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The Green Leaves 2
The others were foolish not to have searched him.' He
stopped and listened. Was somebody coming? No. He was
merely hearing the echo of his own footsteps.
'Perhaps the other two thieves who had escaped are now
back at the scene,' he thought nervously. 'No, they can't
be there-they wouldn't be such idiots as to hang around
there.'
The heap of green leaves came in sight. A numb paralysing
pain ran through his spine. He thought his heart had stopped
beating. He stopped to check. It was still beating, all right. He
was just nervous. He moved on faster, and the echo of his
footsteps bothered him.
When Nyagar reached the scene of murder, he noticed that
everything was exactly as they had left it earlier. He stood
there for a while, undecided. He looked in all directions to
ensure that no one was coming. There was nobody. He was all
alone with the dead body. He now felt nervous. 'Why should
you disturb a dead body?' his inner voice asked him. 'What do
you want to do with money? You have three wives and twelve
children. You have many cattle and enough food. What more
do you want?' the voice persisted. He felt even more nervous,
and was about to retreat when an urge stronger than his will
egged him on.
'You have come all this far for one cause only, and the man is
lying before you. You only need to put your hand in his
pockets, and all the money will be yours. Don't deceive
yourself that you have enough wealth. Nobody in the world
has enough wealth.'
Nyagar bent over the dead man, and hurriedly removed the
leaves from him. His hand came in contact with the man's arm
which lay folded on his chest. It was still warm. A chill ran
through him again, and he stood up. It was unusual for a dead
person to be warm, he thought. However, he dismissed the
thought. Perhaps he was just- nervous and was imagining
things. He bent over the man again, and rolled him on his
back. He looked dead all right.
He fumbled quickly to find the pockets. He dipped his hand
into the first pocket. It was empty. He searched the second
pocket-that, too, was empty. A pang of disappointment ran
through his heart. Then he remembered that cattle traders often carried their money in a small bag stringed with a cord
round their neck.
He knelt beside the dead man and found his neck. Sure
enough there was a string tied around his neck, from which
hung a little bag. A triumphant smile played at the corners of
his mouth. Since he had no knife with which to cut the string,
he decided to remove it over the man's head. As Nyagar lifted
the man's head, there was a crashing blow on his right eye. He
staggered for a few yards and fell unconscious to the ground.
The thief had just regained consciousness and was still very
weak. But there was no time to lose. He managed to get up on
his feet after a second attempt. His body was soaked in blood,
but his mind was now clear. He gathered all the green leaves
and heaped them on Nyagar. He then made for the bridge
which he had failed to locate during the battle.
He walked away quickly -- the spirit should not leave the
body while he was still on the scene. It was nearly dawn. He
would reach the river Migua in time to rinse the blood off his
clothes.
Before sunrise, the clan leader Olielo sounded the funeral
drum to alert the people. Within an hour more than a hundred
clansmen had assembled at the foot of the Opok tree where the
elders normally met to hear criminal and civil cases. Olielo
then addressed the gathering.
'Listen, my people. Some of you must have heard of the
trouble we had in our clan last night. Thieves broke into Omogo's kraal and stole six of his ploughing oxen.'
'Oh!' the crowd exclaimed.
Olielo continued, 'As a result, blood was shed, and we now
have a body lying here.'
'Is this so?' one elder asked.
'Yes, it is so,' Olielo replied. 'Now listen to me. Although
our laws prohibit any wanton killing, thieves and adulterers
we regard as animals. If anyone kills one of them he is not
guilty of murder. He is looked upon as a person who has rid
society of an evil spirit, and in return society has a duty to
protect him and his children. You all know that such a person
must be cleansed before he again associates with other mem-
bers of society. But the white man's laws are different. According to his laws, if you kill a man because you find him stealing your cattle or sleeping in your wife's hut, you are guilty of
murder-and therefore you must also be killed. Because he
thinks his laws are superior to ours, we should handle him
carefully. We have ancestors-the white man has none. That is
why they bury their dead far away from their houses.
'This is what we should do. We shall send thirty men to the
white man to tell him that we have killed a thief. This group
should tell him that the whole clan killed the thief. Take my
word, my children. The white man's tricks work only among
a divided people. If we stand united, none of us will be
killed.'
'The old man has spoken well,' they shouted. Thirty men
were elected, and they immediately left for the white man's
camp.
More people, including some women, had arrived to swell
the number of the group. They moved towards the river where
the dead thief lay covered in leaves, to await the arrival of the
white man.
Nyamundhe moved near her co-wife. 'Where is Nyagar? My
eye has not caught him.'
His co-wife peered through the crowd, and then answered,
'I think he has gone with the thirty. He left home quite early. I
woke up very early this morning, but the gate was open. He
had left the village.'
Nyamundhe recollected that as they entered the narrow path which led to the river, their feet felt wet from the morning
dew. And bending across the path as if saying prayers to
welcome the dawn, were long grasses which were completely
overpowered by the thick dew. She wanted to ask her co-wife
where their husband could have gone but, noticing her indifference, she had decided to keep quiet.
'I did not like that black cat which dashed in front of us when
we were coming here,' Nyamundhe said to her co-wife.
'Yes, it is a bad sign for a black cat to cross one's way first
thing in the morning.'
They heard the sound of a lorry. They looked up and saw a
cloud of dust and two police lorries approaching.
The two lorries pulled up by the heap of green leaves A
European police officer and four African officers stepped
down. They opened the back of one of the lorries and the thirty
To be
continued |
