King Solomon's Mines
judge, that we put some six or eight men _hors de combat_ before they
were out of range.
Just as we stopped firing there came an ominous roar from our far
right, then a similar roar rose on our left. The two other divisions
were engaging us.
At the sound, the mass of men before us opened out a little, and
advanced towards the hill and up the spit of bare grass land at a slow
trot, singing a deep-throated song as they ran. We kept up a steady
fire from our rifles as they came, Ignosi joining in occasionally, and
accounted for several men, but of course we produced no more effect
upon that mighty rush of armed humanity than he who throws pebbles does
on the breaking wave.
On they came, with a shout and the clashing of spears; now they were
driving in the pickets we had placed among the rocks at the foot of the
hill. After that the advance was a little slower, for though as yet we
had offered no serious opposition, the attacking forces must climb up
hill, and they came slowly to save their breath. Our first line of
defence was about half-way down the side of the slope, our second fifty
yards further back, while our third occupied the edge of the plateau.
On they stormed, shouting their war-cry, “_Twala! Twala! Chiele!
Chiele!_” (Twala! Twala! Smite! Smite!) “_Ignosi! Ignosi! Chiele!
Chiele!_” answered our people. They were quite close now, and the
_tollas_, or throwing-knives, began to flash backwards and forwards,
and now with an awful yell the battle closed in.
To and fro swayed the mass of struggling warriors, men falling fast as
leaves in an autumn wind; but before long the superior weight of the
attacking force began to tell, and our first line of defence was slowly
pressed back till it merged into the second. Here the struggle was very
fierce, but again our people were driven back and up, till at length,
within twenty minutes of the commencement of the fight, our third line
came into action.
But by this time the assailants were much exhausted, and besides had
lost many men killed and wounded, and to break through that third
impenetrable hedge of spears proved beyond their powers. For a while
the seething lines of savages swung backwards and forwards, in the
fierce ebb and flow of battle, and the issue was doubtful. Sir Henry
watched the desperate struggle with a kindling eye, and then without a
word he rushed off, followed by Good, and flung himself into the
hottest of the fray. As for myself, I stopped where I was.
The soldiers caught sight of his tall form as he plunged into battle,
and there rose a cry of—
“_Nanzia Incubu! Nanzia Unkungunklovo!_” (Here is the Elephant!)
“_Chiele! Chiele!_”
From that moment the end was no longer in doubt. Inch by inch, fighting
with splendid gallantry, the attacking force was pressed back down the
hillside, till at last it retreated upon its reserves in something like
confusion. At that instant, too, a messenger arrived to say that the
left attack had been repulsed; and I was just beginning to congratulate
myself, believing that the affair was over for the present, when, to
our horror, we perceived our men who had been engaged in the right
defence being driven towards us across the plain, followed by swarms of
the enemy, who had evidently succeeded at this point.
Ignosi, who was standing by me, took in the situation at a glance, and
issued a rapid order. Instantly the reserve regiment around us, the
Greys, extended itself.
Again Ignosi gave a word of command, which was taken up and repeated by
the captains, and in another second, to my intense disgust, I found
myself involved in a furious onslaught upon the advancing foe. Getting
as much as I could behind Ignosi’s huge frame, I made the best of a bad
job, and toddled along to be killed as though I liked it. In a minute
or two—we were plunging through the flying groups of our men, who at
once began to re-form behind us, and then I am sure I do not know what
happened. All I can remember is a dreadful rolling noise of the meeting
of shields, and the sudden apparition of a huge ruffian, whose eyes
seemed literally to be starting out of his head, making straight at me
with a bloody spear. But—I say it with pride—I rose—or rather sank—to
the occasion. It was one before which most people would have collapsed
once and for all. Seeing that if I stood where I was I must be killed,
as the horrid apparition came I flung myself down in front of him so
cleverly that, being unable to stop himself, he took a header right
over my prostrate form. Before he could rise again, _I_ had risen and
settled the matter from behind with my revolver.
Shortly after this somebody knocked me down, and I remember no more of
that charge.
When I came to I found myself back at the koppie, with Good bending
over me holding some water in a gourd.
“How do you feel, old fellow?” he asked anxiously.
I got up and shook myself before replying.
“Pretty well, thank you,” I answered.
“Thank Heaven! When I saw them carry you in, I felt quite sick; I
thought you were done for.”
“Not this time, my boy. I fancy I only got a rap on the head, which
knocked me stupid. How has it ended?”
“They are repulsed at every point for a while. The loss is dreadfully
heavy; we have quite two thousand killed and wounded, and they must
have lost three. Look, there’s a sight!” and he pointed to long lines
of men advancing by fours.
In the centre of every group of four, and being borne by it, was a kind
of hide tray, of which a Kukuana force always carries a quantity, with
a loop for a handle at each corner. On these trays—and their number
seemed endless—lay wounded men, who as they arrived were hastily
examined by the medicine men, of whom ten were attached to a regiment.
