 NOTE BY THE LATE MR. ALLAN QUARTERMAIN This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Lars Rolander. SHE AND ALLAN BY H. RIDER HAGGARD NOTE BY THE LATE MR. ALLAN QUARTERMAIN My friend, in Toho's hands, I hope that all these manuscripts of mine will pass one day. Of this one, I have something to say to you. A long while ago, I jotted down it in the history of the events that it details with more or less completeness. This I did for my own satisfaction. You will have noted how memory fails us when we advance in years. We recollect with an almost painful exactitude what we experienced and saw in our youth, but the happenings of our middle life slip away from us or become blurred, like a stretch of low-lying landscape overflowed by grey and nebulous mist. Far off, the sun still seems to shine upon the plains and hills of adolescence and early manhood, as yet it shines about us in the fleeting hours of our age. That ground on which we stand today, but the valley between is filled with fog. Yes, even its prominences, which symbolize the more startling events of that past, often are lost in this confusing fog. It was an appreciation of these truths which led me to set down the following details, though, of course, much is omitted of my brief intercourse with a strange and splendid creature, whom I knew under the name of Asha or Hia or Shihu commands, not indeed with any view to their publication, but before I forgot them that if I wished to do so, I might re-pursue them in the evening of old age to which I hope to attain. Indeed, at the time the last thing I intended was that they should be given to the world, even after my own death, because they or many of them are so unusual that I feared lest they should cause smiles and in a way cast a slur upon my memory and truthfulness. Also, as you will read, as to this matter I made a promise and I have always tried to keep my promises and to guard the secrets of others. For these reasons I proposed, in case I neglected or forgot to destroy them myself, to leave a direction that this should be done by my executors. Further I have been careful to make no allusion whatever to them, either in casual conversation or in anything else that I may have written. My desire being that this page of my life should be kept quite private, something known only to myself. Therefore, too, I never so much as hinted of them to anyone, not even to yourself to whom I have told so much. Well, I recorded the main facts concerning this expedition and its issues, simply and with as much exactness as I could, and laid them aside. I do not say that I never thought of them again, since amongst them were some which together with the problems they suggested proved to be of an unforgettable nature. Also, whenever any of Asha's sayings or stories which are not preserved in these pages came back to me, as has happened from time to time, I jotted them down and put them away with this manuscript. Thus among these notes you will find a history of the city of Kor, as she told it to me, which I have omitted here. Still, many of these remarkable events did more or less fade from my mind as the image does from an unfixed photograph, till only their outlines remained faint if distinguishable. To tell the truth, I was rather ashamed of the whole story in which I cut so poor a figure. On reflection it was obvious to me, although honesty had compelled me to set out all that is essential, exactly as it occurred, adding nothing and taking nothing away, that I had been the victim of very gross deceit. This strange woman whom I had met in the ruins of a place called Kor, without any doubt had thrown a glamour over my senses, and at the moment almost caused me to believe much that is quite unbelievable. For instance, she had told me ridiculous stories as to interviews between herself and certain heathen goddesses, though it is true that, almost with her next breath, these she qualified or contradicted. Also, she had suggested that her life had been prolonged far beyond our mortal span for hundreds and hundreds of years, indeed, which as Euclid says is absurd, and had pretended to supernatural powers, which is still more absurd. Moreover, by a clever use of some hypnotic or mesmeric power she had feigned to transport me to some place beyond the earth and in the halls of Hades to show me what is veiled from the eyes of man. And not only me, but the savage warrior Umslupikasi, commonly called Umslupogas of the axe, who with hands a hotentot, was my companion upon that adventure. There were like things equally incredible, such as her appearance when all seemed lost in the battle with a troll-like racer. To omit these, the sum of it was that I had been shamefully duped, and if anyone finds himself in that position, as most people have at one time or another in their lives, wisdom suggests that he had better keep the circumstances to himself. Well, so the matter stood, or rather lay in the recesses of my mind, and in the cupboard where I hid my papers. When one evening someone, as a matter of fact it was Captain Good, an individual of romantic tendencies who is fond sometimes, I think too fond of fiction, brought a book through this house which he insisted over and over again, really I must pursue. Asertaining that it was a novel, I declined, for tell the truth I am not fond of Romans, in any shape, being a person who has found the hard facts of life of sufficient interest as they stand. Reading I admit I like, but in this matter, as in everything else, my range is limited. I studied the Bible, especially the Old Testament, both because of its sacred lessons, and of the majesty of the language of its inspired translators, whereof that of Asha, which I rendered so poorly from her flowing and melodious Arabic, reminded me. For poetry I turned to Shakespeare, and at the other end of the scale to the Ingolspil legends, many which I know almost by heart, while for current affairs I content myself with the newspapers. For the rest I pursue anything to do with ancient Egypt that I happen to come across, because this land and its history have a queer fascination for me, that perhaps has its roots in occurrences or dreams, of which this is not the place to speak. Lastly, now and again, I read one of the Latin or Greek authors in translation, since I regret to say that my lack of education does not enable me to do so in the original. But for modern fiction I have no taste, although from time to time I sample it in a railway train, and occasionally I am amused by such excursions into the poetic and unreal. So it came about that the more good bothered me to read this particular romance, the more I determined that I would do nothing of the sort. Being a persistent person, however, when he went away about ten o'clock at night, he deposited it by my side under my nose indeed, so that it might not be overlooked. Thus it came about that I could not help seeing some Egyptian hieroglyphics in an oval on the cover, also the title, and underneath it your own name, my friend, all of which excited my curiosity, especially the title which was brief and enigmatic, consisting indeed of one word, she. I took up the work, and on opening it, the first thing my eye fell upon was a picture of a veiled woman, the sight of which made my heart stand still. So painfully did it remind me of a certain veiled woman who once it had been my fortune to meet. Glancing from it to the printed page, one word seemed to leap at me. It was car. Now of veiled women there are plenty in the world, but were there also two cars? Then I turned to the beginning and began to read. This happened in the autumn when the sun does not rise till about six, but it was broad daylight before I ceased from reading, or rather rushing through that book. Oh, what was I to make of it? For here in its pages to say nothing of old Bilali, who by the way lied, probably to order, when he told Mr. Holly that no white man had visited his country for many generations, and those gloomy man-eating Amahager scoundrels. Once again I found myself face to face with she who commands, now rendered as she who must be obeyed, which means much the same thing, in her case at least. Yes, with Asha the lovely, the mystic, the changeful, and the imperious. Moreover, the history filled up many gaps in my own limited experiences of that enigmatic being who was half-divine, though I think rather wicked or at any rate un-moral in her way. And yet all woman. It is true that I showed her in lights very different from and higher than those in which she had presented herself to me. Yet the substratum of her character was the same, or rather of her characters, for of these she seemed to have several in a single body, being as she said of herself to me, not one, but many, and not here, but everywhere. Further I found the story of Calichratus, which I had set down as a mere falsehood invented for my bewilderment, expanded and explained, or rather not explained, since perhaps that she might to see me, to me she had spoken of this murdered Calichratus without enthusiasm, as a handsome person to whom because of an indiscretion of her youth, she was bound by destiny and whose return, somewhat to her sorrow, she must wait. At least she did so at first, though in the end when she bared her heart at the moment of our farewell, she bowed she loved him only and was appointed to him by a divine decree. Also I found other things of which I knew nothing, such as the fire of life with its fatal gift of indefinite existence, although I remember that like the giant Riesel whom Omsloporgas defeated, she did talk of a cup of life of which she had drunk, that might have been offered to my lips had I been politic, bowed the knee and shown more faith in her and her supernatural pretensions. Lastly I saw the story of her end and as I read it I wept. Yes, I confess I wept, although I feel sure that she will return again. Now I understood why she had quailed and even seemed to shrivel when, in my last interview with her, stung beyond endurance by her witcheries and sarcasm. I had suggested that even for her with all her powers fate might reserve one of its shrewdest blows. Some prescience had told her that if the words seemed random, truth spoke through my lips. Although, and this was the worst of it, she did not know what weapon would deal the stroke or when and where it was doomed to fall. I was amazed. I was overcome. But as I closed that book I made up my mind first that I would continue to preserve absolute silence as to Asha and my dealings with her, as, during my life, I was bound by oath to do and secondly that I would not cause my