Maiwas Revenge | Page 6

our journey we suffered a good deal from fever, that is,
my men did, for I think that I am fever proof. Also I was hard put to it
to keep the camp in meat, for although the country proved to be very
sparsely populated, there was but little game about. Indeed, during all
that time I hardly killed anything larger than a waterbuck, and, as you
know, waterbuck's flesh is not very appetising food. On the twentieth
day, however, we came to the banks of a largish river, the Gonooroo it
was called. This I crossed, and then struck inland towards a great range
of mountains, the blue crests of which we could see lying on the distant
heavens like a shadow, a continuation, as I believe, of the Drakensberg
range that skirts the coast of Natal. From this main range a great spur
shoots out some fifty miles or so towards the coast, ending abruptly in
one tremendous peak. This spur I discovered separated the territories of
two chiefs named Nala and Wambe, Wambe's territory being to the
north, and Nala's to the south. Nala ruled a tribe of bastard Zulus called
the Butiana, and Wambe a much larger tribe, called the Matuku, which
presents marked Bantu characteristics. For instance, they have doors
and verandahs to their huts, work skins perfectly, and wear a waistcloth
and not a moocha. At this time the Butiana were more or less subject to
the Matuku, having been surprised by them some twenty years before
and mercilessly slaughtered down. The tribe was now recovering itself,
however, and as you may imagine, it did not love the Matuku.
"Well, I heard as I went along that elephants were very plentiful in the
dense forests which lie upon the slopes and at the foot of the mountains
that border Wambe's territory. Also I heard a very ill report of that
worthy himself, who lived in a kraal upon the side of the mountain,
which was so strongly fortified as to be practically impregnable. It was
said that he was the most cruel chief in this part of Africa, and that he
had murdered in cold blood an entire party of English gentlemen, who,
some seven years before, had gone into his country to hunt elephants.
They took an old friend of mine with them as guide, John Every by
name, and often had I mourned over his untimely death. All the same,
Wambe or no Wambe, I determined to hunt elephants in his country. I
never was afraid of natives, and I was not going to show the white
feather now. I am a bit of a fatalist, as you fellows know, so I came to

the conclusion that if it was fated that Wambe should send me to join
my old friend John Every, I should have to go, and there was an end of
it. Meanwhile, I meant to hunt elephants with a peaceful heart.
"On the third day from the date of our sighting the great peak, we found
ourselves beneath its shadow. Still following the course of the river
which wound through the forests at the base of the peak, we entered the
territory of the redoubtable Wambe. This, however, was not
accomplished without a certain difference of opinion between my
bearers and myself, for when we reached the spot where Wambe's
boundary was supposed to run, the bearers sat down and emphatically
refused to go a step further. I sat down too, and argued with them,
putting my fatalistic views before them as well as I was able. But I
could not persuade them to look at the matter in the same light. 'At
present,' they said, 'their skins were whole; if they went into Wambe's
country without his leave they would soon be like a water- eaten leaf. It
was very well for me to say that this would be Fate. Fate no doubt
might be walking about in Wambe's country, but while they stopped
outside they would not meet him.'
"'Well,' I said to Gobo, my head man, 'and what do you mean to do?'
"'We mean to go back to the coast, Macumazahn,' he answered
insolently.
"'Do you?' I replied, for my bile was stirred. 'At any rate, Mr. Gobo,
you and one or two others will never get there; see here, my friend,' and
I took a repeating rifle and sat myself comfortably down, resting my
back against a tree--'I have just breakfasted, and I had as soon spend the
day here as anywhere else. Now if you or any of those men walk one
step back from here, and towards the coast, I shall fire at you; and you
know that I don't miss.'
"The man fingered the spear he was carrying--luckily all my guns