The Angels Weep - Smith Wilbur - Страница 41

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"Where are the amadoda?" he hissed at her. "Where have the men gone?" Juba choked down the sob of agony in her throat, and croaked, "It is true there are no men here, for certainly the ones who wear the little brass bangles of Lodzi on their arms are not men.-" "Cow,"hissed the sergeant, "fat black cow. "And he jerked her arm upwards, forcing her face into the dirt.

"Enough, kanka!" A voice cut through the hubbub, and the tone and power of it commanded instant silence. "Let the woman be."

Involuntarily the sergeant released Juba and stepped back, and even Mungo St. John halted his furious pacing. Gandang stalked into the firelight, and though he wore only his head ring and a short loincloth, he was as menacing as a prowling lion, and the sergeant fell back in front of him. "Juba struggled to her feet, rubbing her wrist, but Gandang did not even glance at her. He strode to Mungo St. John and asked. "What is it that you seek, white man, coming into my kraal like a thief in the night?" Mungo looked to the sergeant for a translation.

"He says you are a thief," the sergeant told him, and Mungo jerked up his chin and glared at Gandang.

"Tell him he knows what I come for, tell him I want two hundred strong young men." And Gandang retreated immediately into the studied defensive obtuseness of Africa, which few Europeans know how to counter, and which infuriated a man like St. John who could not even understand the language, and who had to submit to the laborious process of translation. The sun was well up when Gandang repeated the question he had first asked almost an hour before.

"Why does he want my young men to come to him? They are content here." And Mungo's clenched fists shook with the effort of restraint.

"All men must work," the sergeant translated, "it is the law of the white men." "Tell him," Gandang retorted, "that it is not the way of Matabele. The amadoda see no dignity nor great virtue in digging in the dirt. That is for women and amahoU." "The and una-says that his men will not work," the sergeant translated maliciously, and Mungo St. John could endure no more of it. He took a swift pace forward and slashed the riding whip into the and una face.

Gandang blinked, but he neither flinched nor raised his hand to touch the shining tumescent welt that rose swiftly across his cheek.

He made no effort to staunch the thin trickle of blood from his crushed lip that snaked down his chin, but he let it drip onto his naked chest.

"My hands are empty now, white man," he said, in a whisper that was more penetrating than a bellow, "but they will not always be so. "And he turned towards his hut.

"Gandang," Mungo St. John shouted after him. "Your men will work if I have to hunt them down and chain them like animals." The two girls followed the path at a smooth swinging trot that did not disturb the balance of the large bundles they carried upon their heads. In the bundles there were special gifts for their men, salt and stamped corn, snuff and beads and lengths of trade calico for loincloths that they had wheedled out of Nomusa's store at Khami Mission. They were both in high spirits, for they had passed out of the swathe of destruction left by the locust swarms, and the acacia forests were a golden yellow haze of spring bloom murmurous with bees.

Ahead of them rose the first pearly granite domes, and amongst them they would find the men, so they called gaily to each other, silly girlish banter, and their laughter was sweet as the tinkle of bells.

It carried far ahead of them. They skirted the base of a tall cliff, and without pausing to rest started up the natural steps of grey stone.

It led them upwards into a steep ravine which would eventually take them to the summit.

Imbali was leading, her round hard haunches swaying under the short skirt as she skipped over the uneven footing, and Ruth who was every bit as eager followed her closely into the angle where the path turned sharply between two huge round boulders that had rolled down from above.

Imbali stopped so abruptly that Ruth almost ran into her, and then she hissed with alarm.

A man stood in the centre of the path. Although he was unmistakably a Matabele, the girls had never seen him before. The stranger wore a blue shirt, and on his upper arm sparkled a round brass disc. In his hand he carried a rifle. Quickly Ruth glanced behind her and hissed again. Another armed man had stepped out from the shaded angle of the boulder and cut off their retreat. He was smiling, but there was nothing in that smile to reassure the girls. They lowered the bundles from their heads and shrank closer to each other.

"Where are you going, pretty little kittens?" asked the smiling kanka. "Are you going to search for a tomcat?" Neither of the girls answered. They stared at him with big frightened eyes. , "We will go with you." The smiling kanka was so broad across the chest, his legs so muscular, that he appeared to be deformed. His teeth were very white and big as those of a horse, but the smile never reached his eyes. His eyes were small and cold and dead-looking.

"Lift your bundles, kittens, and lead us to the cats." Ruth shook her head. "We go only to search for medicine roots, we do not understand what you want of us." The kanka came closer. His thick legs were bowed, and they gave him a peculiar rolling gait. Suddenly he kicked over Ruth's bundle, and it burst open.

"Ah!" he smiled coldly. "Why do you carry such gifts, if you go to search for mud?" Ruth dropped to her knees, and scrabbled amongst the rocks to retrieve the spilled corn and scattered beads. The kanka dropped -his hand onto her back and stroked her lustrous black skin.

"Purr, little kitten," he grinned, and Ruth froze, crouched at his feet with her hands filled with spilled grain.

The kanka ran his fingers lightly up and placed his hand upon the nape of her neck. His hand was huge, the knuckles enlarged, the fingers thick and powerful. Ruth began to tremble as the fingers encircled her neck.

The kanka looked up at his companion, who still guarded the pathway, and the two of them exchanged a glance. Imbali saw and understood.

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