manuscript to be destroyed. I did not feel that I had any right to do so in view of what already had been be published to the world. There let it lie to appear one day or not to appear as might be fated. Meanwhile my lips were sealed. I would give good back his book without comment and buy another copy. One more word. It is clear that I did not touch more than the fringe of the real Asha. In a thousand ways she bewitched and deceived me so that I never plumbed her nature's steps. Perhaps this was my own fault because from the first I shooed a lack of faith in her and she wished to pay me back in her own fashion or perhaps she had other private reasons for her secrecy. Certainly the character she discovered to me differed in many ways from that which she revealed to Mr. Holly and to Leah Vincy or Callicratus whom it seems once she slew in her jealousy and rage. She told me as much as she thought fit that I should know and no more. Alan Quatermain, The Grange, Yorkshire End of note by the late Mr. Alan Quatermain from She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard Read by Lars Rolander Chapter 1 of She and Alan This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Lars Rolander She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard Chapter 1 The Talisman I believe it was the old Egyptians a very wise people probably indeed much wiser than we know for in the leisure of their ample centuries they had time to think out things who declared that each individual personality is made up of six or seven different elements although the Bible only allows us three namely body soul and spirit the body that the man or woman wore if I understand their theory right which perhaps I an ignorant person do not was but a kind of sack or fleshly covering containing these different principles or may have it did not contain them all but was simply a house as it were in which they lived from time to time and seldom altogether although one or more of them was present continually as though to keep the place warmed and aired this is but a casual illustrative suggestion for what right have I Alan Quatermain out of my little reading and probably erroneous deductions to form any judgment as to the theories of the old Egyptians still these as I understand them suffice to furnish me with the text that man is not one but many in which connection it may be remembered that often in scripture he's spoken of as being the home of many demons seven I think also to come to another far-off example the soulless talk of their witch doctors as being inhabited by a multitude of spirits anyhow of one thing I am quite sure we are not always the same different personalities actuate us at different times in one hour passion of this sort or the other is our Lord in another we are reason itself in one hour we follow the basest appetites in another we hate them and the spirit arising through our mortal murk shines within or above us like a star in one hour our desire is to kill and spare not in another we are filled with the holiest compassion even towards an insect or a snake and are ready to forgive like a god everything rules us in turn to such an extent indeed that sometimes one begins to wonder whether we really rule anything now the reason of all this homily is that I Alan the most practical and unimaginative of persons just a homely half educated hunter and trader who chances to have seen a good deal the particular little world in which his lot was cast at one period of my life became the victim of spirit your longings I am a man who has suffered great bereavements in my time such as have seared my soul since perhaps because of my rather primitive and simple nature my affections are very strong by day or night I can never forget those whom I have loved and whom I believe to have loved me for you know in our vanity some of us are apt to hold that certain people with whom we have been intimate upon the earth really did care for us and in our still greater vanity or should it be called madness to imagine that they still care for us after they have left the earth and entered on some new state of society and surroundings which if they exist inferentially are much more congenial than any they can have experienced here at times however cold doubts strike us as to this matter of which we long to know the truth also behind looms are still blackered out namely whether they live at all for some years of my lonely existence these problems haunted me day by day till at length I decide about everything on earth to lay them at rest in one way or another once at Durban I met a man who was a spiritualist to whom I confided a little of my perplexities he laughed at me and said that they could be settled with the greatest ease all I had to do was to visit a certain local medium who for a fee of one guinea would tell me everything I wanted to know although I rather grudge the guinea being more than usually hard up at the time I called upon this person but over the results of that visit or rather the lack of them I draw avail my queer and perhaps unwholesome longing however remained with me and would not be abated I consulted a clergyman of my acquaintance a good and spiritually minded man but he could only shrug his shoulders and refer me to the Bible saying quite rightly I doubt not that with what it reveals I ought to be contented then I read certain mystical books which were recommended to me these were full of fine words undiscoverable in a pocket dictionary but really took me no forwarder since in them I found nothing that I could not have invented myself although while I was actually studying them they seemed to convince me I even tackled Swedenborg or rather samples of him for he's very copious but without satisfactory results ha, JB then I gave up the business some months later I was in Suleyland and being near in the black clove where he dwelt I paid a visit to my acquaintance of whom I have written elsewhere the wonderful and ancient wolf Cikali known as the thing that should never have been born also more universally among the Sulus as opener of roads when we had talked of many things connected with the state of Suleyland and its politics I rose to leave for my wagon since I never cared for sleeping in the black clove if it could be avoided is there nothing else that you want to ask me mark my son ask the old wolf tossing back his long hair and looking at I had almost written through me I shook my head that is strange mark my son for I seem to see something written on your mind something to do with spirits then I remembered all the problems that had been troubling me although in truth I had never thought of propounding them to Cikali ha, it comes back does it he exclaimed reading my thought out with it then mark my son while I am in a mood to answer and before I grow tired for you are an old friend of mine and will so remain till the end many years hence and if I can serve you I will I filled my pipe and sat down again upon the stool of carved redwood which had been brought for me you are named opener of roads are you not Cikali I said yes the Sulus have always called me that since before the days of Chaka but what of names which often enough mean nothing at all only that I want to open a road Cikali that which runs across the river of death oh, he laughed it is very easy and snatching up a little asagai that lay beside him he profited to me adding be brave now and fall on that then before I have counted sixty the road will be wide open but whether you will see anything on it I cannot tell you again I shook my head and answered it is against our law also while I still live I decide to know whether I shall meet certain others on that road after my time has come to cross the river perhaps you who deal with spirits can prove the matter to me which no one else seems able to do oh, laughed Cikali again what do my heirs hear am I the poor Sulusi as you will remember once you called me Makumasan asked to show that which is hidden from all the wisdom of the great white people the question is I answered with irritation not what you are asked to do but what you can do that I do not know yet Makumasan whose spirits do you desire to see if that of a woman called Mamina is one of them I think that perhaps I whom she loved for the history of Mamina see the book called child of storm editor she's not one of them Cikali moreover if she loved you you paid back her love with death which was perhaps the kindest thing I could do Makumasan for reasons that you may be able to guess with which I will not trouble you but if not hers whose let me look let me look why there seems to be two of them head wives I mean and I thought that white men only took one wife also a multitude of others their faces float up in the water of your mind an old man with grey hair little children perhaps they were brothers and sisters and some who may be friends also very clear indeed that Mamina whom you do not wish to see well Makumasan this is unfortunate since she's the only one whom I can show you or rather put you in the way of finding unless indeed there are other Kavir women what do you mean I asked I mean Makumasan that only black feet travel on the road which I can open over those in which ran white blood I have no power then it is finished I said rising again and taking a step or two towards the gate come back and sit down Makumasan I did not say so am I the only ruler of magic in Africa which I'm told is a big country I came back and sat down for my curiosity a great failing with me was excited thank you Sikali I said but I will have no dealings with more of your witch doctors no no because you are afraid of them quite without reason Makumasan seeing that they are all cheats except myself I'm the last child of wisdom the rest are stuffed with lies as Chaka found out when he killed every one of them whom he could catch but perhaps there might be a white doctor who would have rule of a white spirits if you mean missionaries I began hastily no Makumasan I do not mean your praying men who are cast in one mold and meshed with one rule and say what they are taught to say not thinking for themselves some of them think Sikali yes and then the others fall on them with big sticks the real priest is he to whom the spirit comes not he who feeds upon its wrappings and speaks through a mask caught by his father's fathers I'm a priest like that which is why all my fellowship have hated me if so you have paid back their hate Sikali but cease to cast round the lion like a timid hound and tell me what you mean of whom do you speak that is the trouble Makumasan I do not know this lion or rather