Go With Allah, Sister!

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 296, 14 December 1936, Page 17

Go With Allah, Sister!

By F. A. M. WEBSTER,

(SHORT STORY.)

THEY made a delightful picture, three leopard cubs, funny little furry beasts gambolling round their mother in' the hot African sunsliinc, while tlieir father lay stretched out upon a rock above the cave, lazily cleaning himself, for he had not long returned from a night's hunting. Then the leopardess pricked up her ears as a bow twanged. Oil the rock above the leopard stiffened suddenly, as an arrow lodged in his ribs. A moment later his eight-foot body crashed down to block the entrance to the cave completely; for the swift poison with which the arrow was tipped had entered his blood-stream, paralysing his muscles and stopping the action of the heart. The leopardess barely looked at her lord, as she kicked the cubs behind her, and 6tood there a snarling fury—lips drawn back from terrible fangs and ears laid back, wickedly flat. Again the bow twanged and the leopardess made no murmur as her legs gave under her and she sank slowly to the ground. As if by magic a speck appeared high up in the sky, followed by another and another, and a horde of vultures came dropping down from the flawless blue of heaven. The obscene birds, however, were not allowed to alight upon their prey, for the appearance of an Ndorobo hunter from the fringe of the forest surrounding the open glade caused them to settle in the branches of trees and in rocky crannies to await their feast.

Meanwhile, two of the cubs hail waddled away into the bush; but the hunter caught little Badalisha, not so sturdy as her brothers, and tied her up in a sackfhe had been carrying slung over his shoulder. Then the Xdorobo systematically set to work and skinned the full-grown animals he had killed. But as he was about to leave the glade, carrying with him the still gory pelts and the sack containing struggling Badalisha, a man stepped into the clearing, whose swarthy features and vellow-tinged eyes betrayed some trace of native blood in his ancestry. John McKenzie, as the half-caste chose to style himself, and the Xdorobo stared at each other for a long moment, then the farmer's fist shot out and the little hunter measured his length on the grass. He lay quite still, for he had been given a knock-out blow. McKenzie stirred the still form contemptuously with a heavy boot, then picked, up the pelts and the squirming sack and took his departure. He was well satisfied with his morning's work, for he had warned the Ndorobo time and again that he would not have him hunting on his sliamba (farm). Now he felt that he had taught the fellow a les-son he would not be likely to forget in a hurry. When he readied his home he threw the pelts to a cringing native, with a harsh order, "Peg these out and cure them"; but he took Badalisha into the bungalow with him. As he untied the mouth of the sack her flat little head shot out, as quick as a serpent striking, and her needle-like teeth closed on his hand, as she bit him to the bone. Jabat, the Soudanese gunbearer,. was an interested onlooker; but McKenzie did not dash the cub's brains out, instead he snarled round at the gunbearer: "Leta mezewa, mpumbafu!" ("Bring milky fool!") Jabat obej'ed with alacrity and watched wonderingly while McKenzie persuaded the cub to drink. Then, by his master's orders, he carried the little beast away and made it comfortable in a basket, to the edge of which it was secured by a chain 110 stronger than a watcliguard.

As time went by, however, tlie chain with which Badalisha was fastened to a ring in the wall of the dining room by night had to be replaced by stronger and vet stronger chains. By* day the sleekly beautiful young leopardess, was free to roam where her fancy might dictate. In the main, however, she dogged her master's footsteps and followed at his heels, 110 matter where he went. In the main, McKenzie treated Badalisha well, principally -because she afforded him that kind of companionship for which his soured, lonely soul had craved in vain before her coming. Despised by white people and, himself, openly contemptuous of all black people, the half-caste, living alone on his isolated shamba, had become a dangerous, bitter man. Nor was he always gentle with Badalisha. Did she cross his will, did she but fail to obey his orders quickly enough for his liking, her fault was corrected instantly by the use of a heavy kiboko, made of pliant hippopotamus hide which the man wielded with brutal strength and deadly accuracy.

