"Then it is time that we follow them," said the king, "for if we wait here until the warriors of Hafela are among us, our retreat will become a rout and soon there will be none left to follow. Let one company," and he named it, "hold the fence for a while to give us time to withdraw, taking the wounded with us."
"We hear you, king," said one of that company, "but our captain is killed."
"Who among you will take over the command of these men and hold the breach?" asked Nodwengo of the group of officers about him.
"I, King," answered old Hokosa, lifting his spear, "for I care not whether I live or die."
"Go to, boaster!" cried another. "Who among us cares whether he lives or dies when the king commands?"
"That we shall know to-morrow," said Hokosa quietly, and the soldiers laughed at the retort.
"So be it," said the king, and while silently and swiftly he led off the regiments, keeping in the shadow of the huts, Hokosa and his hundred men posted themselves behind the weakened fence and wall. Now, for the fourth time the attacking regiment came forward grimly, on this occasion led by the prince himself. As they drew near, Hokosa leapt upon the wall, and standing there in the bright moonlight where all could see him, he called to them to halt. Instinctively they obeyed him.
"Is it Hafela whom I see yonder?" he asked.
"Ah! it is I," answered the prince. "What would you with me, wizard and traitor?"
"This only, Hafela: I would ask you what you seek here?"
"That which you promised me, Hokosa, the crown of my father and certain other things."
"Then get you back, Hafela, for you shall never win them.. Have I prophesied falsely to you at any time? Not so--neither do I prophesy falsely now. Get you back whence you came, and your wolves with you, else shall you bide here for ever."
"Do you dare to call down evil on me, Wizard?" shouted the prince furiously. "Your wife is mine, and now I take your life also," and with all his strength he hurled at him the great spear he held.
It hissed past Hokosa"s head, touching his ear, but he never flinched from the steel.
"A poor cast, Prince," he said laughing; "but so it must have been, for I am guarded by that which you cannot see. My wife you have, and she shall be your ruin; my life you may take, but ere it leaves me, Hafela, I shall see you dead and your army scattered. The Messenger is pa.s.sed away, but his power has fallen upon me and I speak the truth to you, O Prince and warriors, who are--already dead."
Now a shriek of dismay and fury rose from the hundreds who heard this prophesy of ill, for of Hokosa and his magic they were terribly afraid.
"Kill him! Kill the wizard!" they shouted, and a rain of spears rushed towards him on the wall.
They rushed towards him, they pa.s.sed above, below, around; but, of them all, not one touched him.
"Did I not tell you that I was guarded by That which you cannot see?"
Hokosa asked contemptuously. Then slowly he descended from the wall amidst a great silence.
"When men are scarce the tongue must play a part," he explained to his companions, who stared at him wondering. "By now the king and those with him should have reached the eastern gate; whereas, had we fought at once, Hafela would be hard upon his heels, for we are few, and who can hold a buffalo with a rope of gra.s.s? Yet I think that I spoke truth when I told him that the garment of the Messenger has fallen upon my shoulders, and that death awaits him and his companions, as it awaits me also and many of us. Now, friends, be ready, for the bull charges and soon we must feel his horns. This at least is left to you, to die gloriously."
While he was still speaking the first files of the regiment rushed upon the fence, tearing aside the thorns with their hands till a pa.s.sage was made through them. Then they sprang upon the wall, there to be met by the spears of Hokosa and his men thrusting upward from beneath its shelter. Time after time they sprang, and time after time they fell back dead or wounded, till at last, dashing forward in one dense column, they poured over the stones as the rising tide pours over the rocks on the sea-sh.o.r.e, driving the defenders before them by the sheer weight of numbers.
"This game is played!" cried Hokosa. "Fly now to the eastern gate, for here we can do nothing more."
So they fled, those who survived of them, and after them came the thousands of the foe, sacking and firing the deserted town as they advanced.
Hokosa and his men, or rather the half of them, reached the gate and pa.s.sed it in safety, barring it after them, and thereby delaying the attackers till they could burst their way through. Now hundreds of huts were afire, and the flames spread swiftly, lighting up the country far and wide. In the glare of them, Hokosa could see that already a full two-thirds of the crowd of fugitives had pa.s.sed the narrow arch; while Nodwengo and the soldiers were drawn up in companies upon the steep and rocky slope that led to it, protecting their retreat.
He advanced to the king and reported himself.
"So you have lived through it," said Nodwengo.
