Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland Read online

tops. And he whisperedin the darkness to his fellows: 'The dawn is coming.' But they, withfast-closed eyelids murmured, 'He lies, there is no dawn.'

  "Nevertheless, day broke."

  The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame thatneither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket creptnear to the stranger.

  "When will that time be?" he whispered; "in a thousand years' time?"

  And the stranger answered, "A thousand years are but as our yesterday'sjourney, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See,piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young andthey have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shallnot pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in thehearts of men."

  Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger's feet: hisgun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire.

  "I would like to be one of your men," he said. "I am tired of belongingto the Chartered Company."

  The stranger looked down gently. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, "can youbear the weight?"

  And Peter said, "Give me work, that I may try."

  There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, "Peter SimonHalket, take a message to England"--Peter Halket started--"Go to thatgreat people and cry aloud to it: 'Where is the sword was given intoyour hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy?How came you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold,whose thirst is wealth, to whom men's souls and bodies are counters in agame? How came you to give up the folk that were given into your hands,into the hand of the speculator and the gamester; as though they weredumb beasts who might be bought or sold?

  "'Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some ofthe gold and blood stick to your hand.

  "'What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed toburrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have youno other use for it, Great Folk?

  "'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it andwiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressedof other climes.

  "'Great Prince's Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the handsof recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness,and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands,you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Takeheed!'

  "Cry to the wise men of England: 'You, who in peace and calm inshaded chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take allknowledge for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whomhas England given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched itfrom her? Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; havewe not matter enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain ofa nation has no time to go, there should its hands never be sent tolabour: where the power of a people goes, there must its intellect andknowledge go, to guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past andfuture--and forget the present--you have no right to sit at ease knowingnothing of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work onmen afar. Where is your nation's sword--you men of thought?'

  "Cry to the women of England: 'You, who repose in sumptuous houses, withchildren on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the softdraped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May itnot be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towardsyou across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary?Listen!

  "For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all itslabour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: therecries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of thechild-peoples--'Mother-heart, stand for us!' It would be better for youthat your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; thanthat you should listen, and give no answer.'"

  The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw therewere the marks of old wounds in both.

  "Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: 'You, who for agescried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and whohave said, 'We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not whooppresses the folk, so their coffers be full and their belliessatisfied, and they be not troubled with the trouble of rule'; you, whohave taken the king's rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat;is his sin not yours today? If men should add but one hour to your day'slabour, or make but one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you notrise up as one man? Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom yourule wounds you not. Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old:'It matters not who holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so hecalls it ours, we must cloak up the evil it has done!' Think you, noother curses rise to heaven but yours? Where is your sword? Into whosehand has it fallen? Take it quickly and cleanse it!'"

  Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: "Master, I cannotgive that message, I am a poor unlearn'd man. And if I should go toEngland and cry aloud, they would say, 'Who is this, who comes preachingto a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and wasnot his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?' and they wouldlaugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could notwell remember it; give me other work to do."

  And the stranger said, "Take a message to the men and women of thisland. Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men andwomen, and say: 'I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts.Wide was the field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scentedherbs, and so abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consumeall that grew about them: and the two were like one to another, forthey were the sons of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to thenorthward, a speck within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was,that the eye scarce might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered overthe spot where the two beasts fed:--and its neck was bare, and itsbeak was hooked, and its talons were long, and its wings strong. And ithovered over the field where the two beasts were; and I saw it settledown upon a great white stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks tothe northward, and more and more came onward to join him who sat uponthe stone. And some hovered over the beasts, and some sharpened theirbeaks on the stones; and some walked in and out between the beasts'legs. And I saw that they were waiting for something.

  "'Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, andsat upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flewfrom one to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till thebeasts were blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attackedhim. And they fell to, and fought; they gored one another's sides tillthe field was red with blood and the ground shook beneath them. Thebirds sat by and watched; and when the blood flowed they walked roundand round. And when the strength of the two beasts was exhausted theyfell to earth. Then the birds settled down upon them, and feasted; tilltheir maws were full, and their long bare necks were wet; and they stoodwith their beaks deep in the entrails of the two dead beasts; and lookedout with their keen bright eyes from above them. And he who was king ofall plucked out the eyes, and fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. Andwhen his maw was full, so that he could eat no more, he sat on his stonehard by and flapped his great wings.'

  "Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa:'You have a goodly land; you and your children's children shall scarcefill it; though you should stretch out your arms to welcome eachstranger who comes to live and labour with you. You are the twinbranches of one tree; you are the sons of one mother. Is this goodlyland not wide enough for you, that you should rend each other's fleshat the bidding of those who will wet their beaks within both yourvitals?--Look up, see, they circle in the air above you!'"

  Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only theblack sky of Mashonaland over his head.

  The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halkethalf clasped his arms about his knees.

  "My master," he cried, "how can I take th
is message? The Dutchmen ofSouth Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman.And the Englishmen will say: 'Who is this fellow who comes preachingpeace, peace, peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he hasnot a share in a single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing?If he were a man of any sense he would have made five thousand pounds atleast.' And they will not listen to me. Give me another labour!"

  And the stranger said: "Take a message to one man. Find him, whether hesleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: 'Where are thesouls of the men that you have bought?'

  "And if he shall answer you and say: 'I bought no