The Ruined Cities of Zululand Part 26

"You shall hear. The ma.s.sacre finished, we thought our turn come; but no, we were led back to our hut, and the next day the scene was enacted again, and this continued for eight days, until some five hundred corpses lay festering on the rocks.

"The mode of punishment was however varied; for the eighth day, some of the head men were reserved for death, and these men were pinioned and placed in narrow graves, where boiling water was slowly poured over them; many were poisoned, and every day the list of the condemned was read over and approved by the queen.

"The morning of the ninth day came, and we were brought forth, and conducted before the cabare or council to be judged. We were English, had come for a purpose; but we had disobeyed the queen's command, and merited death. Satiated for the time with blood, the queen pardoned us, ordering us to leave the land. Mischief enough had been done, but it did not end here, for Maurice could not be kept quiet. Rising, he addressed the council, and he spoke the language fluently. He pointed out their errors, he exposed the fallacy of their doctrine; he grew eloquent and excited, and ended by denouncing the queen, and calling upon her head the just retribution her crimes merited. He was sentenced to death. We never saw him more; for that night we were marched towards the coast. It was the month of January, and that is the hottest month of the year in Madagascar; the deadly fever of the country ravaged the plains through which we marched, and I alone of those who pitched their tents under the trees that line the river yonder survived to tell the tale. Willis had already sailed for the Mauritius, completely foiled in his mission."

"And your poor friend, Senhor," asked Isabel; "did you never hear of him again?"

"Yes, through the agency of Monsieur Lambert, a resident in the island.

There are," continued the missionary, "three modes of death much practised at Madagascar. The one, by poison extracted from a tree, is called 'tangui.' This tree is so deadly that the birds avoid it, and the snakes will not go near. The poison consists of a small portion of the nut in powder. It kills in about an hour, and the agony endured is fearful. In ordinary cases it is used as an ordeal, and sometimes, when it induces vomiting, the person taking it gets better.

"The second mode is by throwing the condemned into a river where the caiman abound. If he is not devoured after the third immersion, he is allowed to go free.

"The third is by fastening the condemned to a rock bathed by the sea.

If the waves, splas.h.i.+ng up against the rocks, do not sprinkle any water on his body, the condemned is liberated; if a drop of water touches him, a dozen lances at once finish him."

"The last seems to me the most merciful death, though all are horrible,"

said Isabel.

"After we were violently separated from him, Maurice was kept guarded for twenty-four hours, without food of any kind, not even a drop of water being allowed him. His sufferings under that hot sun must have been terrible, but even then his faith was unshaken, and he made constant endeavours to convert his guards. His days and nights were pa.s.sed in prayer. On the evening of the second day, he was taken to the ombachie's hut. Here he met with the 'sampi tanguine,' or poisoner, and here life and liberty were offered him by the priest if he would publicly avow his errors and acknowledge their power. He was but a young man, and had lately married. He had left a wife, who was at that moment probably a mother, hoping to rejoin him. The temptation was strong, as the black poisoner stood before him with the deadly powder ready."

"And did he yield?" eagerly asked Hughes.

"Not for a moment. Half an hour afterwards he was writhing on the floor of the hut in agonising convulsions, the ombachie and the 'sampi tanguine' standing over him. He died pardoning his persecutors, and his body was thrown over the precipice."

"Poor fellow! Madre de Dios, what a melancholy tale! And the poor wife?" asked Isabel.

"I never heard," replied Wyzinski. "A missionary should not marry, in my opinion."

"There goes eight bells, and here comes the captain to take his watch,"

exclaimed Hughes.

True to the old instinct, Captain Weber's first impulse was to walk to the binnacle, and then to glance aloft at his dismantled masts and rigging.

Isabel seemed struck with the missionary's melancholy tale. She rose and took the arm of the old seaman, who looked fondly into her face as she walked by his side. The moon had not risen, but there was a strong light over the sea, and before saying good night the girl gazed over the brig's stern at the dark line of forest land and the myriads of dancing fireflies. She then turned, but seemed struck with something. "I did not know that there were rocks in the bay," she said, pointing to the entrance.

Captain Weber did not understand French, but his eye followed the direction of the girl's finger. There, sure enough, broad on the brig's starboard bow lay three black points looking like rocks, but rising and falling on the waves.

Dropping the girl's arm, he ran forward. "Mr Lowe, turn the hands up, quickly and silently," he said, in a hoa.r.s.e whisper; "arm the men at once. Look handy! The Malays are upon us."

Volume 2, Chapter IV.

SAINT AUGUSTINE'S BAY.--THE PIRATES.

