Now in her hand Rachel held a little rod of white
rhinoceros horn which she used as a riding whip, and
with this rod she pointed at the woman, meaning that
some of those with her should cause her to loose the
bridle. Too late she remembered that in this
savage land such a motion when made by the King or
one in supreme command, had another dreadful interpretation—death
without pity or reprieve.
In an instant, before she could interfere, before
she could speak, the witch-doctoress lay dead upon
the carcase of the dead bull.
“What of the others, Queen, what of the others?”
asked the chief of the slayers, bending low before
her, and pointing with his spear to the attendants
of the witch-doctoress, who fled aghast. “Do
they join this evil-doer who dared to lift her hand
against thee?”
“Nay,” she answered in a low voice, for
horror had made her almost dumb. “I give
them life. Forward.”
“She gives them life!” shouted the praisers
about her. “The Bearer of life and death
gives life to the children of the evil-doer,”
and as the great cavalcade marched forward, company
after company took up these words and sang them as
a song.
THE OMEN OF THE STAR
As it chanced and can easily be understood, Rachel
could not have made a more effective entry into Zululand,
or one more calculated to confirm her supernatural
reputation. When the “wild beast”
she rode plunged about she had remained seated on
it as though she grew there, whereas every warrior
knew that he would have fallen off. When the bull
charged her that bull had died, slain by the Heavens.
When the Isanuzi, a witch of repute, had lifted voice
and hand against her she had commanded her death, showing
that she feared no rival magic. True the woman
would have been killed in any case, for such was the
order of the King as to all who should dare to affront
the Inkosazana, yet the captains had waited to see
what Rachel would do that they might judge her accordingly.
If she had shown fear, if she had even neglected to
avenge, they might have marvelled whether after all
she were more than a beautiful white maiden filled
with the wisdom of the whites.
Now they knew better; she was a Spirit having the
power of a Spirit over beast and man, who smote as
a Spirit should. The fame of it went throughout
the land, and little chance thence forward had Rachel
of escaping from the shadow of her own fearful renown.
Towards sundown they came to a kraal set upon a hill,
and it was asked of her if she were pleased to spend
the night there. She bowed her head in assent,
and they entered the kraal. It was quite empty
save for certain maidens dressed in bead petticoats,
who waited there to serve her. All the other
inhabitants had gone. They took her to a large
and beautifully clean hut. Kneeling on their
knees, the maidens presented her with food—meat
and curdled milk, and roasted cobs of corn. She
ate of the corn and the milk, but the meat she sent
away as a gift to the captains. Then alone in
that kraal, in which after they had served her even
the girls seemed to fear to stay, Rachel slept as
best she might in such solitude, while without the
fence two thousand armed savages watched over her safety.
