Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek by H. Rider Haggard
It might be thought after receiving a pistol bullet fired into him at adistance of four paces, and being cast down through fifty feet of spaceinto a pool of the sea, that there was an end of Ralph Kenzie for everon this earth. But thanks to the mercy of God this was not so, for theball had but shattered his left shoulder, touching no vital part, andthe water into which he fell was deep, so that, striking against norock, he rose presently to the surface, and the pool being but narrow,was able to swim to one side of it where the beach shelved. Up thatbeach Ralph could not climb, however, for he was faint with loss ofblood and shock. Indeed, his senses left him while he was in the water,but it chanced that he fell forward and not backward, so that his headrested upon the shelving edge of the pool, all the rest of his bodybeing beneath its surface. Lying thus, had the tide been rising, hewould speedily have drowned, but it had turned, and so, the water beingwarm, he took no further harm.
Now Sihamba did not leave the stead till some hours after Ralph and hisbride had trekked away. She knew where they would outspan, and as shedid not wish that they should see her yet, or until they were too farupon their journey to send her back, it was her plan to reach the spot,or rather a hiding-place in the kloof within a stone's throw of it,after they had gone to rest. So it came about that at the time whenRalph and Suzanne were surprised by Swart Piet, Sihamba was riding alongquietly upon the horse which Jan had given her, accompanied by the ladZinti, perched on the strong brown mule in the midst of cooking pots,bags of meal, biltong, and rolls of blankets. Already, half a mileoff or more, she could see the cap of the waggon gleaming white in themoonlight, when suddenly away to the left they heard the sound of apistol shot.
"Now who shoots in this lonely place at night?" said Sihamba to Zinti."Had the sound come from the waggon yonder I should think that someonehad fired to scare a hungry jackal, but all is quiet at the waggon, andthe servants of Swallow are there, for, look, the fire burns."
"I know not, lady," answered Zinti, for Sihamba was given the title ofChieftainess among the natives who knew something of her birth, "but Iam sure that the sound was made by powder."
"Let us go and see," said Sihamba turning her horse.
For a while they rode on towards the place whence they had heard theshot, till, suddenly, when they were near the cliff and in a little foldof ground beyond the ridge of which ran the stream, Sihamba stopped andwhispered, "Be silent, I hear voices." Then she slipped from her horseand crept like a snake up the slope of the rise until she reached itscrest, where at this spot stood two tufts of last season's grass, forno fires had swept the veldt. From between these tufts, so well hiddenherself that unless they had stepped upon her body, none could havediscovered her, she saw a strange sight.
There beneath her, within a few paces indeed, for the ground slopedsteeply to the stream, men were passing. The first of these was white,and he carried a white woman in his arms; the rest were Kaffirs, some ofwhom wore karosses or cotton blankets, and some tattered soldiers' coatsand trousers, while all were well armed with "_roers_" or other guns,and had powder flasks hung about their necks. Sihamba knew at once thatthe white man was Swart Piet, and the woman in his arms her mistress,Suzanne. She could have told it from her shape alone, but as ithappened, her head hung down, and the moonlight shone upon her face sobrightly that she could see its every feature. Her blood boiled in heras she looked, for now she understood that her fears were just, and thatthe Swallow whom she loved above everything in the world, had falleninto the power of the man she hated. At first she was minded to follow,and if might be, to rescue her. Then she remembered the pistol-shot, andremembered also that this new-made wife would have been with her husbandand no other. Where, then, was he now? Without doubt, murdered byBull-Head. If so, it was little use to look for him, and yet somethingin her heart told her to look.
At that moment she might not help Suzanne, for what could one woman anda Kaffir youth do against so many men? Moreover, she knew whither VanVooren would take her, and could follow there, but first she must learnfor certain what had been the fate of the Baas Ralph her husband. SoSihamba lay still beneath the two tufts of grass until the last of themen had passed in silence, glancing about them sullenly as though theyfeared vengeance for a crime. Then, having noted that they were headingfor the kloof, she went back to where Zinti stood in the hollow holdingthe horse with one hand and the mule with the other, and beckoned him tofollow her.
Very soon, tracing the spoor backwards, they reached the edge of thecliff just where the waterfall fell over it into the sea pool. Here shesearched about, noting this thing and that, till at last all grew clearto her. Yonder Suzanne had lain, for the impress of her shape couldstill be seen upon the grass. And there a man had been stretched out,for his blood stained the ground. More, he had been dragged to the edgeof the cliff, for this was the track of his body and the spoor of hismurderer's feet. Look how his heels had sunk into the turf as he tookthe weight of the corpse in his arms to hurl it over the edge.
"Tie the horse and the mule together, Zinti," she said, "and let us finda path down this precipice."
The lad obeyed, wondering, though he too guessed much of what hadhappened, and after a little search they found a place by which theycould descend. Now Sihamba ran to the pool and stood upon its brinkscanning the surface with her eyes, till at length she glanceddownwards, and there, almost at her feet, three parts of his body yethidden in the water, lay the man she sought.
Swiftly she sprang to him, and, aided by Zinti, dragged him to dryground.
"Alas! lady," moaned the Kaffir, "it is of no use, the Baas is dead.Look, he has been shot."
