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- Author: H. Rider Haggard
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“Which way now?” gasped Zinti, for being strong he had borne the weight.
“To the waggon if they have not yet stolen it,” said Sihamba, and thither they went.
When they were near she crept forward, searching for Swart Piet and his gang, but there were no signs of them, only she saw the driver and his companion nodding by the fire. She walked up to them.
“Do you then sleep, servants of Kenzie,” she said, “while the Swallow is borne away to the Hawk’s Nest and the husband of Swallow, your master, is cast by Bull-Head back into the sea whence he came?”
Now the men woke up and knew her. “Look, it is Sihamba,” stammered one of them to the other, for he was frightened. “What evil thing has happened, Lady Sihamba?”
“I have told you, but your ears are shut. Come then and see with your eyes,” and she led them to where Ralph lay in his blood, the water yet dripping from his hair and clothes.
“Alas! he is dead,” they groaned and wrung their hands.
“He is not dead, he will live; for while you slept I found him,” she answered. “Swift now, bring me the waggon box that is full of clothes, and the blankets off the cartel.”
They obeyed her, and very quickly and gently—for of all doctors Sihamba was the best—with their help she drew off his wet garments, and, having dried him and dressed his wounds with strips of linen, she put a flannel shirt upon him and wrapped him in blankets. Then she poured brandy into his mouth, but, although the spirit brought a little colour into his pale face, it did not awaken him, for his swoon was deep.
“Lay him on the cartel in the waggon,” she said, and, lifting him, they placed him upon the rimpi bed. Then she ordered them to inspan the waggon, and this was done quickly, for the oxen lay tied to the trek-tow. When all was ready she spoke to the two men, telling them what had happened so far as she knew it, and adding these words:
“Trek back to the stead as swiftly as you may, one of you sitting in the waggon to watch the Baas Kenzie and to comfort him should he wake out of his swoon. Say to the father and mother of Swallow that I have taken the horses to follow Swart Piet and to rescue her by cunning if so I can, for as will be plain to them, this is a business that must not wait; also that I have taken with me Zinti, since he alone knows the path to Bull-Head’s secret hiding-place in the mountains. Of that road Zinti will tell you all he can and you will tell it to the Baas Botmar, who must gather together such men as he is able, and start to-morrow to follow it and rescue us, remembering what sort of peril it is in which his daughter stands. If by any means I can free the Swallow, we will come to meet him; if not, who knows? Then he must act according to his judgment and to what he learns. But let him be sure of this, and let her husband be sure also, that while I have life in me I will not cease from my efforts to save her, and that if she dies—for I know her spirit and no worse harm than death will overtake her—then if may be, I will die with her or to avenge her, and I have many ways of vengeance. Lastly, let them not believe that we are dead until they have certain knowledge of it, for it may chance that we cannot return to the stead, but must lie hid in the mountains or among the Kaffirs. Now hear what Zinti has to say as to the path of Bull-Head’s den and begone, forgetting no one of my words, for if you linger or forget, when I come again I, Sihamba, will blind your eyes and shrivel your livers with a spell.”
“We hear you,” they answered, “and remember every word of your message. In three hours the Baas shall know it.”
Five minutes later they trekked away and so swiftly did they drive and so good were the oxen, that in less than the three hours we were awakened by the barking of the dogs and one knocking on our door, and ran out to learn all the dreadful tidings and to find Ralph bleeding and still senseless, stretched upon that cartel where we thought him sleeping happily with his bride.
Oh! the terror and the agony of that hour, never may I forget them! Never may I forget the look that sprang into Ralph’s eyes when at last he awoke and, turning them to seek Suzanne, remembered all.
“Why am I here and not dead?” he asked hoarsely.
“Sihamba saved you and you have been brought back in the waggon,” I answered.
“Where then is Suzanne?” he asked again.
“Sihamba has ridden to save her also, and Jan starts presently to follow her, and with him others.”
“Sihamba!” he groaned. “What can one woman do against Piet Van Vooren and his murderers, and for the rest they will be too late. Oh! my God, my God, what have we done that such a thing should fall upon us? Think of it, think of her in the hands of Piet Van Vooren. Oh! my God, my God, I shall go mad!”
Indeed I, who watched him, believe that this would have been so, or else his brain must have burst beneath its shock of sorrow, had not nature been kind to him and plunged him back into stupor. In this he lay long, until well on into the morrow indeed, or rather the day, for by now it was three o’clock, when the doctor came to take out the pistol ball and set his shattered bone. For, as it chanced, a doctor, and a clever one, had been sent for from the dorp to visit the wife of a neighbour who lay sick not more than twenty miles away, and we were able to summon him. Indeed but for this man’s skill, the sleeping medicines he gave him to quiet his mind, and, above all, a certain special mercy which shall be told of in its place, I think that Ralph would have died. As it was, seven long weeks went by before he could sit upon a horse.
