The River Between Read Online Free Page B

had healed, leaving him a hero among the boys although he had run after the goat for sheer fun and enjoyment of the scene. That, however, was not the sole reason why the other boys, young and old, promptly followed him.
    Â â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢Â 
    Chege, his father, was a well-known elder in Kameno. He had now only one wife, who had borne him many daughters but only one son. The other two wives had died during the great famine, without any children. The famine had been preceded by a very rich harvest. Then locusts and worms and a long drought came to bring death to many. Chege had barely survived. His daughters were now well married, apart from one, who had died early. The other elders feared and respected him. For he knew, more than any other person, the ways of the land and the hidden things of the tribe. He knew the meaning of every ritual and every sign. So, he was at the head of every important ceremony.
    Many stories ran around him. Some people said that he had the gift of magic. Others said that he was a seer and Murungu often spoke to him. And so they said that he could see visions of the future like Mugo wa Kibiro, who a long time back prophesied the invasion of the Gikuyu country by the white man. Some even said that Chege was actually related to Mugo. Nobody knew this for sure. Chege himself claimed nothing. Ever since he had warned the people against Siriana Missionary Center and they had refused to hear his voice, he had talked little, keeping all thoughts to himself. Chege had told the people of the ridges what had happened in Muranga, Nyeri and Kiambu. He told them of Tumu Tumu, Gikuyu, Limuru and Kijabe. They doubted his voice, saying:
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œSee them, the butterflies.”
    â€œButterflies? You have never left the ridges!”
    â€œThey are there, beyond the ridges, putting up many houses and some taking the land.”
    â€œHow could you have seen the light beyond?”
    â€œFools, fools,” he muttered to himself in despair.
    Nairobi was already flourishing, and the railway was moving across the country in the land beyond where not many from the ridges had been. And they lowered their voices and whispered together:
    â€œThe white man cannot speak the language of the hills.”
    â€œAnd knows not the ways of the land.”
    But the white man had come to Siriana, and Joshua and Kabonyi had been converted. They had abandoned the ways of the ridges and followed the new faith. Still people shrugged their shoulders and went on with their work, whispering:
    â€œWho from the outside can make his way into the hills?”
    Chege had then been young. Now he was growing old. However, he remembered something in his old age. A light shone in his eyes, a flicker of hope. He would guard it and divulge the knowledge to none but the right one.
    Â â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢Â 
    The boys did not want to be caught by the darkness. They collected their cattle together and drove them home. Many paths ran through the forest to various huts scattered over the ridges. Unless you were careful, you could easily lose your way in the hills; one part of the forest looked so much like another. But the boys, born and brought up in the hills, knew the paths.
    Darkness was settling when Waiyaki reached home. Chege had been waiting for him. He called Waiyaki to his
thingira,
the man’s hut. He sat on a stool, leaning against the central pole. A fire burned low and, when Waiyaki entered and stood close to the door, Chege took a stick lying near him and poked the fire slowly. Sparks flew upward in quick succession.
    â€œWhy do you come home with darkness?” Chege at last asked, without raising his head. He spat on the floor.
    â€œWe took the cattle to the plains.”
    â€œThe plains?”
    â€œYes, Father.”
    After a small silence—“That is far to go,” he said.
    Waiyaki kept quiet. He was never at ease in front of his father.
    â€œDanger