lioness lies hid in the caves of a very distant mountain and I have never seen her in the flesh then how can you talk of what you have never seen in the same way Makumasan that your priests talk of what they have never seen because they or a few of them have knowledge of it I will tell you a secret all seers who live at the same time if they are great commune with each other because they are aching and their spirits meet in sleep or dreams therefore I know of a mistress of our craft a very lioness among jackals who for thousands of years has lain sleeping in the northern caves and humble though I am she knows of me quite so I said joining but perhaps Sikali will come to the point of the spear what of her how is she named and if she exists will she help me I will answer your question backwards Makumasan I think that she will help you if you help her in what way I do not know because although which doctors sometimes work without pay as I am doing now Makumasan which doctors is never do as for her name the only one that she has among our company is queen because she's the first of all of them and the most futures among women for the rest I can tell you nothing except that she has always been and I suppose in this shape or in that will always be while the world lasts because she has found the secret of life unending you mean that she's immortal Sikali I answered with a smile I do not say that Makumasan because my little mind cannot shape the thought of immortality but when I was a babe which is far ago she had lived so long that scarce would she knew the difference between then and now and already in her breast was all wisdom gathered I know it because although as I have said we have never seen each other at times we walk together in our sleep for thus she shares her loneliness and I think though this may be but a dream that last night she told me to send you on to her to seek an answer to certain questions which you would put to me today also to me she seemed to desire that you should do her a service I know not what service why does it please you to fool me Sikali with such talk as this if there is any truth in it show me where the woman called Queen lives and how I am to come to her the old wizard took up the little asa guy which he had offered to me and with its blade raked our ashes from the fire that always burnt in front of him while he did so he talked to me as I thought in a random fashion perhaps to distract my attention of a certain white man whom he said I should meet upon my journey and of his affairs also other matters none of which interested me much at the time these ashes he patted down flat and then on them drew a map with the point of his spear making grooves for streams certain marks for bush and forest wavy lines for water and swamps and little heaps for hills when he had finished it all he bade me come round the fire and studied the picture across which by and after thought he drew a wandering furrow with the edge of the asa guy to represent the river and gathered the ashes in a lump at the northern end to signify a large mountain look at it well Makumal san he said and forget nothing since if you make this journey you die no need to copy it in that book of yours for see I will stamp it on your mind then suddenly he gathered up the warm ashes in a double handful and threw them into my face muttering something as he did so and adding a loud there now you will remember certainly I shall I answered coughing and I beg that you will not play such a joke upon me again as a matter of fact whatever may have been the reason I never forgot any detail of that extremely intricate map that big river must be the Sambesi I started and even then the mountain of your queen if it be her mountain is far away and how can I come there alone I don't know Makumal san though perhaps you might do so in company at least I believe that in the old days people used to travel to the place since I have heard a great city stood there once which was the heart of a mighty empire now I pricked up my ears for though I believe nothing of Sikali's story of a wonderful queen I was always intensely interested in past civilizations and their relics also I knew that the old wizard's knowledge was extensive and peculiar however he came by it and I did not think that he would lie to me in this matter indeed to tell the truth then and there I made up my mind that if it were in any way possible I would attempt this journey how did people travel to the city Sikali? by sea I suppose Makumal san but I think that you will be wise not to try that road since I believe that on the seaside the marshes are now impassable and you will be safer on your feet you want me to go on this adventure Sikali? why? I know you never do anything without motive oh Makumal san you are clever and see deeper into the trunk of a tree than most yes I want you to go for three reasons first that you may satisfy your soul on certain matters and I would help you to do so secondly because I want to satisfy mine and thirdly because I know that you will come back safe to be a prop to me in the things that will happen in days unborn otherwise I would have told you nothing of this story since it is necessary to me that you should remain living beneath the sun have done Sikali what is it that you desire? oh a great deal that I shall get but chiefly two things so with the rest I will not trouble you first I decide to know whether these dreams of mine of a wonderful white witch doctoris or which and of my converse with her are indeed more than dreams next I would learn whether certain plots of mine at which I have worked for years will succeed what plots Sikali and how can my taking a distant journey tell you anything about them? you know them well enough Makumal san they have to do with the overthrow of a royal house that has worked me bitter wrong as to how your journey can help me why thus you shall promise to me to ask of this queen whether Sikali opener of roads shall triumph or be overthrown in that on which he has set his heart as you seem to know this witch so well why do you not ask her yourself Sikali? to ask is one thing Makumal san to get an answer is another I have asked in the watches of the night and the reply was come hither and perhaps I will tell you queen I said how can I come save in the spirit who am an ancient and a crippled dwarf scarcely able to stand upon my feet then send a messenger wizard and be sure that he is white for of black savages I have seen more than enough let him bear a token also that he comes from you and tell me of it in your sleep moreover let that token be something of power which will protect him on the journey such is the answer that comes to me in my dreams Makumal san well what token will you give me Sikali? he grooved about in his robe and produced a piece of ivory of the size of a large chess man that had a hole in it through which ran a plated cord of the stiff hairs from an elephant's tail on this article which was of a rusty brown color he breathed then having whispered to it for a while handed it to me I took the talisman for such a guest it to be idly enough held it to the light to examine it and started back so violently that almost I let it fall I do not quite know why I started but I think it was because some in friends seemed to leap from it to me Sikali started also and cried out ha the ker Makumal san am I young that I can bear being dashed to the ground what do you mean I asked still staring at the thing which I perceived to be a most wonderfully fashioned likeness of the old dwarf himself as he appeared before me crouched upon the ground there were the deep-set eyes the great head the toad-like shape the long hair all it is a clever carving is it not Makumal san I am skilled in that art you know and therefore can judge so carving yes I know I answered be thinking me of another statuette of his which had given to me on the morrow of the death of her from whom it was modeled but what of the thing Makumal san it has come down to me through the ages as you may have heard all great doctors when they die pass on their wisdom and something of their knowledge to another doctor of spirits who is still living on the earth that nothing may be lost or as little as possible also I have learned that to such likenesses as these may be given the strength of him or her from whom they were shaped now I be thought me of the old Egyptians and their cast statues of which I had read and that these statues magically charmed and set in the tombs of the departed were supposed to be inhabited everlastingly by the doubles of the dead endued with more power even than ever these possessed in life but of this I said nothing to Sikali thinking that it would take too much explanation though I wondered very much how he had come by the same idea when that Ivory's hung over your heart Makumal san where you must always wear it learn that with it goes the strength of Sikali the thought that would have been his thought and the wisdom that is his wisdom will be your companions as much as though he walked at your side and could instruct you in every peril moreover north and south and east and west this image is known to men who when they see it will bow down and obey opening a road to him who wears the medicine of the opener of roads indeed I said smiling and what is this color on the Ivory I forget Makumal san who've had it a great number of years ever since it descended to me from a forefather of mine who was fashioned in the same mold as I am it looks like blood does it not it is a pity that Mamina is not still alive since she whose memory was so excellent might have been able to tell you and as he spoke with emotion that was at once sure and swift he threw the loop of elephant hair over my head hastily I changed the subject feeling that after his want this old wizard the most terrible man whom ever I knew who had been so much concerned with the tragic death of Mamina was stabbing at me in some hidden fashion you tell me to go on this journey I said and not alone yet for companion you give me only an ugly piece of Ivory shaped as no man ever was here I got one back at Sikali and from the look of it steeped in blood which Ivory if I had my way I would throw into the campfire who then am I to take with me don't do that Macbazan I mean throw the Ivory into the fire since I have no wish to burn before my time and if you do you who have worn it might burn with me at least certainly you would die with the magic thing and go to acquire knowledge more quickly than you desire no no and don't try to take it off your neck or rather try if you will I did try but