"I shall die when my hour comes, and not before," Hokosa answered. "We did well yonder, and yet the most of us are alive to tell the tale, for I knew when and how to go. Be ready, king, for the foe press us close, and that mob behind us crawls onward like a snail."
As he spoke the pursuers broke through the fence and gate of the burning town, and once more the fight began. They had the advantage of numbers; but Nodwengo and his troops stood in a wide road upon higher ground protected on either side by walls, and were, moreover, rested, not breathless and weary with travel like the men of Hafela. Slowly, fighting, every inch of the way, Nodwengo was pushed back, and slowly the long ant-like line of women and sick and cattle crept through the opening in the rock, till at length all of them were gone.
"It is time," said Nodwengo, glancing behind him, "for our arms grow weary."
Then he gave orders, and company by company the defending force followed on the path of the fugitives, till at length amidst a roar of rage and disappointment, the last of them vanished through the arch, Hokosa among them, and the place was blocked with stones, above which shone a hedge of spears.
CHAPTER XX
NOMA SETS A SNARE
Thus ended the first night"s battle, since for this time the enemy had fought enough. Nodwengo and his men had also had enough, for out of the five thousand of them some eleven hundred were killed or wounded. Yet they might not rest, for all that night, a.s.sisted by the women, they laboured, building stone walls across the narrowest parts of the valley.
Also the cattle, women and children were moved along the gorge, which in shape may be compared to a bottle with two necks, one at either end, and encamped in the opening of the second neck, where was the spring of water. This spot was chosen both because here alone water could be obtained, without which they could not hold out more than a single day, and because the koppie whereon grew the strange-looking euphorbia known as the Tree of Doom afforded a natural rampart against attack.
Shortly after dawn, while the soldiers were resting and eating of such food as could be procured--for the most part strips of raw or half-cooked meat cut from hastily killed cattle--the onslaught was renewed with vigour, Hafela directing his efforts to the forcing of the natural archway. But, strive as he would, this he could not do, for it was choked with stones and thorns and guarded by brave men.
"You do but waste your labour, Hafela," said Noma, who stood by him watching the a.s.sault.
"What then is to be done?" he asked, "for unless we come at them we cannot kill them. It was clever of them to take refuge in this hole. I thought surely that they would fight it out yonder, beneath the fences of the Great Place."
"Ah!" she answered, "you forgot that they had Hokosa on their side. Did you then think to catch him sleeping? This retreat was Hokosa"s counsel.
I learned it from the lips of that wounded captain before they killed him. Now, it seems that there are but two paths to follow, and you can choose between them. The one is to send a regiment a day and a half"s journey across the cliff top to guard the further mouth of the valley and to wait till these jackals starve in their hole, for certainly they can never come out."
"It has started six hours since," said Hafela, "and though the precipices are steep, having the moon to travel by, it should reach the river mouth of the valley before dawn to-morrow, cutting Nodwengo off from the plains, if indeed he should dare to venture out upon them, which, with so small a force, he will not do. Yet this first plan of yours must fail, Noma, seeing that before they starve within, the generals of Nodwengo will be back upon us from the mountains, catching us between the hammer and the anvil, and I know not how that fight would go."
"Yet, soon or late, it must be fought."
"Nay," he answered, "for my hope is that should the _impi_ return to find Nodwengo dead, they will surrender and acknowledge me as king, who am the first of the blood royal. But what is your second plan?"
By way of answer, she pointed to the cliff above them. On the right-hand side, facing the archway, was a flat ledge overhanging the valley, at a height of about a hundred feet.
"If you can come yonder," she said, "it will be easy to storm this gate, for there lie rocks in plenty, and men cannot fight when stones are dropping on their heads."
"But how can we come to that home of vultures, where never man has set a foot? Look, the cliff above is sheer; no rock-rabbit could stand upon it."
With her eye Noma measured the distance from the brink of the precipice to the broad ledge commanding the valley.
"Sixty paces, not more," she said. "Well, yonder are oxen in plenty, and out of their hides ropes can be made, and out of ropes a ladder, down which men may pa.s.s; ten, or even five, would be enough."
"Well thought of Noma," said Hafela. "Hokosa told us last night that to him had pa.s.sed the wisdom of the Messenger; but if this be so, I think that to you has pa.s.sed the guile of Hokosa."
"It seems to me that some of it abides with him," answered Noma laughing.