King Solomon's Mines
most African races. But what struck us most was their exceedingly quiet
and dignified air. They were as well-bred in their way as the
_habituées_ of a fashionable drawing-room, and in this respect they
differ from Zulu women and their cousins the Masai who inhabit the
district beyond Zanzibar. Their curiosity had brought them out to see
us, but they allowed no rude expressions of astonishment or savage
criticism to pass their lips as we trudged wearily in front of them.
Not even when old Infadoos with a surreptitious motion of the hand
pointed out the crowning wonder of poor Good’s “beautiful white legs,”
did they suffer the feeling of intense admiration which evidently
mastered their minds to find expression. They fixed their dark eyes
upon this new and snowy loveliness, for, as I think I have said, Good’s
skin is exceedingly white, and that was all. But it was quite enough
for Good, who is modest by nature.
When we reached the centre of the kraal, Infadoos halted at the door of
a large hut, which was surrounded at a distance by a circle of smaller
ones.
“Enter, Sons of the Stars,” he said, in a magniloquent voice, “and
deign to rest awhile in our humble habitations. A little food shall be
brought to you, so that ye may have no need to draw your belts tight
from hunger; some honey and some milk, and an ox or two, and a few
sheep; not much, my lords, but still a little food.”
“It is good,” said I. “Infadoos; we are weary with travelling through
realms of air; now let us rest.”
Accordingly we entered the hut, which we found amply prepared for our
comfort. Couches of tanned skins were spread for us to lie on, and
water was placed for us to wash in.
Presently we heard a shouting outside, and stepping to the door, saw a
line of damsels bearing milk and roasted mealies, and honey in a pot.
Behind these were some youths driving a fat young ox. We received the
gifts, and then one of the young men drew the knife from his girdle and
dexterously cut the ox’s throat. In ten minutes it was dead, skinned,
and jointed. The best of the meat was then cut off for us, and the
rest, in the name of our party, I presented to the warriors round us,
who took it and distributed the “white lords’ gift.”
Umbopa set to work, with the assistance of an extremely prepossessing
young woman, to boil our portion in a large earthenware pot over a fire
which was built outside the hut, and when it was nearly ready we sent a
message to Infadoos, and asked him and Scragga, the king’s son, to join
us.
Presently they came, and sitting down upon little stools, of which
there were several about the hut, for the Kukuanas do not in general
squat upon their haunches like the Zulus, they helped us to get through
our dinner. The old gentleman was most affable and polite, but it
struck me that the young one regarded us with doubt. Together with the
rest of the party, he had been overawed by our white appearance and by
our magic properties; but it seemed to me that, on discovering that we
ate, drank, and slept like other mortals, his awe was beginning to wear
off, and to be replaced by a sullen suspicion—which made me feel rather
uncomfortable.
In the course of our meal Sir Henry suggested to me that it might be
well to try to discover if our hosts knew anything of his brother’s
fate, or if they had ever seen or heard of him; but, on the whole, I
thought that it would be wiser to say nothing of the matter at this
time. It was difficult to explain a relative lost from “the Stars.”
After supper we produced our pipes and lit them; a proceeding which
filled Infadoos and Scragga with astonishment. The Kukuanas were
evidently unacquainted with the divine delights of tobacco-smoke. The
herb is grown among them extensively; but, like the Zulus, they use it
for snuff only, and quite failed to identify it in its new form.
Presently I asked Infadoos when we were to proceed on our journey, and
was delighted to learn that preparations had been made for us to leave
on the following morning, messengers having already departed to inform
Twala the king of our coming.
It appeared that Twala was at his principal place, known as Loo, making
ready for the great annual feast which was to be held in the first week
of June. At this gathering all the regiments, with the exception of
certain detachments left behind for garrison purposes, are brought up
and paraded before the king; and the great annual witch-hunt, of which
more by-and-by, is held.
We were to start at dawn; and Infadoos, who was to accompany us,
expected that we should reach Loo on the night of the second day,
unless we were detained by accident or by swollen rivers.
When they had given us this information our visitors bade us
good-night; and, having arranged to watch turn and turn about, three of
us flung ourselves down and slept the sweet sleep of the weary, whilst
the fourth sat up on the look-out for possible treachery.
CHAPTER IX.
TWALA THE KING
It will not be necessary for me to detail at length the incidents of
our journey to Loo. It took two full days’ travelling along Solomon’s
Great Road, which pursued its even course right into the heart of
Kukuanaland. Suffice it to say that as we went the country seemed to
grow richer and richer, and the kraals, with their wide surrounding
belts of cultivation, more and more numerous. They were all built upon
the same principles as the first camp which we had reached, and were
guarded by ample garrisons of troops. Indeed, in Kukuanaland, as among
the Germans, the Zulus, and the Masai, every able-bodied man is a
soldier, so that the whole force of the nation is available for its
wars, offensive or defensive. As we travelled we were overtaken by
thousands of warriors hurrying up to Loo to be present at the great
annual review and festival, and more splendid troops I never saw.
