by and respect the laws of their society, though those laws might diverge widely. I account him a gentleman, ' Zouga wrote in his journal. 'One of nature's own.'
While Gandang, speaking to Juba on the sleeping-mat said merely, 'Bakela. is a man.'
Gandang allowed Zouga's bearers to leave the enclosure, to cut and bring in thatch and timber to strengthen and improve the buildings, so that at last Zouga could sleep dry and warm. This, together with the rest and respite from endless marching brought an immediate improvement in Zouga's health. The deep wound in his cheek healed cleanly, leaving a pink shiny scar. The shoulder mended, the bruising abated, and he no longer needed a staff or a sling for his arm. Within a week he knew he was well enough to shoot the heavy four-tothe-pound.
One evening he proposed to Gandang that they hunt together, and the Induna. who by this time was finding the waiting as tedious as Zouga was, agreed with alacrity. Gandang's amadoda surrounded a herd of Cape buffalo, and drove them down in a bellowing, stampeding black wave to where they waited. Zouga saw the tall Induna rise from cover and race in, bare-footed, shieldless, and kill a mature bull buffalo with a single thrust of the broad-bladed assegai through the ribs behind the heaving shoulder. Zouga knew that he lacked both the skill and courage to emulate that feat.
Gandang watched when Zouga. stood to meet the squealing, thunderous charge of an enraged bull elephant, and when the beast went down to the crash of the shot, dropping on to its knees in a storm of dust, Gandang stepped past Zouga and touched the little black hole that punctured the elephant's thick grey hide an inch above the first crease at the top of the trunk.
Gandang inspected the smear of blood on the tip of his forefinger, and said 'Hau! ' quietly but with force, which is an expression of deep amazement. For Gandang, himself, owned a musket, a Tower Musket manufactured in London in i837. When he first acquired the weapon, Gandang had fired it at buffalo, elephant and Mashona, all of whom had fled headlong but unscathed.
Gandang understood that when firing it was necessary to close the eyes and the mouth firmly, to hold the breath and at the moment of discharge to shout a rebuke to the devil who lived in the gunpowder smoke, otherwise the devil could enter through the eyes or mouth and take possession of the marksman. In order to throw the musket ball to any distance, it was also necessary to pull the trigger with sudden and brutal force, as in hurling a spear.
Furthermore, to minimize the recoil of the weapon, the butt should not touch the shoulder, butbe held a hand's span from it. Despite all these precautions, Gandang had never succeeded in hitting the target at which he aimed, and had long abandoned the weapon to rust away, while he kept his assegai polished brightly.
Thus Gandang appreciated to the full the magnitude of the feat that Zouga performed with such apparent ease. So their mutual respect deepened with each day spent in each other's company, and became almost friendship. Almost, but not quite, there were chasms of culture and training between them that could never be bridged, and always the knowledge that on any day a swift runner might come from the west with a message for Gandang from his father. Bulala umbuna! Kill the white man! ' And both of them knew that Gandang would hesitate not an instant longer.
Zouga had much time alone in camp, and he spent it planning his audience with the King. The longer he dwelt upon that the more ambitious became his plans.
The memory of the ancient disused mine-shafts returned to plague these idle hours, and at first merely to amuse himself, and then with truly serious intent, Zouga began to draw up a document which he headed:Exclusive Concession to mine gold and hunt ivory in the Sovereign territory of Matabeleland.'
He worked on it each evening polishing and reshaping it in the gibberish that the layman takes for legal jargon and which he fondly believes will dignify his creation. Whereas 1, Mzilikazi, ruler of Matabeleland, hereinafter referred to as the party of the first partZouga had completed this document to his entire satisfaction when a fatal flaw in his plans became evident.
Mzilikazi could not sign his name. Zouga pondered this for a day and then the solution occurred to him. Mzilikazi should by this time have in hand the sealed package.
The crimson wax seals must surely impress him, and in his writing-case Zouga had two full sticks of sealing wax.
Zouga began to design a great seal for King Mzilikazi.
He sketched the design on the back cover of his journal, and the inspiration came from the first of the King's praise names. Great Black Elephant who shakes the earth.'
In Zouga's design the centre of the field depicted a bull elephant, with long tusks raised and ears spread wide.
The upper border bore the legend, 'Mzilikazi Nkosi Nkulu'. And the -lower border carried the translation, Mzilikazi, King of the Matabele'.
He started experimenting with various materials, clay and wood, but the results did not please him, and the following day he asked Gandang for permission to send a party of his porters under Ian Cheroot back to the ancient workings at the Harkness mine to retrieve the ivory buried there.
It took two days of careful consideration for Gandang to agree, and when he did, he sent fifty of his men to accompany the caravan, with orders to kill them all at the first hint ofilight or treachery. Jan Cheroot returned with the four huge tusks from the two bull elephants, and Zouga had not only the material from which to carve the King's great seal, but a gift fitting the King's importance.
Ivory was a treasure of which the Matabele had long ago realized the value in trade. It was, however, a scarce commodity, for even the bravest of men cannot kill a bull elephant with a stabbing spear. They had to rely on pick- ups from animals that had died of natural causes, or the very occasional victim of the pitfall.
Gandang's amazement when he saw the span and weight of the four tusks decided Zouga. The largest and most pleasingly shaped tusk would be Zouga's gift to Mzilikazi, if he were ever allowed to reach the great kraal at Thabas Indunas alive.
Not only was the threat of the King's wrath still hanging over him, but his supply of quinine powder was reduced to a few ounces. All around the camp steamed the swampy ground, fed each day by the interminable rains, and in the night he cou even smell the evil feverbearing vapours rising from the stagnant waters to waft over the camp. Yet he was forced to reduce his daily preventative dose of the bitter powder to perilously s mall quantities in an attempt to eke it out.
The inactivity and the dual threat of spear and disease wore on Zouga's nerves, until he found himself toying with suicidal plans to make an attempt to avoid the guarding impi and to escape on foot southwards. He thought of
