SEVENTEEN: The Leopard in the Pit
On the homeward trip Nomusa kept watching for interesting birds and animals. She could never have too many stories to tell Themba and Umpondo and the other little brothers and sisters.
When they were about a day’s journey from the kraals, the party rested on a flat-topped hill. Looking down on the valley, Nomusa beheld a wonderful sight. A number of lions, lionesses, and cubs lay among the tall grasses. The older animals seemed to be drowsing in the sun, but the cubs refused to stay quiet. Like kittens they played together, tumbling about, nipping each other’s ears and tails.
How gentle they looked, Nomusa thought, even harmless. But she was glad to know they were far below her and the other hunters.
A small antelope appeared, a short distance away, the lions ignored it; this was not the time for hunting. But the lionesses growled, and their tails began to switch. The cubs looked at the antelope, and back at their mothers. The lionesses rushed forward with low growls, encouraging their frolicking cubs to come along.
“Look!” said Damasi, who sat watching beside Nomusa. “I think the lionesses are going to use the little antelope to teach the cubs how to hunt!”
A lioness kept the antelope at bay, while the cubs worried it. Sometimes the mother let the antelope run away, in order to see if the cubs could catch it by themselves. When they could not, she ran it down herself and pinned it to the ground; then she left the animal to the cubs.
One cub did not know what to do and ran wildly about the antelope, nipping its tail playfully. The mother rushed at her cub and smacked him with herpaw as if to tell him to behave like a lion and not like a baby.
[Lions]
Nomusa would like to have watched more, but again the Zulus were on the march. They were in a hurry to get home, and they rested only briefly.
In the distance they could see the rolling hills on which the kraals were situated. Nomusa was glad that this was so, for she was very tired. How good it would be to lie on her mat and sleep and sleep!
She was not keeping up with the others very well, but no one seemed to pay any attention. Ahead of hershe could see Damasi walking with Zabala. They were having a good time laughing and talking together, and Nomusa thought crossly that Damasi seemed to have forgotten she was with them. He did not even look back to see where she was.
As she moved wearily along, Nomusa kept on thinking of the joy of returning. How glad she would be to see her mother and the baby sister! How she would hug her chubby little brother! And Mdingi and funny Kangata—
Nomusa’s busy thoughts made her forget her weariness, but they made her less cautious, too. If she had been intent on where she was walking, she would have been suspicious of the place in the trail where some branches had fallen and the grasses were oddly disturbed. She would have gone around it as the others had.
But Nomusa’s thoughts were far away, and the next thing she knew she lay at the bottom of a pit, on top of the body of a small leopard. It was dead, with an arrow in its neck. Her first feeling was that she was thankful the leopard was dead. But soon she realizedthat she could not get out of the pit without help. In a frenzy she began shouting for someone to come and help her. How long must she stay here? Would she ever get out? The hunters might even reach the kraals before they knew she was missing.
Nomusa was brave, but it was dark and hot in the pit, and she was very tired. The minutes crawled by, and she began to feel less and less a fearless hunter and more and more a frightened ten-year-old girl.
Maybe she would never see her mother and her brothers and sisters again. Maybe they would never find her and never know what had happened to her. Tears welled up in Nomusa’s eyes in spite of herself. Again she called, this time somewhat feebly. Thirst consumed her, and her body felt unbearably hot and sticky. Why, oh why, had she ever wanted to be a hunter? If only she had stayed at home this would never have happened to her.
She tried several times to make toeholds in the sheer sides of the pit, but the soft earth crumbled away. By now she didn’t even know what time of day it was. It seemed ages since she had fallen into the pit. Sheshuddered fearfully at the thought of being there all night. A live animal might fall in, too; Nomusa’s vivid imagination pictured all sorts of dreadful encounters with snarling, clawing lions and leopards.
Again she called out in desperation. And, miracle of miracles! she heard an answering cry. She was sure it was Damasi’s voice. “Nomusa! Where are you?”
“Here!” she shrieked. “In the pit! Be careful!”
The leaves and branches were parted, and there was Damasi looking down at her. Zabala was beside him.
“Yo! What a scare you gave us!” Zabala cried.
“Are you all right?” Damasi asked anxiously.
“Yes,” said Nomusa, weakly. “But how frightened I have been!” she confessed.
“Who would not have been frightened?” Damasi answered, looking awesomely at the pit.
“How shall we get her out?” asked Zabala, practically.
Damasi considered. For once, Nomusa had no ideas. She was content to wait to be rescued.
“We must get strong vines and weave them together,”Damasi decided. “Then Nomusa can attach them to herself and we can pull her out.
“You will need more than one,” Nomusa said. “I have something here that I must bring up.”
“What is that?” Zabala inquired.
“You shall see,” Nomusa said mysteriously.
[Children]
Before long Damasi threw down two lengths of woven vines. Nomusa tested them and found themstrong. One she bound securely about the leopard; the other she knotted under her arms. “Ready!” she called.
Zabala and Damasi braced themselves firmly and pulled with all their might. Nomusa held on tightly and dug her toes into the sides of the pit. Right now she wished they were long like the Pygmy’s!
At last she was over the top of the pit and lay on the ground breathing hard. Damasi and Zabala looked at her with concern, touching her to be sure she was all right.
“Now the other,” Nomusa said, finally, still panting.
This time the pull was easier, for there were three of them. Nomusa could not wait to see their faces when the leopard appeared.
“Hau!” the boys cried at the same time. “A leopard!”
They were still exclaiming over the handsome beast when Zitu and Sihkulumi and another hunter came running up. How relieved her father was to see Nomusa!
When he heard what had happened, Zitu looked at Zabala and Damasi proudly.
“You have done well,” the chief said. “No man could have done better.”
Nomusa looked timidly at her father. “I am sorry, my father. My carelessness has caused you much trouble.”
Zitu nodded. “Some of the fault was yours,” he agreed. “But I am to blame, too. In my eagerness to return home I did not look for you as I should have. Come,” Zitu added gently. “We shall stop for the night when we reach the others. It is too late to go on.”
He directed the men to tie the leopard’s legs to their spears and carry him back to the camp.
“The beast is yours,” her father said to Nomusa. “You may do what you want with him.”
Nomusa’s heart was so full of joy and relief that she forgot her weariness. How wonderful to be free to walk again! And her father was not angry with her. Surely no girl ever had so much to be thankful for.
[Hunt]
[Huts]