At sunset on the second day, we stopped to rest awhile upon the summit
of some heights over which the road ran, and there on a beautiful and
fertile plain before us lay Loo itself. For a native town it is an
enormous place, quite five miles round, I should say, with outlying
kraals projecting from it, that serve on grand occasions as cantonments
for the regiments, and a curious horseshoe-shaped hill, with which we
were destined to become better acquainted, about two miles to the
north. It is beautifully situated, and through the centre of the kraal,
dividing it into two portions, runs a river, which appeared to be
bridged in several places, the same indeed that we had seen from the
slopes of Sheba’s Breasts. Sixty or seventy miles away three great
snow-capped mountains, placed at the points of a triangle, started out
of the level plain. The conformation of these mountains is unlike that
of Sheba’s Breasts, being sheer and precipitous, instead of smooth and
rounded.
Infadoos saw us looking at them, and volunteered a remark.
“The road ends there,” he said, pointing to the mountains known among
the Kukuanas as the “Three Witches.”
“Why does it end?” I asked.
“Who knows?” he answered with a shrug; “the mountains are full of
caves, and there is a great pit between them. It is there that the wise
men of old time used to go to get whatever it was they came for to this
country, and it is there now that our kings are buried in the Place of
Death.”
“What was it they came for?” I asked eagerly.
“Nay, I know not. My lords who have dropped from the Stars should
know,” he answered with a quick look. Evidently he knew more than he
chose to say.
“Yes,” I went on, “you are right, in the Stars we learn many things. I
have heard, for instance, that the wise men of old came to these
mountains to find bright stones, pretty playthings, and yellow iron.”
“My lord is wise,” he answered coldly; “I am but a child and cannot
talk with my lord on such matters. My lord must speak with Gagool the
old, at the king’s place, who is wise even as my lord,” and he went
away.
So soon as he was gone I turned to the others, and pointed out the
mountains. “There are Solomon’s diamond mines,” I said.
Umbopa was standing with them, apparently plunged in one of the fits of
abstraction which were common to him, and caught my words.
“Yes, Macumazahn,” he put in, in Zulu, “the diamonds are surely there,
and you shall have them, since you white men are so fond of toys and
money.”
“How dost thou know that, Umbopa?” I asked sharply, for I did not like
his mysterious ways.
He laughed. “I dreamed it in the night, white men;” then he too turned
on his heel and went.
“Now what,” said Sir Henry, “is our black friend driving at? He knows
more than he chooses to say, that is clear. By the way, Quatermain, has
he heard anything of—of my brother?”
“Nothing; he has asked everyone he has become friendly with, but they
all declare that no white man has ever been seen in the country
before.”
“Do you suppose that he got here at all?” suggested Good; “we have only
reached the place by a miracle; is it likely he could have reached it
without the map?”
“I don’t know,” said Sir Henry gloomily, “but somehow I think that I
shall find him.”
Slowly the sun sank, then suddenly darkness rushed down on the land
like a tangible thing. There was no breathing-space between the day and
night, no soft transformation scene, for in these latitudes twilight
does not exist. The change from day to night is as quick and as
absolute as the change from life to death. The sun sank and the world
was wreathed in shadows. But not for long, for see in the west there is
a glow, then come rays of silver light, and at last the full and
glorious moon lights up the plain and shoots its gleaming arrows far
and wide, filling the earth with a faint refulgence.
We stood and watched the lovely sight, whilst the stars grew pale
before this chastened majesty, and felt our hearts lifted up in the
presence of a beauty that I cannot describe. Mine has been a rough
life, but there are a few things I am thankful to have lived for, and
one of them is to have seen that moon shine over Kukuanaland.
Presently our meditations were broken in upon by our polite friend
Infadoos.
“If my lords are rested we will journey on to Loo, where a hut is made
ready for my lords to-night. The moon is now bright, so that we shall
not fall by the way.”
We assented, and in an hour’s time were at the outskirts of the town,
of which the extent, mapped out as it was by thousands of camp fires,
appeared absolutely endless. Indeed, Good, who is always fond of a bad
joke, christened it “Unlimited Loo.” Soon we came to a moat with a
drawbridge, where we were met by the rattling of arms and the hoarse
challenge of a sentry. Infadoos gave some password that I could not
catch, which was met with a salute, and we passed on through the
central street of the great grass city. After nearly half an hour’s
tramp, past endless lines of huts, Infadoos halted at last by the gate
of a little group of huts which surrounded a small courtyard of
powdered limestone, and informed us that these were to be our “poor”
quarters.
We entered, and found that a hut had been assigned to each of us. These
huts were superior to any that we had yet seen, and in each was a most
comfortable bed made of tanned skins, spread upon mattresses of
aromatic grass. Food too was ready for us, and so soon as we had washed
ourselves with water, which stood ready in earthenware jars, some young
women of handsome appearance brought us roasted meats, and mealie cobs
daintily served on wooden platters, and presented them to us with deep
obeisances.
We ate and drank, and then, the beds having been all moved into one hut
by our request, a precaution at which the amiable young ladies smiled,
we flung ourselves down to sleep, thoroughly wearied with our long
journey.