A. M. Barnard - "Behind A Mask, Or A Woman's Power"

Various - "The Atlantic Monthly, Volume V, Number 29, March, 1860"

Frank Chouteau Brown - "Letters and Lettering"

Alexandre Dumas - "La dame de Monsoreau v.1"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Ghost Kings

H >> H. Rider Haggard >> The Ghost Kings




Two hours' steady riding brought them to the ford of the Tugela river,
across which lay Zululand. On the hills beyond it they could see a number
of Kaffirs watching, who on catching sight of Rachel, ran down to the
river and entered it, shouting and beating the water with their sticks, as
she guessed, to scare away any crocodiles that might be lurking there.

Now that the moment of separation had come, Mr. Dove grew loth to part
with his daughter, and again suggested to Tamboosa that he should
accompany her to Dingaan's Great Place.

"If you set a foot across that river, Praying Man," answered the induna
grimly, "you shall die; look, there are the spears that will kill you."

As he spoke he pointed to the crest of the opposing hill over which,
running swiftly in ordered companies, now appeared a Zulu regiment who
carried large white shields and wore white plumes rising from their head
rings.

"It is the escort of the Inkosazana," he added. "Do you think that she can
take hurt among so many? And do you think, if you dare to disobey the
words of Dingaan, that you can escape so many? Go back new, lest they
should come over and kill you where you are."

Then, seeing that both argument and resistance were useless, and that
Tamboosa would brook no delay, Mr. Dove hurriedly embraced his daughter in
farewell. Indeed, Rachel was glad that there was no time for words, for
this parting was more terrible to her than she cared to own, and she
feared lest she should break down before the Zulu who was watching her,
and thereby be lowered in his eyes and in those of his people.

It was over and done. She had entered the water, riding her grey mare
while Tamboosa led the white ox at her side. Presently she looked, back,
and saw her father kneeling in prayer upon the bank.

"What does the man?" asked Tamboosa, uneasily. "Is he bewitching us?"

"Nay," she answered, "he prays to the Heavens for us."

On they went between the two lines of natives, who ceased their beating of
the water, and were silent as she passed. The river was shallow, and they
crossed it with ease. By now the regiment was gathered on its further
bank, two thousand men or more, brought hither to do honour to this white
girl in whom they chose to consider that the guardian spirit of their
people was incarnate. Contemplating them, Rachel wondered how it came
about that they should be thus prepared for her advent. The answer rose in
her mind. If she had refused to visit Zululand, it was their mission to
fetch her. It was wise, therefore, that she had come of her own will.

Forward she rode, a striking figure in her long white cloak, down which
her bright hair hung, sitting very proud and upright on her horse, without
a sign of doubt or fear. As she approached, the captains of the regiment
ran forward to meet her with lifted shield and crouching bodies.

"Hail!" cried their leader. "In the name of the Great Elephant, of Dingaan
the King, hail to thee, Princess of the Heavens, Holder of the Spirit of
Nomkubulwana."

Rachel rode on, taking no notice, marvelling who Nomkubulwana, whose
spirit she was supposed to enshrine, might be. Afterwards she discovered
that it was only another name for the Inkosazana-y-Zoola, that mysterious
white ghost believed by this people to control their destinies, with whom
it had pleased them to identify her. As her horse left the wide river and
set foot upon dry land, every man of the two thousand soldiers, who were
watching, as it seemed to her, with wonder and awe, began to beat his
ox-hide shield with the handle of his spear. They beat very softly at
first, producing a sound like the distant murmur of the sea, then harder
and harder till its volume grew to a mighty roar, impossible to describe,
a sound like the sound of thunder that echoed along the water and from
hill to hill. The mighty noise sank and died away as it had begun, and for
a moment there was silence. Then at some signal every spear flashed aloft
in the sunlight, and from every throat came the royal salute--_Bayete_. It
was a tremendous and most imposing welcome, so tremendous that Rachel
could no longer doubt that this people regarded her as a being apart, and
above the other white folk whom they knew.

At the time, however, she had little space for such thoughts, since the
mare she rode, terrified by the tumult, bucked and shied so violently that
she could scarcely keep her seat. She was a good rider, which was
fortunate for her, since, had she been ignominiously thrown upon such an
occasion, her prestige must have suffered, if indeed it were not
destroyed. As it proved, it was greatly enhanced by this accident. Many of
the Zulus of that day had never even seen a horse, which was considered by
all of them to be a dangerous if not a magical beast. That a woman could
remain seated on such a wild animal when it sprang into the air, and
swerved from side to side, struck them, therefore, as something marvellous
and out of experience, a proof indeed that she was not as others are.

