Then as they could travel no further that day, they
built a hut, and lit a great fire by which Rachel
sat and dried herself, nor did she take any harm from
the water, for as the Zulus had said, it seemed as
though nothing could harm her now.
The soldiers also lit fires and despatched messengers
to neighbouring kraals commanding them to bring food,
and to send maidens to attend on the Inkosazana, while
others went to a mountain to call all this ill-tidings
from hill to hill till it came to the Great Place of
the King.
THE CURSE OF THE INKOSAZANA
That night the regiment and Rachel slept upon the
bank of the river, and nothing happened save that
lions carried off two soldiers, while two more who
had been injured against the rocks, died. Also
others fell sick. On the following morning food
arrived in plenty from the neighbouring kraals, and
with it some girls of high birth to attend upon the
Inkosazana.
But with these Rachel would have nothing to do, and
when they came near to her only said:
“Where is Noie, daughter of Seyapi? Lead
me to Noie.”
So they began their march again, Rachel walking as
before in the centre of a ring of soldiers, and that
night slept at a kraal upon a hill. Here messengers
from the King met them charged with many fine words,
to which Rachel listened without understanding them,
and then scared them away with her laughter.
Also they brought a beautiful cloak made of the skins
of a rare white monkey, and this she took and wrapped
herself in it, for she seemed to understand that her
clothes were ragged.
That day they passed through fertile country, where
much corn was grown. Here they saw a strange
sight, for as they went clouds seemed to arise in
the sky from behind them, which presently were seen
to be not clouds, but tens of millions of great winged
grasshoppers that lit upon the corn, devouring it
and every other green thing. Within a few hours
nothing was left except the roots and bare branches,
while the women of that land ran to and fro wailing,
knowing that next winter they and their children must
starve, and the cattle lowed about them hungrily, for
the locusts had devoured all the grass. Moreover,
having eaten everything, these insects themselves
began to die in myriads so that soon the air was poisoned.
The waters were also poisoned with their dead bodies,
and at once sickness came which presently grew into
a pestilence.
Now the men of the country sent a deputation to the
Inkosazana, praying her to remove the curse, but when
they had spoken she only repeated the words she had
used upon the banks of the Buffalo River.
“Not on my head, not on my head! There
is blood between the Inkosazana and her people of
the Zulus. Famine and war and death upon the people
of the Zulus because they have shed the holy blood!”
Then the men grew afraid and went away, and the regiment
marched on accompanied by the myriads of the locusts
that wasted all the land through which they passed.
