Witch-Doctors | Page 5

about his neck was suspended by a twisted fibre an amulet wrapped in banana leaves containing the gall and toenail of an enemy slain by a virgin warrior, a specific against black magic whose powerful properties were proven by the undisputed influence and wealth of the owner.
A tall lithe savage, bearing upon his arms and ankles the ivory bracelets of the royal house and the elephant hair chaplet of the warrior, advanced leisurely towards him from the banana plantation. Marufa continued to gaze in rumination at the opposite hut. But as they had not met since the rising of the sun, he did not fail to make the orthodox greeting at the exact moment that the chief's shadow passed in front of him, which Zalu Zako returned punctiliously, thereby averting an evil omen. As soon as the young man had passed beyond the next hut appeared in the grove a girl, modelled like a bronze wood nymph. She wore the tiny girdle of the unmarried and walked furtively, carrying in her hand a parcel wrapped in banana leaves. In the shadow of a compound fence she halted, one slender brown arm set back in apprehension as her eyes followed the lithe figure of Zalu Zako.
Motionless sat Marufa staring in mystic contemplation. Bakuma glanced swiftly about her. Apparently satisfied that no one was observing her save a lean dog and two gollywog children, she continued on as if to pass the old man, her eyes still ranging like a fawn's. But when she was beside Marufa she subsided on her haunches beside him, clutching the bundle as she whispered:
"Greetings, O wise one!"
"Greeting, daughter," returned Marufa without lessening the fixity of his gaze.
"I would talk with thee."
"Aye."
Again she glanced around furtively.
"I would talk in thine ear, O my father."
"The knots of my hair are tied."
"I thank thee. There's a fluttering bird in my breast."
"And a snake around thy heart, O my daughter."
"Aie-e!"
"The grandson of the snake hath tied thy girdle."
"Ehh!"
The girl clasped her breast in surprised terror.
"How dost thou know?"
"All things are known to the son of MTungo," declared Marufa solemnly, still regarding the opposite wall. "Thou desirest a love charm.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} What hast thou?"
Tremulously Bakuma put down the green package on the ground, darting terrified glances to right and left. Slowly the skinny hand of the wizard gently tore open the leaves; very impressively the eyes slanted down to appraise the stock of blue and white beads.
"The spirit of Tarum hath a big belly," he announced tonelessly.
"O wise one, intercede for me," pleaded Bakuma, "for more have I none, I, Bakuma, daughter of Bakala, a girl of the hut thatch."
"The true love charm, infallible and powerful, is difficult to obtain, O Bakuma. The young huntress aims at big game."
"Ehh! But I have no more, great one!"
"The hair of a rutting leopardess, the liver of a forest rat, the tongue of a Baroto bird--these must I have to mix with thy blood to be drunk by thy man when the moon is full."
"Ehh! Ehh!"
"Such is the magic that no young man can resist."
"Ehh-h!"
"But these things are difficult to obtain."
"Aie! Aie!" wailed Bakuma, clasping her hands in despair.
"Difficult to obtain."
"Aie-e!"
"On the night of the half-moon will I take upon me the leopard form."
"Ehh!"
"I will talk with the spirits."
"Ehh! Ehh!"
"But they must be propitiated 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