She quieted the mare, and rode on between the white-shielded ranks, who,
their greeting finished, remained absolutely still like bronze statues
watching her with wondering eyes. When at length they were passed, the
captains and a guard of about fifty men ran ahead of her.

Then she came, and after her Tamboosa, leading the white ox, followed by
another guard, which in turn was followed by the entire regiment. Thus
royally escorted, asking no questions, and speaking no word, did Rachel
make her entry into Zululand. Only in her heart she wondered whither she
was going, and how that strange journey would end, wondered, too, how it
would fare with her father and her mother till she returned to them.

Well might she wonder.

When she had ridden thus for about two hours an incident occurred which
showed her how great, and indeed how dreadful was the eminence on which
she had been set among these people. Suddenly some cattle, frightened by
the approach of the impi, rushed through it towards their kraal, and a
bull that was with them, seeing this unaccustomed apparition of a white
woman mounted on a strange animal, put down its head and charged her
furiously. She saw it coming, and by pulling the mare on to its haunches,
avoided its rush. Now at the time she was riding on a path which ran along
the edge of a little rock-strewn donga not more than eight or ten feet
deep, but steep-sided. Into this donga the bull, which had shut its eyes
to charge after the fashion of its kind, plunged headlong, and as it
chanced struck its horns against a stone, twisting and dislocating the
neck, so that it lay there still and dead.

When the Zulus saw what had happened they uttered a long-drawn _Ow-w_ of
amazement, for had not the beast dared to attack the White Spirit, and had
not the Spirit rewarded it with instant death? Then a captain made a
motion with his hand and instantly men sprang upon the remaining cattle,
four or five of them that were following the bull, and despatched them
with assegais. Before Rachel could interfere they were pierced with a
hundred wounds. Now there was a little pause, while the carcases of the
beasts were dragged out of her path, and the bloodstains covered from her
eyes with fresh earth. Just as this task was finished there appeared,
scrambling up the denga, and followed, by some men, a fat and
hideous-looking woman, with fish bladders in her hair, and snake-skins
tied about her, who, from her costume, Rachel knew at once must be an
_Isanuzi_ or witch-doctoress. Evidently she was in a fury, as might be seen
by the workings of her face, and the extraordinary swiftness with which
she moved notwithstanding her years and bulk.

"Who has dared to kill my cattle?" she screamed. "Is it thou whom men name
Nomkubulwana?"

"Woman," answered Rachel quietly, "the Heavens killed the bull which would
have hurt me. For the rest, ask of the captains of the King."

The witch-doctoress glanced at the dead bull which lay in the donga, its
head twisted up in an unnatural fashion at right angles to the body, and
for a moment seemed afraid. Then her rage at the loss of her herd broke
out afresh, for she was a person in authority, one accustomed to be feared
because of her black arts and her office.

"When the Inkosazana is seen in Zululand," she gasped, "death walks with
her. There is the token of it," and she pointed to the dead cattle. "So it
has ever been and so shall it ever be. Red is thy road through life, White
One. Go back, go back now to thine own kraal, and see whether or no my
words are true," and springing at the horse she seized it by the bridle as
though she would drag it round.

Now in her hand Rachel held a little rod of white rhinoceros horn which
she used as a riding whip, and with this rod she pointed at the woman,
meaning that some of those with her should cause her to loose the bridle.
Too late she remembered that in this savage land such a motion when made
by the King or one in supreme command, had another dreadful
interpretation--death without pity or reprieve.

In an instant, before she could interfere, before she could speak, the
witch-doctoress lay dead upon the carcase of the dead bull.

"What of the others, Queen, what of the others?" asked the chief of the
slayers, bending low before her, and pointing with his spear to the
attendants of the witch-doctoress, who fled aghast. "Do they join this
evil-doer who dared to lift her hand against thee?"

"Nay," she answered in a low voice, for horror had made her almost dumb.
"I give them life. Forward."

"She gives them life!" shouted the praisers about her. "The Bearer of life
and death gives life to the children of the evil-doer," and as the great
cavalcade marched forward, company after company took up these words and
sang them as a song.