All day long Badalisha lay in tlie I deep verandah, velvet muzzle resting on 1 big fore paws, in which the curved talons were discreetly concealed, eyes shut, deliriously drowsy. But there came a time when the stalcness of old, accustomed smells gave place to a new, clean fragrance in the night. Badalisha, listening intently, heard the mating call uttered by some leopard in the forest far away, too faraway for that cry to be audible to human cars. But the leopardess heard, and she strained at the chain that held her, until it parted with a report as loiul as a pistol shot. McKenzie came tumbling out of his room, but all that he saw was a streak of black and gold, shooting athwart the light of the lantern he had snatched up, before it vanished into the blackness of the night beyond the verandah. The man shouted himself hoarse, but all to no purpose. Badalisha had heard the call of the blood and heeded the urge of the oldest instinct in the world. In the morning, however, he followed her tracks and found her; for the broken length of chain attached to her collar had got caught between two rocks and held her fast. With cold, dispassionate fury he thrashed her until Jabat, risking all by drawing the man's rage upon himself, 'saved Badalisha from further punishment. Jabat turned to his master: "I tlynk voii will not liiid Badalisha safe play- ! mate in future." i "Oh, you think that, do you?" "Master, I think she will kill you if you do not give her her freedom now, in the mating season." • I "The wish is father to the thought, ; perhaps," snarled McKenzie, and flung i out of the room in a towering rage. ] None the less, he did not let Badalisha I off the chain that day.

At night she again hoard the mating call come cehoing up out of the forest. Jabat heard it, too, and lay listening to Badalislia straining at her chain. Bu* ilclvenzie, in liis bedroom, was already sound asleep and completely oblivious r.o that call of the wild which had awakened such a devil of unrest in the heart of tlio 'leopardess he believed that lie had tamed. It is hard to say what disturbed him, but. the fact remains that at one moment he was sound asleep and the next wide awake. He lay very still, listening intently, but there was no sound in' the room, only that horrible, fetid odour. Then, turning his head very slowly, he caught sight of the two greenly glowing orbs that were watching him. "Go to your bed, Badalislia," he ordered harshly. "D'you hear me? Go to your bed!" stormed the man, and a rumbling half--11111 fTled roar was flung back at him. Without a moment's hesitation his hand felt for and found the kiboko, which had never yet failed to bring the leopardess to lier senses. Then lie sprang from his bed and fairly flogged the intruder from his room and out on to the verandah. Had lie been content to leave matters there, all would have been well, but drunk with triumph and puffed up with pride at his own courage, the man followed the animal out into the darkness, full of the idea that he would take Badalislia by the scruff of her neck and refasten her to the strong ring in the dining room wall. Ho fancied she must have succeeded in slipping her collar, for ho felt certain that she could not have broken her chain.

Then something out of tlic darkness sprang over liim and a heavy taloned fore paw, striking down and back with terrific force, smashed ill his skull. Jaliat came into the verandah as frite drawn broke and liis shouts fetched a number of other natives running from the grass huts which stood not far from tlie bungalow. John Mclvenzie lay just outside the doorway where he had fallen and he was quite dead, but of the beast that had killed him there was no sign. "Ah," said Jabat, turning to the overseer of the sliamba boys, "did I not warn him that she would kill him, if he put restraint upon her in the mating seasonT" "Yes," said the overseer, "she has killed him and has gone back to liot own kind. It is the will of Allah the AllMcrciful, and T, for one, do not intend following her." Jabat, the Soudanese gun bearer, did not answer. He was wondering how Badalisha had succeeded in snapping that exceedingly strong chain by which she had been fastened, or in slipping the collar which he had seen his master tighten the last thing before going to bed. Presently he walked into the dining room to satisfy himself upon this point. Then a sharp cry of wonder broke from the gun bearer's lips, for, as he pulled aside the curtains letting the early morning light flood into the room, Badalisha rose, from her blankets, stretched and yawned- ■lazily, with a rasping, deep-throated, purring sound. • • • • At the same moment there echoed from the forest the call of the leopard who, during the night, had come seeking his mate but had found and killed John McKenzie instead. Again the urgent call of the blood came echoing in a harsh scream that set the fur of the leopardess apriek. • Jabat crossed the room quietly and unfastened her collar. "Go with Allah, blood-guiltless sister," he murmured, "for I, too, have loved and have been beaten." Badalisha looked up into his face and then stalked majestically through the doorway, while the waiting natives scattered quickly before her. For a moment she stood looking down at the body that lay so still, touched the hand that was growing cold, once, with her muzzle softly. Then, as the mating call came echoing again from the dojiths of the forest, she sprang over Hie low rail of the verandah and was lost to sight among the trees. Badalisha had gone back to her kind.