something seemed to prevent me from accomplishing my purpose of giving the carving back to Sikali as I wished to do first my pipe got in the way of my hand then the elephant hair is caught in the collar of my coat then a pang of rumities to which I was accustomed from an old lion bite developed of a sudden in my arm and lastly I grew tired of bothering about the thing Sikali who had been watching my movements burst out into one of his terrible laughs that seemed to fill the whole clue and to re-echo from its rocky walls it died away and he went on without further reference to the talisman or image you asked to your word to take with you Macbazan well as to this I must make enquiry of those who know man my medicines from the shadows in the hut behind darted out a tall figure carrying a great spear in one hand and in the other a catskin bag which with the salute he laid down at the feet of his master this salute by the way was that of a Sula word this lord or home or ghosts Sikali groped in the bag and produced from it certain knuckle bones a common method he muttered such as every vulgar wizard uses but one that is quick and as the matter concerned is small will serve my turn let us see now whom you shall take with you Macbazan then he breathed upon the bones shook them up in his thin hands and with a quick turn of the wrist through them into the air after this he studied them carefully where they lay among the ashes which he had raked out to the fire those that he had used for making of his map do you know a man named Umsloporgas Macbazan the chief of a tribe that is called the people of the axe whose titles of praise are Bulagio or the slaughterer and woodpecker the latter from the way he handles his ancient axe he is a savage fellow but one of high blood and higher courage a great captain in his way though he will never come to anything save a glorious death in your company I think Macbazan here he studied the bones again for a while yes, I am sure in your company though not upon this journey I have heard of him I answered cautiously it is said in the land that he is a son of Chaka the great king of the Sulos is it Macbazan and is it said also that he was the slayer of Chaka's brother Dingan also the lover of the fairest woman that the Sulos have ever seen was called Nadda the Lily unless indeed a certain Mamina who I seem to remember was a friend of yours may have been even more beautiful I know nothing of Nadda the Lily I answered no, no Mamina the waiting wind has blown over her fame so why should you know a one who has been dead a long while why also Macbazan do you all spring women into every business I begin to believe that although you are so strict in a white man's fashion you must be too fond of them a weakness which makes for ruin to any man well now I think that this wolf man this ax man this warrior whom Sloporgas should be a good fellow to you on your journey to visit the white witch queen another woman by the way Macbazan and therefore one of whom you should be careful oh yes he will come with you because of a man called Lusta and a woman named Monasi a wife of his who hates him and does not hate Lusta I'm almost sure that he will come with you so do not stop to ask questions about him is there anyone else I inquired Sicali glanced at the bones again poking them about in the ashes with his toe then replied with a yawn you seem to have a little yellow man in your service a clever snake who knows how to creep through grass and went to strike and went to lie hidden I should take him too if I were you you know well that I have such a man Sicali a hot and taut named Hans clever in his way but drunken very faithful too since he loved my father before me he's cooking my supper in the wagon now are there to be any others no I think you three will be enough with a guard of soldiers from the people of the axe for you will meet with fighting and a ghost or two Omslopogas has always won at his elbow named Nada and perhaps you have several for instance there was a certain Mamina whom I always seem to feel about me when you are near Macmasan why the wind is rising again which is odd on so still an evening listen to how it wails yes and stirs your hair though mine hangs straight enough but why do I talk of ghosts seeing that you travel to seek other ghosts white ghosts beyond my ken who can only deal with those who are black good night Macmasan good night when you return from visiting the white queen that great one beneath those feet I Sicali who am also great in my way am but a grain of dust come and tell me her answer to my question meanwhile be careful always to wear that pretty little image which I have given you as a young lover sometimes wear a lock of hair cut from the head of some fool girl that he thinks is fond of him it will bring you safety and luck Macmasan which for the most part is more than the lock of hair dust to the lover oh it is a strange world full of jest to those who can see the strings that work it I am one of them and perhaps Macmasan you are another or will be before all is done or begun good night and good fortune to you on your journeys and Macmasan although you are so fond of women be careful not to fall in love with that white queen because it would make others jealous I mean some who you have lost sight of for a while also I think that being under curse of her own she is not one whom you can put in your sack oh oh slave bring me my blanket it grows cold and my medicine also that which protects me from the ghosts who are thick tonight Macmasan brings them I think oh oh I turned to depart but when I had gone a little way Sikali called me back again and said speaking very low when you meet the Sumslopogas as you will meet him he always called the woodpecker and the slaughterer say these words to him a bat has been twittering round the hut of the opener of roads and to his ears it squeaked the name of a certain Lusta and the name of a woman called Manasi also he tweeted another greater name that may not be uttered that of an elephant who shakes the earth and said that this elephant sniffs the air with his trunk and grows angry and sharpens his tusks to dig a certain woodpecker out of his hole in a tree that grows near the witch mountain say too that the opener of roads thinks that this woodpecker would be wise to fly north for a while in the company of one who watches by night lest harm should come to a bird that pecks at the feet of the great and chatters of it in his nest then Sikali waved his hand and I went wondering into what plot I had stumbled End of chapter 1 of She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard Read by Lars Rolander Chapter 2 of She and Alan This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Lars Rolander She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard Chapter 2 The Messengers I did not rest as I should that night who somehow was never able to sleep well in the neighborhood of the black clove I suppose that Sikali's constant talk about ghosts with his hints and invendos concerning those who were dead always affected my nerves till, in a subconscious way I began to believe that such things existed and were hanging about me Many people are open to the power of suggestion and I'm afraid that I'm one of them However, the sun which has such strength to kill noxious things puts an end to ghosts more quickly even than it does to other evil vapours and emanations and when I woke up to find it shining brilliantly in a pure heaven I laughed with much heartiness over the whole affair Going to the spring near which we were outspanned I took off my shirt to have a good wash still chuckling at the memory of all the hocus-pocus of my old friend the opener of roads While engaged in this maternal operation I struck my hand against something and looking, observed that it was the hideous little ivory image of Sicali which he had set about my neck The sight of the thing and the memory of his ridiculous talk about it especially of its assertion that it had come down to him through the ages which it could not have done seeing that it was a likeness of himself irritated me so much that I proceeded to take it off with the full intention of throwing it into the spring As I was in the act of doing this from a clump of reeds mixed with bushes quite close to me there came a sound of hissing and suddenly above them appeared the head of a great black imamba perhaps the deadliest of all our African snakes and the only one I know which will attack man without provocation Leaving go of the image I sprang back in a great hurry towards where my gun lay Then the snake vanished and making sure that it had parted to its hole which was probably at a distance I returned to the pool and once more began to take off the talisman in order to consign it to the bottom of the pool After all I reflected it was a hideous and probably a bloodstained thing which I did not in the least wish to wear about my neck like a lady's love token Just as it was coming over my head suddenly from the other side of the bush that infernal snake popped up again This time it was clear what I really intend on business It began to move towards me in the lightning like way imambas have hissing and flicking its tongue I was too quick for my friend however for snatching up the gun that I had lain down beside me I let it have a charge of buckshot in the neck which nearly cut it in two so that it fell down and expired with hideous convulsive writhings Hearing the shot I came running from the wagon to see what was the matter hence I should say was the same hotentot who had been the companion of most of my journeys since my father's day He was with me when as a young fellow I accompanied Ritjef to Dingang's Scrawl and like myself escaped the massacre Here see the book called Marie Also we shared many other adventures including the great one in the Land of the Ivory Child where he slew the huge elephant god Janna and himself was slain but of this journey we did not dream in those days For the rest Hans was the most entirely unprincipled person but as the bowers say as clever as a wagon load of monkeys Also he drank when he got the chance One good quality he had however no man was ever more faithful and perhaps it would be true to say that neither man nor woman ever loved me unworthy quite so well In appearance he rather resembled an antique and dilapidated baboon His face was wrinkled like a dried nut and his quick little eyes were bloodshot I never knew what his age was any more than he did himself but the years had left him tough as whip-cord and absolutely untiring Lastly he was perhaps the best hand at