Harley Greenoak, pacing his horse up the valley, noted2 the fact, and—read it at its real meaning. And its real meaning did not augur3 well either for the situation or for his self-imposed mission by which he had hoped to improve the latter. But little time was to be his for tranquil4 reflection, for there was a savage5 rush of dogs from two of the clusters of huts he was passing at a hundred yards or so, and a tumultuous snapping and snarling6 round his horse’s heels. It was followed immediately by a scarcely less tumultuous irruption of the inhabitants. These poured forward, vociferating volubly. All had sticks, and a goodly proportion carried assegais. Their demeanour was not friendly.
But the foremost pulled up short, then the rest. The rush subsided8 into a walk.
“Whau! It is Kulondeka!”
No weapon had been presented, or even significantly handled. No change had come over the imperturbability9 of the horseman. It was only the name, the mesmerism, so to say, of the personality. That was all.
“I see you,” was the answer. “But I did not come to see you.” And the speaker rode unconcernedly on.
The crowd, who had now stoned and beaten off the dogs, fell in behind, talking in an undertone among itself. From every additional kraal passed, others came forth10 to swell11 it, at first aggressively hostile in attitude, then more subdued12, but always sullen13. In fact, Greenoak remarked that the prevailing14 attitude was that of sullenness15.
“The grass is green and abundant. There should be good pasture for the cattle here now,” he remarked over his shoulder to the foremost. “There will be plenty of fatness and milk this season.”
A deep-toned murmur16, in which he was quick to detect a covert17 sneer18, greeted his words.
“Ewa—Ewa! Plenty of fatness this season, Kulondeka,” answered several voices. And the same unmistakable sneer underlay19 the words.
“Turn back, Kulondeka,” now said one, a man who seemed to be in some authority, as he came up along side of the horseman. “We do not want any white people about here now. The chief is tired of them.”
“The chief! But it is not the chief I am going to see, Mafutana. It is his son.”
“But what if he is not here?” said the Kafir, sullenly20.
“But what if he is?” returned Greenoak, composedly. “I know my way. I have no need of these here”—with a wave of the hand towards those who were following. “They can go home.”
A hoarse21 jeer22 among the crowd greeted the words, but the said crowd showed not the slightest sign of complying with the speaker’s wish. More than one, gripping the long, tapering23 assegai, was thinking what a tempting24 target was offered by the back of this unmoved white man, riding there before them as though his life hung upon something stronger than a not very secure rope. So the strange procession passed on.
The newly risen sun was flaming above the Kei hills. The blue sky was without a cloud. The morning air, not yet unpleasantly warm, was clear and invigorating. The fair, rolling pastures were green and promising25, and altogether the whole scene should have been one of pastoral peace. But it was the peace of the slumbering26 volcano, to-day stillness, to-morrow red ruin, and none knew this better than Harley Greenoak. He knew why there was no cattle anywhere in sight.
Now he had reached a kraal at the head of the valley, one in no wise differing in appearance from any of the others he had passed. Here he dismounted, but before he could make an inquiry27 of the inhabitants—the crowd following him, by the way, having now halted at a respectful distance—an interruption occurred—startling, unexpected.
A large body of Kafirs came pouring over the ridge28. They were in full war-array—cow-tail tufts, flapping monkey-skins, long crane feathers flowing back from the head, jackals’ teeth necklaces—in short, every conceivable variety of wild and fantastic adornment29 which could lend to the sinuous30 clay-smeared forms a wholly terrific appearance. And indeed such was the effect, as with a roar like that of a beast they rushed down upon Harley Greenoak.
He, for his part, stood unmoved; though even to one of his iron resolution the array of excited faces and gleaming eyeballs, and threatening assegais, as the savages31 crowded up to him, might well have proved momentarily unnerving. Was this the projected Gcaleka raid, he wondered, and in a flash he decided32 that it was not. It was a body of young men who had spent the night war-dancing, with its concomitant of beef and beer feasting, hard by; and, now excited by such stimulant33, mental and physical, was prepared for anything.
They made mock thrusts at him with their assegais—not too near, however. Others were leaping into the air, singing, or reciting all the deeds they were about to do.
“The time of the Abelungu has come!” cried one, if possible more truculent34 and demoniacal-looking than his fellows. “Whau! but we will drive them all into the sea, and take their wives for our wives. Have you a wife, Kulondeka? But no. She would be too old. She, and others like her, would do to hoe our corn lands. Or—”
And the speaker made a quick, downward slash35 with his assegai that left room for no explanation in mere36 words.
Greenoak listened to all this—and more—in silent contempt. He was getting rather tired of it, and expected that they would be getting the same directly, and would go. But the most truculent of them, a huge, red-smeared brute37 of well-nigh gigantic proportions, lunged forward and snatched hold of the double gun which he held in his left hand, attempting with a quick powerful jerk to wrest38 it away.