Taking no heed of the words, Sihamba opened Ralph's garments, placingfirst her hand, then her ear, upon his heart. Presently she lifted herhead, a light of hope shining in her eyes, and said:
"Nay, he lives, and we have found him in time. Moreover, his woundis not to death. Now help me, for between us we must bear him up thecliff."
So Zinti took him on his back as a man takes a sack of flour, whileSihamba supported his legs, and thus between them, with great toil, forthe way was very steep, they carried him by a sloping buck's path to thetop of the precipice, and laid him upon the mule.
"Which way now?" gasped Zinti, for being strong he had borne the weight.
"To the waggon if they have not yet stolen it," said Sihamba, andthither they went.
When they were near she crept forward, searching for Swart Piet and hisgang, but there were no signs of them, only she saw the driver and hiscompanion nodding by the fire. She walked up to them.
"Do you then sleep, servants of Kenzie," she said, "while the Swallow isborne away to the Hawk's Nest and the husband of Swallow, your master,is cast by Bull-Head back into the sea whence he came?"
Now the men woke up and knew her. "Look, it is Sihamba," stammeredone of them to the other, for he was frightened. "What evil thing hashappened, Lady Sihamba?"
"I have told you, but your ears are shut. Come then and see with youreyes," and she led them to where Ralph lay in his blood, the water yetdripping from his hair and clothes.
"Alas! he is dead," they groaned and wrung their hands.
"He is not dead, he will live; for while you slept I found him," sheanswered. "Swift now, bring me the waggon box that is full of clothes,and the blankets off the cartel."
They obeyed her, and very quickly and gently--for of all doctors Sihambawas the best--with their help she drew off his wet garments, and, havingdried him and dressed his wounds with strips of linen, she put a flannelshirt upon him and wrapped him in blankets. Then she poured brandy intohis mouth, but, although the spirit brought a little colour into hispale face, it did not awaken him, for his swoon was deep.
"Lay him on the cartel in the waggon," she said, and, lifting him,they placed him upon the rimpi bed. Then she ordered them to inspanthe waggon, and this was done quickly, for the oxen lay tied to thetrek-tow. When all was ready she spoke to the two men, telling them whathad happened so far as she knew it, and addi
"Trek back to the stead as swiftly as you may, one of you sitting in thewaggon to watch the Baas Kenzie and to comfort him should he wake out ofhis swoon. Say to the father and mother of Swallow that I have taken thehorses to follow Swart Piet and to rescue her by cunning if so I can,for as will be plain to them, this is a business that must not wait;also that I have taken with me Zinti, since he alone knows the path toBull-Head's secret hiding-place in the mountains. Of that road Zintiwill tell you all he can and you will tell it to the Baas Botmar, whomust gather together such men as he is able, and start to-morrow tofollow it and rescue us, remembering what sort of peril it is in whichhis daughter stands. If by any means I can free the Swallow, we willcome to meet him; if not, who knows? Then he must act according to hisjudgment and to what he learns. But let him be sure of this, and let herhusband be sure also, that while I have life in me I will not cease frommy efforts to save her, and that if she dies--for I know her spirit andno worse harm than death will overtake her--then if may be, I will diewith her or to avenge her, and I have many ways of vengeance. Lastly,let them not believe that we are dead until they have certain knowledgeof it, for it may chance that we cannot return to the stead, but mustlie hid in the mountains or among the Kaffirs. Now hear what Zinti hasto say as to the path of Bull-Head's den and begone, forgetting no oneof my words, for if you linger or forget, when I come again I, Sihamba,will blind your eyes and shrivel your livers with a spell."
"We hear you," they answered, "and remember every word of your message.In three hours the Baas shall know it."
Five minutes later they trekked away and so swiftly did they driveand so good were the oxen, that in less than the three hours we wereawakened by the barking of the dogs and one knocking on our door, andran out to learn all the dreadful tidings and to find Ralph bleedingand still senseless, stretched upon that cartel where we thought himsleeping happily with his bride.
Oh! the terror and the agony of that hour, never may I forget them!Never may I forget the look that sprang into Ralph's eyes when at lasthe awoke and, turning them to seek Suzanne, remembered all.
"Why am I here and not dead?" he asked hoarsely.
"Sihamba saved you and you have been brought back in the waggon," Ianswered.
"Where then is Suzanne?" he asked again.
"Sihamba has ridden to save her also, and Jan starts presently to followher, and with him others."
"Sihamba!" he groaned. "What can one woman do against Piet Van Voorenand his murderers, and for the rest they will be too late. Oh! my God,my God, what have we done that such a thing should fall upon us? Thinkof it, think of her in the hands of Piet Van Vooren. Oh! my God, my God,I shall go mad!"
Indeed I, who watched him, believe that this would have been so, or elsehis brain must have burst beneath its shock of sorrow, had not naturebeen kind to him and plunged him back into stupor. In this he lay long,until well on into the morrow indeed, or rather the day, for by now itwas three o'clock, when the doctor came to take out the pistol ball andset his shattered bone. For, as it chanced, a doctor, and a clever one,had been sent for from the dorp to visit the wife of a neighbour who laysick not more than twenty miles away, and we were able to summon him.Indeed but for this man's skill, the sleeping medicines he gave him toquiet his mind, and, above all, a certain special mercy which shall betold of in its place, I think that Ralph would have died. As it was,seven long weeks went by before he could sit upon a horse.