When I saw Umslopogaas, my father, my bowels melted within me, and Ilonged to run to him and throw myself upon his neck. Yet I took council with myself and did not--nay, I dropped the corner of the kaross I wrote over my eyes, hiding my face lest he should know me.
Presently he stood before me, searching me out with his keen eyes, for I drew forward to greet him.
"Greeting, Mouth of Dingaan!" he said in a loud voice. "You are a little man to be the mouth of so big a chief.""The mouth is a little member, even of the body of a great king, OChief Bulalio, ruler of the People of the Axe, wizard of the wolves that are upon the Ghost Mountain, who aforetime was named Umslopogaas, son of Mopo, son of Makedama."Now when Umslopogaas heard these words he started like a child at a rustling in the dark and stared hard at me.
"You are well instructed," he said.
"The ears of the king are large, if his mouth be small, O Chief Bulalio," I answered, "and I, who am but the mouth, speak what the ears have heard.""How know you that I have dwelt with the wolves upon the Ghost Mountain, O Mouth?" he asked.
"The eyes of the king see far, O Chief Bulalio. Thus last night they saw a great chase and a merry. It seems that they saw a koodoo bull running at speed, and after him countless wolves making their music, and with the wolves two men clad in wolves' skins, such men as you, Bulalio, and he with the club who follows you."Now Umslopogaas lifted the axe Groan-Maker as though he would cut me down, then let it fall again, while Galazi the Wolf glared at me with wide-opened eyes.
"How know you that once I was named Umslopogaas, who have lost that name these many days? Speak, O Mouth, lest I kill you.""Slay if you will, Umslopogaas," I answered, "but know that when the brains are scattered the mouth is dumb. He who scatters brains loses wisdom.""Answer!" he said.
"I answer not. Who are you that I should answer you? I know; it is enough. To my business."Now Umslopogaas ground his teeth in anger. "I am not wont to be thwarted here in my own kraal," he said; "but do your business. Speak it, little Mouth.""This is my business, little Chief. When the Black One who is gone yet lived, you sent him a message by one Masilo--such a message as his ears had never heard, and that had been your death, O fool puffed up with pride, but death came first upon the Black One, and his hand was stayed. Now Dingaan, whose shadow lies upon the land, the king whom Iserve, and who sits in the place of the Black One who is gone, speaks to you by me, his mouth. He would know this: if it is true that you refuse to own his sovereignty, to pay tribute to him in men and maids and cattle, and to serve him in his wars? Answer, you little headman!
--answer in few words and short!"
Now Umslopogaas gasped for breath in his rage, and again he fingered the great axe. "It is well for you, O Mouth," he said, "that I swore safe conduct to you, else you had not gone hence--else you had been served as I served certain soldiers who in bygone years were sent to search out one Umslopogaas. Yet I answer you in few words and short.
Look on those spears--they are but a fourth part of the number I can muster: that is my answer. Look now on yonder mountain, the mountain of ghosts and wolves--unknown, impassable, save to me and one other:
that is my answer. Spears and mountains shall come together--the mountain shall be alive with spears and with the fangs of beasts. Let Dingaan seek his tribute there! I have spoken!"Now I laughed shrilly, desiring to try the heart of Umslopogaas, my fosterling, yet further.
"Fool!" I said. "Boy with the brain of a monkey, for every spear you have Dingaan, whom I serve, can send a hundred, and your mountain shall be stamped flat; and for your ghosts and wolves, see, with the mouth of Dingaan I spit upon them!" and I spat upon the ground.
Now Umslopogaas shook in his rage, and the great axe glimmered as he shook. He turned to the captain who was behind him, and said: "Say, Galazi the Wolf, shall we kill this man and those with him?""Nay," answered the Wolf, grinning, "do not kill them; you have given them safe conduct. Moreover, let them go back to their dog of a king, that he may send out his puppies to do battle with our wolves. It will be a pretty fight.""Get you gone, O Mouth," said Umslopogaas; "get you gone swiftly, lest mischief befall you! Without my gates you shall find food to satisfy your hunger. Eat of it and begone, for if to-morrow at the noon you are found within a spear's throw of this kraal, you and those with you shall bide there forever, O Mouth of Dingaan the king!"Now I made as though I would depart, then, turning suddenly, I spoke once more, saying:--"There were words in your message to the Black One who is dead of a certain man--nay, how was he named?--of a certain Mopo."Now Umslopogaas started as one starts who is wounded by a spear, and stared at me.
"Mopo! What of Mopo, O Mouth, whose eyes are veiled? Mopo is dead, whose son I was!""Ah!" I said, "yes, Mopo is dead--that is, the Black One who is gone killed a certain Mopo. How came it, O Bulalio, that you were his son?""Mopo is dead," quoth Umslopogaas again; "he is dead with all his house, his kraal is stamped flat, and that is why I hated the Black One, and therefore I hate Dingaan, his brother, and will be as are Mopo and the house of Mopo before I pay him tribute of a single ox."All this while I had spoken to Umslopogaas in a feigned voice, my father, but now I spoke again and in my own voice, saying:--"So! Now you speak from your heart, young man, and by digging I have reached the root of the matter. It is because of this dead dog of a Mopo that you defy the king."Umslopogaas heard the voice, and trembled no more with anger, but rather with fear and wonder. He looked at me hard, answering nothing.