He did not succeed. In a twinkling the muzzle39 of Whites. Greenoak’s heavy revolver caught him fair and square between the eyes, with such force that the impact alone was almost enough to brain him, apart from the roar of the detonation40 which immediately followed. The huge barbarian41, his head blown to atoms, crashed to the ground like a felled tree.
For a moment there was a tense and deathly silence. Greenoak, still holding the pistol pointed42, had taken a couple of paces backward. His grey eyes were gleaming like steel, and his whole aspect was cool and dangerous. The time for indifference43 was past, he had decided; that for action had come; and the man who had ventured to lay a hand on him had paid for his daring with his life. At that moment he himself hardly expected to escape with his, but it would go terribly hard with several, before, in their weight of numbers, they should succeed in taking it. Now, he wasted no word. His silence, the lightning-like promptitude with which he had acted, and with which he would be ready to act again, as they well knew, were more awe-inspiring than mere verbal warning. And then there was the prestige of his personality.
Upon the silence broke forth a deep-toned, vengeful growl44 that was ominous45. Then it suddenly died down. A voice behind him spoke46.
“It is Kulondeka I see.”
“It is,” answered Greenoak, not turning his head. “And I think, son of the Great Chief, that these had better go home. It is not a healthy amusement for any man to try and snatch my gun out of my hand.”
At these words, cool and contemptuous, a new outburst of wrath47 went up, and the excited savages began to crowd up nearer, clamouring that Kulondeka should be given up to their vengeance48. Some in the background raised the war-cry. It was taken up, and, gathering49 volume, sounded back from the hills, whence now other bands were hurrying to the scene. The chief’s son stepped to the side of Harley Greenoak and threw an arm around his shoulders.
“See. We are brothers,” he said. “The Great Chief is the father of both.”
Again there was a silence, broken immediately by a voice.
“Au! The son of the Great Chief is bewitched. This Kulondeka is the eyes and ears of the whites—here, everywhere. How then can he, too, be the son of the Great Chief?” And a fresh outburst greeted the words.
Greenoak noticed that this was the man who had tried to turn him back. He had thrust himself forward, and being a headman of some standing50, and elderly, he might prove dangerous in the scale. And his leanings were hostile.
Matanzima drew himself up. It was time to assert his dignity, and he had plenty of it. Seen outwardly now, he was a lithe51, straight, well-set-up savage, with clear eyes and a decidedly pleasing face. He wore an ample kaross of leopard52 skin, flung loosely around him, and but for this, and a massive ivory armlet, displayed no adornment whatever. Now he turned his eyes sternly upon the assembled rout53, sweeping54 it steadily55 from end to end with his glance.
“Have I no men?” he said, in slow, incisive56 tones. “Have I no men? Then who are these? Are they Mafutana’s dogs, or are they mine? Hau! There are dogs who bark too loud, but when it comes to biting slink away with their tails down. How is it with these? I lead not such dogs to war.”
The clamourers paused, shamefaced. Matanzima was immensely popular with the younger men; in fact, was regarded as the leader and hope of the war-party. They dared not actively57 oppose him. They knew, too, that but for this white man, for whose blood they were thirsting, he would never have been here to lead them. The clamour seemed to be dying out.
“What of Nzinto yonder, son of the Great Chief?” cried a voice. “He is the son of my father, and lo!—he lies dead.”
“M-m!” The deep-chested murmur from the crowd backed the words. All eyes were bent58 eagerly upon Matanzima.
“Why, as to that,” said the latter, “you have heard Kulondeka say that it is not healthy to try and snatch a gun from his hand. Nzinto tried to, and—”
“Yet it shall be blood for blood, son of Sandili,” was the answer, “for he was my brother.”
“Kulondeka is my brother,” returned Matanzima. “Or, I should say, my father, for what am I but a boy beside him? Yet no blood for blood shall it be here. If you meet in battle—well and good, the best warrior59 is he who wins. Now we have talked long enough. I think—too long.”
And linking his arm within that of Greenoak, he drew him towards the hut from which he himself had just emerged, at the same time making a sign to one of his own immediate7 attendants to take charge of the horse, which, its first uneasiness over, was placidly60 cropping the grass, its bridle61 trailing on the ground.
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1
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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augur
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| n.占卦师；v.占卦 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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6
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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7
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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8
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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9
imperturbability
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| n.冷静；沉着 | |
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10
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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12
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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13
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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14
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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15
sullenness
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| n. 愠怒, 沉闷, 情绪消沉 | |
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16
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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17
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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18
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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19
underlay
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| v.位于或存在于（某物）之下( underlie的过去式 )；构成…的基础（或起因），引起n.衬垫物 | |
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20
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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21
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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23
tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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24
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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25
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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26
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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27
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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28
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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29
adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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30
sinuous
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| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
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31
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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33
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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34
truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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35
slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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36
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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38
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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39
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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40
detonation
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| n.爆炸；巨响 | |
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41
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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42
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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43
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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44
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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45
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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46
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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47
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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48
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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49
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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50
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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51
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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52
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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53
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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54
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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55
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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56
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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57
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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58
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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59
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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60
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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61
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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