CHAPTER X

THE OMEN OF THE STAR


As it chanced and can easily be understood, Rachel could not have made a
more effective entry into Zululand, or one more calculated to confirm her
supernatural reputation. When the "wild beast" she rode plunged about she
had remained seated on it as though she grew there, whereas every warrior
knew that he would have fallen off. When the bull charged her that bull
had died, slain by the Heavens. When the Isanuzi, a witch of repute, had
lifted voice and hand against her she had commanded her death, showing
that she feared no rival magic. True the woman would have been killed in
any case, for such was the order of the King as to all who should dare to
affront the Inkosazana, yet the captains had waited to see what Rachel
would do that they might judge her accordingly. If she had shown fear, if
she had even neglected to avenge, they might have marvelled whether after
all she were more than a beautiful white maiden filled with the wisdom of
the whites.

Now they knew better; she was a Spirit having the power of a Spirit over
beast and man, who smote as a Spirit should. The fame of it went
throughout the land, and little chance thence forward had Rachel of
escaping from the shadow of her own fearful renown.

Towards sundown they came to a kraal set upon a hill, and it was asked of
her if she were pleased to spend the night there. She bowed her head in
assent, and they entered the kraal. It was quite empty save for certain
maidens dressed in bead petticoats, who waited there to serve her. All the
other inhabitants had gone. They took her to a large and beautifully clean
hut. Kneeling on their knees, the maidens presented her with food--meat
and curdled milk, and roasted cobs of corn. She ate of the corn and the
milk, but the meat she sent away as a gift to the captains. Then alone in
that kraal, in which after they had served her even the girls seemed to
fear to stay, Rachel slept as best she might in such solitude, while
without the fence two thousand armed savages watched over her safety.

It was a troubled sleep, for she dreamed always of that dreadful-looking
Isanuzi with the fish-bladders in her hair, yelling to her that her path
through life was watered with blood, and bidding her go back to her own
kraal and see whether the words were true, an ominous saying of which she
could not read the riddle. She dreamed also of the woman's coarse, furious
face turned suddenly to one of abject terror, and then of the dreadful end
the red death without mercy and without appeal which she had let loose by
a motion of her hand. Another dream she had was of her father and her
mother, who seemed to be lying side by side staring towards her with
wide-open eyes, and that when she spoke to them they would not answer.

So the long night wore away, till at length Rachel woke with a start
thinking that a hand had been laid upon her face, to see by the faint
light of dawn which struggled into the hut through the cracks of the
door-boards that the hand was only a great rat that had crawled over her
and now nibbled at her hair. She sat up, frightening it and its companions
away, then rose and washed herself with water that stood by in great
gourds while without she heard the women singing some kind of song or hymn
of which she could not catch the words.

Scarcely was she ready than they entered the hut, saluting her and
bringing more food. Rachel ate, then bade one of them say to the captain
of the impi that she was ready to start. Presently the girl returned with
the message that all was prepared. She walked from the kraal to find her
mare, which had been well fed and groomed by Tamboosa, who had seen horses
in Natal, and knew how they should be treated, saddled and waiting, whilst
before and behind it, arranged as on the previous day, stood the warriors,
who received her in dead, respectful silence.

She mounted, and the procession went forward. With a two hours' halt at
midday they marched on over hill and dale, passing many villages of
beehive-shaped huts. As they came the inhabitants of these places deserted
them and fled, crying _"Nomkubulwana! Nomkubulwana!"_ It was evident to
Rachel that the tale of the death of the Isanuzi had preceded her, and
they feared lest, should they cross her path, her fate would be their
fate. Indeed, one of the strangest circumstances of this strange adventure
was the complete loneliness in which she lived. Except those who were
actually ordered to wait upon her, none dared come near to Rachel; she was
holy, a Spirit, to approach whom unbidden might mean death.

At nightfall they reached another empty kraal, where again she slept
alone. When they left it in the morning she called Tamboosa to her and
asked him at what hour they would come to Dingaan's great town,
Umgugundhlovo, which means the Place of the trumpeting of the Elephant. He
answered, at sunset.

So she rode on all that day also till as the sun began to sink, from a
hill whereon grew large euphorbia trees, on a plain backed by mountains,
she saw the town surrounded by a fence, inside of which were thousands of
huts, that in their turn surrounded a great open space. Now they pushed
forward quickly, and as darkness fell approached the main gate of the
place, where, as usual, there was no one to be seen. But here they did not
enter, marching on till they came to another gate, that of the Intunkulu,
the King's house, where, their escort done, the regiment turned and went
away, leaving Rachel alone with the envoy, Tamboosa, who still led the
white ox. They entered this gate, and presently came to a second. It was
that of the Emposeni, the Dwelling of the King's wives, out of which
appeared women crawling on the ground before Rachel, and holding in their
left hands torches of grass. These undid the baggage from the ox, and at
their signals, for they did not seem to dare to speak to her, Rachel
dismounted. Thereon Tamboosa saluted her, and taking the horse by the
bridle, led it away with the ox.

