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Page 52
"Then why is it, Infadoos, that the people do not cast him down?"
"Nay, my lords, he is the king, and if he were killed Scragga would
reign in his place, and the heart of Scragga is blacker than the heart
of Twala his father. If Scragga were king his yoke upon our neck would
be heavier than the yoke of Twala. If Imotu had never been slain, or
if Ignosi his son had lived, it might have been otherwise; but they
are both dead."
"How knowest thou that Ignosi is dead?" said a voice behind us. We
looked round astonished to see who spoke. It was Umbopa.
"What meanest thou, boy?" asked Infadoos; "who told thee to speak?"
"Listen, Infadoos," was the answer, "and I will tell thee a story.
Years ago the king Imotu was killed in this country and his wife fled
with the boy Ignosi. Is it not so?"
"It is so."
"It was said that the woman and her son died upon the mountains. Is it
not so?"
"It is even so."
"Well, it came to pass that the mother and the boy Ignosi did not die.
They crossed the mountains and were led by a tribe of wandering desert
men across the sands beyond, till at last they came to water and grass
and trees again."
"How knowest thou this?"
"Listen. They travelled on and on, many months' journey, till they
reached a land where a people called the Amazulu, who also are of the
Kukuana stock, live by war, and with them they tarried many years,
till at length the mother died. Then the son Ignosi became a wanderer
again, and journeyed into a land of wonders, where white people live,
and for many more years he learned the wisdom of the white people."
"It is a pretty story," said Infadoos incredulously.
"For years he lived there working as a servant and a soldier, but
holding in his heart all that his mother had told him of his own
place, and casting about in his mind to find how he might journey
thither to see his people and his father's house before he died. For
long years he lived and waited, and at last the time came, as it ever
comes to him who can wait for it, and he met some white men who would
seek this unknown land, and joined himself to them. The white men
started and travelled on and on, seeking for one who is lost. They
crossed the burning desert, they crossed the snow-clad mountains, and
at last reached the land of the Kukuanas, and there they found /thee/,
O Infadoos."
"Surely thou art mad to talk thus," said the astonished old soldier.
"Thou thinkest so; see, I will show thee, O my uncle.
"/I am Ignosi, rightful king of the Kukuanas!/"
Then with a single movement Umbopa slipped off his "moocha" or girdle,
and stood naked before us.
"Look," he said; "what is this?" and he pointed to the picture of a
great snake tattooed in blue round his middle, its tail disappearing
into its open mouth just above where the thighs are set into the body.
Infadoos looked, his eyes starting nearly out of his head. Then he
fell upon his knees.
"/Koom! Koom!/" he ejaculated; "it is my brother's son; it is the
king."
"Did I not tell thee so, my uncle? Rise; I am not yet the king, but
with thy help, and with the help of these brave white men, who are my
friends, I shall be. Yet the old witch Gagool was right, the land
shall run with blood first, and hers shall run with it, if she has any
and can die, for she killed my father with her words, and drove my
mother forth. And now, Infadoos, choose thou. Wilt thou put thy hands
between my hands and be my man? Wilt thou share the dangers that lie
before me, and help me to overthrow this tyrant and murderer, or wilt
thou not? Choose thou."
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