The new bearers faced about and raised the body high above their
heads. While they held it there the royal impi gave their dead king
his last salute. Then the witch-doctors took the food from the unarmed
men and a moment later the entire band of "priests" disappeared among
the rocks. That was the last of Buno, rightly called "The Terrible,"
the most powerful and cruel king Swaziland has ever had. The impi
turned and started down the trail at a smart pace, leaving Tuys and me
behind. These great warriors seemed glad that the funeral was over.
They swung by us with light steps, many of them grinning at the white
men as they went by.
Now I was very curious to know what was inside the caves. There was so
much mystery about them that it fired my youthful imagination. I spoke
of this to Tuys and was pleased to find that he also was curious.
"Yes, I'd like to have a look at them," he said. "Buno and Labotsibeni
have told me some queer yarns about them, and they are the one thing
in Swaziland that I am not familiar with. Let's see if we can't get
into them."
The witch-doctors had not come out yet, and we decided to wait until
they did. I suggested that they were engaged in some ceremony, but
Tuys, knowing the native, would not agree with me.
"Those humbugs are probably eating the food and drinking the good
beer," he said, with a snort of disgust. "I'd hate to believe that
they'd let it go to waste. I'll bet that Buno will go hungry if he
comes back!"
Expecting that they would soon come out, we hid behind some rocks,
feeling sure that they would think we had gone back with the impi. Our
guess was good. In a little while we saw them tramping down the trail.
As soon as they passed the bend from beyond which the entrances to the
caves could not be seen, we started on our exploration.
There seemed to be any number of ways into these mysterious caves.
However, Tuys's training led him to follow the footprints of the
witch-doctors. They must have come out by another route, for all the
prints faced inward.
Tuys led, and I noticed that he was carrying his revolver in his hand,
ready for instant use. We passed between a number of great rocks, all
of which seemed to be split by some terrific force. But we did not go
far. There came a sharp turn to the right, and straight in front of us
was the entrance to the caves. In front of it stood six witch-doctors
with assegais drawn back, ready to strike!
Tuys did not hesitate long enough to take one breath. He wheeled in
his tracks and we turned back. We did not run or make unseemly haste,
but we certainly moved faster than we had come in. When we reached the
outside, Tuys made but one remark.
"Serves us right!" he exclaimed. "I ought to have had sense enough to
count those witch-doctors."
I remember that it was a hot walk back to our camp. Probably our
chagrin added to the temperature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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