following a spore that ever I knew and up to a hundred and fifty years or so A very deadly shot with a rifle especially when he used a little single barreled muscle loading gun of mine made by Purdy which he named Intombi or Maiden of that gun however I have written in the Holy Flower and elsewhere What is it boss he asked Here there are no lions nor any game Look at the other side of the bush huns He slipped round it making a wide circle with this usual caution then seeing the snake which was by the way I think the biggest Imamba I ever killed suddenly froze as it were in a stiff attitude that reminded me of a pointer when it sense game Having made sure that it was dead he nodded and said Imamba or so you would call it though I know it for something else What else huns One of the old witch doctor Sikali spirits which he sets at the mouth of his clue to warn him who comes or goes I know it well and so do others I saw it listening behind a stone when you were up at the clue last evening talking with the opener of roads Sikali will lack a spirit I answered laughing which perhaps he will not miss amongst so many it serves him right for setting the brute on me Why it's so boss he will be angry I wonder why he did it he added suspiciously seeing that he is such a friend of yours he didn't do it huns these snakes are very fierce and give battle that is all probably he thought only worthy of a white man who does not understand but rolled his yellow bloodshot eyes about as though in search of explanations presently they fell upon the ivory that hang about my neck and he started why do you wear that pretty likeness of the great one yonder over your heart as I have known you do with things that belong to women in past days boss do you know that it is Sikali's great medicine nothing less as everyone does throughout the land when Sikali sends an order far away he always sends that image with it for then he who receives the order knows that he must obey or die also the messenger knows that he will come to no harm if he does not take it off because boss the image is Sikali himself and Sikali is the image they are one and the same also it is the image of his father's father's father or so he says that is an odd story I said then I told Hans as much as I thought advisable of how this horrid little talisman came into my possession Hans nodded without showing any surprise so we are going on a long journey he said well I thought it was time that we did something more than wonder about these tame countries selling blankets to stinking old women and so forth boss moreover Sikali does not wish that you should come to harm doubtless because he does wish to make use of you afterwards oh it's safe to talk now when that spirit is away looking for another snake what were you doing with the great medicine boss when the mamba attacked you taking it off to throw it into the pool Hans as I do not like the thing I tried twice and each time the imamba appeared of course it appeared boss and what is more if you had taken that medicine off and thrown it away you would have disappeared since the mamba would have killed you Sikali wanted to show you that boss and that is why he set the snake on you you are a superstitious wonderful Hans yes boss but my father knew all about that great medicine before me for he was a bit of a doctor and so does every wizard and which for a thousand miles or more I tell you boss it is known by all though no one ever talks about it no not even the king himself boss speaking to you not with the voice of Hans that old drunkard to the predicant your reverent father who made so good a Christian oh me and who tells me to do so from up in heaven where the hot fires are which the wood feeds of itself I beg you not to try to throw away the medicine again or if you wish to do so to leave me behind on this journey for you see boss although I'm now so good almost like one of those angels with the pretty goose wings in the pictures I feel that I should like to grow a little better before I go to the place of fires to make report to your reverent father the predicant thinking of how horrified my dear father would be if he could hear all this string of ridiculous nonsense and learn the result of his moral and religious lessons on raw hot and taut material I burst out laughing but Hans went on as gravely as a judge here the great medicine boss where it part with the liver inside you before you part with that boss it may not be as pretty or smell as sweet as a woman's hair in a little gold bottle but it is much more useful the sight of the woman's hair will only make you sick in your stomach and cause you to remember a lot of things which you had much better forget but the great medicine or rather Sicali who is in it will keep the asagais and sickness out of you and turn back bad magic to the heads of those who sent it and always bring us plenty to eat and perhaps if we are lucky a little to drink to sometimes go away I said I want to wash yes boss but with the boss leave I will sit on the other side of that bush with the gun to look at the boss without his clothes because white people are always so ugly that it makes me feel ill to see them undressed also because the boss will forgive me but because they smell no not for that but just to see that no other snake comes get out of the road you dirty little scoundrel and stop your impudence I said lifting my foot suggestively there on his scooted with a jude grin around the other side of the bush once as I knew well he kept his eye fixed on me to be sure that I made no further attempt to take off the great medicine now of this talisman I may as well say at once that I am no believer in it or its precious influences therefore although it was useful sometimes notably twice when Amslut Pogas was concerned I do not know whether personally I should have done better or worse upon that journey if I had thrown it into the pool it is true however that until quite the end of this story when it became needful to do so to save another I never made any further attempt to remove it from my neck not even when it rubbed a sore in my skin because I did not wish to offend the prejudices of Hans it is true moreover that this hideous ivory had a reputation which stretched very far from the place where it was made and was regarded with great reverence by all kinds of queer people even by the Amma Hager themselves of whom presently as they say in pedigrees a fact of which I found sundry proofs indeed I sought first example of it when a little while later I met that great warrior Amslut Pogas chief for the people of the axe for after determining firmly for reasons which I will set out that I would not visit this man in the end I did so although by then I had given up any idea of journeying across the Sambisi to look for a mysterious and non-existent witch woman as Sicali had suggested that I should do to begin with I knew that his talk was all rubbish and even if it were not that at the bottom of it was some desire of the opener of roads I should make a path for him to travel towards an indefinite but doubtless evil object of his own further by this time I had worn through that mood of mine which had caused me to journe for correspondence with the departed and a certain knowledge of their existence I wonder whether many people understand as I do how entirely distinct and how variable are these moods which sway us or at any rate some of us at sundry periods of our lives as I think I have already suggested at one time we are all spiritual at another all physical at one time we are sure that our lives here are a dream and a shadow and that the real existence lies elsewhere at another that these brief days of ours are the only business with which we have to do and that of it we must make the best at one time we think our loves much more immortal than the stars at another that they are mere shadows cast by the baleful sun of desire upon the shallow and fleeting water we call life which seems to flow out of nowhere into nowhere at one time we are full of faith at another all such hopes are blotted out by a black wall of nothingness and so on ad infinitum very stupid people or hamburgs are or pretend to be always consistent and unchanging to return I determine not only that I would not travel north to seek that which no living man will ever find certainty as to the future but also to show my independence of Sicali that I would not visit this chief so having traded all my goods and made a fair profit on paper I set myself to return to Natal proposing to rest a while in my little house at Durban and told Hans my mind very good boss he said I too should like to go to Durban there are lots of things there that we cannot get here and he fixed his roving eye upon a square faced gin bottle which as it happened was filled with nothing stronger than water because all the gin was drunk yet boss we shall not see the Berea for a long while why do you say that I asked sharply oh boss I don't know but you went to visit the opener roads did you not and he told you to go north and lent you a certain great medicine did he not here Hans proceeded to light his corn cob pipe with an ash from the fire all the time and his beady eyes fixed upon that part of me where he knew the talisman was hung quite true Hans but now I mean to show Sicali that I'm not his messenger for south or north or east or west so tomorrow morning we cross the river and trek for Natal yes boss but then why not cross it this evening there is still light I have said that we will cross it tomorrow morning I answered with that firmness which I have read always indicates a man of character and I do not change my word no boss but sometimes other things change besides words will the boss have that bucks leg for supper or the stuff out of a tin with a dint in it which we bought at a store two years ago the flies have got at the bucks leg but I cut out the bits with the maggots on it and ate them as self Hans was right things do change especially the weather that night unexpectedly for when I turned in the sky seemed quite serene there came a terrible rain long before it was due which lasted off and on for three whole days and continued intermittently for an indefinite period needless to say the river which it would have been so easy to cross on this particular evening by the morning was a raging torrent and so remained for several weeks in despair at length I trekked south to where Ford was reported which when reached proved impractical I tried another a dozen miles further on which was very hard to come to over boggy land it looked alright and we were getting across