Then Rachel felt that she was indeed alone, for Tamboosa at any rate had
seen her home, which now was so far away. Still proudly enough she
followed the women, who, bent double as before, led her to a great hut lit
by a rude lamp filled with melted hippopotamus fat, where they set down
her bags, and departed, to return presently with food and water.

Having washed off the dust of her long journey, and combed out her hair,
Rachel ate all she could, for she was hungry, and guessed that she might
need her strength that night. Then she lay down upon a pile of beautiful
karosses that had been placed ready for her, and rested. An hour or more
went by, and just as she was beginning to fall asleep the door-board of
the hut was thrust aside, and a tall woman entered, who knelt to her and
said:

"Hail, Inkosazana! The King asks whether it be thy pleasure to appear
before him this night."

"It is my pleasure," answered Rachel; "for that purpose have I travelled
here. Lead me to the King."

So the woman went out of the hut, Rachel following her to find that the
moon shone brightly in a clear sky. The woman conducted her through
tortuous reed fences, until presently they came to an open court where, in
the shadow of a hut, sat a number of men wrapped about with fur karosses.
Guessing that she was in the presence of Dingaan, Rachel drew her white
cloak round her tall form and walked forward slowly, till she reached the
centre of the space, where she stopped and stood quite still, looking like
a ghost in the moonlight. Then all the men to right and left rose and
saluted her silently by the uplifting of one arm; only he who was in the
midst of them remained seated and did not salute. Still she stayed
motionless, uttering no word for a long while, six or seven minutes,
perhaps. Her silence fought against theirs, and she knew that the one who
spoke first would own to inferiority.

At length, in answering salutation, she lifted the little wand of white
horn that she carried and turned slowly as though to leave the place, so
that now the moonlight glistened on her lovely hair. Then, fearing perhaps
lest she should depart or vanish away, the man seated in the centre said
in a low half-awed voice:

"I am Dingaan, King of the Amazulu. Say, White One, who art thou?"

"By what name am I known here, O Dingaan the King?" she replied, answering
the question with a question.

"By a high name, White One, a name that is seldom spoken, the name of
Inkosazana-y-Zoola, the title of Nomkubulwana, the Spirit of our people.
How camest thou by that name?"

"My name is my name," she said.

"We know, White One; the wind has borne all that story through the land,
it whispers it from the leaves of the forest and the reeds of the water
and the grass of the plains. We know that the Heavens gave thee their own
name, O Child of Heaven, O Holder of the Spirit of Nomkubulwana."

"Thou sayest it, King. I do not say it, thou sayest it."

"I say it, and having seen thee I know that it is true, for thy beauty,
White One, is not the beauty of woman alone, although still thou beest
woman. Now I confirm to thee the words my messengers bore thee in past
days. Here, with me, thou rulest. The land is thine, my impis wait thy
word. Death and life are in thy hands; command, and they go forth to slay;
command, and they return again. Only thou rulest alone with me, and the
black folk, not the white, shall be thy servants."

"I hear thee, King. Now, as a first fruit, give to me Noie, daughter of
Seyapi, my slave whom the soldiers stole away from Ramah beyond the river
where I dwell."

"She is dead, White One, she is dead for her crimes," answered Dingaan,
looking at her.

Now Rachel's heart sank in her, for it might well be that a trick had been
played on her, and that this was true. Or perhaps this tale of Noie's
death was but a trap to test her powers; moreover, it was not likely that
the King, who had promised that she should live, would dare to break his
word to one whom he believed or half-believed to be a spirit.

For a moment she thought; then, after her nature, determined to be bold
and hazard all upon a throw. Therefore she did not argue or reproach, but
said:

"She is not dead. I have questioned every spear in Zululand, and none of
them is red with her blood."

"Thou art right," he answered; "the spears are clean. She died in the
river."

Now Rachel was sure, and answered in her clear voice:

"I have questioned the waters, and I have questioned the crocodiles, and
they answer that Noie has passed them safely."