The "Halcyon," it will be remembered, was moored head and stern, but her bows did not point to the opening of the bay. A warp had been run from her starboard hawse-hole, and an anchor earned out far beyond the narrow entrance, so as to enable Captain Weber to cast his s.h.i.+p in that direction when he wished to sail. With his masts in the state they were, and the weather besides dead calm, it would have been a slow and tedious affair to move the brig from her anchorage. There were no boarding-nettings now she no longer belonged to the navy, and but for the missionary's warning, the "Halcyon" would have been wholly unprepared for resistance. Creeping aft, Captain Weber rejoined the party on the quarter-deck.

Quietly and courteously he offered his arm to Dona Isabel, who, quite unconscious of what was pa.s.sing, was still looking into the night.

A glance at the entrance of the bay told him at once that the boats were concentrating for a dash, but it told him too that help was at hand, for several dark figures came tumbling up the hatchway. Carefully conducting the lady to her cabin, the old seaman raised his cap, uncovering his grey hair as he did so, and bade her good night. The next moment he was on deck, pointing out to the astonished pa.s.sengers the danger. Mr Lowe stood by the arm-chest, concealed by the bulwarks, distributing the arms, and the whole crew were now alarmed.

"See," said Captain Weber; "there, they separate. Yonder two boats will board on the brig's bows, the third on her quarter."

"They are ready for the dash," replied the soldier, "and think us unprepared."

"Creep forward and train the nine-pounder on them, Captain Hughes."

Sheltering under the bulwarks, Hughes obeyed. The gun was already loaded with rifle bullets, and heavily charged. The boats came leisurely on, for all on board the brig seemed buried in sleep. The dip of the m.u.f.fled oars could hardly be distinguished even by those who were watching, consequently the noise could never have awoke men asleep. The wash of the wave made itself heard on the beach, and so still was the night that the quack of the ducks, and the call of the widgeon and wild geese feeding among the reeds, came on the air. On the forecastle the creaking of a gun-carriage told that Captain Hughes was not idle, and those in the boat heard it too. They stopped rowing, the three drawing closely together, apparently in consultation. This was the moment the captain chose, and the loud hail, "Boat ahoy!" rang out from the quarter-deck. A shrill yell and a musket-shot was the reply, followed by the boom of the forecastle gun, as it scattered its bagful of rifle bullets right among them. The aim had been deliberate and deadly. The loud scream of agony, the yell of vengeance, replied to by the cheer of the English seamen, rang out in the silent night. One boat had been sunk, and its crew apparently either killed or drowned, for not waiting to rescue them the other two dashed on with a wild scream for vengeance.

Leaving the useless gun, for there was no time to load it again, Hughes and the three men on the forecastle made their way aft.

A spattering fire now ran along the brig's deck, replied to from the two boats, as they dashed on, the one for the bow, the other on the quarter.

In a few seconds, the Malays were alongside. Grasping the rigging, their long knives between their teeth, they swarmed over the bulwarks fore and aft.

The deadly musketry struck them down, the pistol shots, at point blank range, shattered their heads, but still they came on. The English seamen cheered as they struck right and left with their short cutla.s.ses, and there on the main deck stood Dom Maxara, a long curved sabre in his hand, dripping with blood, cheering on the men in a language they did not understand. The boat which had boarded on the quarter was beaten off, but joining the other the two had united their numbers, and some fifty maddened and nearly naked pirates came pouring over the bows, driving the crew before them.

Among the Malays, one tall, powerful fellow, nearly naked, seemed the leader of the rest; shouting, gesticulating, and striking right and left, he urged the a.s.sailants on. Once already had the crew been driven back to the break of the quarter-deck, but, led on by Captain Weber, had repulsed their enemies. Brandis.h.i.+ng a jagged piece of broken spar, his hat having fallen off, and a streak of blood on the forehead showing him to be wounded, the old seaman fought like a tiger.

"Give it them, my lads, no quarter for the b.l.o.o.d.y pirates. Overboard with them!" he shouted, as he dashed full at the leader of the Malays.

A furious combat again ensued, shouts, oaths, execrations, mingled with the pistol shots. The groans of the wounded, the yells of the combatants, changed what had been a quiet, peaceful scene into one of riot and bloodshed.

Dona Isabel, it has been said, had retired into her cabin; a single lamp was burning, and, perfectly unconscious of danger, she was preparing for rest, when the heavy boom of the forecastle gun startled her, and then the silence of the night seemed to be suddenly at an end, and the shouts, yells, and groans told too terribly of what was going on above her head. The cabin was deserted, the steward having joined the combatants, and as she opened the door her father's voice was heard cheering on the men in her own tongue. She recognised the soldier's shout as the pirates were slowly driven back, while, alone and frightened, she dropped on her knees in prayer. Suddenly a loud report right over her head startled her still more; for a moment all was silent, the yells and shouts ceasing as by magic, then a wild cheer from the crew followed, and Isabel, unable to bear the terrible suspense, rushed up the cabin hatchway. The stars were s.h.i.+ning brightly, but the brig's decks were slippery with blood. Her own boats had been veered astern, and close to her bows, two dark objects showed where the pirates had boarded.

