The trooper saluted Zouga breathlessly. 'Are you Major Zouga Ballantyne, sir? Doctor Jameson asks you please to come to his tent at your earliest convenience.'
Doctor Jameson jumped up from the travelling-desk and bustled across the tent to meet Zouga.
'Ballantyne, I was worried about you. Have you come directly from Lobengula? What are the chances? What force do you reckon he disposes?' He broke off and scolded himself with a deprecatory chuckle. 'What am I thinking of. Let me get you a drink, man!'
He led Zouga into the tent. 'You know General Sint John, of course -' And Zouga stiffened, his face expressionless.
'Zouga.' Mungo Sint John lounged in a canvas camp chair, but he made no effort to rise or offer his hand.
'How long it is. But you are looking well. Marriage agrees with you, I have not had the opportunity to congratulate you.'
'Thank you.' Zouga nodded. Naturally he had known that Mungo was the Doctor's Chief of Staff, but still he was not ready for his anger and bitterness at the confrontation. This was the man who had kept Louise as a mistress, had held her tender precious body. He found that he was trembling, and he thrust the picture from his mind, but it was replaced instantly by the image of Louise as he had found her in the desert, her skin burned off her in slabs by the sun, and it was Mungo Sint John who had let her go and made no effort to follow her.
'I have heard that your wife is in camp with you -' Sint John's single eye glowed maliciously. 'You must dine with me tonight; it will be gratifying to discuss old times.'
'My wife has had a long, hard journey.' Zouga kept his voice level; he did not want to give Mungo the satisfaction of knowing how angry he was. 'And in the morning I am taking her into Fort Victoria.'
'Good!' Jameson cut in briskly. 'That suits my own plans, I need a trustworthy man to put a message on the telegraph line for mister Rhodes.
But now, Ballantyne, what is the news from Gubulawayo, and how do you rate our chances?'
'Well, Doctor Jim, Lobengula's ready for you, his young men are spoiling for a fight, and you have a scanty enough force here. in the ordinary way I would say that to take it into Matabeleland without reinforcements or a relieving force in the offing would be suicide.
However 'However?' Jameson demanded eagerly.
'Four of Lobengula's regiments, those he sent against Lewanika, the king of the Barotse, are still on the Zambezi, and Lobengula will not be able to use them.'
'Why not?'
'Smallpox,' Zouga said. 'It's broken out in those regiments, and he dare not recall them to the south. They can take no part in the fighting.'
'Half the Matabele army out of it,' Jameson exulted.
'That's a nudge from on high, Sint John, what do you think?
'I would say it's still a risk, a damnable risk. But think of the stake. A whole country to be won with all its lands and herds and gold. I'd say if we are ever to march, we must march now.'
'Ballantyne, your sister, the missionary woman, what's her name, Codrington, is she still at Khami? Is her family there with her?'
Zouga nodded, mystified, and Jameson snatched up a pencil and scribbled a message on his pad. Then he tore off the sheet and handed it to Mungo Sint John. Mungo read it and smiled. He looked like a bird of prey, beaknosed and fierce.
'Yes,' he said. 'Perfect.' He passed the sheet to Zouga.
Jameson had written in block capitals.
URGENT FOR JOVE MATABELE REGIMENTS MASSED TO ATTACK STOP ENGLISH WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE POWER OF THE MATABELE TYRANT STOP IMPERATIVE WE MARCH AT ONCE TO SAVE THEM REPLY SOONEST 'Even Labouchere couldn't quibble with that,' Zouga emarked wryly. Labouchere was the London editor of Truth magazine, a champion of the oppressed and one of Rhodes' most eloquent and persistent adversaries. Zouga proffered the sheet, but Jameson waved it back.
'Keep it. Send it. I don't suppose you could leave this evening?' Jameson asked wistfully.
'It will be dark in an hour, and my wife is exhausted.'
'Very well,' Jameson agreed. 'But you will return here as soon as you can with mister Rhodes' reply?'
'Of course.'
'And there will be something else I want you to do on your return, a most important assignment.'
'What is it?'
'General Sint John will explain.' And Zouga turned suspiciously to Mungo.
Mungo's manner was suddenly placatory. 'Zouga, there's not one of us who hasn't read your book Hunter's Odyssey. I would say that it's the bible of anybody wanting to know about this country and its people.'
'Thank you.' Zouga was unbending still.
'And one of the most interesting sections is the description of your visit to the oracle of the Umlimo in the hills south of Gubulawayo.'
'The Matopos,' Zouga told him.
'Yes, of course, the Matopos. Could you find your way back to the witch's cavern? After all, it has been over twenty-five years?'
