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<h2> CHAPTER XXV </h2>
<h3> ALLAN DELIVERS THE MESSAGE </h3>
<p>Once more I sat in the Black Kloof face to face with old Zikali.</p>
<p>"So you have got back safely, Macumazahn," he said. "Well, I told you you
would, did I not? As for what happened to you upon the journey, let it be,
for now that I am old long stories tire me and I daresay that there is
nothing wonderful about this one. Where is the charm I lent you? Give it
back now that it has served its turn."</p>
<p>"I have not got it, Zikali. I passed it on to Umslopogaas of the Axe to
save his life from the King's men."</p>
<p>"Oh! yes, so you did. I had forgotten. Here it is," and opening his robe
of fur, he showed me the hideous little talisman hanging about his neck,
then added, "Would you like a copy of it, Macumazahn, to keep as a memory?
If so, I will carve one for you."</p>
<p>"No," I answered, "I should not. Has Umslopogaas been here?"</p>
<p>"Yes, he has been and gone again, which is one of the reasons why I do not
wish to hear your tale a second time."</p>
<p>"Where to? The Town of the People of the Axe?"</p>
<p>"No, Macumazahn, he came thence, or so I understood, but thither he will
return no more."</p>
<p>"Why not, Zikali?"</p>
<p>"Because after his fashion he made trouble there and left some dead behind
him; one Lousta, I believe, whom he had appointed to sit on his stool as
chief while he was away, and a woman called Monazi, who was his wife, or
Lousta's wife, or the wife of both of them, I forget which. It is said
that having heard stories of her—and the ears of jealousy are long,
Macumazahn—he cut off this woman's head with a sweep of the axe and
made Lousta fight him till he fell, which the fool did almost before he
had lifted his shield. It served him right who should have made sure that
Umslopogaas was dead before he wrapped himself in his blanket and took the
woman to cook his porridge."</p>
<p>"Where has the Axe-bearer gone?" I asked without surprise, for this news
did not astonish me.</p>
<p>"I neither know nor care, Macumazahn. To become a wanderer, I suppose. He
will tell you the tale when you meet again in the after-days, as I
understand he thinks that you will do.[*] Hearken! I have done with this
lion's whelp, who is Chaka over again, but without Chaka's wit. Yes, he is
just a fighting man with a long reach, a sure eye and the trick of
handling an axe, and such are of little use to me who know too many of
them. Thrice have I tried to make him till my garden, but each time he has
broken the hoe, although the wage I promised him was a royal <i>kaross</i>
and nothing less. So enough of Umslopogaas, the Woodpecker. Almost I wish
that you had not lent him the charm, for then the King's men would have
made an end of him, who knows too much and like some silly boaster, may
shout out the truth when his axe is aloft and he is full of the beer of
battle. For in battle he will live and in battle he will die, Macumazahn,
as perhaps you may see one day."</p>
<p>[*] For the tale of this meeting see the book called "Allan<br/>
Quatermain."—Editor.<br/></p>
<p>"The fate of your friends does not trouble you over much,
Opener-of-Roads," I said with sarcasm.</p>
<p>"Not at all, Macumazahn, because I have none. The only friends of the old
are those whom they can turn to their own ends, and if these fail them
they find others."</p>
<p>"I understand, Zikali, and know now what to expect from you."</p>
<p>He laughed in his strange way and answered,</p>
<p>"Aye, and it is good that you must expect, good in the future as in the
past, for <i>you</i>, Macumazahn, who are brave in your own fashion,
without being a fool like Umslopogaas, and, although you know it not, like
some master-smith, forge my assegais out of the red ore I give you,
tempering them in the blood of men, and yet keep your mind innocent and
your hands clean. Friends like you are useful to such as I, Macumazahn,
and must be well paid in those wares that please them."</p>
<p>The old wizard brooded for a space, while I reflected upon his amazing
cynicism, which interested me in a way, for the extreme of unmorality is
as fascinating to study as the extreme of virtue and often more so. Then
jerking up his great head, he asked suddenly,</p>
<p>"What message had the White Queen for me?"</p>
<p>"She said that you troubled her too much at night in dreams, Zikali."</p>
<p>"Aye, but if I cease to do so, ever she desires to know the reason why,
for I hear her asking me in the voices of the wind, or in the twittering
of bats. After all, she is a woman, Macumazahn, and it must be dull
sitting alone from year to year with naught to stay her appetite save the
ashes of the past and dreams of the future, so dull that I wonder, having
once meshed you in her web, how she found the heart to let you go before
she had sucked out your life and spirit. I suppose that having made a mock
of you and drained you dry, she was content to throw you aside like an
empty gourd. Perchance, had she kept you at her side, you would have been
a stone in her path in days to come. Perchance, Macumazahn, she waits for
other travellers and would welcome them, or one of them alone, saying
nothing of a certain Watcher-by-Night who has served her turn and vanished
into the night.</p>
<p>"But what other message had the White Queen for the poor old savage
witch-doctor whose talk wearies her so much in her haunted sleep?"</p>
<p>Then I told him of the picture that Ayesha had shown me in the water; the
picture of a king dying in a hut and of two who watched his end.</p>
<p>Zikali listened intently to every word, then broke into a peal of his
unholy laughter.</p>
<p>"<i>Oho-ho!</i>" he laughed, "so all goes well, though the road be long,
since whatever this White One may have shown you in the fire of the
heavens above, she could show you nothing but truth in the water of the
earth below, for that is the law of our company of seers. You have worked
well for me, Macumazahn, and you have had your fee, the fee of the vision
of the dead which you desired above all mortal things."</p>
<p>"Aye," I answered indignantly, "a fee of bitter fruits whereof the juice
burns and twists the mouth and the stones still stick fast within the
gizzard. I tell you, Zikali, that she stuffed my heart with lies."</p>
<p>"I daresay, Macumazahn, I daresay, but they were very pretty lies, were
they not? And after all I am sure that there was wisdom in them, as you
will discover when you have thought them over for a score of years.</p>
<p>"Lies, lies, all is lies! But beyond the lie stands Truth, as the White
Witch stands behind her veil. You drew the veil, Macumazahn, and saw that
beneath which brought you to your knees. Why, it is a parable. Wander on
through the Valley of Lies till at last it takes a turn, and, glittering
in the sunshine, glittering like gold, you perceive the Mountain of
everlasting Truth, sought of all men but found by few.</p>
<p>"Lies, lies, all is lies! Yet beyond I tell you, beauteous and eternal
stands the Truth, Macumazahn. <i>Oho-ho! Oho-ho!</i> Fare you well,
Watcher-by-Night, fare you well, Seeker after Truth. After the Night comes
Dawn and after Death comes what—Macumazahn? Well, you will learn one
day, for always the veil is lifted, at last, as the White Witch shewed you
yonder, Macumazahn."</p>
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