Now a fresh stir arose among the excited armed multitude gathered there,
and all eyes were turned to the eastward. Away over the rolling plain,
from the direction of the flat-topped Intaba-'Zinduna, a moving mass was
approaching, and as it drew nearer the gleam of spears and the sheen of
hide shields flickered above the dark cloud. It was the Insukamini
regiment, for whose presence those here had been waiting in order to
render the master complete. As it swung up the slope, an old war-song
of Umalikazi came volleying through the air to those here gathered:
"Yaingahlabi
Leyo'mkonzi!
Yai ukufa!"
[Note: "That Bull did not gore (merely). It was death!"]
With full-throated roar the vast gathering took it up, re-echoing the
fell chorus until it became indescribable in its strength of volume, and
soon, the newly arrived regiment, over a thousand strong, filed in, and
fell into line, amid the thunder of its vociferous welcome.
Then the company of _ixanuri_ came forward, and for some time these were
busy as they went along the lines, administering to each warrior a
morsel of the horrible hotch-potch they had been concocting, and which
was designed to render him, if not quite impervious to the enemy's
missiles, at any rate to lessen his chances of being struck, and to make
him a very lion of strength and courage in the day of battle.
This over, yet one ceremony remained, to sing the war-song in the
presence of the King, and depart. A silence had fallen upon all after
the doctoring was concluded. Soon, however, it was broken by the
"praisers" shouting the King's titles.
As Lo Bengula appeared in front of his warriors, the whole immense
crescent fell forward like mown corn, and from every throat went up in
one single, deep-voiced, booming roar, the royal greeting:
Kumalo!
The King did not seat himself. With head erect and kindling eyes, he
paced up and down slowly, surveying the whole martial might of his
nation. He, too, was arrayed in full war costume, crowned with the
towering _intye_, and wearing a mutya of splendid leopard skin. He was
attended by his shield-bearer, holding aloft the great white shield of
state, but in his hand he carried another and a smaller shield, also
white, and a long-hafted, slender, casting assegai.
Long and loud were the shouts of _sibonga_ which rent the air as the
warriors fell back into a squatting posture, their shields lying flat in
front of them. They hailed him by every imaginable title of power and
of might--as their father, as their divinity, as the source of all that
was good and beneficial which they possessed. They called the
lightnings of the clouds, the thunders of the air--everything--into
requisition to testify as to his immensity--till at last, as though in
obedience to some sudden and mysterious signal, they subsided into
silence. Then Lo Bengula spoke:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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