finally when suddenly one of the wheels sank in an unexpected whole and there we stuck indeed I believe the wagon or bits of it would have remained in the neighborhood of that for to this day had I not managed to borrow some extra oxen belonging to Christian Kaffir and with their help to drag it back to the bank once we had started as it happened I was only just in time since a new storm which had burst further up the river brought it down in flood again a very heavy flood in this country England where I write there are bridges everywhere and no one seems to appreciate them if they think of them at all it is to grumble about the cost of their upkeep I wish they could have experienced what a lack of them means in a wild country during times of excessive rain and the same remark applied to roads you should think more of your things my friends as the old woman said to her complaining daughter who had twins two years running adding that they might have been triplets to return after this I confessed myself beaten and gave up until such time as it should please Providence to turn off the water tap trekking out of sight of that infernal river which annoyed me with its constant gurgling I camped on a comparatively dry spot that overlooked a beautiful stretch of rolling velled towards sunset the clouds lifted and I saw a mile or two away a most extraordinary mountain on the lower slopes of which grew a dense forest it's upper part which was a bear rock looked exactly like a seated figure of a grotesque person with a chin resting on the breast there was the head there were the arms there were the knees indeed the whole mass of it reminded me strongly of the effigy of Sicali which was tied about my neck or rather of Sicali himself what is that called I said to Hans pointing to this strange hill now placing in the angry fire of the setting sun that had burst out between the storm clouds which made it appear more ominous than even then before that is the witch mountain bars where the chief omslopogas and a blood brother of his great club used to hunt with the wolves it is haunted and in a cave at the top of it lie the bones of nada the lily the fair woman whose name is a song she was the love of omslopogas for the story of omslopogas and nada see the book called nada the lily rubbish I said though I had heard something of all that story and remember that Sicali had mentioned this comparing her beauty to that of another whom once I knew where then lives the chief omslopogas they say that his town is gender on the plain bars it is called the place of the axe and is strongly fortified with a river round most of it and his people are the people of the axe they are a fierce people and all the country round here is uninhabited because omslopogas has cleaned out tribes who used to live in it first with his wolves and afterwards in war he is so strong a chief and so terrible in battle that even chaka himself was afraid of him and they say that he brought dingan the king to his end because of a quarrel about this nada Sidiwio the present king too leaves him alone and to him he pays no tribute whilst I was about to ask Hans from whom he had collected all this information suddenly I heard sounds and looking up saw three tall men clad in full herald stress rushing towards us at great speed here comes some chips from the axe said hounds and promptly bolted into the wagon I did not bolt because there was no time to do so without loss of dignity but although I wished I had my rifle with me just sat still upon my stool and with great deliberation lighted my pipe taking not the slightest notice of the three savage looking fellows these who I noted carried axes instead of asagais rushed straight at me with the axes raised in such a fashion that anyone unacquainted with the habits of solo warriors of the old school might have thought that they intended nothing short of murder as I expected however within about six feet of me they halted suddenly and stood there still as statues for my part I went on lightening my pipe as though I did not see them and when at length I was obliged to lift my head surveyed them with an air of mild interest then I took a little book out of my pocket it was my favorite copy of the Ingolsby legends and began to read the passage which caught my eye if axe be substituted for knife was not inappropriate it was from the nurse's story and runs but oh what a thing tis to see and to know that the bare knife is raised in the hand of the foe without hope to repel or to ward off the blow this proceeding of mine astonished them a good deal who felt that they had so to speak missed fire at last the soldier in the middle said are you a blind white man no black fellow I answered but I am short-sighted would you be so good as to stand out on my light a remark which puzzled them so much that all three drew back a few paces when I had read a little further I came to the following lines tis plain as astonemists tell us that never again shall life revisit the full lips when once they've been cut through the juggler of pain in my circumstances at that moment this statement seemed altogether too suggestive so I shut up the book and remarked if you are wanderers who want food as I judge by your being so thin I am sorry that I have little meat but my servants will give you what they can oh said the spokesman he calls us wanderers he must be a very great man or he is mad you are right I am a great man I answer joining and if you trouble me too much you will see that I can be mad also now what do you want we are messengers from the great chief umslopogas captain of the people of the axe and we want tribute answer the man in a somewhat changed tone do you I thought that only the king of suraland had a right to tribute and your captain's name is not set a wire is it our captain is king here said the man still more uncertainly is he indeed then away with you back to him and tell this king of whom I have never heard though I have a message for a certain umslopogas that makumatsan watcher by night intends to visit him tomorrow if he will send a guide at the first light to show the best path for the wagon harkin said the man to his companions this is makumatsan himself and no other well we thought it for who else would have dared then they saluted with their axes calling me chief and other fine names and departed as they had come at a run calling out that my message should be delivered and that this umslopogas would send the guide so it came about that quite contrary to my intention after all circumstances brought me to the town of the axe even to the last moment I had not meant to go there but when the tribute was demanded I saw that it was best to do so and having once passed my word it could not be altered indeed I felt sure that in this event there would be trouble and that my oxen would be stolen or worse so fate having issued its decree of which hands version was that Sikali or his great medicine had so arranged things I shrugged my shoulders and waited end of chapter 2 of H Rider Haggad she and Alam read by Lars Rolander chapter 3 of she and Alam this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Lars Rolander she and Alam by H Rider Haggad chapter 3 umslopogas of the axe next morning at the dawn guides arrived from the town of the axe bringing with them a joker spare oxen which showed that its chief was really anxious to see me so in due course we in spanned and started the guides leading us by a rough but practicable road down the steep hillside to the saucer like plain beneath where I saw many cattle grazing travelling some miles across this plain we came at last with a great breath that encircled a considerable calf your town on three sides the fourth being protected by a little line of copies which were joined together with walls also the place was strongly fortified with fences and in every other way known to the native mind with the help of the spare oxen we crossed the river safely at the fort although it was very full and on the further side were received by a guard of men tall solely like fellows all of them armed with axes as the messengers had been they led us up to the cattle enclosure in the center of the town which although it could be used to protect beasts in case of emergency also served the practical purpose of a public square here some ceremony was in progress for soldiers to drown the crawl while heralds pranced at the head of the place in front of the chief's big hut was a little group of people among whom a big gaunt man sat upon a stool clad in a warrior's dress with a great and very long axe hafted with wild-lashed renaucorous horn laid across his knees our guides led me with hands sneaking behind me like a dejected and low-bred dog for the wagon had stopped outside the gate the crowd to where the heralds shouted and the big man sat yawning at once I noted that he was a very remarkable person broad and tall and spare of frame with long tough looking arms and a fierce face which reminded me of that of the late king Dingan also he had a great hole in his head above the temple where the skull had been driven in by some blow and keen royal looking eyes he looked up and seeing me cried out what has a white man come to fight me for the chief tainship of the people of the axe well he's a small one no I answered quietly but Makumasan watcher by night has come to visit you in answer to your request oh umsla porgas Makumasan whose name was known in this land before yours was told of oh umsla porgas the chief heard and rising from his seat lifted the big axe in salute I greet you oh Makumasan he said who although you are small in stature are very great indeed in fame have I not heard how you conquered Bangu or those sadukes slew him and of how you gave up the 600 head of cattle to Tsocia and the men of the amagwane who fought with you the cattle that were your own have I not heard how you led the tulwana against usutu and stamped flat three of setu various regiments in the days of panda although alas because of an oath of mine I lifted no steel in that battle I who will have nothing to do with those that spring for the blood of sensangakona perhaps because I smell too strongly of it Makumasan oh yes I have heard these and many other things concerning you though until now it has never been my fortune to look upon your face oh watcher by night and therefore I greet you well bowl one cunning one upright one friend of us black people thank you I answered but you said something about fighting if there is to be anything of the sort let us get it over if you want to fight I am quite ready and I tapped the rifle which I carried