"Thou art right, White One. She died by a rope in yonder huts."

Now Rachel looked at the huts and cried:

"Noie, I hear thee, I see thee, I smell thee out. Come forth, Noie."

The King and his councillors stared at her, whispering to one another, and
before ever they had done their whisperings out from among the gloom of
the huts crept Noie.

To Rachel she crept, taking no heed even of the King, and crouching down
in the faint shadow of her that the moonlight threw, she flung her arms
about her knees and pressed her forehead on her feet. Now Rachel's heart
bounded with joy at the sight of her, and she longed to bend down and kiss
her, but did not, lest her great dignity should be lessened in the eyes of
the King; only she said:

"I greet you, Noie; be seated in my shadow, where you are safe, and tell
me, have these men dealt well by you?"

"Not so ill, Inkosazana, that is since I reached the Great Kraal. But one
of them, he who sits yonder," and she pointed to a certain induna, "struck
me on the journey, and took away my food."

Now Rachel looked at the man angrily, playing with the little wand in her
hand, whereon this induna shivered with terror, fearing lest she should
point it at him. Rising, he came to Rachel and flung himself down before
her.

"What have you to say," asked Rachel, "you who have dared to strike my
servant?"

"Inkosazana," he mumbled, "the maid was obstinate, and tried to run away,
and our orders were to bring her to the King. Spare my life, I pray thee."

"King," said Rachel, "I have power over this man, have I not?"

"It is so," answered Dingaan. "Kill him if thou wilt."

Rachel seemed to consider while the poor wretch, with chattering teeth,
implored her to forgive. Then she turned to Noie, saying:

"He struck you, not me. I give him to you to do by as you will. Shall he
sleep to-night with the living or the dead?"

Noie looked at him, and next at a mark on her arm, and the induna, ceasing
from his prayers to Rachel, clutched Noie by the ankle, and begged her
mercy.

"Your life has been given to you," he said, "give mine to me, lest
ill-fortune follow you."

"Do you remember," asked Noie contemptuously, "how, when you had beaten
me, yonder by the Tugela, you said you hoped that it would be your luck to
put a spear through this heart of mine? And do you remember that I
answered you that the spear would be over your own heart first, and that
thereon you called me 'Daughter of Wizards' and struck me again--me, the
child of Seyapi, upon whom the mantle of the Inkosazana lies, me who have
drunk of her wisdom and of his--you struck _me_, you dog," and lifting her
foot she spurned him in the face.

Now the King and his company, concluding that the thing was finished,
glanced at Rachel to see her point with the rod and thus give the man to
death. But Rachel waited, sure that Noie had not done. Moreover, whatever
Noie might say, she had determined to save him.

Meanwhile, the girl, after a pause, said:

"Were you a man you would be too proud to ask your life of me, but you are
a dog; and, Dog, I remember that you have children, among them a daughter
of my own age, whom, I saw come out to greet you. For her sake, then, take
your life, and with it this new name that I give
you--'Soldier-who-strikes-girls.'"

So the man rose, and weak with shame and the agony of suspense, crept
swiftly from the place, fearing lest the Inkosazana or her servant might
change her mind and kill him after all. But Noie's name clung to him so
closely that at length, unable to bear the ridicule of it, he and his
family fled from Zululand.

So this matter ended.

Now the King spoke, saying:

"White One, thy magic is great, and thine eyes could pierce the darkness
and see thy servant hidden, and call her forth to thee. Yet know, she is
mine, not thine, for when she fled I had already chosen her to be my wife,
and afterwards I sent and killed the wizard Seyapi, and all his House."

"But this girl thou didst not kill, O King, for I saved her."

"It is so, White One. I have heard lately how thou didst call down the
lightning and burn up my soldier who followed after her, so that nothing
of him remained."

"Yes," said Rachel quietly, "as, were it to please me, I could burn thee
up also, O King," a saying at which. Dingaan looked afraid.

"Yet," he went on, waving his hand as though to put aside this unpleasant
suggestion, "the maid is mine, not thine, and therefore I took her."

"How didst thou learn that she dwelt at my kraal?" asked Rachel.

The King hesitated.

"The white man, Ishmael, he whom thou callest Ibubesi, told thee, did he
not?"

Dingaan bowed his head.

"And he told thee that thou couldst make what promises thou wouldst to me
as to the girl's life, but that afterwards when thou hadst called me here
to claim it, thou mightest kill her or keep her as a wife, as it pleased
thee."

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