The survivors of the boat which had been cut in two by the shot from the forecastle gun, had swum for the brig, scrambling over her bulwarks just as the captain so fiercely attacked the Malay leader. Both had grappled, and had rolled, struggling and fighting, into the chains, as the new comers, at once das.h.i.+ng forward, again bore back the crew. The forecastle was black with pirates.

"Lie down, men, shelter under the break of the quarter-deck!" shouted Hughes, as he jumped aft, and with nervous strength slewed round the second nine-pounder, pointing it so as to sweep the forecastle. "Down, down, for your lives!"

The next moment the loud report which had so startled Isabel rang out, and the rifle bullets swept in a storm of lead right among the black ma.s.s of men crowding the forecastle. Seizing the moment, with a loud cheer the now inspirited crew dashed on, over the dead and dying, and the broken pirates leaped madly over the bows. Many dropped into the sea, but swimming, were picked up; the boats shoved off, crippled, and pulling but few oars, a ringing cheer from the crew following them just as the frightened girl found herself on deck.

Hughes stood by the gun, his clothes torn, and his face black with the smoke; the peculiar smell of blood was perceptible, mixed with the odour of the gunpowder, and Isabel feeling it became sick and weak, just as a dark form, bounding from the main chains, leaped on to the quarter-deck.

A loud shriek burst from her lips, as the Malay leader threw himself on Hughes. Partially overpowered, the soldier grasped his powerful foe by the throat. They swayed to and fro, struggling and fighting; the frightened girl rushed forward, the Malay striking wildly at her with his dagger. With a scream of pain Isabel fell on the deck just as a tremendous blow from the broken spar, given with a hearty good will, smashed in the Malay's skull, both he and the soldier, who was held in the death grasp, falling to the deck.

"Hurrah for Old England!" shouted the excited captain, as he flourished the jagged and blood-besmeared spar over his head with one hand, and dragged Hughes clear of the dead Malay with the other. "See if any of the miscreants are below. A short shrift and a pistol bullet if you find any, my lads. Here, Mr Lowe, lend a hand with this lubber; he nearly did for me just now, but we are quits."

A loud splash in the water told that the pirate had gone over the side, and every now and then a similar splash, with a "Yeo, heave ho!" from forward, marked the fate of a fallen Malay.

Carefully and gently Isabel was lifted from the deck and borne below by the steward and Hughes. Dom Maxara was forward, staunching a severe wound from a Malay creese in the shoulder. Wyzinski, who during the hand-to-hand combat had fought like a tiger, and received a stab in the leg, now remembered he was a missionary, and, though weak with loss of blood, was engaged smoothing the pa.s.sage of one of the crew from the world his soul was quitting. Four men killed, and almost every one of the crew wounded, three severely, were the casualties on board the brig, while those among the pirates were never known, but must have been very severe.

The Malay had dealt his blow wildly, his intention being revenge, for Hughes's grip held him by the throat, and the savage pirate was choking as he struck. The creese had entered Isabel's arm above the elbow, making a nasty jagged wound.

They placed her on the crimson cus.h.i.+ons in the cabin, Masters, the steward, bathing her head with water, while the wounded arm hung down, the soldier kneeling near her, and doing his best to bandage it. His was a curious figure as he knelt by her side, for both face and hands were nearly black with the powder and smoke, his dress torn in many places, and what had been a s.h.i.+rt showing very many tokens of the bulky pirate's terrible grip. All this was forgotten in the anxiety of the moment, and there the two were in the almost deserted cabin eagerly waiting for returning consciousness. Isabel's face was pale and bloodless, and her teeth firmly clenched. There was no doctor on board the brig.

"Masters, I wish you would step on deck," said Hughes, "and send Wyzinski here."

"Ay, ay, sir," replied the man, rising, and handing the basin and sponge to Hughes.

"And, Masters, just ask Captain Weber for some arnica."

The man disappeared up the hatchway. On deck all was bustle, the crew being busily engaged removing the traces of the late b.l.o.o.d.y affair. He found the missionary forward, but unable to leave a wounded seaman, so Masters knelt by his side and joined in the fervent but simple prayer over the dying man. An oil lamp gave out a feeble light in the fore-cabin, showing in one corner a large white sail. The heavy folds covered something, which bulging out here, falling in there, took the shape of the human form. The dead lay there, while, breathing heavily, his hand plucking at the coverlet, the dying seaman pa.s.sed slowly away.