Zikali's, and that now she is going to
a place as gay as the veld in spring, after the first warm rain, where
there will be plenty of men to quarrel for her and make her great and
happy. That is what she says, the witch who knows perhaps what the Place
of Spirits is like."
Then, as I made no remarks or suggestions, the messenger departed,
saying that he would return on the morrow to lead me to the place of
trial.
Next morning, after the cows had been milked and the cattle loosed from
their kraals, he came accordingly, with a guard of about thirty men, all
of them soldiers who had survived the great fight of the Amawombe. These
warriors, some of whom had wounds that were scarcely healed, saluted me
with loud cries of "Inkoosi!" and "Baba" as I stepped out of the wagon,
where I had spent a wretched night of unpleasant anticipation, showing
me that there were at least some Zulus with whom I remained popular.
Indeed, their delight at seeing me, whom they looked upon as a comrade
and one of the few survivors of the great adventure, was quite touching.
As we went, which we did slowly, their captain told me of their fears
that I had been killed with the others, and how rejoiced they were when
they learned that I was safe. He told me also that, after the third
regiment had attacked them and broken up their ring, a small body of
them, from eighty to a hundred only, managed to cut a way through and
escape, running, not towards the Tugela, where so many thousands had
perished, but up to Nodwengu, where they reported themselves to Panda as
the only survivors of the Amawombe.