Witch-Doctors | Page 6

with the blood of a fat goat."
"Aie! Aie! But I have no fat goat."
"If there be no fat goat then will the spirits be wroth with me."
"Aie-e-e!"
Bakuma sat staring in dismal perplexity.
"No fat goat have I, a girl of the hut thatch! Aie! Aie!"
Marufa fumbled within the loin-cloth and thrust a tiny package along
the ground.
"See and know the power of my magic." Bakuma greedily snatched up
the amulet. "Begone!" he whispered, jerking the parcel of beads behind
him. "MYalu approaches."
"Ehh!"
Bakuma rose and fled with the grace of a startled antelope as appeared
a tall, strongly built man, having a low-browed face, across which was
a deep scar. Behind MYalu came two young slaves bearing a small
elephant tusk. Opposite to Marufa the slaves stopped. Their master,
careful that his shadow fell well away from the figure of the
magician--for the shadow is one of the souls, so woe unto him who
shall leave his soul in the hands of an enemy!--squatted gravely.
"Greeting, son of MTungo!"

"Greeting, son of MBusa!" returned Marufa.
Gravely they spat into each other's palm, the sign of amity as they who
exchange bonds of good behaviour inasmuch, as is well known, magic
can be worked upon that which has been a part of the body as upon the
body itself. Then solemnly they rubbed the spittle upon their respective
chests.
"The spirit of the snake nourisheth not the life of the banana."
"Nay, for nigh unto two moons hath there been no blood of the snake,"
returned the old man perfunctorily, as he lifted his eyes from a swift
appraisement of the tusk to his favourite mud wall.
"Nay, the crops sprout not. Maybe the Dweller in the Place of the
Snake hath been visited by one from the forest."
"Aye, but old blood runs not as swiftly as young blood."
"Nay," replied MYalu, in answer to the reference to himself, "but the
girdle is not yet tied by another."
"When the first twig of the nest is laid," remarked Marufa, indolently
eyeing the tusk, "it is difficult to entice the hen to another tree."
"Here is a goodly twig with which to tempt spirits of the forest," and
significantly, "Maybe there are others."
"A mighty potion shall be prepared for thee, O son of MBusa,"
declared Marufa, moving slightly to conceal the package of beads. "A
mighty potion, infallible; made from the hair of a rutting leopardess,
the liver of the forest rat and the tongue of the Baroto bird; these must
she take that she shall speak thee softly, together with a portion of that
which remains from the ceremony of the lobolo. Infallible is it; never
known to fail."
"Ehh!"
Marufa stared interestedly at a wandering hen. MYalu watched him

covertly. Like bronzes sat the two young slaves. From the distance
came a faint chanting and the beat of a drum.{~HORIZONTAL
ELLIPSIS~}
"The tusk is here, Marufa," remarked MYalu casually.
"My eyes see it," observed Marufa, without altering his observation of
the hen.
"Where then is the potion?"
Marufa glanced at the tusk, appraised it again, and fumbling within his
loin-cloth, thrust another tiny package along the ground. MYalu
greedily picked up the amulet and stared in awe, turning it over and
about.
"The tusk," murmured Marufa.
MYalu gestured to his slaves. They rose and placed the tusk beside the
old man, shuffled backwards and squatted again. After lifting one end
to test the weight, Marufa examined the grain. Then sliding it behind
him as if he wished to sit upon it, remarked:
"The potion must be eaten at the full moon."
"Ehh!"
MYalu glanced up from an absorbed examination of the amulet.
"And within the quarter shall the fruit be ripe for the plucking." The
whites of MYalu's eyes gleamed. "Unless," continued the old man
uninterestedly, "there be stronger magic made against thee."
"Ehh!"
The two hands holding the amulet came down.
"If," explained Marufa, "another hath tied the grasses of her father's
roof, will there be required a stronger spirit to overcome such magic."

"But thou hast told me," expostulated MYalu, regarding the tusk
regretfully, "that this is a mighty magic, powerful and infallible, never
known to fail."
"Thus is it," asserted the old man imperturbably, "for all save a stronger
magic."
MYalu's eyes wandered from the tusk to Marufa and back. He scowled.
"Why didst thou not tell me?" he demanded sourly, dropping the
amulet on the ground.
"It is for thee to tell the wizard all that thou knowest. How else may he
reckon with thine enemies?"
"Enemy!" exclaimed MYalu. He stared questioningly at Marufa.
"Enemy! Dost thou know whom I seek?"
"Do not all the hens remark the strutting of the cock?" inquired Marufa
unconcernedly, tapping his snuff box.
"Ehh!"