the grim chief broke into a laugh and said listen by an ancient law any man of this day in each year may fight me for this chief tainship as I fought and conquered him who held it before me and take it from me with my life and the axe though of late none seems to like the business but that law was made before there were guns or men like Makumasan who it is said can hit a lizard on a wall at 50 paces therefore I tell you that if you wish to fight me with a rifle or Makumasan I give in and you may have the chief tainship and he laughed again in his fierce fashion I think it's too hot for fighting either with guns or axes and chief tainships are honey that is full of stinging bees I answered then I took my seat on a stool that had been brought for me and placed by the side of Umslapogas after which the ceremony went on the Haralds cried out the challenge to all and sundry to come and fight the holder of the axe for the chief tainship of the axe without the slightest result he seemed to desire to do anything of the sort then after a pause Umslapogas rose swinging his formidable weapon round his head and declared that by right of conquest he was chief of the tribe for the ensuing year an announcement that everybody accepted without surprise again the Haralds summoned all and sundry who had grievances to come forward and to state them after a little pause there appeared a very handsome woman with large eyes particularly brilliant eyes that rolled as though they were in search of someone she was finely dressed and I saw by the ornaments she wore that she held the rank of a chief's wife I, Monasi have a complaint to make as it is the right of the humblest to do on this day in succession to Sinita whom Dingan slew with her children I am your in Kosikas your headwife O Umslapogas that I know well enough said Umslapogas what of it this that you neglect me for other women as you neglected Sinita for Nada the beautiful Nada the witch I am childless as are all your wives because of the curse that this Nada left behind her I demand that this curse should be lifted from me for your sake I abandoned Lusta the chief to whom I was betrothed and this is the end of it that I am neglected and childless am I the heavens above that I can cause you to bear children woman asked Umslapogas angrily would that you had clung to Lusta my blood brother and my friend whom you lament and left me alone that's still my chance if I am not better treated answer Monasi with a flash of her eyes will you dismiss yonder new wife of yours and give me back my place and will you lift the curse of Nada of me or will you not as to the first Umslapogas learn Monasi that I will not dismiss my new wife who at least gentler-tongued and truer-hearted than you are as to the second you ask that which is not in my power to give since children are the gift of heaven and barrenness is its pain moreover you have done ill to bring into this matter the name of one who is dead who of all women was the sweetest and most innocent lastly I warn you before the people to cease from your plotting sour traffic with Lusta lest ill come of them to you or him even though he be my blood brother or to both plotings cried Monasi in a shrill and furious voice does Umslapogas talk of plotings well I have heard that Chaka the lion left a son and that this son has set a trap for the feet of him who sits on Chaka's throne perhaps that king has heard it also perhaps the people of the axe will soon have another chief is it thus said Umslapogas quietly and if so will he be named Lusta then his smoldering wrath broke out and in a kind of roaring voice he went on what have I done that the wives of my bosom should be my betrayers those who would give me to death Sinita betrayed me to Dingan and in reward was slain and my children with her now would you Monasi betray me to Setewayo though in truth there is not to betray well if so but think you and let Lusta but think him of what what chance to Sinita and of what chances to those who stand before the axe of Umslapogas what have I done I say that women should thus strive to work me ill this answered Monasi with a mocking laugh that you have loved one of them too well if he would live in peace he who has wives should favor all alike lest of anything should he moan continually over one who is stead of which who has left a curse behind her and thus insulted and do wrong to the living also he would be wise to attend to the matters of his own tribe and household and to seize from ambitions that may bring him to the asagai and them with him I have heard your consul wife so now be gone said Umslapogas looking at her very strangely and it seemed to me not without fear your wife's makumasan he asked of me in a low voice when she was out of hearing only among the spirits I answered well for you then moreover it is a bond between us for I too have but one true wife and she also is among the spirits but go rest a while and later we will talk so I went leaving the chief to his business thinking as I walked away of a certain message with which I was charged for him and of how into that message came names that I had just heard namely that of a man called Lusta and of a woman called Monasi also I thought of the hints which in her jealous anger and disappointment at her lack of children this woman had dropped about a plot against him who sat on the throne which of course must mean king Setewayo himself I came to the guest hut which proved to be a very good place and clean also in it I found plenty of food and ready for me and for my servants after eating I slept for a time as it is always my fashion to do when I have nothing else to hand since who knows for how long he may be kept awake at night indeed it was not until the sun had begun to sink that a messenger came saying that the chief desired to see me if I had rested so I went to his big hut which stood alone with a strong fence set around it at a distance so that none could come within hearing of what he said even at the door of the hut I observed also that a man armed with an axe kept guard at the gateway in this fence round which he walked from time to time the chief of Slopogas was seated on the stool by the door of his hut with his renauchers horn handled axe which was fastened to his right wrist by a thong leaning against his thigh and a wolfskin hanging from his broad shoulders very grim and fierce he looked thus with the red light of the sunset playing on him he greeted me and pointed to another stool on which I sat myself down I had been watching my eyes for he said I see that like other creatures which move at night such as leopards and he in us you take note of all a watcher by night even of the soldier who guards this place and of where the fence is set and how its gate is fashioned had I not done so I should have been dead long ago oh chief yes and because it is not so as I should perhaps I shall soon be dead it is not enough to be fierce and foremost in the battle he who would sleep safe and of home when he dies fork will say he has eaten that is he has lived out his life must do more than this he must guard his tongue and even his thoughts he must listen to the stirring of rats in the thatch he must trust few at least of all those who sleep upon his bosom but those who gave the lions blood in them or who are prone to charge like a buffalo often neglect these matters and therefore in the end they fall into a pit yes I answered especially those who have the lions blood in them whether that lion be man or beast this I said because of the rumors I had heard that this the murderer was in truth the son of Chaka therefore not knowing whether or not he were playing on the word lion which was Chaka's title I wish to draw him especially as I saw in his face a great likeness to Chaka's brother Dingan whom it was whispered this same Umslopogas had slain as it happened I failed for after pause he said why do you come to visit me Makumasan who have never done so before I do not come to visit you Umslopogas that was not my intention you brought me or rather the flooded rivers and you together brought me for I was on my way to Natal and could not cross the drifts yet I think you have a message for me white man for not long ago a certain wondering which doctor told me to expect you and that you had words to say to me did he Umslopogas well it is true that I have a message though it is one that I did not mean to deliver yet being here perhaps you will deliver it Makumasan for those who have messages and will not speak them sometimes come to trouble yes being here I will deliver it seeing that so it seems to be fated tell me do you chance to know a certain small one who is great a certain old one whose brain is young a doctor who is called opener of roads I have heard of him as have my forefathers for generations indeed and if it pleases you to tell me Umslopogas what might be the names of those forefathers of yours who have heard of this doctor for generations they must have been short lived men and as such I should like to know of them that you cannot reply to Umslopogas shortly since they are that is not to be spoken in this land indeed I said again I thought that rule applied only to the names of kings I am but an ignorant white man who may well be mistaken on such matters of your sullied customs yes oh Makumasan you may be mistaken or you may not it matters nothing but what of this message of yours it came at the end of a long story Ubulaljo but since you seek to know these were the words of it nearly as I can remember them then sentence by sentence I repeated to him all that Sikali had said to me when he called me back after bidding me far well which doubtless he did because he wished to cut his message more deeply into the tablets of my mind Umslopogas listened to every syllable with a curious intentness and then asked me to repeat it all again which I did Lusta Monasi he said slowly well you heard those names today did you not white man and you heard certain things from the lips of this Monasi was angry that gives color to that talk of the opener of the roads it seems to me he added glancing about him and speaking in a low voice that what I suspected is true and that without doubt I am betrayed I do not understand I replied indifferently all this talk is dark to me as is the message of the opener of roads or rather its meaning by whom and about what are you betrayed let that snake sleep do not kick it with your foot suffice it you to know that my head hangs upon this matter that I am a rat in a forked stick and if the stick is pressed on my heavy hand then where is the rat where all rats go I suppose