THE HIDDEN KRANTZ
Before the waggon left her, Sihamba took from it Ralph’s gun, a very good roer, together with powder and bullets. Also she took tinder, a bottle of peach-brandy, a blanket, mealies in a small bag, wherewith to bait the horses in case of need, and some other things which she thought might be necessary. These she laded among her own goods upon the mule that with her horse had been fetched by Zinti and hastily fed with corn. Now, at her bidding, Zinti set Suzanne’s saddle upon the back of the schimmel, and Ralph’s on that of Suzanne’s grey mare, which he mounted that the mule might travel lighter. Then Sihamba got upon her own horse, a good and quiet beast which she rode with a sheepskin for a saddle, and they started, Sihamba leading the schimmel and Zinti the mule that, as it chanced, although bad tempered, would follow well on a riem.
Riding up the kloof they soon reached the spot where Van Vooren’s band had tethered their horses and tracked the spoor of them with ease for so long as the ground was soft. Afterwards when they reached the open country, where the grass had been burnt off and had only just begun to spring again, this became more difficult, and at length, in that light, impossible. Here they wasted a long time, searching for the hoof-marks by the rays of the waning moon, only to lose them again so soon as they were found.
“At this pace we shall take as long to reach Bull-Head’s kraal as did the cow you followed,” said Sihamba presently. “Say, now, can you find the way to it?”
“Without a doubt, lady; Zinti never forgets a road or a landmark.”
“Then lead me there as fast as may be.”
“Yes, lady, but Bull-Head may have taken the Swallow somewhere else, and if we do not follow his spoor how shall we know where he has hidden her?”
“Fool, I have thought of that,” she answered angrily, “else should I have spent all this time looking for hoof-marks in the dark? We must risk it, I say. To his house he has not taken her, for other white folk are living in it, and it is not likely he would have a second, or a better hiding-place than that you saw. I say that we must be bold and risk it since we have no time to lose.”
“As you will, mistress,” answered Zinti. “Who am I that I should question your wisdom?” and, turning his horse’s head, he rode forward across the gloomy veldt as certainly as a homing rock-dove wings its flight.
So they travelled till the sun rose behind a range of distant hills. Then Zinti halted and pointed to them.
“Look, lady,” he said. “Do you see that peak among the mountains which has a point like a spear, the one that seems as though it were on fire? Well, behind it lies Bull-Head’s kraal.”
“It is far, Zinti, but we must be there by night.”
“That may be done, lady, but if so we must spare our horses.”
“Good,” she answered. “Here is a spring; let us off-saddle a while.”
So they off-saddled and ate of the food which they had brought, while the horses filled themselves with the sweet green grass, the schimmel being tied to the grey mare, for he would not bear a knee-halter.
All that day they rode, not so very fast but steadily, till towards sunset they off-saddled again beneath the shadow of the spear-pointed peak. There was no water at this spot, but seeing a green place upon the slope of a hill close by, Zinti walked to it, leading the thirsty beasts. Presently he threw up his hand and whistled, whereon Sihamba set out to join him, knowing that he had found a spring. So it proved to be, and now they learned that Sihamba had been wise in heading straight for Swart Piet’s hiding-place, since round about this spring was the spoor of many horses and of men. Among these was the print of a foot that she knew well, the little foot of Suzanne.
“How long is it since they left here?” asked Sihamba, not as one who does not know, but rather as though she desired to be certified in her judgment.
“When the sun stood there,” answered Zinti, pointing to a certain height in the heavens.
“Yes,” she answered, “three hours. Bull-Head has travelled quicker than I thought.”
“No,” said Zinti, “but I think that he knew a path through the big vlei, whereas we rode round it, two hours’ ride, fearing lest we should be bogged. Here by this spring they stayed till sunset, for it was needful that the horses should feed and rest, since they would save their strength in them.
“Lady,” went on Zinti presently, “beyond the neck of the hill yonder lies the secret kraal of Bull-Head. Say, now, what is your plan when you reach it?”
“I do not know,” she answered, “but tell me again of the hidden krantz where the women built the new hut, and of the way to it.”
He told her and she listened, saying nothing.
“Good,” she said, when he had done. “Now lead me to this place, and then perhaps I will tell my plan if I have one.”
So they started on again, but just as they reached the crest of the Nek a heavy thunderstorm came up, together with clouds and rain, hiding everything from them.
“Now I suppose that we must stay here till the light comes,” said Sihamba.
“Not so, lady,” answered Zinti, “I have been the path once and I can go it again in storm or shine,” and he pressed forward, with the lightning flashes for a candle.
Well was that storm for them indeed, since otherwise they would have been seen, for already Swart Piet had set his scouts about the kraal.
At length Sihamba felt that they were riding among trees, for water dripped from them upon her and their branches brushed her face.
“Here is the wood where the women cut poles for the new hut,” whispered Zinti in her ear.
“Then let us halt,” she answered, and dismounting they tied the three horses and the mule to as many small trees close together, but not near enough for them to kick each other.
Now Sihamba took a piece of biltong from
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