If the wound was not of a fatal character the sufferer was taken away
and attended to as carefully as circumstances would allow. But if, on
the other hand, the injured man’s condition proved hopeless, what
followed was very dreadful, though doubtless it may have been the
truest mercy. One of the doctors, under pretence of carrying out an
examination, swiftly opened an artery with a sharp knife, and in a
minute or two the sufferer expired painlessly. There were many cases
that day in which this was done. In fact, it was done in the majority
of cases when the wound was in the body, for the gash made by the entry
of the enormously broad spears used by the Kukuanas generally rendered
recovery impossible. In most instances the poor sufferers were already
unconscious, and in others the fatal “nick” of the artery was inflicted
so swiftly and painlessly that they did not seem to notice it. Still it
was a ghastly sight, and one from which we were glad to escape; indeed,
I never remember anything of the kind that affected me more than seeing
those gallant soldiers thus put out of pain by the red-handed medicine
men, except, indeed, on one occasion when, after an attack, I saw a
force of Swazis burying their hopelessly wounded _alive_.
Hurrying from this dreadful scene to the further side of the koppie, we
found Sir Henry, who still held a battle-axe in his hand, Ignosi,
Infadoos, and one or two of the chiefs in deep consultation.
“Thank Heaven, here you are, Quatermain! I can’t quite make out what
Ignosi wants to do. It seems that though we have beaten off the attack,
Twala is now receiving large reinforcements, and is showing a
disposition to invest us, with the view of starving us out.”
“That’s awkward.”
“Yes; especially as Infadoos says that the water supply has given out.”
“My lord, that is so,” said Infadoos; “the spring cannot supply the
wants of so great a multitude, and it is failing rapidly. Before night
we shall all be thirsty. Listen, Macumazahn. Thou art wise, and hast
doubtless seen many wars in the lands from whence thou camest—that is
if indeed they make wars in the Stars. Now tell us, what shall we do?
Twala has brought up many fresh men to take the place of those who have
fallen. Yet Twala has learnt his lesson; the hawk did not think to find
the heron ready; but our beak has pierced his breast; he fears to
strike at us again. We too are wounded, and he will wait for us to die;
he will wind himself round us like a snake round a buck, and fight the
fight of ‘sit down.’”
“I hear thee,” I said.
“So, Macumazahn, thou seest we have no water here, and but a little
food, and we must choose between these three things—to languish like a
starving lion in his den, or to strive to break away towards the north,
or”—and here he rose and pointed towards the dense mass of our foes—“to
launch ourselves straight at Twala’s throat. Incubu, the great
warrior—for to-day he fought like a buffalo in a net, and Twala’s
soldiers went down before his axe like young corn before the hail; with
these eyes I saw it—Incubu says ‘Charge’; but the Elephant is ever
prone to charge. Now what says Macumazahn, the wily old fox, who has
seen much, and loves to bite his enemy from behind? The last word is in
Ignosi the king, for it is a king’s right to speak of war; but let us
hear thy voice, O Macumazahn, who watchest by night, and the voice too
of him of the transparent eye.”
“What sayest thou, Ignosi,” I asked.
“Nay, my father,” answered our quondam servant, who now, clad as he was
in the full panoply of savage war, looked every inch a warrior king,
“do thou speak, and let me, who am but a child in wisdom beside thee,
hearken to thy words.”
Thus adjured, after taking hasty counsel with Good and Sir Henry, I
delivered my opinion briefly to the effect that, being trapped, our
best chance, especially in view of the failure of our water supply, was
to initiate an attack upon Twala’s forces. Then I recommended that the
attack should be delivered at once, “before our wounds grew stiff,” and
also before the sight of Twala’s overpowering force caused the hearts
of our soldiers “to wax small like fat before a fire.” Otherwise, I
pointed out, some of the captains might change their minds, and, making
peace with Twala, desert to him, or even betray us into his hands.
This expression of opinion seemed, on the whole, to be favourably
received; indeed, among the Kukuanas my utterances met with a respect
which has never been accorded to them before or since. But the real
decision as to our plans lay with Ignosi, who, since he had been
recognised as rightful king, could exercise the almost unbounded rights
of sovereignty, including, of course, the final decision on matters of
generalship, and it was to him that all eyes were now turned.
At length, after a pause, during which he appeared to be thinking
deeply, he spoke.
“Incubu, Macumazahn, and Bougwan, brave white men, and my friends;
Infadoos, my uncle, and chiefs; my heart is fixed. I will strike at
Twala this day, and set my fortunes on the blow, ay, and my life—my
life and your lives also. Listen; thus will I strike. Ye see how the
hill curves round like the half-moon, and how the plain runs like a
green tongue towards us within the curve?”
“We see,” I answered.
“Good; it is now mid-day, and the men eat and rest after the toil of
battle. When the sun has turned and travelled a little way towards the
darkness, let thy regiment, my uncle, advance with one other down to
the green tongue, and it shall be that when Twala sees it he will hurl
his force at it to crush it. But the spot is narrow, and the regiments
can come against thee one at a time only; so may they be destroyed one
by one, and the eyes of all Twala’s army shall be fixed upon a struggle
the like of which has not been seen by living man. And with thee, my
uncle, shall go Incubu my friend, that when Twala sees his battle-axe
flashing in the first rank of the Greys his heart may grow faint. And I