Allans Wife | Page 8

out a plan which I had long cherished, but been unable to execute
because it would have involved separation from my father. Put shortly,
it was to undertake a trading journey of exploration right through the
countries now known as the Free State and the Transvaal, and as much
further North as I could go. It was an adventurous scheme, for though
the emigrant Boers had begun to occupy positions in these territories,
they were still to all practical purposes unexplored. But I was now
alone in the world, and it mattered little what became of me; so, driven
on by the overmastering love of adventure, which, old as I am, will
perhaps still be the cause of my death, I determined to undertake the
journey.
Accordingly I sold such stock and goods as we had upon the station,
reserving only the two best waggons and two spans of oxen. The
proceeds I invested in such goods as were then in fashion, for trading
purposes, and in guns and ammunition. The guns would have moved
any modern explorer to merriment; but such as they were I managed to
do a good deal of execution with them. One of them was a
single-barrelled, smooth bore, fitted for percussion caps--a roer we
called it--which threw a three-ounce ball, and was charged with a
handful of coarse black powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with
that roer, although it generally knocked me backwards when I fired it,
which I only did under compulsion. The best of the lot, perhaps, was a
double- barrelled No. 12 shot-gun, but it had flint locks. Also there

were some old tower muskets, which might or might not throw straight
at seventy yards. I took six Kaffirs with me, and three good horses,
which were supposed to be salted--that is, proof against the sickness.
Among the Kaffirs was an old fellow named Indaba-zimbi, which,
being translated, means "tongue of iron." I suppose he got this name
from his strident voice and exhaustless eloquence. This man was a
great character in his way. He had been a noted witch-doctor among a
neighbouring tribe, and came to the station under the following
circumstances, which, as he plays a considerable part in this history, are
perhaps worth recording.
Two years before my father's death I had occasion to search the country
round for some lost oxen. After a long and useless quest it occurred to
me that I had better go to the place where the oxen were bred by a
Kaffir chief, whose name I forget, but whose kraal was about fifty
miles from our station. There I journeyed, and found the oxen safe at
home. The chief entertained me handsomely, and on the following
morning I went to pay my respects to him before leaving, and was
somewhat surprised to find a collection of some hundreds of men and
women sitting round him anxiously watching the sky in which the
thunder-clouds were banking up in a very ominous way.
"You had better wait, white man," said the chief, "and see the rain-
doctors fight the lightning."
I inquired what he meant, and learned that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had
for some years occupied the position of wizard-in-chief to the tribe,
although he was not a member of it, having been born in the country
now known as Zululand. But a son of the chief's, a man of about thirty,
had lately set up as a rival in supernatural powers. This irritated
Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and a quarrel ensued between the two
witch-doctors that resulted in a challenge to trial by lightning being
given and accepted. These were the conditions. The rivals must await
the coming of a serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tempest would serve
their turn. Then, carrying assegais in their hands, they must take their
stand within fifty paces of each other upon a certain patch of ground
where the big thunderbolts were observed to strike continually, and by

the exercise of their occult powers and invocations to the lightning,
must strive to avert death from themselves and bring it on their rival.
The terms of this singular match had been arranged a month previously,
but no storm worthy of the occasion had arisen. Now the local
weather-prophets believed it to be brewing.
I inquired what would happen if neither of the men were struck, and
was told that they must then wait for another storm. If they escaped the
second time, however, they would be held to be equal in power, and be
jointly consulted by the tribe upon occasions of importance.
The prospect of being a spectator of so unusual a sight overcame my
desire to be gone, and I accepted the chief's invitation to see it out.
Before mid-day I regretted it, for though the western