that is unless they are wise rats that bite the hand which holds the stick before it is pressed down what is the rest of this story of yours Makumasan which was told before the opener roads gave you that message does it please you to repeat it to me that I may judge of it with my ears certainly I answered on one condition that what the ears hear the heart shall keep to itself alone Umslopoga stooped and laid his hand upon the broad blade of the weapon beside him saying by the axe I swear it if I break the oath my doom then I told him the tale as I have set it down already thinking to myself that of it he would understand little being but a wild warrior man as a chance however I was mistaken for he seemed to understand a great deal perhaps because such primitive natures are in closer touch with the high and secret things than we imagine perhaps for other reasons with which I became acquainted later it stands thus he said when I had finished or so I think you Makumasan seek certain women who are dead to learn whether they still live or are really dead but so far have failed to find them still seeking you ask the council of Sikali opener of roads he whom among other titles also is called home of spirits he answered that he could not satisfy your heart because this tree was too tall for him to climb but that far to the north there lives a certain white witch who has powers greater than his being able to fly to the top of any tree and to this white witch he bade you go have I the story right thus far I answered that he had good then Sikali went on to choose your companions for your journey but too leaving out the guards or servants I, Umlopikasi called Bolaglio the slaughterer called the woodpecker also was one of these and that little jello monkey of man who I saw with you today called Hansi was the other then made mock of Sikali by determining not to visit me Umlopikasi and not so go north to find the great white queen of whom he had told you but to return to Natal is that so I said it was then the rain fell and the winds blew and the rivers rose in wrath so that you could not return to Natal and after all by chance or by fate or by the will of Sikali I answered oh wizards you drifted here to the crawl of me Umlopikasi and told me this story just so I answered well white man how am I to know that all this is not but a trap for my feet which already seems to feed cords between the toes of both of them what token do you bring oh watcher by night how am I to know that the opener of roads really sent me this message which has been delivered so strangely by one who wished to travel on another path the wandering witch doctor told me that he who came would bear some sign I can't say I answered at least in words but I added after reflection as you ask for a token perhaps to show you something that would bring proof to your heart if there were any secret place Umlopikasi walked to the gateway of the fence and saw that the sentry was at his post then he walked round the hut casting an eye upon its roof and muttered to me as he returned once I was caught thus there lived a certain wife of mine who set her ear to the smoke hole and thought about the death of many and among them of herself and of our children enter all is safe yet if you talk speak low so we went into the hut taking the stools with us and seated ourselves by the fire that burned there onto which Umlopikasi threw chips of risinius wood now he said I opened my shirt and by the clear light the flame showed him the image of Sikali which hung about my neck he stared at it though touch it he would not then he stood up and lifting his great axe he saluted the image with a word makkosi the salute that is given to great wizards because they are supposed to be the home of many spirits it is the big medicine the medicine itself that which has been known in the land since the time of Senzangakona the father of the Suli royal house and as it is said before him how can that be I asked seeing that this image represents Sikali, opener of roads as an old man and Senzangakona died many years ago I do not know he answered but it is so listen, there was a certain Mopo or as some called him Umbopo who was Chaka's body servant and my foster father and he told me that twice this medicine and he pointed to the image was sent to Chaka and that each time the lion obeyed the message that came with it a third time it was sent but he did not obey the message and then where was Chaka? Shlopogas passed his hand across his mouth a significant gesture amongst the Sulus Mopo I said yes I have heard the story of Mopo also the Chaka's body became his servant in the end since Mopo killed him with the help of the prince Dingan and Umslangana also I have heard that his Mopo still lives though not in Sulu land Makumasan said Umslopogas taking snuff from a spoon and looking at me keenly over the spoon you seem to know a great deal Makumasan too much as some might think yes I answered perhaps I do know too much or at any rate more than I want to know for instance O fosterling of Mopo and son of a lady named Baleka I know a good deal about you Umslopogas stared at me and laying his hand upon the great axe half-rose then sat down again I think that this and I touched the image of Sikali upon my breast would turn even the blade of the axe named Groanmaker I said and paused as nothing happened I went on for instance again I think I know or have I dreamt it that a certain chief whose mother's name I believe was Baleka by the way was she not one of Chaka's sisters has been plotting against that son of Panda who sits upon the throne and that his plots have been betrayed so that he is in some danger of his life Makumasan said Umslopogas I tell you that did you not wear the great medicine on your breast I would kill you where you sit and bury you beneath the floor the hut as one who knows too much it would be a mistake Umslopogas one of the many that you have made but as I do wear the medicine the question does not arise does it again he made no answer and I went on and now what about this journey to the north if indeed I must make it would you wish to accompany me Umslopogas rose from the stool and crawled out the hut apparently to make some inspection presently he returned and remarked that the night was clear although there were heavy storm clouds at the horizon by which I understood him to convey in Sulu metaphor that it was safe for us to talk but that danger threatened from afar Makumasan he said we speak under the blanket of the opener of roads who sits upon your heart and who sign you bring to me as he sent me word that you would do we not I suppose so I answered at any rate we speak as man to man and hitherto the honor of Makumasan has not been doubted in Sulu land so if you have anything to say chief Boolalio say it at once for I am tired and should like to eat and rest good Makumasan I have this to say I who am the son of one who was greater than he have plotted to cease the throne of Sulu land from him who sits upon that throne it is true for I grew weary of my idleness as a pity chief moreover I should have succeeded with the help of Sikali who hates the house of Sensangakona though me who am of its blood he does not hate because ever I have striven against that house but it seems from his message and those were spoken by an angry woman that I have been betrayed and that tonight tomorrow night or by the next moon the slayers will be upon me smiting me before I can smite at which I cannot crumble by whom have you been betrayed Umslopogas by that wife of mine as I think Makumasan also by Lusta my blood brother over whom she has cast her net and made false to me so that he hopes to win her whom he has always loved and with her the chieftainship of the axe now what shall I do tell me you whose eyes can see in the dark I thought a moment and answered I think that if I were you I would leave this Lusta to sit in my place for a while as chief of the people of the axe and take a journey north Umslopogas then if trouble comes from the great house where a king sits it will come to Lusta who can show that the people of the axe are innocent and that you are far away that is cunning Makumasan there speaks the great medicine if I go north who can say that I have plotted and if I leave my betrayer in my place who can say that I was a traitor who have set him where I used to sit and left the land upon a private matter and now tell me of this journey of yours so I told him everything although until that moment I had not made up my mind to go upon this journey I who had come here to his crawl by accident or so it seemed and by accident had delivered to him a certain message you wish to consult a white witch and address Makumasan who according to Sikali lives far to the north as to the dead now I too though perhaps you will not think it of a black man desires to learn of the dead yes of a certain wife or my youth who was sister and friend as well as wife whom too I loved better than all the world also I decide to learn of a brother of mine whose name I never speak who ruled the wolves with me and who died at my side on Yonder Witch Mountain having made him a mat of men to lie on in a great and glorious fight for of him as of the woman I think all day and dream all night and I would know if they still live anywhere and I may look to see them again when I have died as a warrior should as I hope to do do you understand watcher by night I answered that I understood very well as his case seemed to be like my own it may happen went on Umslopogas that all this talk of the dead who are supposed to live after they are dead is but the sound of wind whispering in the wreaths at night that comes from nowhere and means nothing but at least ours will be a great journey in which we shall find adventure and fighting since it is well known in the land that wherever Makumasan goes there is plenty of both also it seems well for reasons that have been spoken of between us as Iqali says that I should leave the country of the Sulus for a while who desire to die a man's death at the last and not to be trapped like a jackal in a pit lastly I think that we shall agree well together though my temper is rougher times and that neither of us will desert the other in trouble though of that little gel of dog of yours I am not so sure I answer for him I replied Hans is a true man running also when one sees away from drink then we spoke of plans for our journey and a when and where we should meet to make it talking till it was late after which I went to sleep in the guest hut end of chapter 3 of she and Alan by H Rider Haggard read by Lars Rolander